FYI 2007 Competition
Think Tank
Troy Hollar
President, MetaFoundry
A technology and entertainment entrepreneur, Troy founded and manages MetaFoundry, a boutique design and technology firm that develops marketing solutions and Web-based software and systems for clients in the public and private sectors. He continues to be involved where he began his working career: as a stage producer in New York. In more than a decade, he has produced more than 60 plays and live events in New York in such diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, La MaMa, Roseland, Tribeca Film Center, and the Merchant's House Museum. He served as Managing Director for the award-winning downtown theaters Workhouse and Soho Rep, and for Malaparte, where he produced new American plays with Artistic Director Ethan Hawke. Troy serves on the board of directors for Soho Repertory Theatre and as an advisor for Hourglass Group. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of Michigan, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Katherine Pew, a writer and yoga instructor, their son, Everett, and their daughter, Greta.
Kathi Sharpe-Ross
President, The Sharpe Alliance
Founder and President of The Sharpe Alliance, Kathi Sharpe-Ross brings more than 20 years of industry experience to her diverse client base. The Sharpe Alliance is an integrated brand building, marketing and promotion company that specializes in strategic alliances and partnership programs. From corporate brands to entertainment properties, Sharpe-Ross has extensive expertise with consumer products, licensing, retail promotion, brand-building, public relations, corporate and entertainment marketing, and strategic and tactical campaign building.
Sharpe-Ross most recently served The Leverage Group (TLG), a global marketing consulting firm, as Executive Vice President and head of its west coast office. Under her leadership they developed campaigns for corporate and entertainment clients: Smashbox Cosmetics, LA Fashion Week, Warner Strategic Marketing, Kathy Smith, Quincy Jones' Global "We Are The Future" concert, Broadway Video, TD Waterhouse, Sony Music, Redken, Lava Life and more.
Prior to her relationship with TLG Sharpe-Ross spent a year as Sr. Vice President of Marketing, Public Relations, and Promotions for DIC Entertainment, one of the world's leading children's television animation companies. Sharpe-Ross oversaw the initiatives for the daily PBS television series, Liberty Kid's, each department, and a multitude of licensees and retail partners associated with each property. She facilitated the necessary marketing, promotion, and public relation campaigns for the re-launch of Strawberry Shortcake, working closely with corporate sponsors, all licensees, national retailers as well as DIC's partner American Greetings.
In her early career Sharpe-Ross owned and operated SHARPE Public Relations and Marketing. For 15 years the agency, based in Beverly Hills, with affiliate offices in New York, Paris and Hong Kong, represented a diverse client base including: Coca Cola, Super Bowl XXXII, World Cup Soccer 1994, Saban/Fox Kids/Power Rangers, The Wiggles, Nelvana Entertainment, Jakks Pacific, TOMY, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Walt Disney World on Ice, Olympic Figure Skating, Variety Clubs of America, I Have Dream Foundation, and many more.
Stephen Nemeth
President, Rhino Films
Stephen Nemeth formed and heads up Rhino Films, the independent film company that originated as a division of iconoclast record label Rhino Records. He has served as Producer on five films and Executive Producer on nine others. In addition to running Rhino Films, he is currently in the process of helping form Amnesty International Media (AIM), an offshoot of the non-profit human rights organization.
For Rhino, Nemeth produced Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal Pictures), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Warner Bros.), Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (Lion's Gate), and the just-completed What We Do Is Secret , about the life of The Germs' front man and the birth of LA's punk rock scene in the late '70s. Additionally, he served as Executive Producer on Ivans xtc (Artistic License) and the feature doc Pick Up The Mic, a look at the burgeoning subculture of gay and lesbians in the hip hop scene which premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.
Previously Nemeth executive produced Rhino's first film, the comedic spoof Plump Fiction. He also produced Bad Manners, and served as Executive Producer on Denise Calls Up (Sony Classics), Digging to China, Chow Bella, Mona Must Die, Cadillac Ranch, and as Co-Producer on the skateboarding documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (winner of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary; Sony Classics). In television, Nemeth served as an Executive Producer on a TV development deal for a remake of The Monkees with producer Simon Fuller (American Idol), and currently has several other comedy, drama, and reality TV series in development.
Currently, Nemeth is Producing t.a.T.u., which will be shooting in Moscow this winter, and several documentaries, including Project Street, an exploration of the urban skateboarding world, with acclaimed video music director Block (Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill) directing; Tuner Nation, a look at the real world of the fast and the furious; Water, a look at the world's water supply and the privatization of our most basic resource; Beisbol, an exploration of the rise of Latin Baseball; Fields of Fuel, a personal look at "alternative energy" through the eyes of biodiesel pioneer Josh Tickell, and documentaries on George Plimpton, Budd Schulberg, and iconoclast artist Robert Williams.
Under the Rhinomation banner, Nemeth will be producing animated feature Slushy, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, an animated version of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and an animated Mother Jones movie, with the magazine. Rhinomation projects will be produced in partnership with Ralph Guggenheim (Producer, Toy Story and Pixar co-founder).
Nemeth also serves as a Consultant for Mobile Media, a Norwegian cell phone content provider, and Admetech, a non-profit prostate cancer research foundation at the Harvard Medical School.
Nemeth was named one of the "Top Ten Most Prolific Producers in Hollywood" by The Hollywood Reporter in its Independent Producers & Distributors Issue, and one of the "Ten Coolest People in Hollywood" by an online survey of 500 agents, managers, journalists, and lawyers. He serves on the boards of the Hollywood Film Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival. He has spoken at numerous film seminars, classes, panels, etc., and has been a judge at many film festivals and screenwriting competitions. He holds two US patents, produces Public Service Announcements for Rock The Vote, and serves as an advisory board member for Rock The Vote, the Prints and Drawing Department of the LA County Museum, Children's United Nations, the Wildlife Ecostation, Wheels For Humanity, Shine On Sierra Leone, and Amnesty International's Artists for Amnesty.
Prior to forming Rhino Films, Nemeth worked as an independent producer and as a motion picture agent at the William Morris Agency. He is a California native, attended Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, and is a graduate of UCLA's psychology department.
Richard Ellis
Founder & President, 12 to 20
Richard Ellis, Founder and President of 12to20, started as a musician and songwriter, and then crossed over to the dark side, working at Warner Music Group, Sony Music, RCA/BMG, Time Inc, and Musician Magazine. After 20 years, he got smart and started his own agency to target teen consumers for entertainment companies and brands in unique ways.
His clients have included AOL, MTV, Teen Vogue, P&G, Neutrogena, Reebok, CBS, Dodge, Sony Music, BMG North America, General Growth Properties, Ford Motor Company, National Lampoon, and Rolling Stone Magazine. He has produced music tours for artists as diverse as Avril Lavigne to Fabolous and created the Cosmopolitan Magazine college television show entitled The Making of Music.
12to20 works with technology companies such as Bolt, BandDigs, PopularMedia, FasTV, MyCard@School, Varsitybooks.com, Rightsline, and Collegeclub.com, record labels such as Universal, RCA, Warner Bros., Capitol, Arista, Atlantic, and Disney, and traditional media companies such as Meredith Publications, Time Inc, and emap/Peterson Publishing.
His desire to promote messages of youth empowerment has tied 12to20 to campaigns with the CDC, the ONDCP, MADD, SADD, Amnesty International, Do Something, and NAMM’s music education programs. And in order to maintain an edge on how teens think, feel, and act, he maintains a strategic relationship with Teenage Research Unlimited.
Richard Ellis currently serves on the advisory councils for mpower, the National Mental Health Association’s program to reach young people through music and is a member of the board of directors of Project Echo, which helps secondary school students create and run their own businesses. He also sits on the board of America’s Schools Program.
Mildred Lewis
Playwright/Professor/Scenarist
Mildred Inez Lewis is an award winning filmmaker and writer. She has been a professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts since 2000. Twice named to Who’s Who Among American Teachers, Mildred has served as a board member of the University Film and Video Association. Her students have been recognized with a regional Student Academy Award™, ACE Award, and Key Awards.
After graduating from Oberlin College, she began her career as a theater director in New York City where she was a member of the Playwright’s and Director’s Unit of the Actors Studio and Circle Repertory’s LAB. She was a United States representative to the International Theater Festival in 1991.
She graduated from UCLA with an MFA in Film/Television and an MA in African Area studies with an emphasis in film. She has won a Samuel Goldwyn Creative Writing Award, HBO New Writer Award and best screenwriter awards from the American Indian and Jamerican Film Festivals for her feature screenplay Unbowed. She has written and directed shorts that have screened at Reel Rasquache and the Roxbury, San Francisco Black and Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Festivals. Plays that she has authored have been produced in New York City, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Athens, Greece.
Ms. Lewis has consistently worked for social justice and the arts. For five years, Mildred was the administrative director of the Streisand Foundation. She has served as a grants panelist for the Blues Heaven Foundation, Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles and ARTS Inc. She also served on the advisory board for LA Youth.
Barr Potter
CEO, MediaWide Consultants
Barr Potter is the founder and CEO of MediaWide Consultants. He is an experienced CEO/COO in the film and new media industries, having established and managed both private and public companies in those sectors. MWC advises companies and individuals, particularly those based outside of Los Angeles, on the management and development of their entertainment-related business matters. Some of MWC's current clients are located in Lithuania, Finland and India.
Prior to MWC, Barr was Chairman and CEO of Largo Entertainment, Inc., which was involved in the financing, acquisition and worldwide sales of feature films. Under Barr's leadership, Largo was involved with 20 pictures, such as "G.I. Jane" and "White Squall" (both directed by Ridley Scott), "Grey Owl" (directed by Richard Attenborough), "Mulholland Falls" (directed by Lee Tamahori and produced by Dick Zanuck), "City of Industry" (directed by John Irvin), "John Carpenter's Vampires", and "Affliction" (written and directed by Paul Schrader, which earned James Coburn an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for Nick Nolte as Best Actor). Largo did business with every major domestic studio, and sold its films to key distributors in every major territory around the world.
Before Largo, Barr was President and COO of Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, Inc., the North American subsidiary of a worldwide film production and distribution company based in London.
Barr was also the President and COO of GlobalMedia.com, an award-winning Nasdaq-listed Internet company based in Vancouver, that was a provider of on-line video streaming solutions for sports and entertainment companies, and a developer of next generation technology for broadband and wireless markets. He also served on the company's board of directors.
Barr has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for over 20 years. He is also a licensed attorney in California and New York.
Barry Rivers
Founder and Directory, Maui Film Festival
Barry Rivers is the Founder and Director of the Maui Film Festival, which is built on the belief that great filmmaking is pure alchemy and that when filmmakers challenge themselves to tell inspiring, heartfelt and life-affirming stories, they can turn darkness into light, revealing the neverending landscape of possibility.
It is this belief in the power of creativity — to enlighten, to entertain, and to empower — which is the guiding principle that gives the Maui Film Festival its character, its energy, and its soul.
Jimmy Siegel
Moxie Productions
Jimmy Siegel is creative director and co–owner of a–political, an issue advocacy company. He previously was creative director of Eliot Spitzer’s campaign for governor, in charge of all television, radio and print. His ads for Spitzer were cited by the New York Times, Daily News, and various influential blogs including the Kos Blog for their freshness, emotional power and arresting imagery. Jimmy also did advertising for Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for Attorney General, Brooke Ellison’s campaign for State Senate, and Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign for US Congress, where Jimmy recreated the famous anti–McCarthy Murrow broadcast using the same actor who portrayed Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck.
In December of 2005, Jimmy left his position as vice chairman, senior executive creative director and member of the Board of Directors of BBDO New York, where he was counted among the agency’s top creative talents.
He held over 20 years creative experience on many key BBDO accounts and in the last ten years there worked primarily on Visa, Charles Schwab, AOL, and Pepsi Twist, where his contributions played a significant role in enhancing the agency’s creative reputation.
For example, on Visa alone, Jimmy counted almost 40 spots to his credit. Among them, the "Bob Dole" commercial, which was honored with a gold Lion at Cannes, two Clios, a New York Festival gold and a trophy from the London International Awards. Also among his award–winning Visa achievements were "Burro," which garnered a gold Clio and a silver Lion at Cannes in 1993, and "Elephant," which won a bronze Lion.
On Schwab, Jimmy conceived the "Smarter Investors" campaign which won a Silver Lion at Cannes and which was voted by consumers to be one of America’s most popular campaigns, according to USA TODAY»s weekly "Ad Meter" surveys.
Other honored spots include two from Federal Express: the poignant and heartwarming "Adoption," which received a gold and silver at the New York Festivals in 1991, and "Secretary," which was selected "most humorous" and "best 30–second commercial" of 1992 by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society as well as being named both an Adweek and an Ad Age "Best Spot."
Beyond this, Jimmy won numerous other awards from the London International Advertising Festival, National ADDY’s, Andy’s and other prestigious industry competitions.
In addition, Jimmy was recognized by The Advertising Club for a poignant commercial he created for Visa following the September 11 attacks. As described by Adweek critic Barbara Lippert, "the spot did not respond to the sadness and powerlessness we felt, but rather, offered us an organic life force rising up before our eyes." The commercial, a salute to New York City’s live theatre and the resolve of the people of New York, showed several black and white scenes capturing the romance and glamour of Broadway from both sides of the curtain, set against Judy Collins’ unexpectedly haunting version of "Give My Regards To Broadway." "The curtain will never go down on New York City," said a simple title card at the close; and in so doing, Jimmy created what Ms. Lippert called "the best return to normal message she could imagine." The commercial was nominated for a 2002 Emmy.
Quite simply, Jimmy loves to write. In fact, in his spare time, he’s penned four novels, the first of which, "Epitaph," was published in June 2001 and was nominated for ’Best First Novel’ by the Private Eye Writers of America. His next book, "Derailed," was published in February 2003, made the NY Times bestseller list and was recently turned into a movie with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen. His next book Detour is currently under production at Paramount and his fourth novel, Deceit came out in August and has been optioned by Universal.
He’s currently working for a presidential candidate for president.
Eric Roth
Executive VP, Co-Head of Business & Legal Affairs, The Weinstein Company
John L. Solomon
Head, Disney Television Animation's Shorts Lab
John L. Solomon is the head of Disney Television Animation's Shorts Lab, where he is responsible for producing 'creator driven' animated shorts which are ground-breaking and fresh in design, character, direction, and story-telling.
Prior to working at TVA, John was Vice President of Creative Development of Theme Park Productions, the media unit of Walt Disney Imagineering, where he was responsible for the creative development of all filmed entertainment in Disney Parks worldwide.
In 1986 John became Senior Vice President of Witt-Thomas Films at Walt Disney, where he oversaw the development and productions of all motion picture product at the company. There he Associate Produced the company's Tri-Star release, Mixed Nuts, starring Steve Martin and directed by Nora Ephron, and Co-Produced the Warner Brothers release Final Analysis which featured Richard Gere, Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman, and was directed by Phil Jaonou.
An avid contemporary art collector, John's eclectic taste ranges from Claus Oldenberg to Christo to William Wegman. Recently, John restored Richard Neutra's "Taylor House," a modernist gem in the hills above Glendale, which has since been featured in the New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Daily Variety, and several books on the modernist movement. He is an active member of the Los Angeles based Progressive Jewish Alliance, a leading voice in the social-justice community, and is a founding Trustee of the new Pasadena Museum of California Art.
John Tarnoff
Head of Show Development, Dreamworks Animation
John Tarnoff oversees three groups responsible for managing key resources and practices in Dreamworks Animation's early production process for its animated feature films. These groups are responsible for the initial artistic designs and storyboards for films in development and pre-production, for the artistic enrichment and training of the illustrators, designers, and storyboard artists who create the look of these films, and for the studio's ongoing relationship with art schools and other institutions that provide new ideas and talent that help shape the studio's future.
John has been in the motion picture business for 30 years, starting in TV commercial production in New York and film distribution in Los Angeles. He was a literary agent responsible for breaking talented directors like John Landis, Michael Mann and Martha Coolidge, and an independent producer and production executive for studios including MGM, Orion, Columbia, Warner Bros, and New Line. Some of the films he has been responsible for include Diner, The Year of Living Dangerously, Pink Floyd the wall, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Power of One. A co-founder of Village Roadshow Pictures, he helped pioneer U.S./Australian co-productions in the late 1980s.
Prior to joining Dreamworks, John was the co-founder of Talkie, Inc. an internet technology company that developed intelligent, conversational animated characters for online marketing, brand building, lead generation, customer service and training. He grew up in New York and Paris, and is a passionate still photographer.
Marc Von Arx
Motion Picture Business Affairs Executive, Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
Marc is a Motion Picture Business Affairs Executive at the Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills, California, where he represents a diverse group of actors, directors, writers and producers in the motion picture industry.
He served previously as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for InnMedia, LLC. InnMedia was the leading provider of new media products and services for the hospitality industry .
From 1998 to 2001, he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for WHN, a Los Angeles based licensing industry business-to-business exchange, and provider of e-commerce solutions for over 60 major media brand holders including ABC, NBC, Universal, Fox Broadcasting, Paramount, Comedy Central, MTV, Playboy, TV Guide and the 2002 Winter Olympics. From 1984 to 1998, he was a private practice attorney, first at Loeb and Loeb and subsequently at Bloom, Hergott, Diemer, Rosenthal and LaViolette, LLP.
He received his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and his JD from the UCLA School of Law, in 1984, and attended the American Film Institute as a directing fellow in 1990-91.
He is an Advisory Committee member for FYI / Film Your Issue, a national collegiate film and video competition targeting 7 million students on 1200 college campuses. He is a former Chairman of the New Technologies Committee of the American Film Institute's Third Decade Council, and a former member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Marc lives in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles with his wife, Debbie, his daughter Aimee and his son Billy, where he is active in coaching youth athletics.
Stacy Ivers
Stacy Ivers joined Universal Pictures as Senior Vice President, Media Relations on September 5, 2006. Ivers reports to Universal Pictures Chairman Marc Shmuger. She develops and manages the full range of media relations for motion picture operations (production, distribution, marketing and executive), including strategic planning, implementation of tactics, and evaluation of results in consumer, business and trade media.
Ivers joined Universal Pictures from her previous post as Vice President of Publicity at Warner Bros. Pictures, where she was the corporate communications executive for the motion picture division of the company. Prior to joining Warner Bros. in 2002, Ivers was Vice President of Corporate Communications at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Immediately preceding that role, she served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at International Creative Management, a leading talent and literary agency. Ivers spent the years from 1990 to 2000 at Warner Bros. as staff writer in theatrical publicity, later moving up to Director of Written Communications. Prior to that she worked as a unit publicist for three years, after serving at several public relations agencies and co-founding her own agency, J.C. Manheimer & Co., in Norwich, Vermont.
Ivers began her career in government and politics, working on both Congressional and Presidential campaigns and serving in the mayor's office for the city of Chicago.
Shawn LeMone
Shawn LeMone is the Assistant Vice President of Film & Television/New Media & Technology for ASCAP's Membership Group. Having joined the society's Los Angeles office in 1995, Shawn has been instrumental in the development of industry standards for television performance data and educating production offices on the role of performance rights. He also represents the interests of film and television composers to ASCAP's senior management and resolves high level crediting and distribution issues.
Le Mone is among those at the forefront of ASCAP's efforts in researching and employing technological innovations to better serve its composer and publisher members. In addition, he has spearheaded ASCAP's outreach efforts to the film and television production community, music technology companies and the video game industry.
Prior to ASCAP, Le Mone served as the Foreign Levies Administrator for both the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) from 1991 to 1995. During his tenure at the Guilds, he developed and administered a large mechanical royalty account derived from levies on the sale and rental of video tape in Europe.
Le Mone graduated from UCLA in 1991 with a degree in Social Psychology and is a dormant guitarist and songwriter. He has organized and participated in seminars at UCLA, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, American Film Institute, Game Developers Conference, Austin Music Foundation, California Lawyers for the Arts and the California Copyright Conference, where he is also the on the Board of Directors.
Pat Magnarella
Michael Ventura
Partner and Creative Director, Seed Gives Life
In 2005, Michael founded creative & lifestyle agency Seed Gives Life, focusing the firm’s efforts on highly targeted, participatory advertising. Michael is responsible for the conception and execution of all the agency’s creative strategy, work and subsequent introduction to the market. Seed's clients include: Mountain Dew, Sony Music, Nike, Davidoff, Axe (Unilever), MSN, Marquis Jet, New Era, Vespa, Estee Lauder, and others. Additionally, Michael serves as the Creative Director for both of Seed’s magazine properties; Inked Magazine (inkedmag.com) and LTD Quarterly (ltdmag.com).
Before founding his own companies, Michael was the Creative Producer for HNW, a high-net-worth media agency, developing advertising and collateral campaigns for clients such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Fidelity Investments.
In addition, Michael has served as a media consultant for companies like New York University, DaniloBlack, BMG, Ziff-Davis and American Media. Michael also sits on the advisory boards of both Mark Ecko’s Sweat Equity Enterprises and the United Nation’s-based New York AIDS Film Festival. He has also spoken on several panels and conferences regarding the role of creative design in advertising and the media. He also serves as a judge for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Awards. Michael lives in New York City.
