August 26, 1997
Garth Ancier, the President, Entertainment, the WB TV Network; Jeffrey Berg, the Chairman and CEO of ICM; Kenneth Lemberger, the President of Columbia Tri-Star Motion Picture Group; Warren Littlefield, the President of NBC Entertainment; and Leslie Moonves, the President of CBS Entertainment, are among those industry executives slated to participate in the Directors Guild of America's Summit on Diversity, DGA President Jack Shea announced today. The Summit will be held on September 20, 1997, at DGA Headquarters.
"The Summit on Diversity will be a comprehensive look at the economic and moral issues involved in creating a diverse workforce and diverse programming," DGA President Shea said. "I am pleased that the industry has responded to our call and that people of such high stature in our community have agreed to participate in such an important and necessary forum."
"The Summit will begin at 11am with two members-only clinics aimed at improving employment for DGA women and minorities, entitled "Career Self-Management: A Plan, Not Just an Attitude" and "Interviewing Techniques."
Ancier, Berg, Lemberger, Littlefield and Moonves will be part of an early afternoon panel discussion entitled "On the Level: Shifting the Playing Field," moderated by DGA First Vice President Martha Coolidge. This panel (with other panelists not yet confirmed at press time), will focus on what industry leaders are doing to promote and encourage diversity, the obstacles they are facing and how they are combating them, what others can learn from them, and what the DGA can do to support them.
A second panel, entitled "Diversity Behind the Camera: Challenging Cultural Conventions," will be moderated by former DGA President and current DGA Secretary-Treasurer, director/producer Gilbert Cates. Panelists, including directors Paris Barclay, Kathryn Bigelow, Bill Duke, Penelope Spheeris, Jesus Treviño and Wayne Wang, will discuss how they have handled specific challenges having to do with gender and ethnicity and what they have learned from those experiences that might benefit their colleagues in the industry.
The culmination of the Summit on Diversity will be the presentation of the first ever DGA Diversity Award honoring a producer or employer in the industry who has demonstrated consistent commitment to and leadership in the hiring of women and ethnic minorities in DGA categories.
[Note: The winner of the DGA Diversity Award will be announced in advance via press release the week of September 1.]