Harvardwood Summer VIP Lunch Auction 2023
The Harvardwood Summer VIP Auction is now live!
Lunch with TV Producers Mark Goffman (The Umbrella Academy) & Lindsay Goffman (The Good Doctor)
Bid here!
Mark is currently Executive Producer for the NBC series, The Irrational, and EP of several series slated to shoot in a number of countries around the world. Recently, Goffman was an executive producer and writer on the Netflix series, The Umbrella Acadamy. Goffman has also executive produced and showrun the hit series about trial science and the American judicial system, called Bull, on CBS, which ran for six seasons, and Sleepy Hollow, for Fox, which ran for four seasons. He also served as an executive producer for Limitless on CBS and USA’s White Collar. His pilot Victor, starring John Stamos, was produced for NBC. Goffman first started on The West Wing, where he wrote for several seasons. Afterwards, Goffman ran the writers' room for Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Lindsay is the founder and head of Gratitude Productions. Gratitude has projects set up with Apple, FX (3 projects), FOX, Perfect Storm (Justin Lin), The Roots, Rideback, Day Zero (Trevor Noah), Get Lifted (John Legend), Jon M. Chu, MGM, Universal Television, and is most recently producing The Company You Keep, based on the Korean format she acquired the rights to and packaged for 20th / ABC. Starring Milo Ventimiglia, the pilot has just finished shooting and has opened their writers room targeted for midseason. Previously, Lindsay helped start-up and head 3AD, Daniel Dae Kim's production company. While at 3AD, she sold 8 projects to broadcast networks and premium outlets. One of the projects she found the format for and championed is the hit series, The Good Doctor. The show became ABC’s #1 new series and was awarded the Humanitas Prize.
Lunch with Grammy-Nominated Former President of Fox Music Robert Kraft
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Enjoy an exclusive 1 hour lunch or Zoom with award-winning songwriter, film composer, recording artist and record producer Robert Kraft! As president of Music at 20th Century Fox from 1994 to 2012, Kraft was in charge of scores and soundtracks for over 300 feature films, as well as dozens of TV shows. Highlights during his tenure at Fox include the record-breaking scores and soundtracks from Titanic, Avatar, Moulin Rouge!, Garden State, Walk the Line, Once, Slumdog Millionaire, and Life of Pi. As a songwriter, Kraft has earned nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globes. In 2014, Kraft started Kraftbox Entertainment, which produced the award-winning Score: A Film Music Documentary, achieving the top spots on both Apple and Amazon’s Music Documentary charts. Kraftbox is currently in production on projects across several platforms, including the feature film Rapper’s Delight at TriStar Studios with co-producers Paula Wagner and Stephanie Allain; Jazz Ambassadors with Quincy Jones at Blumhouse Studios; and Ray Charles: Keep My Name Alive with producing partner Frank Marshall and director R.J. Cutler. Kraft currently hosts the premiere film music podcast, Score: The Podcast, now in it’s 5th season, as well as the live series Cue The Music: Composers Live At The Broad Stage.
Lunch with Filmmaker & NYT Bestselling Author Abigail Hing Wen (Loveboat, Taipei)
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Abigail is a filmmaker and the New York Times bestselling author of Loveboat, Taipei, a Barnes and Noble YA Book Club Pick which is being adapted for film starring Ross Butler (13 Reasons Why) and Ashley Liao (The Hunger Games). The novel follows 18-year-old Ever Wong from Ohio to Taipei, where she discovers a summer free for all and an opportunity to connect with her heritage. The companion novel, Loveboat Reunion, follows two fan favorites: girl-in-tech Sophie Ha and the heir to a tech empire Xavier Yeh as they team up to take control of their own lives. In her career in tech, Abigail has negotiated multibillion dollar deals on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, worked in venture capital and hosted Intel’s Artificial Intelligence podcast featuring leading industry experts. "With a knack for trying and succeeding at new things," according to Forbes, Abigail has been described by Pop Culturist as “one of the voices of her generation.” She and her work have been profiled in Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Fortune, Cosmopolitan, NBCNews, Bloomberg, Google Talk and the World Journal, among others.
Loveboat, Taipei launches on Paramount Plus August 10 in the US and August 11 in the UK, with additional territories through the month. See the first look in Entertainment Weekly!
Lunch with Comedy Writing Duo Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins (Booksmart, 80 for Brady)
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Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern wrote the BAFTA and WGA-award nominated 2019 feature Booksmart. They received an Emmy nomination for their work on Blackish and have written for numerous shows including Good Girls and The Real O'Neals. They also created Carol's Second Act for CBS and Trophy Wife for ABC. Halpern and Haskins are currently under a development deal at CBS Studios. The latest movie they wrote, 80 for Brady, was released through Paramount Pictures this February, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field.
Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Harvardwood AAPI Artist Fellowship Winners 2023
Harvardwood is pleased to announce that filmmaker Joseph Lee AB ‘22, visual artist Ava Jinying Salzman AB ‘23, and filmmaker/writer Samantha Mari Woolf AB ‘23 have been named as the inaugural Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Harvardwood AAPI Artist Fellows.
Joseph Lee is a filmmaker and director whose stories are deeply rooted in his experiences with his Korean-American heritage and his family's struggles with financial hardship and disability. His work has been shown at LAAPFF and NFFTY, and he is the grand prize winner of the Shore Scripts Short Film Competition. He has directed and developed content for clients such as Janet Yang Productions, Jubilee Media, and Hearst Media. In his free time, he writes children's books with his brother and is a competitive archer.
Ava Jinying Salzman is a visual artist, writer, graphic novelist, and multidisciplinary artist from Los Angeles, California. Her lifelong passion lies in uncovering the stories that haunt us: in giving artistic form to the ghosts and monsters of our pasts, so that we might confront and embrace them. Her latest project is an original graphic novel dealing with the ghosts of a more personal history.
Sam Woolf is a writer and aspiring multi-hyphenate. Due to a love of folktales and her half-Japanese background, Sam is drawn to stories that connect multiple worlds and differing perspectives. This passion usually manifests as magical realist screenplays about ghosts––characters that might exist between life and death.
Each Fellow will receive a multi-thousand-dollar project grant in support of their proposed artistic endeavors. The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Harvardwood AAPI Artist Fellowship was created in 2023 with a gift from Angela Chao (AB ‘95, MBA ‘01) in honor of her mother, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao.
Mrs. Ruth Mulan Chu Chao was a philanthropist, mother of six daughters, and lifelong advocate for equitable education. Like her namesake, Chinese folk heroine Hua Mulan, Mrs. Chao faced adversity with extraordinary grace, courage, and determination. In 2016 she became the first woman and Asian American to have a building named in her honor at Harvard University.
Angela Chao, Mrs. Chao’s youngest daughter and CEO of Foremost Group, states: "My mother was an inspiration to my sisters and me. She worked very hard and made many sacrifices to support her daughters' educations and potential in life. It is my hope that this fellowship will help honor her legacy and inspire others to embrace her values and generosity. She would have been proud to support a cause that provides opportunities for AAPI students to make their voices heard and break down barriers as an important step toward celebrating and protecting our heritage and the Asian American Pacific Islander community.”
Harvardwood Founder Mia Riverton Alpert (AB ‘99) said, "Angela Chao has long been a champion for the arts and the AAPI community. This generous and impactful Fellowship in honor of her mother, Mrs. Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, continues a legacy of extraordinary leadership and demonstrates a deep commitment to supporting AAPI artists, bringing their rich and diverse stories to global audiences."
Click here for more info!
2023 Winners of Harvardwood Writers Competition & Most Staffable TV Writers
Harvardwood has announced its latest set of Writers Competition winners, also naming its Most Staffable TV Writer for 2023.
The official arts, media, and entertainment alumni organization for Harvard University, Harvardwood looks to spotlight talented up-and-coming writers from diverse backgrounds and to connect them with mentors, as well as producers, agencies, and management companies.
Writer-producers participating in this year’s program as mentors include Neal Baer (ER, Designated Survivor), Emily Halpern (80 for Brady, Booksmart), and Jeff Schaffer (Dave, Curb Your Enthusiasm).
2022 Winners of Harvardwood Writers Competition & Most Staffable TV Writers
Harvardwood has announced its latest set of Writers Competition winners, also naming its Most Staffable TV Writers for 2022.
The official arts, media and entertainment alumni organization for Harvard University, Harvardwood looks to spotlight talented up-and-coming writers from diverse backgrounds and to connect them with mentors, as well as producers, agencies and management companies.
Writer-producers participating in this year’s program as mentors include Carlton Cuse (Lost), Mark Goffman (The Umbrella Academy), Teresa Hsiao (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens), Colleen McGuinness (Life & Beth) and Jeff Melvoin (Killing Eve).
John Bowman Memorial Tribute
Earlier this year we said goodbye to beloved John F. Bowman (AB ’80, MBA ’85), a valued leader in his role as Vice-Chair of the Harvardwood Board amongst many other things.
The memorial tribute video from the Writers Guild of America can be found here.
2022-23 Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship Winners
Harvardwood congratulates writer Youmna Chamieh ‘22 and musical theater composer/lyricist Julia Riew ‘22, who are the recipients of the inaugural Mia and David Alpert Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship.
Summer 2021 VIP Auction
Don't miss your opportunity to bid on a private, one-on-one zooms with producer Marty Bowen AB '91(First Man, The Hate You Give, Twilight film series, Maze Runner film series), award winning actress, producer and activist Amy Brenneman AB '86 (Judging Amy, NYPD Blue, Heat, The Leftovers, Tell Me Your Secrets), writer/producer Teresa Hsaio AB '07 (Co-creator, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens), and showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg AB '97 (Black Sails, Jericho, Human Target, Percy Jackson).
Please read the auction rules and guidelines before placing any bid on a VIP lunch. Bidding ends at 4 pm EST on Wednesday, June 30th, so don’t wait until the last minute – get your bid in now!
All auction proceeds go toward our Student Support Initiative. This undergraduate-focused fund provides memberships to students who are in need of additional aid, in addition to supporting key student programs including Harvardwood 101 and the Summer Internship Program.
2021 Winners of the Harvardwood Writers Competition & Most Staffable TV Writers
Harvardwood has announced its Writers Competition winners and Most Staffable TV Writers List. Several categories are led by writers from underrepresented groups. The winners are chosen via a blind judging process, and Harvardwood’s writers programs and competition have always had a far more diverse population than any WGA statistics on TV writers’ rooms or feature projects.
“Harvardwood has strived to support new voices in the industry, and we are proud to see those efforts reflected in our competition winners,” says President Allison Kiessling.
Please see the Deadline announcement here.
Help establish Harvardwood's South Korea Chapter!
Help establish Harvardwood's South Korea Chapter!
Are you interested in helping to establish Harvardwood's South Korea Chapter? We are currently looking for chapter co-leads and other positions. If you have interest in helping plan digital events for this chapter for early 2021, please email us at [email protected]!
Apply to Harvardwood 101's First Virtual Year
Harvardwood student members:
Today, the application opens for our first Virtual Harvardwood 101 Program! The application will close October 18th, 2020.
The Harvardwood 101 career exploration program provides a series of career-related activities in order to demystify Hollywood and educate undergraduates about careers in the entertainment industry. The program began in 2003 and is cosponsored by Harvard University's Office for the Arts and the Office of Career Services.
This program is open to all current Harvard College students who are Full Members of Harvardwood. Students do not have to demonstrate prior experience in the arts, media, and entertainment—just a genuine interest in pursuing a career in one (or more!) of those fields!
The application can be found here. Please bear with us for changes to the 101 website, as dates and details are changing in real time.
Due to the virtual nature of the program, there may be more spaces available than in a typical year. However, 101 slots fill up quickly, so please get your application in as soon as possible!
Questions? Email us!
Harvardwood 101
Become a Mentor in the Harvardwood Mentorship Program
The Harvardwood Mentorship Program fosters meaningful professional relationships by matching Harvard graduates with more established alums in their fields of interest, for a period of nine months of one-on-one career mentoring.
The time commitment will be approximately 3-4 hours. Mentors will connect with their mentees in 3-4 meetings over the course of the year, usually October - June. Given COVID-19, virtual meetings are encouraged.
Topics to be discussed during meetings can include the following:
- The mentor's advice for perfecting one’s craft: acting, singing, songwriting, music producing, directing, or writing
- The mentor’s current position, what they do, their career progression
- Career advancement advice
- How to handle difficult professional situations
If you are interested in mentoring, please email the Harvardwood Mentorship Program at [email protected].