Television Producers Kerry Ehrin, Deena Katz, Debra Martin Chase, Robin Schiff and Janine Sherman Barrois Represent Eight Emmy® Nominations on the Stage at Chapman’s 16th Annual WOMEN IN FOCUS Conference
Dawn Taubin to Moderate This Year’s TV-Focused Event
Orange, CA (April 7, 2015) – Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, recognized as one of the premier film schools in the United States, will be shining a spotlight on the flourishing television industry as its 16th Annual Women in Focus Conference. The program will bring together an impressive panel of female television producers who collectively share eight Emmy nominations among them.
Taking place on Friday, April 17, the Women in Focus Conference will feature Primetime Emmy® nominated producer/writer Kerry Ehrin (Bates Motel, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights); five-time Primetime Emmy® nominated producer Deena Katz (Dancing With the Stars, Real Time with Bill Maher); two-time Primetime Emmy® nominated producer Debra Martin Chase (Cheetah Girls, 1-800-Missing); producer Robin Schiff (Are You There, Chelsea, Party of Five); and award-winning producer/writer Janine Sherman Barrois (Criminal Minds, ER, Third Watch).
The panel will be moderated by former Warner Bros and DreamWorks Marketing Chief Dawn Taubin (The Help, The Dark Knight, the Harry Potter film series). Discussion will focus on the paths these women have taken and the challenges they face in the industry as it continues to change today.
The Women in Focus conference is the second high-profile event centered around the television industry that Chapman has staged this year. In February, the school hosted a special event on the Sony lot in Culver City that drew Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, Sony Television President Steve Mosko, and AMC Network COO Ed Carrol for a discussion on “The New Era of Television and What the Future Looks Like,” which was covered widely in the media.
Open to the public, Chapman’s Women in Focus event has built a meaningful and on-going dialogue among emerging and established women in the film and TV industry over its 16-year existence. The conference commences at 1:30 p.m., when participants will screen clips from their work, and discuss their experiences breaking into the industry, building the relationships necessary for success, and overcoming obstacles they have faced in their careers. The event concludes with a networking mixer beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Past Women in Focus conference panelists include Oscar® winning writer Diablo Cody, Warner Bros. Pictures’ President of Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution Sue Kroll, CBS Films’ Co-President Terry Press, Oscar® nominated producer JoAnne Sellar, Primetime Emmy® producer/director Michelle MacLaren, producer Erica Huggins, Universal Pictures Co-Chairman Donna Langley, Academy Award® nominated director/screenwriter Nancy Meyers, actress Maya Rudolph, director Penelope Spheeris, director/choreographer Anne Fletcher, producer and former Walt Disney Motion Picture Group President Nina Jacobson, Dreamworks Studios Co-Chairman and CEO Stacey Snider, writer/producer Leslie Dixon, Academy Award® nominated director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, acclaimed producer Debra Martin Chase, writer/director Shana Feste, producer Susan Cartsonis, director Mary Lambert, Academy Award® winning producer and President of Mandalay Pictures Cathy Schulman, Fox Searchlight Pictures President Nancy Utley, and producer and Los Angeles Film Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham, to name a few.
The 2015 Women in Focus Conference is sponsored Twyla Reed Martin, Eve Kornyei Ruffatto, Harriet Sandhu, Diana Martin, Bonny Schumacher and Sally Crockett.
2015 Women in Focus Event Location:
The Paul and Daranne Folino Theater in Marion Knott Studios is located at 283 N. Cypress in Orange, Calif. The conference is free and open to the public.
For more information and to RSVP, please visit www.chapman.edu/WIF.
About Chapman University:
Consistently ranked among the top universities in the West, Chapman University attracts highly qualified students from around the globe. Its programs are designed to encourage leadership in innovation, creativity and collaboration, and are increasingly recognized for providing an extraordinary educational experience. The university excels in film and media arts, performing arts, educational studies, economics and business, law, humanities and the sciences. Student enrollment in graduate and undergraduate programs is approaching 8,000, and Chapman University alumni are found throughout California and the world.
Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts:
One of the premier film schools in the country, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts offers students the unique opportunity to learn filmmaking in a hands-on environment modeled on a working studio. The college is comprised of the Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Film and Media Arts, offering degrees in film production, film studies, screenwriting, creative producing, news and documentary, television writing and production, public relations and advertising, screen acting and digital arts; and the graduate Conservatory of Motion Pictures, offering M.F.A. degrees in film production, film and television producing, production design, and screenwriting, and an M.A. in film studies. Two joint M.F.A. degrees in producing are also offered in conjunction with the business (M.F.A./M.B.A.) and law (M.F.A./J.D.) schools. Dodge College is housed in Marion Knott Studios, a state-of-the-art, 76,000-square-foot studio and classroom building that provides students with 24-hour access to sound stages, edit bays, Dolby surround mixing, a motion capture stage and more. With an Oscar and Emmy-award winning full-time faculty that boasts more feature film credits than any other film school, Dodge College is where students learn the entertainment business from the inside out.
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