Entertainment Industry Conference 2018, November 15th

Sir Lucian Grainge is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment. He has spent his entire career in the music industry and signed and worked with many worldwide stars, including ABBA, Elton John, Jay Z, Katy Perry, Queen, Rihanna, The Rolling Stones, Ariana Grande, U2 and Amy Winehouse, among many others. Over the span of three decades at UMG, he not only pioneered new approaches to the signing and development of the world’s most successful recording artists and songwriters, but he has also consistently championed the development of innovative business models and partnerships with a wide range of technology and media partners. His inspiring leadership has been recognized for returning the music industry to growth after suffering more than a decade of decline.

As Chairman and CEO of Full Stop Management (FSM), Irving Azoff is an American personal manager representing artists such as Eagles, Jon Bon Jovi, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Journey, Van Halen, The Doobie Brothers, Travis Scott, Steely Dan, and entertainer Chelsea Handler. He also helms a joint venture with The Madison Square Garden Company, Azoff MSG Entertainment, encompassing performance rights, facilities management and services, comedy and experiential marketing divisions, in addition to FSM. Previously, he served as chairman and CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment and Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment and CEO of Front Line Management. In 2012, he topped Billboard Magazine’s Power 100, being named the most powerful person in the music industry.

The multi-talented James Corden is known around the world as a Tony Award-winning performer on Broadway, a BAFTA-winning star of a UK television series, a feature film actor, an Emmy-winning host, writer, and producer in several genres of television. He can currently be seen hosting The Late Late Show which premiered on CBS in March 2015 which received an Emmy and achieved its highest ratings, with any host, since the show’s inception in 1995. Most recently, he hosted The 70th Annual Tony Awards, which garnered the highest number of viewers in 15 years. On TV, he stars in, produces, and writes the BAFTA-nominated comedy thriller The Wrong Mans. He has also performed on the big screen in Into the Woods, The Three Musketeers, Gullivers Travels and Begin Again.

Vicki Dobbs Beck is the Executive in Charge of ILMxLAB, a new division launched in June 2015, whose mission is to create, develop and release premium, story-based Immersive Entertainment experiences for the home, theater and public venues. The division combines the storytelling and innovation talents of Lucasfilm, ILM and Skywalker Sound.  Vicki has more than 29 years of broad-based management experience in the entertainment industry.  She received her MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where she also completed her undergraduate studies.

Karen Dufilho is Executive Producer for Google Spotlight Stories and was instrumental in the creation of the group and its slate, which introduced immersive storytelling in mobile VR and VR at Google.  Most recently, Karen was a producer on Patrick Osborne’s Pearl and Justin Lin’s VR debut, Help.

Ted Schilowitz is the Futurist at Paramount Pictures, where he works with studio leadership and the technology teams at Paramount/Viacom, exploring forms of new and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.  Prior to joining Paramount, he was the Futurist at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on the evolving art, science and technology of advanced interactive visual storytelling. At RED Digital Cinema, he was an integral part of the product development team and a founding member and the company’s first employee.  He has presented worldwide at numerous conferences on the advancements in next generation visual experiences for the movie, TV, and interactive entertainment industries.

Vikash Sharma is Director of Product Management for AT&T’s OTT Media Products.  He works to create new features and oversees the ongoing evolution of streaming apps, DIRECTV NOW and WatchTV.  Previously, he served on DIRECTV’s new platforms and applications team within the Digital Entertainment product group.  Before that, he gained corporate strategy and business development experience at NTT Docomo-Tata JV in India.  He holds an MSc. in Media Ventures (Product Management) from Boston University and received his BSc. in Economics and Finance from Quinnipiac University.

Jake Zim is the Senior Vice President, Virtual Reality, at Sony Pictures. He is tasked with building a slate of narrative virtual reality (VR) content for the studio’s motion picture group, working closely with a team of professionals from across Sony Pictures, who are dedicated to the production and distribution of VR.  Previously, Senior VP, Digital Marketing, he oversaw promotional VR initiatives for the studio, including Ghostbusters: Dimension, the fully-immersive VR experience at Madame Tussauds New York, created in collaboration between Sony Pictures and The Void.

Andrew Wallenstein is Co-Editor-in-Chief, of Variety.com and Variety magazine.  He has been with Variety since 2011, where he oversees daily and weekly coverage of the entertainment industry, with a focus on technology.  He was an on-air contributor for NPR’s All Things Considered for nearly a decade and also hosted the PBS series Variety Studio: Actors on Actors, and the TV Guide Channel’s Square Off, a weekly primetime series about the TV industry.   He has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.  His work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe and Business Week.  He was at The Hollywood Reporter from 2002 to 2010.  

Paul Audley serves as President of FilmL.A., Inc., a position he has held since 2008.  While at FilmL.A., he has initiated a public education campaign, “Film Works”, moved their office to Hollywood, raised the organization’s profile, and has overseen improvements to FilmL.A.’s online permit system.  His career path to Film L.A. included time as an attorney, chief of staff and counsel to a congressman, Deputy Secretary of the State of Connecticut, Mayor of Fairfield, CT; and Public Affairs Director for the City of Scottsdale.  In July 2007, Paul was recruited to become The Trust for Public Land’s first Arizona State Director.

Amy Lemisch is the Executive Director of the California Film Commission, an appointment she has held since 2004.  In that capacity, she works to support California’s vital film production industry by offering support services.  She was involved in the creation of the film and television tax incentives program and administers it.  Prior to her appointment with the Film Commission, she was a producer for Penny Marshall’s company - Parkway Productions, at Universal Studios and Sony Pictures.  She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Producers Guild of America.