September 4, 1997
DGA President Jack Shea announced today that veteran producer-director Bruce Paltrow along with ER executive producer-writer John Wells and co-executive producer-director Christopher Chulack will become the inaugural recipients of the DGA Diversity Award on Saturday, September 20 at a 6:00 pm presentation ceremony at DGA National Headquarters.
"The Directors Guild is proud to honor John Wells, Chris Chulack, and Bruce Paltrow by presenting them with the 1997 DGA Diversity Award for their exemplary efforts in providing equal employment opportunities to women and ethnic minority members of our Guild," said Shea. "We received more than one hundred nominees for this new and prestigious award, and all of us were greatly impressed by the tremendous efforts to encourage diversity by all of the candidates. In the end, however, the outstanding leadership of our designated recipients in this important area led to their selection."
Among his long list of career achievements, Paltrow is perhaps most recognized as the creative force behind the landmark television medical drama St. Elsewhere as well as The White Shadow, a popular television series about an inner-city high school basketball team. Among the directorial careers launched by Paltrow on these programs were those of prominent African-American filmmakers Thomas Carter, Kevin Hooks, and Eric Laneuville as well as many other women and ethnic minority directorial team members.
As the leaders of the creative team behind NBC's ER, television's current number one program, John Wells and Christopher Chulack have demonstrated their commitment to the employment of women and ethnic minorities in all aspects of the production, including members of the directorial team.
Immediately prior to the presentation of the DGA Diversity Award on September 20, leading industry executives and directors will participate in the Directors Guild of America's Summit on Diversity.
"The DGA 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."
Garth Ancier, the President, Entertainment, the WB TV Network; Jeffrey Berg, the Chairman and CEO of ICM; John Goldwyn, the President, Motion Pictures Group/Production of Paramount Pictures; Kenneth Lemberger, the President of Columbia Tri-Star Motion Picture Group; Warren Littlefield, the President of NBC Entertainment; William Mechanic, the Chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox; and Leslie Moonves, the President of CBS Entertainment will be part of a 2:15 PM panel discussion entitled "On the Level: Shifting the Playing Field," moderated by DGA First Vice President Martha Coolidge. This panel 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 at 4:15 PM 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, Luis Valdez 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.