Digital Hollywood Spring 2021 - Agenda

Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

4:00 PM - 4:45 PM - Eastern Time Zone

All-Digital & Online

Session I:

Hollywood Production MasterClass – Actors – Writers – Producers

Technology, screens and delivery platforms may change everything but Hollywood is based on great storytelling. In this end-of-day session, we are delighted to welcome great members of the story-telling team: writers, actors, producers and directors. Let’s give them a hand!

Jennifer Dodge, President, Spin Master Entertainment (PAW Patrol, Mighty Express, Bakugan)

Cyma Zarghami, Founder & CEO, MiMO Studio (former President, Nickelodeon)

Ellen Doherty, Chief Creative Officer, Fred Rogers Productions

Moderator, Catherine Clinch, TV Writer, TV veteran, Hunter, Jake & The Fat Man, Knight Rider, Love Boat, Hart to Hart

Jennifer Dodge, President, Spin Master Entertainment: As President of Spin Master Entertainment, Jennifer Dodge leads the company’s entertainment group in developing evergreen multi-platform global entertainment properties while focusing on building franchises and creative strategies that position Spin

Master for additional growth and success within the entertainment business. She oversees the company’s current production slate, which includes six series (PAW Patrol, Mighty Express, Bakugan and others) broadcast on numerous platforms and networks around the world. Jennifer is also the Executive Producer of the upcoming feature film, PAW Patrol: The Movie in collaboration with Nickelodeon Movies, being distributed by Paramount Pictures in theatres August 2021. Previously, Jennifer held the position of Senior Vice President, Development for Nickelodeon Preschool, where she spearheaded the development of all original content for programming and the development of in-house talent, in tandem with discovering and nurturing new artists and writers. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Jennifer served as Vice President and Executive Producer for Spin Master Entertainment from 2009 to 2015. During that time, she oversaw more than 200 episodes of animation including PAW Patrol and Little Charmers. Before joining Spin Master, she served as Vice President Distribution and Sales Operations for Cookie Jar Entertainment (now part of DHX Media) and Director, Production and Development for Decode Entertainment (DHX Media). Jennifer graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and Psychology.

Cyma Zarghami, Founder & CEO, MiMO Studio: Cyma Zarghami is the Founder and CEO of MiMO Studio, a female-owned and operated media company that specializes in kids and family content spanning live-action, animation and preschool, that she launched earlier this year with the acquisition of Matt Christopher’s THE KID WHO ONLY HIT HOMERS. The film completed production in early March and MiMO has since acquired multiple projects including beloved children’s book The Pout-Pout Fish and podcast “The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian,” as well as launch a sports division with NBA superstar Baron Davis to develop a film and podcast under the “Heroes of the Game” umbrella. Zarghami is a 33-year veteran of Viacom’s largest and most profitable division, Nickelodeon—the premier kids’ entertainment brand that consists of five TV channels, a global consumer products business, digital apps and mobile content, feature films and location-based experiences. With revenue exceeding $4B annually, Nickelodeon is number one with kids in the U.S., and it’s the world’s most widely distributed kids' channel, reaching more than 1.1 billion subscribers in more than 160 countries and territories. From the beginning of her career at Nickelodeon in 1985, to being named its President in 2006, Zarghami is credited with nurturing the explosive growth and expansion of what was initially a single cable channel into what is now a multi-platform kids and family lifestyle brand. She ensured that the company’s output and workplace culture remained true to the brand’s primary mission to serve and be inclusive of all kids, and that work was rewarded by Nickelodeon being cited for decades as one of the most diverse and successful entertainment businesses, and the corporate culture was heralded as a model of teamwork, inclusivity and opportunity. The results of her leadership at Nickelodeon stand as some of the biggest cultural touchstones for several generations, like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Paw Patrol, iCarly, Rugrats, Doug, Double Dare, Kids’ Choice Awards, and more. As a career-advocate for kids, Zarghami also expanded Nickelodeon’s pro-social leadership role as a key component of its brand identity, with a string of initiatives designed to empower kids to get involved with the issues they care about most, from Nick News and The Big Help, to WorldWide Day of Play and the HALO Awards. In tandem with her success with Nickelodeon and the kids’ market, Zarghami has vast experience and proven success with building audiences of older demographics, notably Adults 18-49. Her longtime stewardship of Nick at Nite resulted in a decades-long run of it being a top five network with adults and number-one with Women 18-49. Similarly, she drove a turnaround in revenue and ratings gains in a mere 18-month time span for TV Land and CMT, marshaling both critical acclaim and new audiences to those networks’ respective prime-time schedules through slates of inventive original programming, most notably Darren Star’s definitional hit, Younger.

Ellen Doherty, Chief Creative Officer, Fred Rogers Productions: Ellen Doherty is Chief Creative Officer for Fred Rogers Productions, overseeing creation of television and digital content for the company’s existing PBS KIDS series—Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peg + Cat, and Odd Squad —as well as developing new properties. She is the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the award-winning shortform, preschool series Through the Woods, and is an executive producer of Donkey Hodie, a new puppet series for kids 3-5 that will premiere on PBS KIDS in early 2021. In 2018, Ellen was nominated for a Primetime Emmy® Award for Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like, the retrospective tribute to the 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. An Emmy® Award-winning producer and writer with more than 20 years’ experience in children’s media, she was previously executive producer and story editor of the PBS KIDS series Cyberchase. Ellen oversaw production of television and digital content for the series for six seasons, including several shortform video series. She began her career as an associate producer on the award-winning PBS KIDS series Reading Rainbow. Ellen has a B.A. in Communications from Boston College.

Catherine Clinch’s produced writing credits include: HUNTER, JAKE & THE FATMAN, KNIGHT RIDER, LOVE BOAT, HART TO HART, FOUL PLAY, TRUE CONFESSIONS and, most recently, RESCUE BOTS. She has served for nearly two decades as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching Advanced Video Production, Screenwriting, Communication Theory and Social Media Strategy & Content Marketing at California State University Dominguez Hills. She has written, produced and presented more than 250 hours of LIVE interactive broadcast. She was Associate Publisher of Creative Screenwriting Magazine and was a key organizer of the first five years of Screenwriting Expo. In addition, she has written for Cultural Weekly, Studio System News, Film News Briefs and The Huffington Post. Catherine serves as a media strategy and content advisor to companies through her consultancy Clinch Digital Media. She has moderated panels and / or spoken at numerous conferences in Los Angeles, Nashville and Orlando. Catherine has also been awarded three US Patents for inventing a mobile platform and a new form of mobile entertainment. Catherine is currently writing and developing a project with new IP for Stan Lee’s POW Entertainment.