ACEE - The Annual Report Third Eye December 2013 1 INDEX Introduction 3 Organization Chart of The Third Eye 5 The Team 6 Launch of The Third Eye 8 Programs – Elevate 9 Story Bus Tours 12 Inquiries 13 Screenings 14 Feature Film – Safed Doli 16 TV Series – Sapna 19 TV Talk Show - Madat 21 Star Trek 23 Website 24 The Third Eye Radio 25 The Third Eye TV 26 Social Media 27 Newsletter – The Eye of The Storm 28 Website Statistics 29 Other Significant Projects – Design of a customized measurement impact 30 tool Design of Audience Engagement Strategy for 30 MTV Exit Program Flashpoint – Human Rights Film Festival 31 Writer’s Workshop with Gary Lyons 32 Annexure Index 33 2 INTRODUCTION THE THIRD EYE is one of the Global Centres launched by HH&S to support two of the largest Industries of Media and Entertainment in the world, Nigeria and India. In India the Global Centre primarily addresses creative communities across all performing and non performing arts, with expert advice on key health, sustainable development and climate change issues so that the portrayal of information about critical realities carried across to the massive numbers of viewers and readers, is accurate and factual and so that the entertainment as well as media consumed by millions of devoted followers translates to best practices across all social, economic and policy parameters which then, eventually should reflect across all indicators. The program is funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. THE THIRD EYE builds bridges between the creative communities at large and industries of media and entertainment in India, in general, and the PRIORITIES OF OUR TIMES. India is a complex geography, and the viewership across all media and entertainment platforms is a complicated demographic because of the myriad of languages and cultures that cohabit the space. Realizing the common thread to be the universality of issues of development to be addressed, the approach at THE THIRD EYE became simpler therefore the roadmap could be comprehensively defined. When counting numbers and outreach, there is no parallel to India in the rest of the world and the consumption of its entertainment is far beyond the comparable. 3 ACEE and HH&S through THE THIRD EYE ventured out earlier this year to set up systems to engage with the spectrum through traditional as well as direct methods of communication, with practitioners of public health, unrelenting frontline workers of the development sectors, social activists, the Government of India and film studios, television networks, associations that govern the film and television industries of India, print and new media, to make them aware of the FREE- ON-DEMAND service and resource we offer to creative communities, for them to have access to important information they require from time to time. As the project surged forward with the intention, what fuelled the process was the absolute support of filmmaker and activist Mahesh Bhatt, who has pledged his sustained partnership with the process, and who aptly puts it this way, “At ACEE, we believe that stories backed with solid research can create content which will enter popular culture and have a profound social impact.” 4 Organization Chart for The Third Eye Project Asian Center for Entertainment Education Managing Director Acting CFO Director Deepak Bhalla Vinta Nanda Augustine Veliath Legal Advisor The Third Eye Project Simran Puri Auditor Sanjay Vadodaria Content Strategy Business Program Creative Development/ Outreach Director Strategy Manager Pratik Punjabi Hans Kapadia Deepa Bhalerao Shiv Bhalla Manager Operations Website Development & Maintenance Bhisham Makhija Admin Outreach Co- ordinator Mangesh Mohite Delegation Hierarchy Anand Tiwari Website work Queries and Research ACEE Projects 5 The Team Vinta Nanda: As Managing Director Vinta Nanda oversees each vertical of the Third Eye Project and sees to the smooth functioning of the organization. She exercises executive power on all aspects. Augustine Veliath: He serves as a Director of the parent company Asian Center for Entertainment Education and assists Vinta Nanda on company matters. Acting CFO, Deepak Bhalla: He serves as the Acting CFO of The Third Eye Project and will oversee aspects of financial nature which would include budgeting, account management and forecasting. He works with the Third Eye once a week as a consultant. Auditor, Sanjay Vadodaria: He maintains balance sheets and audits accounts of The Third Eye Project and keeps the project compliant across all parameters. He visits The Third Eye office once a week. Legal Advisor, Simran Puri: Gives legal advice across all matters to The Third Eye and also gives all the creative content of the project a legal perspective. She visits The Third Eye fortnightly. Program Outreach Manager, Deepa Bhalerao: Deepa connects Bollywood writers, directors, producers and researchers to medical experts via phone, email or in-person meetings. She forges relationships with local and international medical experts and co-ordinates in-country health topic activities. She plans events, manages staff on day-to-day outreach activities and co-ordinates and executes events. She maintains and updates contact/outreach databases, prepares tip sheets on health topics and oversees staff and volunteers. Business Development/Strategy, Hans Kapadia: Hans strategizes on aspects such as research and queries with the Program Manager, Creative Director and Content Strategist and oversees the work done on the website by the website design team along with the Creative Team at ACEE. He also oversees the commercial and executive end of business with networks and studios. Creative Director, Shiv Bhalla: Shiv conceptualizes, creates and produces content for the project website, as well as for TV, Film and other platforms. He is co-writing the film Safed Doli with Kalpana Lajmi. The creative team works closely with Vinta Nanda to develop content. Content Strategy, Pratik Punjabi: Pratik incorporates Gates priority topics in the current and developing projects. He liaisons with content programmers, commissioning teams and creative heads of networks and studios. He ensures all projects are running on schedule. He is co-writing Sapna with Vinta Nanda. Manager Operations Bhisham Makhija: Bhisham manages of day to day tasks to ensure smooth functioning of the work environment. He handles daily book keeping, manages office inventory and supplies, and co-ordinates with members of the administrative department for execution of tasks. Outreach Co-ordinator, Anand Tiwari: Administrative Assistant to Program Outreach Manager and Operations Manager. 6 Administrative Assistant, Mangesh Mohite: The role of this job is to assist the Manager Operations. 7 Launch of THE THIRD EYE- THE THIRD EYE was launched in March 2013 under the auspices of FICCI Frames, the annual three day conference for the business of media and entertainment, which is organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries. A panel discussion on the contemporary topic of Socially Provocative Media and Entertainment served to lead the project to its next stage. The panel comprised of filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Gautam Ghosh, Producer-Actor Kiran Juneja, Sandra de Castro Buffington, then the Director, HH&S, Jonathan Taplin, Director, Annenberg Centre for Innovation and University of South California, School of Communication & Journalism, and Colin Macay, MD, Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, Harvard University. Leena Jaisani, Director, Media & Entertainment, FICCI, Kulmeet Makker, CEO, Producers Guild of India and Mukesh Bhatt, President, Producers Guild of India lent their valuable support for the launch. 8 PROGRAMS- 2013 ELEVATE- In July 2013 was launched the annual conclave ELEVATE, which was attended by over 200 writers and journalists from the media and the entertainment industries of India who participated in various panels comprising of thought leaders, public health practitioners, social activists and frontline workers. The panel discussion was moderated by Sandra de Castro Buffington who, in conversation with Karen Tenkhoff and Carol Barbee spoke on how to integrate social issues in film and television. Karen Tenkhoff is a film writer and Carol Barbee is a TV writer. This was followed by a workshop for scriptwriters that showcased methods of integrating key health, sustainable development and climate change issues with entertainment, which was led by writers and producers from both Hollywood and the Indian Film & Television Industries. Specialist doctors, Dr. Jayanti Singh and Dr. Kirti Rayamane, gave their inputs on family planning and immunization. 9 The writer’s workshop in the second half of the day was conducted by dividing participants into groups led by Carol Barbee, Karen Tenkhoff, and Vinta Nanda. 250 writers attended the workshop and each group came up with stories on Health and Sanitation in rural India. The Times of India, the largest English Daily in the country featured a full page write-up on this event. (Link: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-19/news- interviews/40678079_1_the-third-eye-taare-zameen-par-entertainment- industry Issues of social relevance were raised in the course of the workshops and intense discussions were held among the participants. The queries raised were debated and opinions shared among the other participants Stalwarts like Mahesh Bhatt, Kamlesh Pandey, Anjum Rajabali, Karen Tenkhoff, Carol Barbee, Sandra de Castro Buffington, Chris Dzialo, Augustine Veliath, Kalpana Lajmi,