Thursday, May 23rd, 2019

10:45 AM - 11:45 AM

Track I: Herscher Hall, 3rd Floor, 303-304

Indie TV – OTT and Streaming - The Gateway to the New Hollywood of Content to Phones, Tablets, TV and PC

Frank Chindamo, President & Chief Creative Officer, Fun Little Movies

Kim L. Hurwitz, Chief Marketing Officer, Karate Combat

Alia J. Daniels, co-founder & COO, REVRY

Gene Pao, Senior Vice President, Digital Enterprises, Shout! Factory

Claude Shires, CEO, LaughLounge

James M. Burger, Partner, Thompson Coburn LLP, Moderator

Gene Pao, Senior Vice President, Digital Enterprises, Shout! Factory: Gene Pao joined Shout! Factory in 2013 and is currently Senior Vice President of Digital Enterprises, where he leads all digital businesses for the company—including direct-to-consumer digital businesses, YouTube channels, and digital marketing.  In 2015, Gene spearheaded the launch of Shout! Factory TV, a new digital streaming service offering classic and cult TV and film that shape today’s pop culture.  The service is available on a wide variety of devices including Roku and Apple TV, and branded channels on Twitch, Amazon, Pluto TV, and Comcast Xfinity among others. Gene’s 20-year career in digital media started in

1997 at Digitas, a digital marketing agency.  In 1999 he joined Firstlook.com, an idealab! Company, who pioneered the use of digital video for promoting music, movies, and video game titles.  After the first dotcom crash in 2001, Gene found himself at Disney/ESPN where he developed digital and interactive video businesses such as VOD and interactive television.  From 2008 to 2011, he was VP, Digital Media and International Development for Fuel TV, the action sports cable network owned by Fox, where he merged television broadcasting principles with digital and social media to produce live webcasts of action sports events such as surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding.  From 2011 to 2013, Gene held a number of digital media roles including Action Sports Consultant in YouTube’s Sports Partnership Group; VP Marketing for Golf Channel, part of NBC Sports; and General Manager of Biggest Loser Digital, a joint initiative between NBC Universal and Shine America. Gene holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Masters from Cornell University, and a BS from North Carolina State University.

Alia J. Daniels, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Revry: Equipped with bachelor's degrees in Music and Communications Studies with a Mass Media emphasis, and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Alia J. Daniels has found her niche at the intersection of entrepreneurship, digital media and law as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for Revry, a global queer digital media network where she oversees the marketing department. She is the Co-Festival Director for QueerX, a one-of-a-kind festival bringing audiences to the intersection of music, film and industry. Her dedication to inclusion within the Queer and Allied community is a cornerstone of Alia's personal mission to create avenues for authentic representation in media.

Kim Hurwitz joined KOKO Sports Management in September 2017 as Chief Marketing Officer  where she spearheaded the March 2018 launch of Karate Combat, a new global sports league.  Ms. Hurwitz was previously Chief Content Officer for FOTV Media Networks Inc. a global digital  platform she grew to 1,000 channels, featuring the eponymous TV network she programmed  with carriage worldwide via Digital, OTT, Dish Network (USA) and Sky (UK). She also led the  corporation’s global partnership, distribution and syndication efforts during her tenure from  2010 -2017.  From 2000-2005, Kim was Director of Marketing for DIRECTV overseeing PPV and Advanced  Products managing a $500mm annual P&L, returning to the telecommunications giant from  2009-2010. Past positions include Vice President of Marketing, PR and Distribution at MWG  Media, National Director of Affiliate Relations for the Tube Music Network, Regional Marketing  Manager for Adelphia/TCI and President/Co-Founder of the SoCal PPV Cable Group.  The recipient of numerous marketing awards, Ms. Hurwitz studied Theater Arts at the  University of California, Los Angeles, and possesses more than 20 years’ experience building  and monetizing leading entertainment platforms and brands.

Claude Shires began his career as a stand-up comedian in San Diego, California. Although he earned a degree in molecular biology, comedy was clearly his calling. Claude moved to Los Angeles and soon began performing at the The World Famous Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. He also learned video editing as a way to produce his own material. Over time he put this expertise to use editing comedy specials featuring comedians like Andrew Dice Clay, Joan Rivers, and Al Madrigal. In 2015, Amazon offered Shires his first directing job: a series of one-hour comedy specials called “The Guest List.” Shires produced and directed the shows, which Amazon streamed live before they were edited to fit the one-hour broadcast format. Shires completed sixteen episodes of “The Guest List” for Amazon during 2015-2017. Shires also directed and edited his first HBO special, Felipe Esparza’s “Translate This.” While working on these shows, Shires recognized an opportunity “We could put live, streaming stand-up comedy in the hands of everyone in the world!” He has spent the last year building an application and assembling a team to deliver what has become Laugh Lounge, now available on iphone, Android and Apple TV.

Frank Chindamo, President and Chief Creative Officer, Fun Little Movies: Frank Chindamo is the President and Chief Creative Officer of Fun Little Movies. "FLM" specializes in producing original, live-action comedy films for its mobile channels of entertainment on Sprint-Nextel, Microsoft, Smart Video phones, in the US and many other countries around the world. They’re known as "Fun Funny Phone Films." Fun Little Movies has been the subject of cover stories in Forbes Magazine and the L.A. Times, and stories in Variety, Hollywood Reporter, CBS Radio, Wired Magazine, CBS TV’s Inside Edition, The Chicago Tribune, and several other outlets. Frank Chindamo holds the world's record for most short films made independently. His films have appeared on HBO, Showtime, CBS, PBS, A&E, Playboy, MTV and Comedy Central, etc. They’ve won 20 awards including The American Cine Golden Eagle, The American International Film Festival and a Finalist's Place for Best Short at the Cannes Film Festival. Frank is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California. At USC, Frank teaches short screenplay writing. He also created the Student Script Database, the tool which will allow directors and writers to pool their talent and is intended to bring the best-written scripts at USC to the screen. As Executive Director of the Staged Screenplay Reading Series at the Lee Strasberg Theater, and as the Director of the Professional Screenwriting Workshops at SONY Studios, Chindamo developed fourteen feature films which have been produced for the screen. Frank also taught at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop and City University of New York. Frank was also a Vice President of Development at two production companies in LA and has worked as a script consultant on numerous projects. Frank Chindamo received his Film B.F.A. from N.Y.U. and his Screenwriting M.F.A. from Columbia University.

James M. Burger, Partner, Thompson Coburn LLP: Jim is a member of the Thompson Coburn Lobbying & Policy and Intellectual Property Groups. He has worked extensively on legal and policy issues arising from the intersection of digital technology, intellectual property protection, communications, and government regulation. Jim has represented the Computer Industry Group and other information technology entities in efforts to secure copy protection rules for DVDs, Blu-ray discs and digital music downloads. He has also represented technology clients before the Administration, Congress, and the FCC in regard to the Digital TV Transition, the Broadcast Flag, and international agreements affecting U.S. intellectual property law. His efforts in the copyright law arena include his work leading negotiations to exclude the computer industry from the Audio Home Recording Act, to avoid passage of the Digital Video Recording Act, and prevent passage of analog hole legislation. In addition, Jim has worked with the semiconductor industry in its efforts to prevent the importation of dangerous counterfeit semiconductors. Jim teaches Copyright Law at Georgetown Law School. Jim also served seven years as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia Law School, where he taught Advanced Administrative Law.