News

By Chris Tribbey

A keynote conversation with professor Jonathan Taplin, director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, is just one highlight of the Hollywood IT Summit, coming up April 22 in Los Angeles.

Tackling hardware and software platforms, big data and data analytics, vendor management, network connectivity, software as a service (SaaS) and more, Hollywood IT Summit panelists include the top chief information officers and chief technology officers from the major Hollywood studios.

More than 450 industry executives attended the event last year when it was held at Pepperdine University, and more are expected next week when the venue shifts to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

The daylong event is expected to attract experts in the fields of asset management, digital media, digital distribution, sales and marketing, finance, technology solutions, business intelligence, and, of course, information technology.

The day begins with “Entertainment Industry Makeover in the Digital World: Shaping the Future,” a presentation looking at what progress has been made in monetizing digital content, and the ability of IT to cross boundaries within and outside a studio.

The chief information officer (CIO) panel — “The New Paradigms of Digital Entertainment for Growth and Profitability” — returns, featuring a roundtable discussion with those responsible for connecting the production and distribution systems with the consumer marketplace. Devendra Mishra, executive director and founder of the Hollywood IT Society, leads a panel of executives from Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, NBC Universal and Creative Artists Agency.

Ken Williams, executive director and CEO of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (ETC@USC), will host the “Business Transformation – Technologies Come to the Rescue” panel, featuring the chief technology officers from Fox Filmed Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation. Those executives are expected to tackle the opportunities of metadata, integrating internal and external platforms, new distribution platforms, and the promise of 4K.

“The Implications of Security on Business Leaders Today” sees Richard Atkinson, global director of piracy conversion for Adobe and the and newly installed chairman of the Content Delivery & Security Association, sharing the concerns of IT and information security chiefs, and the different security challenges Hollywood and entertainment executives face, compared with those in retail, finance and government.

Cameron Davies, SVP of analytics NBC Universal News Group, will host “Fusing Data: Enhanced Decisions in the Creative Environment of Hollywood,” discussing examples of both successful and failed data-enhanced decision-making. Steve Dahl, SVP of supply chain operations for Walt Disney Studio will offer his thoughts on the new challenges presented by the digital delivery marketplace in his presentation, “The Studio Operating Model/Systems: From Film Maker to Consumer Across the Windows.”

And in “Concept to Camera to Consumer: Building the Next generation Workflow for Film & TV,” Jay Tucker, chief marketing officer of the Marshall School of Business’ Institute for Communication Technology Management (University of Southern California) will lead a panel discussing how studios are tackling digital supply chain challenges in this increasingly fragmented content world. Alex Grimwade, VP of information technology for 20th Century Fox Television, Ivan Gueron, divisional CIO for Sony Pictures Entertainment, David Lavin, senior director of enterprise application architecture for CBS Corp. and Tom Roach, VP and group information officer for Warner Bros., will weigh in.

For registration, or more information about the event, visit: hollywooditsociety.com/spring2014.