Scholars & Storytellers Summit 2021:
Authentically Inclusive Representation
October 28, 2021
The first Scholars & Storytellers Summit — an invite-only event focused on building interdisciplinary collaborations to break down systemic barriers to true inclusion and equity in adolescent programming — was an incredible success. We had sponsorship from every major studio (e.g. Disney, Comcast, Warners, etc.) and an incredible lineup of speakers. Key panels included: Storytelling for the Gen Z and Gen Alpha Audience, Who Gets To Tell The Story?, and What Works And What Doesn’t In Diversity Writer Programs?
Attendee Breakdown:
70% Storytellers
20% Scholars
10% Adolescents
Organizations Represented:
9 Studios
8 Networks
15+ Production Companies
4 Agencies/Management Companies
6 Universities
10 Social Impact Organizations
Summit Learnings
CSS Founder Dr. Yalda T. Uhls spoke at the BRIC 2022 Summit, continuing the conversation from the Scholars & Storytellers Summit 2021 panel What Works and What Doesn’t in Diversity Writer Programs.
Keynote
Kal Penn
Kal Penn is best known for starring roles in the Harold & Kumar franchise, The Namesake, Designated Survivor, and House, among other film and television projects, including Sunnyside, which he co-created. Kal took a sabbatical from acting to serve in the White House Office of Public Engagement, where he was President Obama's Liaison to Young Americans, the Arts Community, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He has been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and at UCLA. Born and raised in New Jersey, Kal is a MasterChef winner and holds a doctorate.
Featured Speakers
Bonnie Abaunza has dedicated her life to humanitarian work, human rights and social justice advocacy. Using long established relationships with top filmmakers, artists, studios, corporations, brands, foundations and non-governmental organizations, her impact campaigns have raised international awareness and moved the needle on critical issues and initiatives.
Gael Aitor is the creator and host of Teenager Therapy, the largest teen-hosted mental health podcast in the world. As seen in the New York Times, Teenager Therapy is a coming-of-age story told in real-time, a culmination of mistakes and growth, and a reminder you're not alone. Gael is deeply passionate about building things that encourage genuine human connection, community, and mental wellness.
Stephanie Allain is the founder of film, television, and digital production company, Homegrown Pictures, and producer of Dear White People, Beyond the Lights, and Oscars 2020.
Dr. Maytha Alhassen, is a social justice artist, journalist, and historian. On the film, TV, and media side, Alhassen is author of the landmark report "Haqq and Hollywood: 100 Years of Muslim Tropes and How to Transform Them," a Co-Executive for the award-winning Hulu series Ramy, Executive Producer for the docu-series American Muslims: A History Revealed, and has been granted a 2021 Pop Culture Collaborative Pluralist Visionaries Fellowship to produce a second season of her educational web series Office Hours. As an academic, Alhassen is serving as a 2021-2022 Harvard Religion and Public Life Fellow with a focus on Media and Entertainment.
Liz Hsiao Lan Alper is a Hapa writer and twitter addict from Rhode Island. Liz most recently served as a producer for the upcoming zombie series Day of the Dead for Sy-Fy and for the CW horror anthology series Two Sentence Horror Stories. Her previous credits include Chicago Fire (NBC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) and The Rookie (ABC). She is the co-creator of the #PayUpHollywood grassroots movement and currently serves as a member of the Writers Guild of America West's Board of Directors.
Darla Anderson is an Academy Award-winning producer who created acclaimed animated films at Pixar Animation Studios for over 25 years. Her prodigious producing talents have created some of the world’s most beloved feature films including A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., the Golden Globe®-winning Cars, the Academy Award®-winning Toy Story 3, and Disney Pixar’s Coco, for which she earned the Oscar® for Best Animated Feature. Anderson is currently working with Netflix to develop and produce both animated and live-action content for series and features.
Kamala Avila-Salmon is the first-ever Head of Inclusive Content for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, a role aimed at developing and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to reflect a globally diverse audience in the studio’s film slate. After pursuing her BA and MBA from Harvard, she has worked across music, movies, TV, tech, and streaming entertainment, leading marketing campaigns for Janelle Monae, The Voice, and Red Table Talk, to name a few. Her current role positions her to pursue the north star that brought her to LA: diversifying the powerful images and messages disseminated by Hollywood.
Allison Begalman is an LA-based activist, entrepreneur, and writer. She's the co-founder and CEO of YEA! Impact, a social impact marketing consultancy, and co-founded the Hollywood coalition, Young Entertainment Activists. She is also the Executive Producer of the annual Hollywood Climate Summit. Allison has worked at companies such as CAA and Annapurna Pictures and on series such as AMC’s Preacher, and Hulu’s Monsterland.
Peter Cayetano McHugh is Partner, Manager and Producer at The Gotham Group. He represents authors, actors, writers, directors, and producers in film and television. He was Co-Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated series Creature Comforts for Aardman / CBS. He is currently a CAPE Board Member and is Co-Chair of the CAPE Leaders Fellowship. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Marcela Davison Avilés is the "go to" professional in Hollywood for storytellers of Latino/Latinx and Hispanic subject matter who require cultural consulting, production and writing services. She is a trusted and valued team player in the television and film industry and as a respected journalist, with a portfolio of projects that include Academy Award and Emmy Award winners, journalism honors from the LA Press Club and numerous award winning festivals and live events.
Amee Dolleman got her start at WGBH Boston where she worked on the PBS Kids series Arthur, Between the Lions, and ZOOM. After moving to Los Angeles, she became an executive at Fox 2000 Pictures where she worked on a number of films including 27 Dresses, Water for Elephants, Love and Other Drugs, Percy Jackson, and The Book Thief. She produced several independent features and series for emerging digital platforms before returning to kids’ content at Disney Branded Television, where she serves as an Executive Director of Original Movies.
Dr. Eric Esrailian is the Chief of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where he is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine. He is also an Emmy-nominated film producer, investor, and entrepreneur. Most notably, he produced The Promise by Terry George, starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale.
Ruben Garcia is Co-Head of the Cultural Business Strategy Group at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Garcia collaborates with company leadership to implement inclusive business practices that maximize creative and business growth opportunities for the agency’s diverse clients.
Joy Gorman Wettels is a Partner and Producer at Anonymous Content focused on Youth Impact content. She is known for the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and Home Before Dark on Apple TV+, and is in production on a multi-part storytelling ecosystem inspired by Landmark Civil Rights documentary series Eyes on the Prize for Warner Media in partnership with Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors and Dawn Porter. The first installment, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground is now streaming on HBO Max. Her collaborators as a producer have included such award-winning voices as Jon M Chu, Lorene Scafaria, Brian Yorkey, Dana Fox & Tom McCarthy.
Gerald Higginbotham, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Broadly, his research investigates the role of culture, identity, and history in education and politics. He is a Senior Fellow at CSS and the lead author on the 2020 AIR report.
Alison Hoffman is President, Domestic Networks for STARZ. Hoffman oversees domestic network operations including all aspects of marketing and promotion, product development, distribution, analytics and program operations.
Karen Horne has been recognized as a Diversity and Inclusion pioneer and pipeline builder, with over 20 years of experience within the entertainment industry. Currently, Karen serves as Senior Vice President of Equity & Inclusion at WarnerMedia where she oversees inclusion programs and initiatives across the enterprise. Prior to joining WarnerMedia, Karen spent over a decade at NBCUniversal, creating and developing programs that have become the industry’s gold standard and a blueprint for many other companies.
George Huang, MFA, is a Professor of Screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and an award-winning writer/director.
Darnell Hunt is Dean of the Division of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at UCLA. Dr. Hunt has written extensively on race and media, including four books, numerous scholarly journal articles, and popular magazine articles. Dr. Hunt has been a frequent public commentator on questions of media and race. He has been interviewed for hundreds of television and radio programs on the topic, and the findings of his research studies have been reported in thousands of print, radio, broadcast, and online media outlets throughout the United States and abroad.
Tracy Johnson was appointed Dean of Life Sciences in September 2020. She is holder of the Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair, and a professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Dean Johnson is nationally recognized for her research accomplishments, scientific leadership, contributions to educational innovation, and as a champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and has served as an Associate Dean in the Division of Life Sciences since January 2015. Prior to joining UCLA, she was a member of the UC San Diego biological sciences faculty and a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology.
Rashonda Joplin is currently the Director of Scripted Development at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. Her focus here of finding creative ways to bring in diverse and/or untapped talent led her to relaunch the Writers Workshop for the New Platforms division as well as set up one of MGM Television’s first digital series with LaKetih Stanfield. She previously worked in Production at the management company Collective Digital Studio, followed by her role in Development at Studio71.
Jess Ju is the Director of Programs and Operations at CAPE where she oversees pillar talent and professional development programs such as the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and the CAPE Leaders Fellowship. Jess also runs educational workshops on AAPI representations in media and has helped build CAPE's consulting, referral, and database of talent.
Nancy Kanter recently moved from The Walt Disney Company after nearly 20 years, where she was EVP of Content and Creative Strategy for Disney Channels, to Netflix, where she has an exclusive overall production deal to create movies and series in all areas of kids and family content.
Brian Kite is an award-winning theater director, a professor of theater, and the Interim Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Previously, he was the Producing Artistic Director of La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. He staged the first production of Miss Saigon to ever play in China and also directed Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, the first U.S. production of a play at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts. He recently served as the Artistic Supervisor/Director for the world premiere of the new musical, Virtuoso, in Warsaw, Poland.
Kevin Lin is a talent and literary agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he represents top actors, writers, directors, composers and choreographers. He is also Co-Head of Cultural Business Strategy, working to strengthen companywide strategies that maximize creative opportunities and business growth for the agency’s diverse clients and build corporate culture best practices.
Ben Lopez is responsible for the overall design, strategic vision, and execution of all domestic and global endeavors for the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). Ben serves as the year-round industry liaison for executives and content creators in the Latino Lens Incubator programs, working with the top agencies in the world to curate and match these creators with key industry professionals. Ben has been quoted on domestic and global publications and outlets, such as Variety and Slate France, and has delivered keynotes, led workshops, and participated in the world's leading festivals and markets including Telluride, Sundance, Toronto, SXSW, Tribeca, FICG & Morelia.
Daniel Marin is a 16-year-old non-binary, community-oriented risk-taker from South-East LA. Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community has led them to advocate and be the voice to those who need it most.
Glen Mazzara is a television writer, creator, and showrunner known for The Walking Dead, The Shield, and Damien. He is also co-chair of the WGA’s Inclusion & Equity Group and has been working to improve television employment opportunities for writers of diverse backgrounds. He is a co-founder of the WGA Staff Writer Bootcamp that has mentored over 700 new staff writers and is also a member of ReFrame, which works to improve opportunities for women in the entertainment industry.
Michael Mekonnen is 18 years old and lives in South Los Angeles. Michael graduated with his high school diploma and is a marketing major at California State University Northridge. He is a rising star at the Brotherhood Crusade where he has been participating in the Los Angeles Chargers Bolt Academy. Michael’s goal upon graduation is to become a real estate mogul in the city of Los Angeles.
Sayuri Nagai is a 16-year-old high school student living in Los Angeles. Sayuri is a part of the Youth Leadership Council at the Center for Scholars and Storytellers. She is passionate about communication through speaking and founded the speech and debate team at her school. She is also involved in the Teens and Government Program at YMCA, where she is currently holding a fundraiser for the Casas YMCA that serves migrant children from Mexico.
Kiesha Nix is currently the Executive Director of the Lakers Youth Foundation, the charitable arm of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kiesha oversees and directs programming and funding which supports over 100,000+ youth throughout Southern California. She is responsible for implementing the mission of the Foundation, to assist underserved youth in the community to reach their full potential through resources in education, health & wellness and sports. Kiesha is also very active in the Lakers civic engagement, social justice and diversity & inclusion efforts while serving on several boards to help improve the quality of life in Los Angeles communities.
Erica Oyama is the creator and executive producer of Emmy award nominated web series Burning Love. She currently serves as co-executive producer of the acclaimed Netflix series, Never Have I Ever, as part of her overall deal with Universal Television. Other credits include Young Rock for NBC and Fresh Off the Boat for ABC.
Sascha Paladino is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer who has worked on shows for Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, MTV, The Jim Henson Company, and the BBC. He is the creator and executive producer of Disney Junior's intergalactic space adventure series Miles from Tomorrowland. Sascha is currently executive producer of Mira, Royal Detective, a Bollywood-inspired musical series on Disney Junior.
Dino-Ray Ramos launched the alternative Hollywood trade Diaspora which spotlights people of color, LGBTQ people, women, disabled people and other underrepresented voices in film, TV and media in May 2021. He served as the Associate Editor at Deadline Hollywood where he reported on inclusion, diversity and representation in film and TV. He is the creator, co-host and producer of the GLAAD Media Award-winning New Hollywood Podcast. He is a member of The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and is a member of Gold House’s #Gold Open advisory council and was named as part of the A100 List in 2020 which recognizes the most impactful Asians in the country.
Navia Robinson is a Daytime Emmy Award-nominated actress and social justice advocate, particularly passionate about the way in which young women of color are represented in film and television. She is a spirited youth consultant for the Center for Scholars and Storytellers. Navia is best known for her work in Disney’s Raven’s Home and Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning Free Rein.
Alex Sewell is a Senior Associate within Good Robot at Bad Robot Productions. He manages several of the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, strategic partnerships and advises on diversity, civic engagement, and social impact campaigns. He has served for nearly a decade as an executive aide and impact strategist for governmental leaders in the civic sphere and now at the nexus of entertainment, social impact and culture change.
Dana Stevens is a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA who has built a career in Hollywood writing features and television. Her most recent film, Fatherhood, starring Kevin Hart, is premiering on Netflix. Her original script The Woman King, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu, is slated for an autumn 2021 production start date. She also adapted the acclaimed novel The Nightingale for Dakota and Elle Fanning to star, and is adapting The Secrets We Kept, a novel about pioneering CIA women, for British film company Ink Factory.
Steve Tao has worked in TV and features for most of his career, championing diverse talent in front of and behind the camera. Now at the CW Network, he is a Senior Vice President of Current Programming steering the network’s most diverse and successful shows, including All American and Kung Fu. He also co-founded and co-chairs the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, one of Hollywood’s most successful and recognized writing programs.
Yalda T. Uhls, PhD is a research scientist (UCLA) and non-profit founder (Center for Scholars & Storytellers) with over 15 years of senior executive experience in the entertainment industry (MGM, Sony). Her expertise of how media content is created, as well as the science of how media affects children, informs her unique perspective.
Janet Yang, a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Hollywood producer, came to prominence through her collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun. Her extensive credits include The Joy Luck Club, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Shanghai Calling, High Crimes, and recently, the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Over the Moon. Yang is a Governor for the Motion Picture Academy and chairs the Membership and Governance Committee. She is also co-founder of Gold House and chairs Asia Society's U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit.