Dave Ferrara
Fall. The clocks have been turned back. The sold out Networks Chiefs panel is behind us (and a great success it was!) The Lakers are already on their way to a three-peat and mall traffic is gridlocked outside of my office window so it’s officially that time of year. Oh… and we’re launching JHRTS (our junior membership) in New York!
But first off, I wanted to once again thank panelists Paul Lee, Nina Tassler, Kevin Reilly, Dawn Ostroff, Angela Bromstad and our moderator (and HRTS President) Kevin Beggs for a tremendous return of the HRTS Network Chiefs panel on October 26th. The room was packed and the conversation was lively as the heads of the broadcast nets discussed the state of the business and where it might be headed in the near and not so near future. Thank you as well to Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for participating as presenting sponsor for the day and to NATPE.Content First for their additional support. If you missed the event the full-length video is available on-demand for all HRTS and JHRTS members at HRTS.ORG.
Peter Tolan
On the upcoming events front we have announced our next HRTS luncheon panel, The Hitmakers, which makes its return on Wednesday December 8th at the Beverly Hilton. This panel of executive producers/showrunners is always a hit and is once again to be moderated by the inimitable Peter Tolan. Co-chairs Sarah Timberman, Adam Berkowitz and Jeff Wachtel are putting a talented and diverse group together to give us the inside scoop on producing hit television shows in our ever-changing business. Tickets will be on sale this week at HRTS.org.
Also on the horizon is the 8th annual JHRTS Holiday Party benefitting HRTS’ charitable partner My Friend’s Place. This will take place on Tuesday, December 7th at Voyeur Nightclub and if the past is any indicator, it will certainly sell out. Every year our junior membership puts on a tremendous party to gather young industry-ites, celebs and special guests to celebrate the holiday season and raise funds for a worthwhile charity so I encourage you to support their efforts by sponsoring the event or purchasing ticket blocks for your staffs.
On the educational front, HRTS, in conjunction with UCLA and Carnegie-Mellon University are developing a program to make our valuable content available to colleges and universities nationwide. Providing teachers and students access to our high level panel discussions via on-line video is the first step of a program that will ultimately leverage the incredible knowledgebase of HRTS’ past, present and future members to better prepare students for success in our business.
Doug Herzog
And lastly, as I indicated above, we are proud to present our first ever junior HRTS event in New York City on Monday December 13th, featuring an up-close conversation with Doug Herzog, President, MTV Networks Entertainment Group. This will be followed by a holiday kickoff mixer for the attendees. The charter JHRTS group in New York will follow in the footsteps of our LA based junior membership and be presenting panels, roundtables, mixers and charitable activities in New York as well as enjoying access to all of the on-line streaming and on-demand HRTS events we enjoy here in LA. If your company is bi-coastal and you want your New York based junior staff to enjoy the many benefits of JHRTS membership visit HRTS.org and sign them up! I’ll be back there for the launch and will bring back a full report for our next newsletter.
All in all, we’ve got a lot on our plates for the balance of 2010! I look forward to the final couple of months of this year and also 2011 as we will present a full series of spring events beginning in February with The Cable Chiefs panel, the Reality Hitmakers panel in April and our State of the Industry: First Amendment Throwdown in June. Busy, busy, busy! I’m proud of where HRTS is today and where it is going in the future. HRTS really is the one place where the entire industry gathers to opine on important issues facing our biz, and the entire board of directors, my staff and I are committed to maintaining that leadership position that our broad and diverse membership deserves. Stay tuned…and see you at the next luncheon!
Dave