Cause Related Storytelling
Partnerships & Strategy Consultant
Aimie Billon focuses on cultivating relationships for nonprofit organizations, with a special focus in entertainment and creative community engagement, as well as how to message or amplify those engagements to the members and public at large. A native Angeleno, Billon has worked across various avenues of the entertainment community in production, wardrobe, and editorial, before moving into cause-related work.
She was social impact agency Propper Daley’s founding employee and focused on overseeing entertainment industry activation through script integration, content creation, digital campaigns, and influencer engagement, before building out her own practice in 2018.
Billon has worked with clients such as Amnesty International, Got Your 6, Rock the Vote, The Clinton Foundation, Center for American Progress, Service Year, Understood, It’s On Us, Student Veterans of America, Human Rights Watch, Everytown for Gun Safety, Climate Reality Project, and many other exemplary organizations. Aimie has also worked with brands on their social good efforts including shooting PSAs in collaboration with rehearsals for the Academy Awards, GRAMMYs, and Emmys.
KEELY CAT-WELLS
CEO
Making Space
Keely founded her first company in hospital, which later became C Talent, a talent agency that represents Disabled artists, reshaping perceptions of disability. C Talent was acquired in 2022, marking a significant milestone for disability within the creative industries.
Keely is now the founder & CEO of Making Space, a talent acquisition and learning platform that develops accessible pathways to employment and career advancement through employer-backed education for Disabled people, notably securing partnerships with NBC, Netflix and Amazon.
Under the Making Space umbrella is Making Space Media, a division that creates film and TV content amplifying disabled narratives, Making Space Media secured a first-look deal with Reese Witherspoons, Hello Sunshine. Keely is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, 2024 Presidential Leadership Scholar, AdWeek Young Influential and Diana Award Winner.
DAN ERLIJ
Partner, Co-Head, Television Literary Department
United Talent Agency
Dan Erlij is a senior partner and long-time agent in the Television Literary Department at United Talent Agency, where he represents many television creators, showrunners, and writer-producers.
Erlij joined UTA in 1996 in UTA’s Agent Training Program. He was promoted to agent in the television literary department in 1998 and was upped to Partner in April of 2008. Prior to joining UTA, Erlij practiced law for several years as a litigator at the Herzfeld & Rubin law firm in New York City. He left the legal practice to move to Los Angeles and enter the entertainment industry.
Erlij is an instrumental part of UTA’s TV Lit Department, known for his adept instincts for identifying gifted artists, building exceptional careers for clients, and discovering great material, as well as developing and packaging successful network and cable series.
SCOTT HERVEY
President, HRTS Unscripted Content Group and Shareholder Weintraub Tobin
Scott Hervey is an entertainment, intellectual property, and business attorney who works with companies in a variety of different industries.
He represents traditional entertainment and digital media companies, technology companies, early-stage investors and all varieties of brand-driven enterprises, in financings, mergers and acquisitions, licensing and other general business transactions.
Scott’s entertainment practice is primarily in the area of television and digital media. Scott regularly represents television production companies in network negotiations and has served as production and clearance counsel on television programming for Netflix, History, Go90, TheCW, E!, VH1, NatGeo, WGN, CMT, WEtv, TruTV, Discovery, and A&E.
In the area of emerging media, Scott represents investors, venture capital funds, and emerging growth companies in financing transactions. Scott also represents top digital media content creators, digital media studios, YouTube Networks, and other new technology companies in a wide variety of matters including acquisitions, production, clearance, and general business matters. Scott previously served as the acting business affairs director for the publicly traded digital content company, Digital Music Group, Inc. (now The Orchard).
Scott was featured in Variety’s 2014 Legal Impact Report and is a 2017 Super Lawyer®. Scott is a professor of entertainment law at King Hall law school, U.C, Davis and he serves on the board of directors of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society (HRTS).
Scott has extensive knowledge and experience in trademark law. He has represented clients in domestic and international trademark registration and enforcement in a variety of industries such as gaming (i.e., slot machine manufacturer Aristocrat Technologies), entertainment and hospitality (i.e., the Palms Casino and Resort in Las Vegas), wine and spirit brands (i.e., Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey and Oak Ridge Winery), medical devices (i.e., Cesca Therapeutics) and sports and entertainment.
TONY JONAS
Founder Tony Jonas Productions
Tony Jonas is one of the television industry’s most respected executive producers and television studio executives. A veteran of over 30 years in the entertainment business, he currently heads up his own tv production company, Tony Jonas Productions, Inc. (TJP.).
In addition to the company’s present development slate, and since 2017, Jonas concurrently serves as a professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts where he teaches masters classes for both writing and producing television series—most recently helping guide his grad students to win 2023’s prestigious national competition: the Television Academy’s College Emmy Award for Best Drama.
TJP was born in 1999, during his transition from President of Warner Brothers Television Studios to Executive Producer wherein that same year he immediately developed and went on to produce five years and 94 episodes of the hit drama series QUEER AS FOLK, for Showtime, Inc., deemed one of television’s “most daring and controversial series.” Jonas went on to produce a second series under his term deal at Warner’s, the 20-episode drama LEAP YEARS, also for Showtime. Next, TJP continued it’s series tv run in an eventual term deal at Disney’s
Touchstone Television. Under that banner, Jonas executive produced ABC’s much-heralded limited series, EMPIRE, one of the first period series on a broadcast network depicting the gladiators and successors to Julius Caesar’s assassination.The series was shot entirely in Rome and introduced superstar Emily Blunt. Also for Touchstone, Jonas went on to produce the ABC half-hour comedy LOST AT HOME, starring Connie Britton and Gregory Hines. As an executive, Jonas last served as President of Warner Brothers Television, a position he held since 1996. Under his leadership, Warner Brothers was the largest supplier of network prime time programs for four straight years, including dominating the night’s programming on both NBC’s Thursday night “Must See TV” line up, as well as ABC’s Friday night “TGIF “comedy line up, with Warner’s own hit shows: on NBC, THE WEST WING, ER, FRIENDS, and VERONICA’S CLOSET, while on ABC, Miller-Boyett’s FAMILY MATTERS, STEP BY STEP, FULL HOUSE, and Jeff Franklin’s HANGIN’ WITH MR. COOPER. Along with Warner’s dominance, at all the nets, there were the accompanying hits, LIVING SINGLE, THE DREW CAREY SHOW, LOIS AND CLARK, SUDDENLY SUSAN, THIRD WATCH, WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?, and an extended MURPHY BROWN.
Meanwhile, Jonas took Warner Television into the then-aborning cable tv market and landed five years on USA with the hit series LA FEMME NIKITA. In the continuing foray into premium cable, Jonas cleared the way for the produced pilot of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL at Warner’s sister-company, HBO—breaking ground as the two company’s first-ever such co-venture. Jonas’ Day One as President at Warners had been to secure new deals with the studio’s premiere talent: John Wells Prods., Kauffman, Crane, and Bright Prods, Yvette Lee Bowser, and Bruce Helford, among others. These extended deals resulted in securing eventual relationships with Aaron Sorkin, Kirstie Alley, Norm MacDonald, Tom Selleck, and Christina Applegate. Jonas had joined Warner Bros. (then Lorimar Television) in 1989 as senior vice president, Drama Development. He supervised development on the multi-Emmy Award winning dramas I’LL FLY AWAY, HOMEFRONT, REASONABLE DOUBTS, GABRIEL’S FIRE, and SISTERS. Internally, the desire to bolster the new WB Network, in turn gave birth to the hit comedies THE JAMIE FOXX SHOW, Robert Townsend’s THE PARENTHOOD, and THE WAYAN’S BROTHERS. On the renewal front, Jonas also led the studio in the largest re-negotiation for extended series rights in history—securing a three-year renewal for ER in which NBC paid over $850 million dollars. It changed the industry. Before Jonas joined Warners, his executive background included years as VP Development at Disney Television, where to boost the on-lot talent roster per Jeff Katzenberg’s dictum to finally revitalize the tv studio and attract both high-priced talent, as well as “tomorrow’s stars”, Jonas identified Matt Williams (which a year later led to the juggernaut HOME IMPROVEMENT) and gave the eventual superstar-to-be comedy writer/creator Chuck Lorre his first-ever script deal; was Senior Executive in Charge of Development for Winkler-Rich Productions at Paramount; VP Dramatic Development and Long-Form Programming for MGM Television; Director Development Aaron Spelling Productions,; and Associate Producer, EMI Television. Inc.
In 1984, while an exec at Paramount television, Jonas created an action character who was a non-violent “master of improvisation and short-cut artist” later named MacGYVER, which Winkler-Rich produced for ABC for seven seasons. It became a world-wide hit.
In 2016, MacGyver resurfaced in a re-boot at CBS for five more seasons.
NORIKO KELLEY
EVP Programming Strategy, CBS Entertainment
In January, Noriko Kelley was promoted to Executive Vice President, Program Planning & Scheduling, CBS Entertainment, becoming the first-ever female head of scheduling for any broadcast television network. Kelley’s primary responsibility is overseeing the program planning and scheduling of all primetime programming for the CBS Television Network.
She also supervises coordination between CBS programming divisions and the network’s respective operations in sales, marketing, affiliate relations, news, sports and research, as well as with the CBS Television Stations Group. Previously, Kelley was Senior Vice President, Program Planning & Scheduling at CBS since August 2012. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Program Planning & Scheduling at CBS since April 2010, playing a role in many of the network’s successful scheduling moves. Kelley started at CBS as a director in the same department in May 2007.
JORDAN LEVIN
General Manager Rooster Teeth
A proven creator, operator and strategist in both traditional and new media, Levin has been instrumental in launching numerous entertainment franchises that have left a lasting impact on popular culture over the past three decades as an enterprising network and studio executive, Emmy-award winning producer, director, and digital entrepreneur.
Acknowledged for his insightful understanding of youthful audiences, Levin’s experience spans a broad range of content genres. Considered a prominent thought leader, innovative builder and collaborative partner, Levin has been recognized by many publications and organizations for his forward-thinking influence across the entertainment, sports, advertising, and technology communities.
Currently a strategic advisor and business consultant, Levin most recently served as CEO of Awesomeness, a multiplatform media company and premier entertainment brand serving the global Gen-Z audience. Comcast NBCUniversal recruited Levin to evaluate the majority stake in Awesomeness it acquired following its purchase of DreamWorks Animation. In this capacity, Levin oversaw the growth of the company’s leading digital networks, its world-class film and television studio, and its full-fledged creative agency, before successfully initiating and facilitating the company’s sale to Viacom. Before joining Awesomeness, Levin became the NFL’s first Chief Content Officer, managing the league’s content portfolio across the NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL Mobile, its social media channels, newsroom, event programming, including the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and external partnerships. Prior to the NFL, Levin joined Microsoft’s nascent Xbox Entertainment Studios division as Executive Vice President, General Manager tasked with coordinating the launch of an interactive, video-on-demand programming service creating original premium content for the global, over-the-top Xbox platform. In 2005, Levin built Generate, a pioneering studio, and talent management company. He sold the company to Alloy Digital in 2011 and served as President of the new entity, during which time Alloy Digital subsequently merged with Break Media to form Defy Media. Previously, Levin joined The WB Television Network (now The CW) in 1994 as part of its founding executive team where he spent a decade helping to build and brand America’s most successful broadcast network targeting young-adults. He became the sole President of Programming in 2001, included oversight of ‘Kids’ WB,’ and two years later became the youngest CEO in broadcast television history. Earlier, Levin spent five years as a member of the creative team that revitalized the Disney brand in network television.
A frequent keynote speaker, moderator, panelist and presenter, Levin is also a published author and adjunct professor at USC in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He has lent his strategic acumen to a variety of boards: including non-profit organizations, industry associations, academic institutions, political advocacy groups, and early-stage media companies, such as NATPE, for which he is a past Chairman, HRTS, for which he is a past President, the Los Angeles Board of Governors for the Paley Center for Media, the Austin Television Festival, the Austin Film Society, the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication Advisory Council and the Los Angeles Network for Moody College, for which he is Chair. He was named the College’s Alumnus of the Year in 2002, was the University Alumni Organization’s 2004 Outstanding Young Texas-Ex Award recipient, and selected as one of the University’s 125 Extraordinary Exes in 2010.
DICK LIPPIN
Chairman, Chief Executive, and Founder The Lippin Group
Richard (Dick) B. Lippin is chairman, chief executive and founder of The Lippin Group, an international entertainment/communications public relations and marketing organization with wholly owned and operated offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. Lippin has over 35 years in the industry, specializing in entertainment and media covering television, music, film, digital media, Podcasts, DVD/video, licensing and merchandising and investor relations.
Over the years, Lippin has served as a close strategic advisor to some of the world’s most prestigious companies and associations in the United States and countries around the globe. Prior to entering the public relations industry, he worked on Wall Street in both the investment and regulatory areas of the financial world.
GARY MARENZI
Founder/CEO Marenzi & Associates
Gary Marenzi is the founder and CEO of Marenzi & Associates, which provides strategic management advice and implementation for the media and entertainment industry.
Marenzi’s clients have included Starz Media, Dreamworks Animation, Lucasfilm Ltd, Media Rights Capital, The Chernin Group, New Regency Productions, IMAX Corporation, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Content Partners, Defy Media, Constantin Film, IM Global, Ed Pressman Films, Shaftesbury Entertainment, The Blade Runner Partnership, ProSieben/Sat1, TV 4 Sweden, TV 2 Norway, TV 2 Denmark, TeleFilms Argentina, and Amedia Russia.
Notable successes include:
Creative development and global sales of 53-episode TV series SHADOWHUNTERS
Serving as Chief Content Officer at StarzPlay Arabia during its start-up phase, and
Achieving record TV sales for the 30th-anniversary edition of the classic feature film BLADE RUNNER.
From February 2016 through September 2019, Marenzi served as Head of Entertainment Sales & Partnerships for ENDEAVOR CONTENT (formerly IMG Entertainment), where he created a distribution unit that handled quality scripted and non-scripted entertainment product in global home media markets. Marenzi collaborated across Endeavor business units and with producers of premium content to develop, acquire and deliver quality programming to broadcasters, digital platforms (e.g., Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney+, etc.), and other programming services worldwide. Based in both Beverly Hills and London, Marenzi supervised entertainment sales activity across 30 regional offices spread throughout the globe. Notable successes under Marenzi’s tenure include launching global sales for THE NIGHT MANAGER, KILLING EVE, THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL, and THE AGATHA CHRISTIE MINI-SERIES.
From 2007 until mid-2011, Marenzi served as President of the Worldwide Television Group for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM). His duties there included overseeing the distribution of MGM’s films and television programs to television and digital media outlets, the creative development and production of new television programs (including successful series TEEN WOLF and VIKINGS), and the management of MGM’s television channels worldwide. He also was a member of MGM’s senior management “Green Light” Committee, which approved all-new feature film production.
Previously, Marenzi was President of International Television for Paramount Pictures for seven years. During his tenure with Paramount, Mr. Marenzi generated several billion dollars in license fee revenue for Paramount feature films, TV programming and formats with TV broadcasters and cable channels outside the U.S. He also oversaw Paramount’s TV co-production/co-financing operations that yielded USA Network’s hits, THE DEAD ZONE and THE 4400.
Between 1992 and 1997, Mr. Marenzi recorded his first tour of duty at MGM as President of the MGM Telecommunications Group, where he was responsible for all of MGM’s international television and worldwide pay television business activities. Before MGM, Mr. Marenzi was President of the UIP Pay TV Group based in London for three years. In the early portion of his career, Mr. Marenzi laid a foundation for his experience in television with roles at Skouras Pictures, Inc., The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Warner Home Video, Columbia Pictures, and HBO.
Mr. Marenzi currently serves on the Board of the Hollywood Radio & TV Society (HRTS) and is a past Executive Committee/Board Member of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) and the Executive Committee/Board of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS).
Mr. Marenzi received both his BA and MBA from Stanford University.
FREDERIC RICHTER
Researcher, Writer, Producer, and Educator, NYU
Frederic Richter is a researcher, writer, producer, and educator. He has worked on projects for HBO, NETFLIX, Amazon, Showtime, MGM, Universal Television, Focus Features, FX/Disney, CNN, History Channel, VH1, and Discovery as well as many independent film projects.
Film and television projects he has worked on as a researcher, and archival specialist include CREED III, COCAINE BEAR as well as the upcoming films, BAG MAN, RELAY, and ATLAS. In TV they include HBO Series WINNING TIME, and BARRY, and the Amazon series, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, the Showtime Mini Series, THE COMEY RULE, and on the Emmy nominated Mini-Series, ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA. He is an archival producer on the upcoming independently produced documentary feature film WAR UNFOLDING featuring Annette Bening as narrator.
His writing, research and producing work appeared on the CNN documentary series, JERUSALEM: CITY OF FAITH AND FURY. He has worked as a Writer, Researcher and Producer on numerous projects for The History Channel. His screenplay APPEARANCES won The Slamdance Film Festival award for best screenplay. He has worked on multiple feature projects in development as both a writer, consultant and producer. He’s worked in film development as a story analyst Black Label Media, Film Rites, QED International, Covert Media and The Black List. His AFI Thesis film, MACHSOM screened at over twenty five festivals, including AFI Fest and the Bermuda International Film Festival, and won numerous grants and awards including the DELUXE Production grant. He has taught classes and workshops at Sarah Lawrence College, NYU, The NYU Production Lab, International Film Institute and The Ghetto Film School. He is a faculty member at NYU SPS. He is Co-President of the Board of HRTS Associates, N.Y. He received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute in LA.
ODETTA WATKINS
Head of Drama Series Amazon Studios
Newly appointed EVP of Current Programming, Premium Cable & Streaming, Odetta is a veteran of Warner Bros. TV, who worked her way up the Current department after joining the studio in 2002.
In her new post, she is overseeing the 25 shows Warner Bros. TV produces for cable and streaming, ranging from “Westworld” to “Shameless” to “Castle Rock”, with more on the horizon for HBO Max, Warner Media’s new streaming service that will launch in the spring of 2020. Before joining Warner Bros. TV, Odetta held previous posts at FOX, CBS Productions, and TNT, where she helped to launch the cable network’s first few television series.
Originally from San Francisco, Odetta is a graduate of Howard University with a B.A. in Journalism. Although she originally intended to pursue a career in TV news, her love of primetime tv shows like “Dallas” and “A Different World” inspired her to follow her passion for creative television.
In addition to working with writers, Odetta is also passionate about striving for inclusiveness both in front of the camera and behind the scenes in the industry. She is an active member of the Television Academy, Colour TV; and also mentors young professionals on the executive path.