The NEW New Media

Saturday, October 30, 2010
8:30am - 2pm
Luxe Hotel, 11461 Sunset Boulevard

Harvardwood, the Harvard Business School Association of Southern California, and the Harvard Club of Southern California are pleased to present the 5th annual HARVARD IN HOLLYWOOD symposium, entitled "The NEW New Media," sponsored by Level 3 Communications.

From YouTube to Hulu, from Twitter to Facebook, from Kindles to iPads, iPods, iPhones and everything in between, the NEW new media has revolutionized the way we interact with pop culture and entertainment. Come learn about topics including the impact of new media on traditional forms of entertainment, the role of social networking in the marketing and distribution of content, the evolving ways in which entertainment is made, defined, and consumed—and much more!

Featuring a live performance by the Harvard Yardbirds, Harvard's acclaimed alumni a cappella group!

8:30-9:00am | Registration and continental breakfast
9:00-9:30am | Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30-11:00am | Panel 1 - SHOW ME THE MONEY: Who's Making Money in Digital Media (and How)?
11:00-11:15am | BREAK
11:15am - 12:45pm | Panel 2 - IS CONTENT STILL KING?: Storytelling and Storyselling in the Digital Age
12:45-2:00pm | LUNCH
1:15pm | Performance by the YARDBIRDS

Full members can view a video recording of the event. Make sure you are logged in to view.

PANEL 1 - SHOW ME THE MONEY: Who's Making Money in Digital Media (and How)?

Who wins? Who loses? This panel will focus on the disruptors in the digital media space. We will discuss who's making money today in the digital world and what consumers and advertisers will pay for over the next 3-5 years. What's slowing monetization of new delivery choices? What may change that would accelerate monetization shifts towards digital platforms?

MODERATOR:

• Laura Martin, Managing Director of Needham & Company, Senior Analyst for Entertainment, Cable, & Media

PANELISTS:

• Albert Cheng, EVP Digital Media, Disney ABC Television Group
• Aubrey Freeborn, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Worldwide Video on Demand and Electronic Sell-Through at Twentieth Century Fox
• Jon Goldman, CEO of Qlipso, former CEO of Foundation 9
• Ron Sanders, President of Warner Home Video
• Larry Tanz, CEO of Vuguru, former CEO of LivePlanet

PANEL 2 - IS CONTENT STILL KING?: Storytelling and Storyselling in the Digital Age

On some planet, the talent to tell compelling stories with original characters speaking rich dialogue in fresh situations is still far more important than a knack for marketing, merchandising, social media and mobile apps. Is that planet Earth in 2010?

MODERATOR

• Marty Kaplan, Norman Lear Professor of Entertainment, Media and Society at USC and Huffington Post blogger

PANELISTS

• Stephen Chao, Founder & CEO of WonderHowTo.com, former President of Fox TV, Fox News, USA Cable and the SciFi Channel
• Carlton Cuse, Executive Producer of ABC TV series LOST
• Nell Scovell, TV writer-producer (SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, WAREHOUSE 13) and VANITY FAIR writer/blogger
• Thania St. John, TV writer-producer (EUREKA, DROP DEAD DIVA, UNNATURAL HISTORY) and Co-Founder/President of the League of Hollywood Women Writers

Speaker Biographies

Stephen Chao is the co-founder and CEO of Wonder How To, a community-fueled search engine and directory for free how-to videos. Previously the President of USA Cable, a division of USA Networks, Inc., Chao oversaw all aspects of USA Cable. During this period, USA Network augmented its original programming mandate (MONK, ATTILA, DEAD ZONE) and continued to dominate the basic cable landscape. The Sci-Fi Channel, aided by the success of TAKEN (a Spielberg event mini-series) broke into the top-ten rankings of all basic cable channels for the first time in its ten-year history. Chao also oversaw the acquisition and growth of new digital channels TRIO and Newsworld International. In 1992 Chao formed Stephen Chao, Inc., which forged a partnership with Cisneros Television Group to create networks for Spanish speaking Latin America and Asia. Prior to that Chao worked for FOX Television Stations where he created AMERICA’S MOST WANTED and STUDS. During his tenure at Fox, Chao took on the additional responsibilities of President of the Fox Television Stations and President of Fox News.

Albert Cheng - As Executive Vice President, Digital Media, for the Disney-ABC Television Group, Albert Cheng is charged with general management and strategic oversight of digital media, as well as development of ancillary revenue streams for Disney-ABC Television Group’s diverse portfolio of broadcast and cable networks, including ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Daytime, ABC Family, Disney Channel and SOAPnet. To that end, he leads a newly formed digital media team that oversees product development, marketing and operations for the Group’s digital media content platforms, including video-on-demand, broadband, web-based and mobile platforms, as well as interactive television technologies. Cheng and his digital media team also supports franchise management through the development of related new products. Additionally, he will be responsible for creating new business ventures and partnerships in the digital media and online space, as well as providing additional negotiation planning and support for ABC broadcast affiliate relations in this emerging new area. Cheng works closely with Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing to ensure the distribution and development of digital media services to cable, satellite, telcos and wireless providers. He also works in close partnership with the Disney-ABC Television Group’s marketing team, led by Eleo Hensleigh, and the Media Networks’ strategy group, led by Peter Seymour, as well as other divisions within The Walt Disney Company developing these content platforms and consumer products.

Carlton Cuse '81 grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and Orange County, California. He attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in American History. He started his career in feature films working first as a development executive then formed a partnership with feature writer, Jeffrey Boam. Working with Boam, Cuse developed the films LETHAL WEAPON 2, LETHAL WEAPON 3 and INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. In television Cuse began his writing career on the Michael Mann series CRIME STORY. He co-created and executive produced the critically acclaimed Fox series THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY, Jr. He created and executive produced all six seasons of the CBS show NASH BRIDGES starring Don Johnson. He also created and executive produced the CBS series MARTIAL LAW. Most recently, Cuse, in partnership with Damon Lindelof, served as the showrunner, executive producer and head writer, for all six seasons of LOST on ABC. In addition to overseeing the network show, Cuse and Lindelof pioneered the development of transmedia content for network television series. Cuse has received ten Emmy Nominations for his work and has won two Emmys: one for Best Drama Series and the other for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media. Among his other honors Cuse has won a Peabody Award, a Golden Globe, the Jules Verne Award, four Saturn Awards, and a Writers Guild Award. Earlier this year Cuse was named to Time Magazines 2010 List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Aubrey Freeborn MBA is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Worldwide Video On Demand and Electronic Sell-Through at Twentieth Century Fox. Her primary responsibilities include the strategic marketing of Fox’s feature films on VOD and EST both domestically and internationally. In addition, Aubrey leads a team in marketing and packaging episodic TV content across digital download platforms. In recent years, she has focused on growing the cable VOD business while also building the emerging digital download business with clients like iTunes, Playstation, Xbox, Amazon VOD and others. Aubrey began her career at Andersen Consulting in New York where she worked with the marketing and sales divisions of several companies including Pepsi, Ericsson, and Merck. In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles where she started working at Fox as the Director of Marketing in Worldwide PPV & VOD. Aubrey is a graduate of Bucknell University, where she received a B.A. in History, and the Harvard Business School, where she received her MBA.

Jon Goldman AB '87 takes more than a decade's experience in developing interactive digital content in the videogame industry to his role as chief executive officer of Qlipso. He joined the multi-user content-sharing platform company in early 2009 and oversees roll-out of the Qlipso social-viewing platform, which enables people to extend and enhance their real-life social lives online. In March 2010, Goldman played an instrumental role in Qlipso’s successful purchase of significantly all of the assets of the online video site Veoh. This acquisition propelled Qlipso from a small R&D company to one of the world’s leading online video and social-content companies and enabled the integration of social features within much of the world’s mainstream digital content. Goldman most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent videogame company in the world. Along with some close friends in the mid-1990s, he started this multi-national company, which, at its peak, employed nearly one thousand talented game developers around the world with a gameography of more than 500 titles and multiple million-plus sellers. A magna cum laude graduate in East Asian Studies from Harvard, Goldman continued his study of Asian culture with a Mombusho fellowship from the University of Kyoto. He lives and works in Venice, Calif., with his wife and two daughters.

Marty Kaplan holds the Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media and Society at the USC Annenberg School, where he was associate dean for ten years. He is the founding director of the school’s Norman Lear Center (http://www.learcenter.org), whose mission is to study and shape the impact of media and entertainment on society. He was Vice President Walter Mondale’s chief speechwriter and deputy campaign manager of Mondale’s presidential bid. He worked at Walt Disney Studios for 12 years, where he was first a feature films vice president and then a screenwriter/producer. His movie credits include THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN, starring Eddie Murphy, and the film adaptation of Michael Frayn’s NOISES OFF. A summa cum laude in molecular biology from Harvard College, where he was president of The Harvard Lampoon and of The Signet Society, he won a First in English as a Marshall Scholar at Cambridge University, and he holds a Ph.D. from Stanford in modern thought and literature. A columnist for the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, he hosted the nationally syndicated program SO WHAT ELSE IS NEWS? on Air America Radio, and he has been a featured contributor to THE HUFFINGTON POST since its inception.

Laura Martin MBA '83 graduated from Stanford in 1980, Harvard Business School in 1983, and she holds a CFA designation. In 1983, Martin joined Drexel Burnham Lambert in investment banking, with a media company focus. In 1991, she moved to the "buy side” at Capital Research & Management as a media analyst, with money management responsibilities for a $500 million media-equity portfolio. Beginning in 1994, she worked on the "sell side” at Credit Suisse First Boston as the senior media analyst publishing research on the largest U.S. entertainment and cable companies. She was nationally ranked by Institutional Investor magazine each year between 1999 and 2001. In 2002, Martin moved to Paris to become EVP of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations for Vivendi Universal. In 2004, she founded Capital Knowledge, LLC (www.CapKnowledge.com), a financial consulting firm providing expert witness testimony, capital markets advice, and valuation services to senior management teams. In the same year, she founded Media Metrics, LLC publishing equity research on the largest entertainment, cable and Internet stocks in the U.S., where she was nationally ranked as "Best of the Independent Research Boutiques” by Institutional Investor for many years. In 2009, Martin moved to Needham & Company, LLC, where she continues to publish research on large U.S. entertainment, cable and media companies.

Ronald J. Sanders MBA '02 is President of Warner Home Video Inc., (WHV) a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. As President, Mr. Sanders is responsible for all Warner Home Video’s global business and its future development, including worldwide sales, marketing, finance, general operations, administration and supply chain management. Warner Home Video is responsible for releasing the studio’s many feature films and television shows on home video. WHV has maintained leading market share in the U.S. and most international territories since 2002. This was due in large part to WHV’s pioneering role in the immense success of the DVD format, which in five years became the fastest growing consumer electronics product ever launched. Operating in 90 territories, WHV also has a film library that is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., Turner Entertainment Company, Castle Rock, HBO and New Line Home Entertainment. The company has numerous distribution arrangements in the US as well and represents such diverse fare as BBC Video, National Geographic, Sesame Street, and United Media/Peanuts. He has previously held positions with Procter & Gamble and holds a BS in Business Administration from Auburn University in Alabama. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and now resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Nell Scovell '82 is a diverse writer who has worked in variety (LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN), animation (THE SIMPSONS), sitcoms (NEWHART, COACH, MURPHY BROWN), dramas (MONK, NCIS), and features (HONEY, WE SHRUNK OURSELVES). She created and executive produced the hit series SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH, and has also written and directed two cable movies: HAYLEY WAGNER, STAR (Showtime) and IT WAS ONE OF US (Lifetime.) She is currently the Co-Executive Producer of "WAREHOUSE 13," Syfy's top-rated show, and developing for ABC. A former Crimson Editor, her past magazine credits include VOGUE, ROLLING STONE and being the first Staff Writer hired at SPY. She continues to contribute regularly to VANITY FAIR and THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband, an architect, and two sons, who are obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons.

Thania St. John '83 - Learning how to both write and produce at the Stephen J. Cannell Company on iconic shows such as 21 JUMP STREET and BOOKER, Thania went on to create two shows of her own (VR5 and CRISIS CENTER) and to work on popular and award winning dramas such as LIFE GOES ON, LOIS AND CLARK, ROSWELL, HUFF, EUREKA, and DROP DEAD DIVA. She has most recently been the Executive Producer of UNNATURAL HISTORY, the first live-action hour-long series on The Cartoon Network. Thania is also proud to be co-founder and President of The League of Hollywood Women Writers and a Director of the WGA PAC Board. She is also the co-creator of the WHY WE WRITE blog. She earned her AB in American History and Filmmaking from Harvard and her MFA in Film and Television Production from UCLA.

Larry Tanz AB '92 - As a digital entertainment veteran, Mr. Tanz brings more than 15 years of strategy and operating experience in media, entertainment and technology. Mr. Tanz also has tremendous expertise in producing, developing and financing successful film, television, and new media projects including documentary film features RUNNING THE SAHARA and FIRST DESCENT for Universal Pictures and the Emmy-nominated TV series PROJECT GREENLIGHT for HBO and Bravo. In December 2009, Mr. Tanz was appointed President of Vuguru, the leading independent studio developing and financing scripted content for emerging and traditional platforms. Vuguru was founded by Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company in 2006, and recently backed by Canada’s Rogers Media in October 2009, and has become a force in the evolving media landscape, beginning with its 2007 smash success, PROM QUEEN. Before joining Vuguru, Mr. Tanz served as president and co-founder of Agility Studios, CEO and president of LivePlanet (a multi-platform production company founded by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) and Director of Strategy and Operations at AOL Time Warner. Mr. Tanz holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Entrepreneurial Management, a Masters Degree in Behavioral Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a B.A. with Magna cum Laude honors from Harvard College.

THE HARVARD YARDBIRDS were started when PITCHES co-founder Diane Nabatoff ’78 and former CALLBACKS president Mia Riverton ’99 decided they really missed singing in their undergrad a cappella groups. Diane and Mia made a few calls to their Harvard friends who love to sing—and now, a year later, the group has blossomed into the current 14-member ensemble. The YARDBIRDS are composed solely of Harvard alums and represent a cross-section of Harvard a cappella groups spanning the '70s to the '00s: the PITCHES, KROKODILOES, CALLBACKS and OPPORTUNES. The group's repertoire features SATB [or mixed-voice] arrangements ranging from American Songbook standards to contemporary popular songs. For further information about the group, please contact Patty Woo, [email protected].