Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Track II: Finance - Film-TV-Production Track, Herscher, Guerin A, Webcast

The TV/Film/Video - Platforms and Partnerships - Developing Hollywood Content as Brand and Distribution Package

Colby Smith, Senior Vice President and General Manager, ABC News Digital and Live Streaming, Disney DTCI

Stuart McLean, founder and president, Content & Co.

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group

Daniel Cohan, Agent, ICM Partners

Peter T. Cohen, SVP Programming Strategy & Content Development, Anthem Sports & Entertainment

Moderator - Kimberly King-Burns, Partner, convergenz/solutions

Colby Smith serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of ABC News Digital and Live Streaming. He reports into Salil Mehta, General Manager, Digital Media, for Direct-to-Consumer & International at The Walt Disney Company. In this position Smith manages Disney’s digital news brands – ABC News, Good Morning America, FiveThirtyEight and the 24/7 streaming channel ABC News Live. He oversees business operations, publishing strategy, partnerships, audience development, distribution and marketing. In this integral role Smith

has retooled ABC News’ content and distribution strategy and revamped its suite of products to grow reach, engagement and monetization around the world. In 2018, he spearheaded the launch of ABC News Live, a new 24/7 channel for breaking news and live events. In one year, it has become America’s #1 streaming news channel with distribution on Hulu, The Roku Channel, and Facebook Watch. In that same year he oversaw the launch of a new digital portfolio for “Good Morning America,” which has grown to become one of the largest global lifestyle brands for young women. Smith also led the integration of FiveThirtyEight into ABC News to supercharge its political coverage with new real-time election night forecasts. Smith joined The Walt Disney Company in 2011 with Disney – ABC Television’s business development team where he focused on mobile products. In 2015 he was promoted to Vice President of ABC News Digital, where he instituted a new data-driven approach to editorial and product design to drive monthly video views from 60 million to over 1 billion. Under Smith’s leadership ABC News received the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for ‘Best Website’ for the first time since 2001 and became the first digital team to win back-to-back News and Documentary Emmy Awards in the history of the TV news industry in 2016 and 2017.  Smith’s career in media began at KPSP in Palm Desert, California as Senior Executive Producer. He is a graduate of Stanford University and received his MBA from UCLA.

Peter T. Cohen, SVP Programming Strategy & Content Development, Anthem Sports & Entertainment: Peter Cohen brings global experience in linear and digital content development, production, programming, distribution and live events.   He joined Anthem Sports & Entertainment in 2019 as Senior Vice President, Programming Strategy & Content Development, after serving in senior positions at leading media companies including HBO, CNN International, MTV, Rainbow Programming, BillboardLive, and The Box Music network.

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group: An entertainment industry veteran with over 45 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan Global Entertainment Group (MGEG), a venture created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. MGEG recently launched the inspirational competition series The Bruce Lee Project in China. In 2018, the company launched the MGEG Film Fund I and serves as managing partner.  He is also the executive producer on the recently announced feature film “EMPRESS.”  Mr. Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over $3.5 billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas.  His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming.

tuart McLean, President, Content & Co.: A serial innovator who has made a career out of anticipating marketing industry trends and then building successful businesses that provide value to brands looking to reach customers amidst changing times, Stuart McLean is President for Content & Co. From a career start on Madison Avenue that racked up numerous industry honors, to becoming a multi-award-winning brand studio founder and advertising technology entrepreneur, McLean has built and led companies with one goal in mind: using content to connect brand messaging to consumers in the most impactful ways possible, always with a focus on delivering enterprise value and measurable ROI. McLean founded Content & Co. in 2008 as a creative-led brand studio staffed with best-in-class showrunners, writers, artists, planners and strategic thinkers. Content & Co. has been named Subway’s Agency of The Year, created Ad Age’s “Small Agency Campaign of the Year” in 2014, and was honored as one of the Effies’ “Top 10 Most Effective Independent Agencies.” Prior to founding Content & Co., McLean worked at JWT where he launched and served as President of its studio division JWTwo after beginning his career on Madison Avenue at Young & Rubicam. Over the course of his career, McLean has executed successful campaigns for elite brands such as FCA, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Ford, AB InBev, Schick, Subway, and Pepsi, among others. He currently sits on the board of Think LA, which was founded to promote Los Angeles as a network of creativity and innovation in media, marketing, and advertising. McLean also holds three patents for modular cloud-based systems that enable centralized OTT advertising delivery and monetization. As an investor and board member, he has backed several ad tech startups including Sniffercat, which provides a single source solution for analytics, ad sales, and vendor management.

Kimberly King-Burns, Partner, convergenz/solutions, Moderator: King-Burns is a managing partner with NetworkBahamas, EnergyCaribe and EnergyBahamas, technology collaborative advisories to the public/private sector throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean; serves as EB-5 business development strategist on a variety of projects around the USA with active investor networks in South America, China and the Middle East; assists major companies and government relations team with their targeted ethnic social media outreach to the African-American, Caribbean, Spanish and Asian markets; worked as chief operating officer and president of Greenbridge Capital's digital media, alternative energy/green technology consulting groups in Los Angeles; was active on the community advisory board of KCET Channel 28 Los Angeles (PBS); and founded The Briland Modem Fund, a community development foundation serving the Out Islands of the Bahamas. King-Burns was raised on Harbour Island, Bahamas, and studied English literature at Salem College in Winston-Salem NC.  Kimberly was recently selected to serve on the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild awards nominating committee, one of 1,200 members nationwide.