FEATURED SPEAKERS
Chris Selak
President, End of Episode
Chris Selak joined Courtney A. Kemp’s production company, End of Episode, as President and Executive Producer. Kemp is the Emmy-nominated creator, showrunner and producer of the Starz hit series, Power. In their exclusive multiyear deal with global content leader, Lionsgate, Selak is developing and producing a variety of new content across multiple platforms through Kemp’s End of Episode banner, which encompasses multiple projects inspired by the world of Power, led by the recently announced Power Book II: Ghost, as well as dirty cop drama Dirty Thirty in development at HBO. Before joining End of Episode, Ms. Selak was Executive Vice President and Head of Worldwide Scripted Television for Lionsgate, where she oversaw creative development and programming for all Lionsgate scripted television projects.
In her tenure, she built on Lionsgate’s legacy series like Mad Men (AMC), Nurse Jackie (Showtime) and Weeds (Showtime) with ground-breaking shows like Orange is the New Black (Netflix), Nashville (CMT/Hulu), The Royals (E!), Step Up: High Water (YouTube Red), Dear White People (Netflix), and The Rook (Starz). She continued to expand scripted programming with upcoming shows like The Continental based on the John Wick feature franchise (Starz), Kingkiller Chronicle (Showtime), and Jerusalem (Starz). Ms. Selak also spearheaded the Lionsgate Television Group’s collaboration with the Lionsgate UK television business, led by UK CEO Zygi Kamasa and UK Television Creative Director Steve November. Prior to joining Lionsgate in 2011, Ms. Selak served as SVP at John Wells Productions, where she worked on shows including ER, The West Wing, Shameless, and Southland. Prior to that, Ms. Selak was VP at Mandalay Television, a Peter Guber Company, serving as a producer on the Showtime series Rude Awakening. She also oversaw the development and production of the ABC series Cupid and The WB’s Young Americans.
Frederic Richter
Writer, Consultant, and Educator, NYU
Frederic Richter is a writer, researcher, and consultant. He is currently working on a historical film for Focus Features, and was most recently the Archive Researcher on the HBO series WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY and a Consultant on an upcoming installation of a major franchise from MGM Studios. Frederic has also worked as a Research Consultant on the Emmy winning Amazon series THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, the Emmy nominated Showtime Mini-Series ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA, and the Showtime Mini Series THE COMEY RULE. His career in research started on the scripted History mini-series, SONS OF LIBERTY. His writing credits include the hybrid CNN documentary series JERUSALEM: CITY OF FAITH AND FURY, History Channel’s THE CARS THAT BUILT THE WORLD, THE CARS THAT BUILT AMERICA, as well as having multiple TV projects in development at numerous production companies. In film, his script APPEARANCES won The Slamdance Film Festival award for best screenplay and his AFI Thesis film MACHSOM screened at over twenty five festivals and won numerous grants and awards. He’s worked in film development and consulted at Tradition Pictures, Black Label Media, Film Rites, QED International, Covert Media and The Black List. Frederic is a faculty member at NYU and has also taught at Sarah Lawrence College, The Writing Institute, International Film Institute, and The Ghetto Film School. He is on the Alumni Board at Sarah Lawrence College, and is Co-President of the Board of HRTS Associates NY. He received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute in LA. It goes without saying that he is a history nerd, and believes storytelling can inform as well as entertain.
Irene Lee
Director, Drama Series, Netflix
Irene Lee is a director of drama development series at Netflix. She has a unique and diverse perspective of Netflix having worked across both comedy and drama in her almost 7 years there. While on the comedy team, she worked on titles like Grace & Frankie and The Kominsky Method. She then transitioned from comedy to the drama team overseeing overall deals and working on series such as The Crown and Bridgerton. She was the creative driving force of last summer’s steamy relationship drama Sex/Life, and is currently shepherding the Steven Yeun & Ali Wong starring series Beef, the To All the Boys series spin-off Xo, Kitty and the Unt. Noah Centineo Project, among other development titles.
Prior to joining the company she worked at Warner Bros. Television and John Wells Productions. Irene’s passion for storytelling stems from a deeply personal place and has been a central part of her being, inspired especially by her family. Her grandfather was a cameraman for MBC Korea and her aunt, Wang Bit Na, is a well-known actress there. Her first-generation immigrant parents also owned a video rental store in Los Angeles.
Lindsay Harrop
VP Television, Genre Films
Lindsay Harrop is the VP of Television for Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films covering series across development and production. Prior to this, she spent 5.5 years as a studio executive at STX Entertainment, working on projects with Netflix, NatGeo, Amazon, HBO, and other networks. Lindsay got her start working at ITV Studios America and Xbox Entertainment Studios. She is also the current Co-President of the HRTS Associates LA chapter.
Taylor Williams
Coordinator, Drama Development, ABC
Taylor Williams is the Drama Development Coordinator at ABC Entertainment. Prior to joining ABC, Taylor was a Director of TIDE Film Festival in New York, where her responsibilities included oversight of film programming, marketing, and events. She began her entertainment career at HBO in Affiliate Distribution. She recently finished serving her term on the JHRTS board where she oversaw the mentorship program for two years. Taylor holds a B.A. in English Literature and Africana Studies from Brown University.
Chelsea Carpenito
Manager of Development, Tomorrow Studios
Chelsea Carpenito is a Manager of Development at Tomorrow Studios, an ITV joint venture, whose credits include SNOWPIERCER, PHYSICAL, TEN-YEAR-OLD-TOM, and the highly anticipated upcoming series ONE PIECE and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. She has been at Tomorrow for three and a half years, rising from assistant to coordinator and newly to manager. She got her start in the mailroom at Management 360 where she was promoted onto a Talent Partner’s desk. She got her BA from St. John’s University and her MFA from Chapman University where she also interned at Paul Feig’s production company, Feigco.
MODERATOR
David Madden
HRTS Board Member
An accomplished and highly regarded programming executive, David Madden was named President, Berlanti Productions in February 2020. Previously, he served as AMC Networks’ President of Programming, Entertainment Networks, overseeing all scripted and non-fiction content development for AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, Sundance TV, and AMC Studios, brands that deliver some of the most popular and culturally relevant shows on television as well as an expanding studio operation.
Madden joined AMC Networks in late 2017 after nearly two decades at Fox, where he most recently was President of Entertainment for the Fox Broadcasting Company, responsible for all programming and development, including series such as “Empire,” “911,” “Brooklyn 99,” “Masterchef Junior” and “Grease Live.” Prior to that, Madden was President of Fox Television Studios, which developed and produced programming for a variety of broadcast and cable networks in the U.S. and internationally. Series produced by FTVS during Madden’s tenure at the studio included “The Shield” and “The Americans” for FX, “The Killing,” for AMC and later Netflix, “White Collar,” “Graceland” and “Burn Notice” for USA, and many others.
At AMC Networks, Madden has most recently overseen a new slate of programming for AMC that includes the “Dispatches from Elsewhere,” from actor and writer Jason Segel and producer Scott Rudin, “NOS4A2,” a supernatural horror series, season two of the popular anthology series, “The Terror” and critically hailed drama “Lodge 49.” Current programming on AMC includes “The Walking Dead,” “Fear The Walking Dead,” “Better Call Saul,” and “Preacher.” AMC has also recently greenlit its first episodic anthology series about the intersection of love and science from Will Bridges (“Black Mirror”) and Brett Goldstein. On the unscripted side, AMC is home to original series such as “Talking Dead,” “Talking With Chris Hardwick,” “Ride with Norman Reedus” and year-round documentary series “AMC Visionaries,” which immerses fans in favorite topics and subcultures like comics, horror, rap, and science fiction all led by the masters themselves, such as Robert Kirkman, Eli Roth, Questlove, and James Cameron.
At BBC America, Madden oversees programming that includes the critically acclaimed “Killing Eve;” top-rated phenomenon “Doctor Who;” Emmy® IDA-winning “Planet Earth II” and the producers’ next epic story of our planet, “Dynasties;” Emmy®-winning “Blue Planet II;” acclaimed drama “Luther;” ground-breaking unscripted series “Top Gear;” the buzzy and hilarious “The Graham Norton Show;” and the world’s largest darts championships. Upcoming series for BBC America include the punk rock thriller “The Watch,” based on Sir Terry Pratchett’s wildly popular “Discworld” novels. Madden heads programming and development for IFC, home to offbeat comedies such as “Documentary Now!,” created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen, and produced by Broadway Video, “Brockmire,” starring Hank Azaria and produced with Funny Or Die, the fast-paced and irreverent “Baroness von Sketch Show,” and “Sherman’s Showcase,” an original musical variety sketch from “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” comedy duo Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle and executive produced by John Legend. Upcoming series include “Year of the Rabbit,” a co-production with the UK’s Channel 4, starring Matt Berry as a drunk sleuth investigating crimes inspired by the world of Sherlock Holmes’ Victorian-era London.
At SundanceTV, Madden oversees a lineup of high-caliber dramas and documentary programming, including the Peabody Award-winning series “Deutschland 86,” the Leonardo DiCaprio executive produced the documentary “Jonestown: Terror In The Jungle,” and critically acclaimed dramas “The Split” and “Liar.” SundanceTV’s newest series is “State of The Union,” a ten-part short-form comedy written by the Academy Award®-nominated and BAFTA-winning writer Nick Hornby (“Brooklyn,” “An Education”) and starring Academy Award® and BAFTA-nominated Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl,” “Hostiles”) and BAFTA-nominated Chris O’Dowd (“Bridesmaids,” “Get Shorty”).
Also central to his role at AMC Networks is Madden’s oversight of programming for the company’s expanding AMC Studios business, which allows the company to own and control more of the content it brings to fans on its national networks and emerging platforms. AMC Studios produces “The Walking Dead,” the highest-rated series in cable history, and a wide variety of popular and acclaimed originals including “Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Terror,” “Into the Badlands,” “Lodge 49” and others. The studio has also produced the Peabody Award-winning “Rectify,” and “Hap and Leonard,” as well as unscripted series “Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders” and “The Jonestown Massacre” for SundanceTV.
Prior to his tenure at Fox, Madden was a producer and partner with the Paramount Pictures-based Cort/Madden Company, with more than 20 films to his credit. “Something the Lord Made,” featuring Alan Rickman and Mos Def, for HBO, won the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television. Madden also produced “Save the Last Dance,” starring Julia Stiles, which grossed $90+ million domestically and sold three million soundtrack units.
The Cort/Madden Company also developed a series version for FOX. While at the Cort/Madden Company, Madden and his partner produced “Against the Ropes,” with Meg Ryan, and “The Out of Towners,” with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, among other films. Madden also executive-produced “Runaway Bride,” starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The film grossed more than $150 million domestically. Before Paramount, Madden was a producer and partner with Interscope Communications, where he developed and produced such films as the thriller “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” with Rebecca De Mornay; “The Associate,” starring Whoopi Goldberg; “Operation Dumbo Drop,” featuring Danny Glover and Ray Liotta; “Renegades,” starring Kiefer Sutherland; and “Blind Fury,” starring Rutger Hauer. Prior to becoming an executive at Interscope Communications, Madden was Vice President of Production at Paramount Pictures, supervising such hit films as “The Untouchables,” “Fatal Attraction,” “The Naked Gun,” “The Accused” and “Children of a Lesser God.” He also served as Vice President of Production at Twentieth Century Fox, where he supervised “Romancing the Stone,” “Jewel of the Nile,” “Revenge of the Nerds” and “The Fly.”
In addition to his producing career, Madden directed the Trimark feature “Separate Lives,” starring Linda Hamilton and James Belushi, and wrote and directed the Lifetime movie “A Part of the Family,” starring Robert Carradine and Ronny Cox. Madden received a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University and a Master’s Degree from the University of California Los Angeles.