Tuesday, October 16, 2018

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Track I: Ahmanson Hall, Live Webcast

The Producer’s Strategic Roundtable: Film - TV - Internet

Larry Kasanoff, Producer, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, Strange Days, Co- Founder, Lightstorm Entertainment (with James Cameron)

Danny Zuker, Five Time Emmy Winner, Producer of Modern Family (ABC), Just Shoot Me, Grace Under Fire

Michael Berk, Producer and Writer Baywatch: The Movie, Soul Surfer, SPF18, Creator, Baywatch (TV Series)

Randal Kleiser, Director and Producer: Grease, Blue Lagoon, New Virtual Reality Series DEFROST VR

John Canning, Executive Producer, Digital Domain, Chair of New Media Council, Producers Guild of America, Moderator

Danny Zuker is a five-time Emmy Award Winner, Comedy Writer/Producer, Podcast Host, TEDx Talk Speaker and AUTHOR of "He Started It!: My Twitter War With Trump", published in 2018. Zuker is currently an Executive Producer/Writer for ABC’s hit comedy TV show, Modern Family (ABC), where he’s worked for the past nine years. Previously, Zuker worked on more than a dozen TV shows, including Evening Shade, Roseanne, Just Shoot Me. As a regular at The Hollywood Improv Comedy Club, Zuker is part of the Smash Story show team. Zuker started out as an intern on The Howard Stern Show. His work has appeared in many media, including CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, Mashable, The Hill, IFC and more.

Randal Kleiser's first feature Grease is the most successful movie musical ever made. Other credits as a director and producer include Honey I Blew Up The Kid, The Blue Lagoon, Big Top Pe-Wee, Summer Lovers, Flight of the Navigator, White Fang, North Shore, Getting It Right, Lovewrecked and It's My Party. In 2007, his USC Thesis film Peege was selected by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Registry. Working in 70mm 3-D, he directed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, which has been running for over a decade at the Disney Parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo, and Paris. This led to the US Government signing him to develop a 360 degree hi-def simulator to train soldiers to deal with Improvised Explosive Devices in the war in Afghanistan. With George Lucas, he released a 2 DVD set, "USC School of Cinematic Arts presents the Nina Foch Course for Filmmakers and Actors". Recently, Kleiser directed and produced the 360 degree Virtual Reality DEFROST : The Virtual Series featuring Harry Hamlin and Carl Weathers, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. In 2010 he was elected to the Science and Technology Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Michael Berk, Emmy Award Winning Producer, “Soul Surfer,” “Baywatch” TV and Movie: After graduating from UCLA Michael Berk wrote and produced a dozen movies for television, including The Incredible Journey of Dr. Meg Laurel, the first 3-hour movie ever on network television and the highest-rated movie of the year, and the Golden Globe nominated Ordeal of Dr. Mudd. Together they won 4 Emmy Awards. Michael Created and Executive Produced Baywatch, the Guinness Book of World Records “Most watched television series in history”, and produced the Baywatch Movie for Paramount starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. Michael co-created the Las Vegas International Film Festival CineVegas, and the Vegas On Demand VOD Channel on Comcast and other cable systems, for which he was awarded the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Award in Entertainment. Michael launched the Cannabis Lifestyle Media Channel WeedTV, and cofounded Green Leaf Farms, a Cannabis Company with multiple licenses in Nevada and California to grow and manufacture cannabis products for medical and recreational use. Michael wrote the feature film Soul Surfer that received an “A+” Cinema score, won the Movie Guide Award as most inspirational movie of the year, and became the highest grossing surf movie of all time, and the feature film SPF18 featuring Goldie Hawn, Keanu Reeves, Patricia Arquette and Molly Ringwald. Over his film and television career, Michael Berk’s diverse roster of credits have garnered multiple Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Nominations, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Christopher Award, the Red Cross Spirit Award, the Ark Trust Award, and the Heal The Bay Environmental Award. You know those signs above storm drains that read “NO DUMPING: DRAINS TO OCEAN” with a picture of a dolphin? Michael invented that for a “Heal The Bay” episode of Baywatch.

Larry Kasanoff, Producer, True Lies, Mortal Kombat, Strange Days, Co- Founder, Lightstorm Entertainment: As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Threshold Entertainment Group, Lawrence Kasanoff produces movies, television series, and locationbased entertainment, largely based on some of the world’s biggest brands, including Star Wars, Lego, Marvel, Mortal Kombat and Star Trek. Under his Threshold Entertainment Group banner, Kasanoff oversees the company’s subsidiaries, which include Threshold Entertainment, Threshold Animation Studios, Threshold Immersive Virtual Reality and Blackbelt TV. As a producer or studio head, Kasanoff has been instrumental in the production of over 250 feature films, including 'Dirty Dancing', and the Academy Award® winning Best Picture, 'Platoon'. As an Executive Producer, Kasanoff made such box-office smash hits as James Cameron’s 'True Lies', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. As president and co- founder of Lightstorm Entertainment, Kasanoff supervised production, marketing, publicity and merchandising for the four time Academy Award® winning film, 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'. With Academy Award® winning director, Kathryn Bigelow he produced two films, 'Blue Steel' and 'Strange Days'. Mr. Kasanoff often operates at the nexus of entertainment and technology.

John Canning is Executive Producer of VR,AR & Interactive at Digital Domain. His experience represents 20+ yrs of career that has spanned the technology and methodology for creating and delivering media, games and interactive experiences from concept to consumer devices.

As a Managing Director for Media Sherpa LLC, he has endeavored to help companies and causes not only tell their stories through dynamic media but also leverage disruptive and transformative technology to maximize the impact. John was formerly the VP Interactive Experiences for NBC Entertainment Digital where he developed native interactive experiences in either 2nd screen, social media or virtual reality for some of the largest shows on TV such as The Voice, Americas Got Talent, Blindspot, Blacklist and more. He currently serves as the Chairman of the New Media Council for the Producers Guild of America representing the interests of producers of broadband video, games,transmedia, iTV and VR/AR content to the entertainment industry.