Wednesday, October 17, 2018

3:50 PM - 5:00 PM

Sponsored by Alliance for Women in Media SoCal

Track II: Haas Conference Center, Room 172-173

Women in the Industry: Developing Film, Television & OTT About Women - A Golden Age in Hollywood and Indie Production

Wendy Sweetmore, Founder/CEO, networkBe (former Senior Exec. MGM/Mark Burnett Productions)

Raelle Tucker, Producer/Writer, True Blood, Jessica Jones, Sacred Lies

Linda Benjamin, COO & Head of Business Affairs, Covert Media

Jeanette B. Milio, President, Alliance Cinema

Michelle Crispin, Founder, mediaHo Marketing & Entertainment

Denise Muyco, co-founder and CEO, StratusCore, Moderator

Raelle Tucker is an Emmy nominated television writer, producer and showrunner.  Growing up in a hippie community without a television in Ibiza, Spain, Tucker formed a theater company where she wrote and directed her own plays. At the age of seventeen, Raelle moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television. Tucker has written for and executive produced multiple award winning and critically acclaimed series, including the CW sci-fi series Supernatural, the Emmy-award winning HBO drama True Blood, as well as A+E’s The Returned, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones. Most recently, Tucker optioned and adapted Stephanie Oakes’ novel, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, based off the

Brother’s Grimm fairytale The Handless Maiden, into a half-hour drama series for Facebook Watch. Sacred Lies is centered on a handless teen who escapes from a cult and finds herself in juvenile detention, suspected of knowing who killed her cult’s leader.  The series will premiere on Facebook Watch on July 27th.

Linda Benjamin, COO & Head of Business Affairs, Covert Media: Before joining independent feature production, financing, and distribution company Covert Media as COO and Head of Business Affairs, Linda was the Executive Vice President of Business Affairs at Relativity Media for six years where she was a critical contributor to some of Relativity’s most significant and complex film and television deals, including its groundbreaking ventures in China and India, output partnerships, expansive music library, and international co-productions. Linda joined Relativity in 2008 and in her time with the company was involved with films such asLimitless, The Fighter, Act of Valor, Dear John, and the long-running TV series “Catfish” based on the movie of the same name. Prior to Relativity, Linda was Head of Business Affairs & Operations for Intermedia US where she oversaw sales, business affairs, and film financing for the studio working on high level projects including Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Aviator, The Quiet American and The Hunting Party. Benjamin's accomplishments include: designing brand expansion while maintaining strong cost controls for an iconic children’s brand; closing of over $1 Billion in entertainment transactions; incubating and leading an acclaimed web-based social benefit enterprise, and launching branding, restructuring, and growth initiatives.

Wendy Sweetmore, Founder/CEO, networkBe (former Senior Exec. MGM/Mark Burnett Productions): Wendy's mission is to empower women and children to reach their highest potential. She achieves this through her entrepreneurial ventures, creating high quality content with a conscience, advocating for women and leading non-profit organizations. A seasoned Media Executive with over 25 years of experience working with entertainment companies globally. As a Producer of original high-quality content, Wendy has mastered all aspects of the creative process, including writing, production, development, PR, marketing, brand integration and sales, throughout her distinguished career Career highlights: • As Senior Executive for Mark Burnett Productions during growth stages (now MGM), Wendy created, produced and sold content for domestic and international TV markets. Shows produced by the company during Wendy’s tenure include; The Voice (#1 Series in America), Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor, and Shark Tank, while the company also garnished numerous Emmy Awards. • Worked with Hearst Publications to create content extension for their internationally recognized magazines including: Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Seventeen Magazine. • Collaborated with top brands for show development including: Walmart, & P&G • Produced acclaimed TV series including: Oprah’s Big Give (ABC), The Apprentice (NBC), and number #1 comedy show in Australia Just Kidding (Channel 9, Aus). • Created and produced over 120 hours of original programming in the Documentary/Special Feature’s Department for Rupert Murdoch’s UK Network, Live TV. • Creative Director for Foresight, Buena Vista’s UK consulting marketing arm, developing and launched comprehensive marketing campaigns for multi-million dollar films. Personally, Wendy is the Founder of LINA, (Ladies International Networking Association), a professional group for high-achieving women that share their collective knowledge and experience to help others.

Jeanette B.Milio is a Producer / Executive Producer of motion pictures and television programming. Over the span of twenty five years and working across three continents, she has been involved in over 45 motion picture and television projects, with a total production value exceeding $250 million. A majority of projects produced and/or financed by Jeanette B. Milio included Academy Award ® winning talent in front and behind the camera. Born and raised in Germany, Jeanette’s B.Milio’s career started in 1989 with RTL Television’s prime time programming producing German formats of “The Price Is Right", "Family Feud", "Jeopardy", among others. For ARD Network she produced the prime time drama "Wildbach" for 5 seasons. In 1999, Jeanette immigrated to the United States and focused on theatrical motion picture and production and financing. She produced the Fox / Constantin Film distributed feature "Timeshare" starring Nastassja Kinski, Timothy Dalton and Kevin Zegers. Her work with various German media funds, lead her to take over the management of "Camden Equities", a media investment fund launched by Far East National Bank in Los Angeles. The fund invested in the production, acquisition and worldwide distribution of over 40 television and theatrical projects for HBO, Showtime, ABC, USA Network, Disney, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., The Weinstein Company, and others. In 2009/ 2010 Mrs. Milio structured and managed a debt/equity media investment fund for European investors. She funded and produced motion pictures including the thriller "13", starring Jason Statham, Academy Award ® winning actor Mickey Rourke, Sam Riley, Ray Winston, Michael Shannon and Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent (distributor: Paramount Vantage); "The Experiment", directed by Paul Scheuring, starring Academy Award ® winning actors Adrien Brody and Forrest Whitaker, as well as Cam Gigandet (US Distributor Sony Pictures); and "Dark Tide", starring Academy Award ® winner Halle Berry, directed by John Stockwell (US distributor Lionsgate), among others. Since 2014 Jeanette B. Milio focuses on television series production and financing. She managed the TV series and brand "Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan", which aired for 10 seasons on the National Geographic Channel. She is the Executive Producer and Creator TV series "Global Beauty Masters", which aired on TLC. She is currently developing two multi season TV series scheduled to air in 2019. Jeanette B.Milio is a member of the Producer’s Council for The Producers Guild of America, an executive member of Women in Film and a member of the Cannes Film Festival Producer’s Network. Furthermore Jeanette B. Milio is an inspirational speaker for the Global Female Leaders’ Summit in Zurich and the co-founder of the Film Finance Forum Zurich. Jeanette B. Milio holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business (University Cologne, Germany), studied screenplay writing (USC, Los Angeles). She is a passionate yoga practitioner and holds a Yoga Alliance teaching certificate. Jeanette B. Milio teaches Film and Television Financing in UCLA’s Entertainment Business Management Program. Mrs. Milio is an expert and international speaker on subjects matters including film & television production, financing and distribution, from the development and packaging of commercially viable motion picture & television content to successfully distributing them worldwide. Jeanette B.Milio resides in California with her husband and their three children.

Michelle Crispin, Founder, mediaHo Marketing & Entertainment: Michelle Crispin has a diverse background as a music supervisor, film producer, and marketing executive within the entertainment industry. She has held executive positions with a variety of companies, including Opus 1, Mighty Generation Music, Songtradr, MelodyGun Music and Vellum Records. Her impeccable ear has led to the placement of songs in hundreds of TV, commercial, film, and video game projects, including Grand Theft Auto, Breaking Bad, Californication, Sons of Anarchy, The Crew, Grey’s Anatomy, True Blood, Dexter, and many more. She served as writer and producer in her latest project, the documentary film “Jazz v. Punk”, which premiered last week at the Sunscreen Film Festival to a sold out theater.

Denise Muyco, Co-Founder and CEO, StratusCore: Denise Muyco is co-founder and CEO of StratusCore, a content production technology company that is moving digital content production into the cloud. Denise has nearly 20 years of experience in the film industry as a serial entrepreneur. She founded StratusCore in 2011 to enable artists and content producers to take advantage of emerging cloud technology to streamline the content creation process and make it more cost effective for artists and studios alike. Previously, Denise founded OneView Technologies (acquired by HP Enterprise) which offered software to manage rights for films played on airplanes, cable networks and on-demand hotel services. In the late '90's she was the head of product management for AtomFilms (acquired by Viacom) where she helped produce some of the first internet-exclusive films and animations. Denise has a Bachelor of Arts in political economics, as well as a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington. Denise is a Board Member of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association and collaborates directly with industry guilds and associations.