Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, October 18-21, 2010 Tuesday, October 19th 6:15 PM - 8:30 PM Track IV: HGmz-9, DHFi-10 Hollywood and Kids - Investing in the Cross Platform Revolution - TV - Games - Education Deborah Forte, President, Scholastic Media Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners Cynthia Neiman, Marketing and Product Development, Mattel, Inc. LeVar Burton, Executive Producer, ReadingRainbow 2.0, Actor Andy Heyward, co-founder and CEO, A Squared Entertainment (A2) Chris Hewish, Head of Global Interactive Licensing, DreamWorks Animation Farnaz M. Alemi, Attorney, Jenner & Block LLP, Moderator Deborah Forte is President of Scholastic Media (SM), Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. and an award-winning producer of children’s media, including movies, television programming, interactive games and learning software and web sites and a leading marketer of children’s brands. A proven leader in the children's media landscape, Scholastic Media ranks as one of the foremost producers of quality, family-oriented multiplatform content and is an award-winning marketer of children's properties worldwide. Ms. Forte oversees Scholastic Media’s three main divisions: Scholastic Entertainment, Scholastic Marketing & Consumer Products and the highly successful Interactive Products Group consisting of retail software, video games, apps, and Click! Interactive Learning Club. Scholastic’s animation studios – Soup2Nuts, and Weston Woods are a part of the Scholastic Media portfolio. Ms. Forte serves as Scholastic Media’s lead creative and business executive. Ms. Forte formed Scholastic Entertainment, now known as Scholastic Media, in 1997, creating the only full-scale, production, branding and merchandising division in the children’s publishing industry that successfully develops, produces and markets children’s media and brands for the global media marketplace. She has executive produced more than 300 television productions including series such as: the top-rated Clifford The Big Red Dog™ and the Emmy award-winning spin-off series Clifford’s Puppy Days™; Dear America“; the Emmy Award-winning I SPY“ and The Magic School Bus“ series; Animorphs“; Goosebumps“ and the critically acclaimed Word Girl series. Ms. Forte, is the creator and executive producer of the animated series Maya & Miguel™, which debuted to rave reviews. Based on an original concept by Ms. Forte, Maya & Miguel is at the core of a multi-media initiative designed to promote cultural diversity. Additional producing credits include the feature films: The Babysitters Club, The Mighty and Tuck Everlasting. Ms. Forte produced for New Line/ Warner Bros.The Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman’s best-selling trilogy, His Dark Materials, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Ms. Forte’s productions have won more than 100 awards including Emmys, Parents Choice, Humanitas, and an Academy Award. The interactive games, software, and web sites currently managed under her direction have won dozens of awards and industry honors, including the Webby. Ms. Forte serves on the board of the American Center for Children and Media, and is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, and The Producers Guild. Ms. Forte is a frequent speaker regarding the creation and development of children’s media and brands. Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners, focusing on Wireless and Digital Media investments, and also leads Norwest's China initiatives. Tim led NVP's investment in 3jam, Brite Semiconductor and Lumos Labs, and serves on the board of directors for these companies. Tim also led NVP's investment in PCH International. He is actively involved with NVP's wireless portfolio, including deCarta, DoubleFusion, Veveo, and Clairmail. Prior to joining Norwest, Tim was a Principal at Gabriel Venture Partners, where he established and led the Wireless investment practice, and was actively involved with investments in Placeware (acquired by Microsoft), Iridigm (acquired by Qualcomm), IPWireless (acquired by NextWave), Skycross, NextG Networks, and Sequoia Communications. Tim served as a director on the boards of Iridigm and Sequoia Communications. Before entering the venture capital industry, Tim was a Product Manager at Gateway, where he launched Enterprise products into the Japanese market, and began his career as a tri-lingual development engineer for General Motors, working across China, Korea, and Japan. Tim is an active contributor to the wireless industry, and serves on the advisory boards of Telecom Council Silicon Valley, TiE Wireless SIG, Under-the-Radar, Wireless Communications Alliance (WCA), MIT/Stanford VLAB, VC Task Force, Silicon Valley Chinese Wireless Association, and Digital Hollywood. Tim received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated in the top 10% of his class as an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds an MSEE and BSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a Deparmental Scholar and received full fellowship. Tim is also an accomplished musician and actor, and continues to perform around the Bay Area. Cynthia Neiman, Marketing and Product Development, Mattel, Inc.: Cynthia is responsible for setting marketing content strategy on the recently launched MDN. Prior to her current role, Cynthia managed the worldwide Mattel Games portfolio at Mattel including the UNO®, Scrabble®, Pictionary® and Apples to Apples® brands. Cynthia has also held senior marketing positions at IKEA (introducing the worldwide Swedish retailer to Southern California) and eteamz.com (the worldâ??s largest online amateur sports community). She holds a B.A. degree in Economics from UCLA and a Masters of Business Administration Degree from Vanderbilt University. When not competing in USTA tennis events, Cynthia spends way too much time on Facebook playing UNO® Farmville®. Copyright © 2003 - 2010 Engage Digital Media. All rights reserved. Engage!, Engage Digital, Engage! Expo, Engage! Passport, Engage! Digital Media and Engage! Insider, 3D TLC Conference, 3D TLC, 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration, Digital Law Conference, Virtual LeVar Burton, Executive Producer, ReadingRainbow 2.0, Actor: LeVar Burton has been capturing the admiring attention of both audiences and his industry peers for three decades, and continues to enjoy longevity truly rare within the industry. His deftness in avoiding stereotype continues to be a hallmark of an incredibly diverse career. Whether acting, directing, producing or writing, LeVar has demonstrated, over time that he can do it all. No greater proof of his enduring appeal and deep personal connection with his audience is the fact that LeVar is one of the top 100 most followed people in the world in TWITTER, with over 1.6M followers. As if following some implausible Hollywood scenario, LeVar’s first professional audition, while pursuing his undergraduate studies at USC, led to his being cast as Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed miniseries ROOTS. The phenomenal success of ROOTS launched his career as an actor, and more importantly, earned his performance as KUNTA KINTE, lasting status as a worldwide icon representing the indomitability of the human spirit. What followed were starring roles in a string of television movies, including ONE IN A MILLION: THE RON LEFLORE STORY, DUMMY, GRAMBLING’S WHITE TIGER, THE GUYANA TRAGEDY and A ROOTS CHRISTMAS: KUNTA KINTE’S GIFT. Among his early feature film credits are LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR, with acclaimed writer/director, Richard Brooks and THE HUNTER, the final motion picture of the icon of cool, Steve McQueen. An avowed science-fiction buff as well as a devoted fan of the unique vision of Gene Rodenberry, LeVar considers his longtime association with the STAR TREK franchise nothing short of a dream come true. Having grown up in the 60’s and 70’s, a time he remembers as having been, “rare to encounter portrayals of people who looked like me, represented in the popular culture.” Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future provided validation as well as assurance. “Seeing Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in the original series said to me, ‘when the future comes… there’s a place for me!” Having both appeared in and directed a plethora of TREK incarnations over the years, LeVar adamantly adheres to his optimistic point of view of the future saying, “I’m betting on our ultimate success at rising to our highest level of human expression.” After twenty-five seasons as the host and executive producer of the highly acclaimed PBS children’s television series READING RAINBOW, LeVar ended his long time commitment to the show in favor of exploring other avenues of creative expression. While taking great pride in the series’ role in garnering him a total of 13 Emmy Awards, five NAACP Awards and numerous nominations, he continues to be most proud of Reading Rainbow’s ability to “use the medium of television to help create generations of Americans who are passionate readers”. In 2006 LeVar received a Grammy Award for his narration of the book, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. Included in the titles LeVar has recorded on tape are THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM, THE MILES DAVIS STORY, THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY as well as THE TENTH INSIGHT and THE CELESTINE VISION by James Redfield, author of the CELESTINE PROPHECY. Today LeVar is primarily focusing his energy behind the camera as a successful film and TV director. He has directed television as diverse as all four STAR TREK series, CHARMED, LAS VEGAS and more. His first dramatic television movie, THE TIGER WOODS STORY, for Showtime, received three Emmy nominations. His Disney Channel film SMART HOUSE remains one of the most popular original movies in the channel's history. His first full length feature film, BLIZZARD, received numerous accolades including Best of Fest at the 2006 Chicago International Children's Film Festival and had joined the pantheon of classic Holiday movies. Continuing LeVar's penchant for exploring the human condition through his work, his latest project is REACH FOR ME. This independent feature, which stars Oscar Nominees Alfre Woodard and Seymour Cassel, is an intimate land humorous love story set in the uncommon environs of hospice. LeVar says about the film, "It’s about who we are while we are dying." Returning to his theater roots, LeVar starred in an original work for the stage called The Caterer, by Brian Alan Lane. “About a man who sells you your appropriate death”, the play had a very successful run in Los Angeles and is now being considered for Broadway. In 2010, Burton signed to star in the NBC movie (and series pilot) THE JENSEN PROJECT, which premiered July 16, 2010. A family oriented drama set in a smart action adventure setting with a sci-fi twist, JENSEN follows LeVar's long history of quality projects appealing to the whole family. Andy Heyward is the co-founder and CEO of A Squared Entertainment (A2), a full-service brand entertainment company that creates, develops, produces, programs, markets, merchandises and distributes content across all channels: online, offline, on-air and at retail. As the former Chairman and CEO of DIC Entertainment, a publicly listed company which he founded and ran for 25 years, Heyward has produced over 5,000 episodes of award winning children’s television including “Inspector Gadget,” “Real Ghostbusters,” “Madeline,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Super Mario Brothers,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” “Hello Kitty,” “Strawberry Shortcake,” “Care Bears,” “Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego,” and “G.I. Joe,” among others. Heyward has received numerous industry distinctions for his work including Emmy, Humanitas and EMA Awards. He is a recipient of the Kidscreen Hall of Fame, the Cartoons on the Bay Studio of the Year and UCLA Alumni of the Year Award. Heyward sits on numerous industry, and community boards including the Paley Center, the National Center for Missing and Abused Children and the Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Farnaz M. Alemi, Attorney, Jenner & Block LLP: She is a member of the Creative Content and Class Action Practices. Prior to joining Jenner & Block, Ms. Alemi practiced with a top international law firm where she specialized in intellectual property, interactive media and entertainment. She also has experience with FTC compliance and complex business litigation matters. Ms. Alemi has litigated entertainment, trademark infringement and unfair competition, insurance, financial services, securities, and class action matters and has represented companies across a variety of industries, including interactive entertainment, banking, video and online games, virtual worlds, design and merchandising, energy drink beverages, and retail and internet software and services. Most recently, she litigated a multi-million dollar high-yield investment scheme banking case in federal court. In addition, Ms. Alemi is committed to the pro bono practice. In early 2009, she successfully settled a highly-contentious civil case in Mississippi where she represented victims of Hurricane Katrina. Ms. Alemi graduated from Stanford University in 2003, receiving both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. She earned a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 2007, graduating cum laude. While attending Northwestern University, Ms. Alemi co-founded The Technology and Telecommunications Law Group. She was also an Articles Editor of the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property. Ms. Alemi graduated with the Owen L. Coon/James A. Rahl Senior Research Honors distinction. Ms. Alemi is a member of the California Bar. She is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Ms. Alemi is also a member of the American Bar Association, where she is the Co-Chair of the Policy Subcommittee for the Committee on Computer Gaming and Virtual Worlds.