July 24, 2024
The DGA and AICP’s Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP) has announced the five Fellows for 2024. Directors SCOUT (Lindsay Sunada & Jensen Vinca), Derek Smith, April Moreau, Anjali Nayar and Jonathan Benavente were chosen from a group of over 400 applicants, all of whom started their directing careers in other media.
The CDDP was born out of the 2014 National Commercial Agreement negotiations between the DGA and Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) with the goal of opening more opportunities for people from historically underrepresented groups.
Over the course of the next few months, the new Fellows will get exposure and experience through one-to-one interactions with mentoring DGA-signatory production companies Spears & Arrows, Invisible Collective, O Positive, Smuggler and Thinking Machine and engage in workshops on the process of pitching/shooting/finishing spots and branded content. They will also shadow DGA commercial Directors on the set and will have access to camera equipment generously provided by Arri and a grant provided by the CDDP.
The program concludes with an industry showcase where AICP companies, who are signatories of the National Commercial Agreement, are invited to view the program participant’s updated reels and meet this new pool of commercial Directors. In addition to the five Fellows, 15 finalists will be invited to participate in the program’s workshops.