The Digital Hollywood Experience

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Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Track III: Herscher Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 303-304

Working in the Industry: An In-Depth Discussion with Executives and Creatives from TV, Film and Technology

Neilda Pacquing, Founder & CEO, Mindglow

Jay Tucker, Executive Director, Center for MEMES

Media, Entertainment & Sports, UCLA Anderson School of Management

Bill Thompson, Executive Director, Young Storytellers

Maikiko James, Director of Programs, Women in Film

Rebecca Wray, Executive Producer, Durable Goods

Moderator, Simone Nelson, Managing Director, The CSU Entertainment Alliance

 

Simone Nelson, Managing Director, The CSU Entertainment Alliance: Simone Nelson has developed and produced films, theater productions, festivals, and digital media entertainment start-ups for more than 20 years. She’s worked with, among others, the former head of Disney Studios & Theatricals Peter Schneider; filmmaker/writer Rebecca Miller and actor Daniel Day Lewis; Forensic Films; Film Arts Foundation; the Mill Valley Film Festival/California Film Institute; the Global Film Initiative; San Francisco Opera; The International Festival of Arts & Ideas and London’s famed Royal Court Theatre & Shakespeare’s Globe. More recently she produced the Berlin Film Festival

award-winning documentary City of Borders; was a two-term President of Bay Area Women in Film & Media; served as head of distribution & partnerships for Webby Awards founder/filmmaker Tiffany Shlain’s Moxie Institute Film Studio; and as managing director of the inaugural Social Change Film Festival in Bali, Indonesia. Besides her work for CSU, Simone is a producer for Richard Branson’s Virgin Disruptors and a new narrative feature film, The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Simone is also a strategic communications & creative development consultant working at the cross section of entertainment and technology. She is skilled at crafting innovative, engaging & high impact new & traditional media funding, marketing, publicity, & distribution strategies across multiple platforms & channels generating increased presence, audience share & revenue. Simone trained as an actor and has performed in venues all over the U.S. and abroad in musicals, plays and as the lead singer of several bands.  She’s taught producing, acting and directing at The Art Institute of CA–San Francisco sand has trained at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the British American Drama Academy in London, England.  She graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Theater and has an MFA from Yale University’s Graduate School of Drama.

 

Maikiko James is Director of Programs at Women in Film, overseeing WIF Member Programs including the Production Program, the Film Financing Intensive with Sundance Institute, the WIF/Black List Episodic and Features Labs, among others. She came to WIF in 2014 after six years with Active Voice, working on multiple social engagement campaigns including those of Food Inc., Welcome to Shelbyville, Gideon’s Army, Kids for Cash, among others.  She acted as a Special Project Advisor on WIF supported documentary Seeking Asian Female, and co-producer of its sister web project, theyreallsobeautiful.com.  Maikiko has BFA in Screenwriting from New York University.

 

Bill Thompson began his work with Young Storytellers as a volunteer in 2006. His time as a mentor quickly became the best hour of his week and he is proud to be the organization’s third Executive Director. He is a graduate of Yale University (MFA - Drama) and the University of the Arts (BFA). As a non-profit executive, Bill is a member of the Policy Council for the California Alliance for Arts Education and is a graduate of the Executive Service Corp Executive Directors Leadership Institute, Annenberg Foundation Executive Leadership Seminar, Hershey Cause Communications “Communicating for Results”, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Innovation & Management Program. He is currently participating as a Mentor Fellow with City Scholars and will be attending Stanford University this Spring to participate in their Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders. He was a finalist for the Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch in 2016 and his pitch was the winner of the Judge’s Award for Innovation. He is also the recipient of the Megan G. Cooper Leadership Award from Executive Service Corps.

 

Jay Tucker is a marketer, educator, and technology leader with more than 20 years of experience in the technology, academic, and entertainment sectors. At UCLA’s Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment and Sports (MEMES), Tucker is responsible for the center’s vision, thought leadership, educational offerings, and major events. In his role, he has built courses, partnerships, and conferences focused on technology and innovation within the entertainment sector.   In 2018, Jay launched a partnered initiative with Howard University that provides internships, tuition, and housing support to Howard students that enroll in UCLA’s summer courses focused on the business of entertainment and sports. Jay also drove the launch of a new online course that covers the sports business with an emphasis on providing athletes with a better understanding of the economic opportunities available to them.  Jay is a seasoned technology leader who is passionate about helping executives and entrepreneurs embrace disruption, drive innovation, and build powerful solutions. He has taught courses on technology management, digital media, and media literacy to professionals at corporations and nonprofit organizations. He also serves as an advisor to early stage ventures and nonprofit organizations.

 

Neilda Pacquing is an entrepreneur and UX designer on a mission to solve the big problems using technology.  She is the Founder and CEO of MindGlow, Inc., a company that provides safety training such as active shooter preparation and fire safety for employees in office environments using immersive technologies. The company's mission--to empower employees to know what to do when an emergency strikes. Years ago, she left her career working as an account executive to join the tech industry as a UX and interaction designer and make digital products for millions of users. She also served as Designer-In-Residence at General Assembly and helped students learn the tools needed to succeed in a career as a UX designer. After designing apps for companies such as Bank of America and SEPHORA, she ventured into the world of entrepreneurship. *Fun fact: She bootstrapped her current company from national TV commercial residuals and was originally studying and performing in musical theatre!* Neilda is a Philippine-born, San Francisco Bay Area native, and received her degree from UCLA. She is also an M.S. Integrated Design, Business, and Technology candidate at the University of Southern California (USC).

 

REBECCA WRAY– Executive Producer at Durable Goods

Rebecca Wray has nearly two decades of experience in advertising and entertainment and brings a passion for cultivating and evolving creative talent to her role as Executive Producer at Durable Goods. The Los Angeles-native studied at USC before beginning her career at Paramount Pictures. She then set her sights on city life in Chicago, where she got her first taste of the commercial production world managing production company sales at SourceEcreative. She quickly fell in love with the creativity and immediacy of the medium, moving back to Los Angeles where she worked as a producer for a number of commercial production and post shops, eventually landing at Digital Kitchen, where she spent 3 years as a Producer. Following Digital Kitchen, she spent 7 years as the Executive Producer for atSwim and Milk and Honey Films, growing their international directorial roster and expanding her global production expertise with an 8-month stint in Prague. She takes on a very hands-on approach, making sure she’s on set with her directors for every job, ensuring that the production flows seamlessly and that her sets are an arena of equality, creativity and inspiration for personnel of all levels. Invigorated by the timely gender equality movements in production and entertainment, Wray launched a Facebook Group “Ad Ladies.” The group was created to rally the dynamic community of females in the industry that she has seen for so long and grow that network to empower one other to seize the opportunity that this moment provides for positive change and growth. Wray has been a juror at Brand Film Festival, Clios, and has been tapped to speak at a variety of industry events.