Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

12:15 - 1:00 PM, Dr. Jackie: The Innovation Forum

Session I: Herscher Hall, Guerin B, Webcast Live

Inspiration Workshop – Freedom to Write – Let’s Get Going - Educators Meet Hollywood Professionals

Stephen Galloway, Executive Editor, The Hollywood Reporter

Michelle Franke, Executive Director, PEN America Los Angeles

Meredith Scott Lynn, President & CEO, WRiTE BRAiN

Michael Son, Editor-in-Chief, Tapas

Winston Perez, founder, Concept Modeling, Moderator

Michelle Franke is the executive director of PEN America in Los Angeles where she oversees management, programs, fundraising, and growth. Franke has spent the past decade developing arts and education programs, producing over 200 events across Southern California. Named a “Face To Watch” by the Los Angeles Times, Franke has taught in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and at the University of Redlands. In 2010, she founded the literary journal, The Rattling Wall, which published the work of over 275 writers during its eight-year run. Prior to joining PEN America, Franke was a store manager at Kramerbooks in Washington, D.C., and at Book Soup in Los Angeles, two of the country’s most beloved independent bookstores. Franke received her MFA in creative writing with honors from American University. As a poet, she’s received

scholarships and fellowships, notably from the New York State Summer Writers Institute and the Folger Shakespeare Library. In recent years, Franke has appeared at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP), and on KPCC and KCRW, and elsewhere, where she’s interviewed writers and artists and discussed her own career in literary arts, advocacy, and community organization. She lives in Santa Monica, CA, with her husband and son.

Stephen Galloway is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the executive features editor of The Hollywood Reporter. He was named 2013 Journalist of the Year at the National Entertainment Journalism Awards and has interviewed a who’s who of Hollywood — including Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Day-Lewis and Brad Pitt. His profiles have been read by millions of readers and have generated media coverage throughout the world, from the Today show to CNN to the BBC. In August 2017, his account of visiting George Clooney’s family in Italy became a viral sensation. His stories on such major media figures as Ted Turner (with whom he spent three days at the United Nations), Sean Penn (whom he visited at his refugee camp in Haiti) and Johnny Depp (whose woeful finances became the subject of a heavily reported feature in May 2017) are among the most highly regarded of the genre. Fifteen years ago, Galloway created the Reporter’s celebrated Roundtable series (which now airs on the Sundance Channel), featuring the likes of Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. The Roundtables are a first-stop destination for A-list stars and must-see viewing for anyone interested in film. In 2014, Galloway was named the Cosgrove Visiting Artist at Loyola Marymount University. There, he created the Hollywood Masters interview series, which is filmed live before a student audience and features guests such as Helen Mirren, Clint Eastwood and Aaron Sorkin. The series now streams on Netflix. His biography Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker was published by Crown Archetype in April 2017.

Michael Son, Tapas’s Editor-in-Chief, graduated from UC Berkeley where he facilitated a course on publishing creator owned comics. Shortly thereafter, he joined Tapas, formally known as Tapastic, where he helped nurture a growing community of independent creators, starting with eight and growing it out to what is now over 45,000. As Senior Editor in Chief at Tapas Media, he has helmed notable projects such as Cheshire Crossing with Andy Weir (author of The Martian) and Sarah Andersen (creator of Adulthood is a Myth), as well as Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, a modern adaptation of Little Women with an all-star art team physically published by Hachette.

Meredith Scott Lynn, President & CEO, WRiTE BRAiN: An award-winning storyteller in childhood, and a recognized film and television actress, producer and director, Meredith understands the value of stories and self-expression. As Founder & CEO of WRiTE BRAiN BOOKS, her mission is to help foster self-esteem in young people.

Winston Perez, as featured in the NY Times, is the founder of Concept Modeling and recent Visionary Award winning author on a book about the difference between ideas and concept, as well as the nature of concept itself – a critical factor in the creative processes found in  film, arts, writing, technology and business. Concept modeling may turn out to be the missing discipline and the foundation of all other disciplines. His past and present clients include NBC/Universal, Dreamworks, Warner Bros., Relativity, Interscope Records, LACBA, and many others. He has also served as coach to studio presidents, directors, writers, and agents. He was also CEO of an early entry into motion capture technologies. In their article, NY Times called Winston “the emerging guru of concept modeling.” His is an amazing, long journey and struggle around his 1989 groundbreaking discovery, and his subsequent development and promotion of concept modeling in films and technology. His book, Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept,  (slated for mass market release in Jan 2020) has been compared to work by Kant and Plato and called “ambitious” and “intellectually fun.” Coming reviews call it “…brimming with insights and “…a startlingly fresh perspective on our world.”