Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, May 4-7, 2009 Tuesday, May 5th 10:45 AM - Noon Track I: Hollywood and the Digital Consumer: How Technology, Content and Services Establish the Next Level of Consumer Entertainment Experience The next generation of technology within the digital home will bring with it not only more content to the consumer, it will bring with it greater choice and more individual personalization into the process. While the actual definition of the digital home is still emerging, the idea of a fully connected consumer, living in a high speed DTV, PVR, HD, broadband and wireless environment is a good jumping off place. Hollywood, the provider of the content will not only flourish in this environment, it will probably enter a new golden age of production as it discovers how best to relate to it consumer base. How Hollywood will respond to a fully realized OnDemand television, film and games universe is the latest challenge to be faced. The technologies now finding their way into the home are disruptive, not only to the content community, but to the consumer electronics community as well. The brave new world of the digital home is not only an exciting new market opportunity for Hollywood, it is also brings with it a complex labyrinth of difficult options. Jared Tobman, Senior Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production for Reveille LLC John Penney, President, Foresee Entertainment Eric Berger, Senior Vice President, Digital Networks, Sony Pictures Television Patrick Barry, VP Connected TV, Yahoo! Malik Ducard, Vice President of North American Digital Distribution, Paramount Digital Entertainment Cristian Cussen, Director of Content & Marketing, MySpaceTV / MySpace.com Ira Rubenstein, Executive Vice President, Global Digital Media Group, Marvel Entertainment, Inc., Moderator Jared Tobman, Senior Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production for Reveille LLC, is responsible for supervising the production of a wide range of innovative programming and content for television and across various online platforms. Prior to joining Reveille, Jared produced documentary-style reality television programs in more than 40 countries, including some of the world's most challenging and dangerous environments. He produced "Wild Things," which profiled people who work with wildlife; CBS' Emmy award- winning "The Amazing Race"; ABC's "Profiles from the Front Line," which profiled the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces; and Showtime's "American Candidate," a simulated presidential campaign. Since joining Reveille, Jared has overseen production of all unscripted network and cable television series and internet programming (shows currently airing include NBC's "American Gladiators" and "Nashville Star" and MTV's "Legally Blonde"). He has also Executive Produced all of the internet series produced under the ground-breaking MSN/Reveille deal, including "Chef to the Rescue" (sponsored by Kraft and Morningstar Farms and featuring celebrity chef Cat Cora); "Mr. Robinson's Driving School" (sponsored by Volvo and featuring Craig Robinson from Reveille's NBC hit "The Office"); and "5-Minute Office Workout" (sponsored by Kraft and featuring Bob Harper from the breakout Reveille series "The Biggest Loser"). He also founded Realitystaff.com, an online staffing site for the reality television industry. John Penney, President, Foresee Entertainment: John Penney oversees Foresee’s operations and the planning and development of its strategy, expansion efforts and new business platforms. Penney brings a deep and varied media and entertainment background to Foresee. During the five years he was with HBO, most recently as Senior Vice President, Digital Initiatives, he oversaw the strategic planning, delivery and operational management of new advertising-supported broadband channels. More recently, Penney served as Head of Global Media Strategy for IMG, Inc., where he was responsible for developing and implementing a new global entertainment strategy, focusing on production and distribution of non-scripted, scripted, and digital programming. Penney was an early proponent of the digital transformation of the entertainment industry. As Executive Vice President at ACTV, Inc., he oversaw the development and licensing of technologies and intellectual property for interactive television, personal computer, wireless data and mobile entertainment environments. He also served as consultant and Managing Director, at Scient, Inc., where he created and marketed digital migration strategies for major entertainment content and distribution companies. Penney also served as Vice President, Planning and Development, for Viacom, Inc. Even before his direct experience working for media and content companies, Penney had developed a deep financial expertise in the sector. He spent seven years on Wall Street, both as an equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. covering the media and entertainment industries, and as a financial analyst in the Media & Telecommunications Corporate Finance group of The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. John has also consulted for major media and telecommunications companies, including AT&T where he provided strategic guidance on the launch of the company’s IPTV service and targeted advertising technology platform. At Foresee, Penney applies his business/product development, strategy, management, and financial expertise to developing next-generation, advertising supported and premium digital/traditional media & entertainment platforms. Penney is currently focusing on creating new business models, and product suites for broadband, mobile, and technology-enabled entertainment platforms. He joined Foresee in September 2008 and is based in Los Angeles. Penney holds a B.A. in Social Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy & Administration, concentrating in Science & Technology, from Columbia University. He currently is a member of the board of directors of Arbinet, a NASDAQ traded provider of electronic markets for telecommunications services and digital goods. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. Eric Berger, Senior Vice President, Digital Networks, Sony Pictures Television: Eric Berger is the senior vice president of digital networks at Sony Pictures Television where he oversees Crackle, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s online video network. In this position, Berger supervises content development and programming, marketing and distribution for Crackle. Berger also manages the day to day operations of the digital networks group. These responsibilities include the programming and distribution functions for multi-platform channels including The Minisode Network; the Vault, SPT's television library channel; and PIX, SPT’s movie channel. Berger joined the company in 2006 as vice president, mobile entertainment. He guided SPT’s mobile games division from 17th to 5th place in the market, and he successfully launched video services on all available mobile operators including Verizon, Sprint and AT&T. Prior to Sony, Berger was Vice President of Strategic Planning at Time Warner Inc. (AOL, HBO,Turner Broadcasting, Time Inc., Time Warner Cable, and Warner Bros.) where he was responsible for wireless initiatives and the creation of new digital growth businesses. His efforts included shaping the company’s overall mobile strategy, including driving investment, acquisition and business development. Patrick Barry, VP Connected TV, Yahoo!: Patrick Barry leads the digital home team for Yahoo!’s global Connected Life business unit, which is at the leading edge of the Web’s intersection with the “10-foot experience” of television viewing. The Connected Life business unit encompasses Yahoo!’s mobile products, broadband services, digital home initiative, PC client experience, and strategic partnerships with companies including AT&T, BT, Nokia, and Motorola. This includes the Yahoo! Go suite of services, a revolutionary way to seamlessly connect users to their favorite Web services, wherever they happen to be. Barry has overall responsibility for the digital home business, including the strategy, products and partnerships that extend Yahoo!’s content, communities and services to “10-foot interfaces” in the digital home. Barry leads Yahoo!’s Digital Home product efforts on network operator, consumer electronics and PC-based platforms, including programs with AT&T, Intel, Sony, TiVo, Philips and Microsoft. Before joining Yahoo!, Barry was an active venture investor in the areas of networking, consumer electronics and web services. Prior to that, he worked with numerous start-up technology companies, both as an operating executive and as a practicing corporate and securities lawyer. He is a regular speaker at industry events, including Digital Hollywood and the Intel Developer Forum. Patrick received his undergraduate degree from Columbia College and holds a JD from Hastings College of the Law. Malik Ducard currently serves as Vice President of North American Digital Distribution at Paramount Digital Entertainment. In this role, Ducard is responsible for driving revenue and profitability growth by enlisting third party aggregators to distribute Paramount Pictures’ content across alternative distribution channels. He also leads the domestic team, and drives digital development and exploitation of growing digital business such as Virtual Worlds, Content-loaded Hardware and Devices, and Consumer-direct Distribution Efforts. Prior to joining Paramount, Ducard held VP positions at both Lionsgate and MGM Studios. Ducard has more than a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, and an extensive background in business development. Cristian Cussen. Director of Content and Marketing for MySpace Video: Cristian Cussen is Director of Content and Marketing for MySpace Video. With a focus on content acquisition, development, and marketing, Cristian has forged a number of high-profile partnerships with producers, brands, and media companies, and continues to concentrate on increasing the range and quality of video content available to MySpace users. Since joining the company, Cristian has worked with Michael Eisner on his original web-series “Prom Queen,” and developed and overseen “Rules of the Game” with internationally-renowned author Neil Strauss, as well as “Roommates”, a scripted reality series, for which he also secured sponsorship from Ford. These three series alone have garnered over 25,000,000 views on MySpace. Cristian is also an executive producer on “Paul Brogan,” a comedic web show featured on-air before the Super Bowl, and “Special Delivery,” a hidden-camera comedy sponsored by Cheetos. Most recently, Cristian has overseen “BFF” produced by Meryl Poster, and is currently developing “Married on MySpace,” an interactive reality series produced by Endemol, and sponsored by Touchstone Pictures. Prior to joining MySpace, Cristian served as Director of Development at Scott Rudin Productions, overseeing the company’s literary department and acquiring film rights to books, articles, and plays. At Scott Rudin Productions, Cristian worked on a variety of movies including The Hours, School of Rock, and Team America. Cristian has worked internationally on two James Bond films: as the Spanish language interpreter on Die Another Day and as a location manager on Casino Royale. Cristian has also worked at Morgan Stanley and at the World Bank in Mexico City. Cristian received his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Erica Aris, an art consultant. Ira Rubenstein, EVP, Global Digital Media Group, Marvel Entertainment, Inc.: Ira Rubenstein has built a career on identifying and implementing new marketing and distribution opportunities for entertainment across a wide array of platforms. In his role at Marvel Rubenstein is responsible for the company's Global digital strategy and implementation for all of Marvel's properties across digital and games channels. Prior to Marvel, Rubenstein spent 12 years with Sony, most recently as executive vice president of Sony Pictures Digital where he was responsible for overseeing the division's production efforts to extend Sony Pictures properties into the digital marketplace through SonyPictures.com, mobile games and personalization products, casual games, and innovative strategic partnerships. Rubenstein managed the digital growth of the studio's most important brands including Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! - leading the expansion of these properties into broadband, interactive television, mobile, and the PSP and PS3 platforms. In addition, Rubenstein oversaw production for all Sony Pictures properties breaking into the growing mobile marketplace, developing an array of successful mobile entertainment offerings including the award-winning Spider-Man 2: The Hero Returns and Ratchet and Clank: Going Mobile, as well as the first Movies for Mobile Phones on Memory Cards. Also during his tenure at Sony, Rubenstein oversaw the establishment of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment's on-demand movie initiative, Movielink, to offer theatrically released motion pictures via digital delivery for broadband Internet users. Before the establishment of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Rubenstein was vice president, marketing, Columbia TriStar Interactive. In this role, he managed the strategic implementation of media planning, promotional and creative advertising campaigns for more than 100 film sites. Before joining Columbia TriStar Interactive, Rubenstein worked in film research and new media for Twentieth Century Fox. Rubenstein was recently included on the highly regarded "Digital 50" list, a distinction given to fifty new media innovators by The Producers Guild of America's New Media Council. Recognition for his work also includes Webby Awards, a Mobie award for games, a Gold Clio and several Key Art Awards. Rubenstein holds a B.A. in Management Science from UC San Diego and is a graduate of the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.