Chair and CEO of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider, who has overseen production of numerous top-grossing and award-winning films, will be the keynote speaker at UCLA School of Law’s 41st Entertainment Symposium: “Entertainment Madness Keeping All the Balls in the Air.” The symposium will be held at the Freud Playhouse on the UCLA campus on Friday, March 17, from noon to 5:15 p.m., and on Saturday, March 18, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In recent years, creative and technological innovations have blurred the lines among the film, television and music businesses, challenging traditional divisions while offering new opportunities in areas such as mobile platforms, social media and virtual reality. At the symposium, panels of experts and presenters from across the industry will offer insights into cutting-edge topics.
An alumna of UCLA School of Law, Snider has led 20th Century Fox since September 2016. She oversees all areas of the studio, including film production, global marketing, distribution and home entertainment. Snider previously held top positions at DreamWorks Studio, Universal Pictures and Tri-Star Pictures. In those roles, she oversaw projects including “Bourne” and the “Fast and Furious” film series, Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and Ron Howard's “A Beautiful Mind,” which won four Academy Awards, including the best picture Oscar in 2002.
Panelists and moderators for other symposium sessions include: Steve Bersch, president of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions; Thomas Gewecke, chief digital officer and executive vice president, strategy and business development at Warner Bros. Entertainment; Open Road Films CEO Elliott Kleinberg; Amazon Pictures Worldwide head of motion pictures Jason Ropell; veteran industry analyst, film producer and network executive Tom Wolzien; UCLA Law professor emeritus and film historian Paul Bergman; and UCLA Anderson professor of marketing Sanjay Sood.
Discussion topics will include the impact of smartphones on consumption, marketing, sales and story-telling; the new content ecosystem from Netflix and Amazon to Awesomeness TV and Buzzfeed; the ins and outs of film packaging as media, consumer habits and markets evolve; virtual reality and augmented reality production and distribution; the use of pre-existing intellectual property, from “Harry Potter” to “Fifty Shades of Grey”; and broken windows: disruption and new paradigms in film distribution.
Tickets can be purchased through the UCLA Central Box Office online or by calling 310-825-2101 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
