Viola Davis, Seth MacFarlane and Julius Tennon Among Speakers Set for PGA Produced By Conference

Viola Davis, Seth MacFarlane and Julius Tennon are among the speakers and mentors set for the 2022 Produced By Conference, presented by PGA.

Viola Davis, Seth MacFarlane and Julius Tennon Among Speakers Set for PGA Produced By Conference

After a two-year hiatus, the Producers Guild of America is returning for its 12th annual Produced By Conference — to be held on June 11 and 12 at the Fox Studio Lot in Century City — and announced on Friday the first round of speakers.

The confirmed speakers include Academy Award winner Viola Davis, her husband and producing partner, veteran producer Julius Tennon (“The First Lady”), “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, television producer Betsy Beers (creative partner at Shondaland) and comedy leader Mike Farah (CEO, Funny or Die).

The conference will feature a networking reception, panels, Q&As and its signature Mentoring Roundtables. This year’s Produced By will also feature the return of the Pitch Perfect session, which sees a handful of pre-selected attendees pitching their projects in front of an audience of producers and executives.

Confirmed participants in this year’s Mentor Roundtables are: “Insecure” producer Deniese Davis, producing legend Gary Goetzman, Academy Award-nominated producer Fred Berger, Daniels producer Jonathan Wang (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”), James Lopez (president and producer at MACRO), and Mike Farah, with more participants to be announced.

This year’s conference features the debut of PGA’s Producers One-on-One engagement, an opportunity for PGA members to have a one-on-one conversation with an experienced producer. Also for the first time, PGA Create, PGA’s program that supports emerging and mid-career producers from underrepresented backgrounds, will connect its 35 PGA Create scripted and documentary fellows for a day of networking opportunities supported by Google, the program’s leading sponsor.

Additional speakers for this year include Jason Richman (co-head of media rights, UTA); Mark Kimsey (co-CEO of Electromagnetic Productions); actor and producer Aml Ameen, Charles D. King (founder and CEO, MACRO); Dan Lin (founder and CEO of Rideback); producer Stephanie Allain (Homegrown Pictures, Owner), with more to be announced.

Below is the current list of speakers and mentors, in alphabetical order. The list will be updated as more speakers and mentors are announced.

Stephanie Allain (Homegrown Pictures, Owner; “Hustle & Flow,” “Dear White People”)
Aml Ameen (Executive Producer/Actor – “The Porter”; Actor – “I May Destroy You”; Producer/ Actor – “Boxing Day”)
Trevor Baker (Producer/Editor – “Twilight Zone,” “Outer Range,” “Castle Rock”)
Amanda Beggs (CAS, Production Sound Mixer – “Lady Bird,” “Finding Ohana,” “Legion,” “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”)
Betsy Beers (Creative Partner, Shondaland)
Xavier Bernasconi (Visual Effects Supervisor, DNEG)
Rick Champagne (Industry Strategy and Marketing, Media & Entertainment, NVIDIA)
Viola Davis (CEO and Co-Founder, JuVee Productions; “The First Lady”)
Mike Farah (CEO, Funny or Die)
Marsha Greene (Executive Producer, Co-Creator and Showrunner, “The Porter”; “Ten Days In The Valley,” “Mary Kills People”)
Erica Huggins (President, Fuzzy Door; “The End Is Nye,” “Books of Blood,” “The Spy Who Dumped Me”)
Steve Jelley (Co-CEO, Dimension)
Valerie Johnson-Redrow (Virtual Production Producer, Monolith)
Jennifer Kawaja (Executive Producer, Sienna Films/Sphere Media; “Sort Of,” “Transplant”)
Mark Kimsey (Co-CEO of Electromagnetic Productions)
Charles D. King (Founder & CEO, MACRO; “Judas And The Black Messiah,” “Mudbound”)
Michael Minkler (CAS, Re-recording Mixer – “Black Hawk Down,” “Chicago,” “Star Wars,” “Dream Girls”)
Karen Baker Landers (MPSE, Supervising Sound Editor – “Skyfall,” “Bourne Ultimatum,” “Black Hawk Down”)
Dan Lin (Founder and CEO of Rideback; “The LEGO Movie” franchise, Disney’s “Aladdin,” Netflix’s “The Two Popes,” The CW’s “Walker”)
Seth MacFarlane (Founder/CEO, Fuzzy Door; “The Orville,” “Ted” and “Ted 2,” “Family Guy”)
Jason Richman (Co-Head of Media Rights, UTA)
Curt Sobel (MPSE, Supervising Music Editor – “Ray,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”)
Joel Sloss (Sr. Program Manager | Microsoft Azure M&E Security and Compliance)
Christina Lee Storm (Director of Digital Production, Netflix)
Julius Tennon (President and Co-Founder of JuVee Productions; “The First Lady”)
Philipp Wolf (Executive-in-Charge, Corporate Strategy, DNEG)

Mentors:

Fred Berger (President, Automatik; “La La Land,” “Bad Education”)
Deniese Davis (CEO, Reform Media Group)
Mike Farah (CEO, Funny or Die)
Gary Goetzman (Producer, Playtone)
James Lopez (President/Producer, MACRO)
Jonathan Wang (“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “Swiss Army Man”)