Audrey Schomer is a media analyst and research editor for Variety Intelligence Platform. Based in New York, Schomer previously wrote industry research covering topics and trends across media, digital advertising, and emerging technology as a research analyst at Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank, Insider Intelligence/eMarketer, Business Insider Intelligence, and TV Asahi America. In addition to editing VIP+ research, including in-depth special reports and its research-driven newsletter, her own research coverage focuses on examining the intersection of media and technology, including generative AI, Web3, and the creator economy.

Jenni Katzman is a lawyer and policy expert who currently serves as a Senior Director at Microsoft where she leads the U.S. Government Affairs policy efforts on intellectual property and digital safety, as well as on issues related to reducing the risks posed by synthetic content. Prior to joining Microsoft, she served as General Counsel and Chief of Domestic Policy for Senator Ron Wyden. She was previously the Director of Policy and Program at the American Constitution Society. She also served in the Obama administration at the Department of Justice, White House Domestic Policy Council, and the Department of Education. Before that, she was the National Voter Protection Counsel for Obama for America, and practiced law at Steptoe & Johnson and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Jenni clerked for the Honorable Brian M. Cogan in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She graduated magna cum laude from Cornell Law School, and earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Lisa Oratz has more than 35 years of experience representing clients at the various intersections of technology, intellectual property (IP), and entertainment law. She currently serves as the co-lead of the firm’s Film & Television industry group. Her practice involves product counseling work for clients, with a focus on IP matters, content liability, and privacy and regulatory compliance. Lisa also routinely helps clients with drafting and negotiating complex commercial contracts (including development agreements), collaboration and strategic partnership agreements, master services agreements, and license agreements. She devotes much of her practice to emerging technologies and is known for her innovative work on legal issues involving artificial intelligence (AI). This includes extensive work in the area of generative AI, including product counseling and developing IP protection and risk mitigation strategies. Lisa counsels clients regarding the clearance, protection, and licensing of copyrights, trademarks, right of publicity, and other IP rights, and assists clients with obtaining, maintaining, and enforcing copyright and trademark rights and registrations. She works with technology, digital media, AI, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), and traditional companies on a broad range of topics including privacy, name image and likeness, content liability, social media issues, site terms, and contracts. Lisa also represents artists, athletes, authors, and musicians as well as game developers, AR/VR platforms, sports teams, publishers, and individuals on a wide variety of entertainment, sports, and marketing-related matters. Lisa works with a wide variety of clients, ranging from small, cutting-edge startups to Fortune 500 companies and other industry leaders. Representative clients include Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Adobe Systems, Nintendo of America, Magic Leap, The Seattle Mariners, and The Seattle Storm. She is a frequent writer and speaker on IP, licensing, and contracting issues relating to AI and has presented on these topics before major technology companies and leading legal organizations such as the American Bar Association (ABA).

Remington Scott,  Founder, CEO and Chief Architect, Hyperreal®: Hyperreal.io CEO and Chief Architect, Remington Scott, is known for his work on Academy Award winning VFX for blockbuster films and the biggest selling video games. His achievements include creating Gollum / Sméagol for Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy; he created the first photo-real digital humans in film for the Academy Award-winning VFX for Spider-Man 2; and the first motion captured theatrical feature film. Scott was named to The Wrap’s 2022 “Innovators List” for, among other efforts, “giving the Metaverse a soul.” He is currently building the platform for ownership of digital identities of the worlds most recognized celebrities to monetize across Ai opportunities.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA. In this capacity, he oversees the world’s most influential union of actors and media artists, representing over 160,000 members worldwide who work in film, television, broadcast news, commercials, music, radio, video games, and more. Crabtree-Ireland has played a critical role in SAG-AFTRA’s signature achievements over the past two decades. He was a key leader of the successful merger between SAG and AFTRA in 2012, was the principal architect of SAG-AFTRA’s landmark pandemic safety response and return-to-work initiatives, and led the union’s historic 2023 TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations and strike. Crabtree-Ireland is a strategic and creative chief negotiator who has personally led or overseen contract negotiations for SAG-AFTRA’s Television/Film/Streaming, Video Games, Commercials, Music, Network Television, and Telemundo Spanish-language contracts, among others. Crabtree-Ireland also leads the union’s technology and innovation team, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on SAG-AFTRA members and the media and entertainment industry generally, and has presented on A.I. and worker topics in forums as varied as CES, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, the Council of Institutional Investors, and the U.S. Senate, among many others. He is a dedicated advocate for equity and inclusion in the entertainment industry and was honored with the AFL-CIO’s “At the River I Stand” award for his work in the intersection of labor and civil rights, as well as being named one of Out magazine’s 100 most influential LGBTQ+ individuals in 2023. He hosts SAG-AFTRA’s biweekly video streaming series, leading more than 100 episodes, and is the co-host of the SAG-AFTRA Podcast and the SAG-AFTRA Podcast en Español. He previously served as SAG-AFTRA’s longtime Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.