Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

Track III: Herscher Hall, 2nd Floor, Room 202

Women & Original Content: From Film/TV, Internet Video and Influencer Campaigns to Games

Claire Wingate, Vice President of Production and Operations, Pulse Films

Talia Veronica Kocar, Vice President of Content, Mammoth Media

Mira Crisp, Creative Director, Ayzenberg Group

Greta McAnany, Award-Winning Filmmaker and founder, Blue Fever, Inc.

Gwen Miller, Vice President, Content Strategy, Kin Community

Marlene Sharp, Director, Production at LEVEL-5 abby

Moderator, Karinna Karsten, CEO, Love TV

Claire Wingate: As Senior Vice President of Production and Operations at Pulse Films, Claire Wingate oversees the company’s growing production slate. Based in Los Angeles, Wingate divides her time between Pulse Films’ Los Angeles, New York and London offices supporting both the significant international growth opportunities for Pulse and also its partnership with Vice. Wingate’s key responsibilities at the studio centres on expanding the US infrastructure of the company as well as overseeing production and operations across its film, branded entertainment and television output. During her time at Pulse Films, Wingate has overseen projects for major UK broadcasters including: topical BBC documentaries “United States of Hate: Muslims under Attack”, “Last Days of Legal Highs” and “Hunting the Nazi Gold Train” as well as the  Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Short Films winner “Arcade Fire presents The Reflektor Tapes”. She was also Head of Production on gaming projects “Guitar Hero Live” and “Need for Speed”.

Mira Crisp, Creative Director, Ayzenberg Group: As a creative leader at the Ayzenberg Group, an advertising collective with multi-millions in annual billing, Mira Crisp has worked with big brands and bright stars. She thrives in that magical place where creative thinking, innovative technology, and human beings meet. A hybrid creative with expertise in traditional, interactive, digital and broadcast media, Mira’s background spans against both agencies and brands. Mira joined Ayzenberg in 2016 and is a founder of their Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging initiative. Mira is a global hippie kid with the weird names and dual-citizenship to prove it.

Marlene Sharp, Director, Production at LEVEL-5 abby: Marlene Sharp is a creative and business-savvy entertainment multi-hyphenate who originally hails from New Orleans but is now a Valley girl. She currently is Director, Production at LEVEL-5 abby, home of YO-KAI WATCH, INAZUMA ELEVEN, SNACK WORLD, and LAYTON DETECTIVE AGENCY. As former Producer, TV Series, at Sega of America, Marlene worked on much more than the Teen Choice Award-nominated cartoon “Sonic Boom.” For example, her Hedgehog duties took her to the heights of nerd-dom as an official San Diego Comic-Con 2017 panelist. As a freelance journalist, Marlene concentrates on popular entertainment for Geekified.net. As a short filmmaker, she has snagged recent prizes at the Canine Film Festival and the San Luis Obispo Film Festival. And as a human being, basically, she loves dogs.

Greta McAnany, Award-Winning Filmmaker and founder, Blue Fever, Inc.: Greta McAnany is an award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur. After experiencing extreme gender bias in Hollywood, she co-founded the text message video discovery service for Gen Z/Millennial women: Blue Fever- a Techstars backed company. Previously, Greta graduated (proudly) from USC and began her film career by starting her own production company and producing the feature film Bite Size. It was released on TV, Netflix, Amazon and was featured in People Magazine, The Washington Post and on ABC. After that, Greta co-founded the distribution company X-Factor Films, which sold movies and shows to Fullscreen, Sundance Now and AMC. She is a recipient of film grants from Morgan Freeman and his Rock River Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures and the prestigious Thornton Foundation. Beyond her work in film (currently a co-producer for the amazing documentary about the global sanitation crisis Flush Revolution), she has produced award-winning live newscasts and reported as a theatre critic for LA Stage Times, where she interviewed Oscar and Tony-winning writers, directors and actors. Because she believes in giving back (and karma), Greta serves on the Inspired Stars Council for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s non-profit After School All-Stars. She is dedicated to empowering young women through media and is addicted to musical theatre and nachos.

Gwen Miller is the VP of Content Strategy for Kin Community, a digital media and entertainment company that inspires women to discover and create the life they want. At Kin, Miller runs the social media, distribution, marketing, data, business development and talent relations teams and is tasked with creating a culture where every team member is empowered to use data-driven strategy to create digital video content that audiences love. Previously, Miller was director of audience development for ICON, a lifestyle digital joint venture between production company Endemol Shine and digital video entrepreneur Michelle Phan. At ICON, Miller was responsible for developing content strategies that created the most satisfying experiences for existing audiences, while also increasing reach with new audiences. Other past roles for Miller include Discovery Networks, Cesar Millan, Inc., and a variety of other entertainment companies in the Los Angeles area. Miller's areas of strategic interest include management of digital video teams, content strategy, audience growth, best-practice development, datadriven analysis, and seeing how many books it's feasible to read in one year (at last count: 240).

Talia Veronica Kocar is the Vice President of Content at Mammoth Media, the company redefining  entertainment for a mobile-first generation. In her current role, Talia develops and oversees the  creation of compelling content to attract and engage the next generation of consumers.  For more than five years, Kocar has created and managed the content direction and strategy across  multiple apps and platforms. Most recently she honed in on the audiences of Mammoth Media properties Wishbone (iOS / Android) and Yarn (iOS / Android), both of which have consistently  been ranked in the Top 100 app charts in the United States and have collectively touched more than  30% of U.S. Gen Z and Millenials. With Yarn she is tapping back into her love of English literature  and mixing it with the knowledge sheʼs gained through her work to create original content and  define the world of micro-storytelling. Under her direction and creativity, Yarn launched its most  successful original franchise “Modern Dating”. The series has over 60 episodes and has amassed a  readership of over 2 million views.  After running countless focus groups, vigorously interpreting data and following the content this  audience consumes, Kocar and her team now work on optimizing the experience of a new era in  short-form content. Their learnings influence the unique and original content on Mammothʼs mobile-first platforms which heavily engage their audiences. The companyʼs growth and  understanding in delivering and curating zeitgeisty content is due to Kocarʼs leadership as well as  her deep grasp of these demographics.  Prior to her role with Mammoth Media, Kocar led content development at the startup IconApps, on  the Inlight app, a lifestyle content focused virtual magazine. She also worked at Science Inc. on  various businesses like delicious.com where she studied audiences and demographics in order to  curate compelling content experiences on a daily basis.  Kocar is a graduate of the University of Southern California and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English.

Karinna Karsten is the Founder and CEO of LOVE TV www.LOVETV.co a new digital media entertainment brand that has been called a sister to VICE. Karinna is also the founder of Sacredlove.com,  an internationally respected relationship expert, media personality, as well as an executive producer of Netflix classic, Sacred Love-Making. She brings credibility and a vast depth of knowledge on the subjects of Love, Sex and Intimacy.