#GettingPlayed
Panelists
Adrienne M. Anderson is the founder and programmer of the first film festival devoted exclusively to film by and/or starring Black women, regardless of country of origin, genre, or language: The International Black Women’s Film Festival. Established in 2001 and debuting in 2002 in San Francisco, IBWFF was created after Ms. Anderson observed the dearth and lack of depth in roles for Black women and the invisibility of Black women directors. Ms. Anderson has also curated such unique events as ASTRONOMMO, the first film series devoted to Black women filmmakers and actresses in speculative fiction, and the Black Heritage Film Series for the San Francisco Main Library. Not only have her events highlighted outstanding filmmakers, films and actors, but she has also curated panels of the brightest thinkers in the San Francisco Bay Area to present discussions of equity, diversity, and representation in film, television, and media. This work garnered her an Equity Award at the 2015 “Getting Played” Symposium and for IBWFF, an Oakland Innovators Award from the Hull Family Foundation and OAKLANDISH. In addition, Ms. Anderson is a member of numerous heraldry societies in the U.K. and the United States, an active member of the San Francisco chapter of the Black business women’s sorority Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. – Gamma Nu chapter, and the owner of American Royal Tea, featured in “The Gentlewoman” magazine.
Guy Aoki (Ah-OH-kee) is the Founding President of Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MAH-nuh), which began in 1992. The all-volunteer, non-profit organization is the only one solely dedicated to monitoring the mass media and advocating balanced, sensitive, and positive depictions and coverage of Asian Americans. As part of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, Aoki meets every year with the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the top four networks - ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox - pushing them to hire more Asian American actors, writers, producers, and directors. In 2001, Aoki put comedian Sarah Silverman on the map when he debated her on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” after she used the slur “Chinks” in a joke on Conan O’Brien’s talk show. Between 1989 and 2005, Aoki wrote syndicated pop music radio shows for Dick Clark. Since 1992, Aoki has written the bi-weekly Rafu Shimpo column, “Into the Next Stage,” which focuses on Asian Americans and the media.
Fontana Butterfield is an actor, activist, director and coach. She founded “Yeah, I said Feminist, a Theater Salon” in August 2012 and is part of the Theater Bay Area Gender Parity Committee. Recent acting roles include the Audience Plant in “One Man, Two Guvnors” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and South Coast Rep, and Pamela, the Sheriff of Reno, in the independent film “Mr. Invincible”. Fontana is a graduate of SFSU and the Sanford Meisner based actor training program at Laura Henry Studio in Santa Monica. She has worked as a producer, writer and casting director on feature length and short films. She is currently a company member of the critically acclaimed theater company Shotgun Players and the all women improv trio The Right Now. Fontana lives in San Francisco with her wife Mary, a filmmaker, and their amazing 7 year old son Orlando.
Marissa Lee is Coordinator and Site Editor of Racebending.com, a grassroots organization of media consumers who support entertainment equality and advocate for underrepresented groups in entertainment media. Originally founded in 2009 to protest the casting discrimination in The Last Airbender film, we have since continued to advocate for equal opportunity casting, balanced representations, and media literacy. Racebending.com has directly protested and interacted with studios to advocate for diverse casting in tentpole films. In addition, the group has presented on college campuses, at academic conferences, and hosts an annual panel at San Diego Comic-Con to promote representation and meaningful inclusion in the American storytelling landscape.
Michael Mohammed works regularly as a performer, stage director, and choreographer. Stage directing credits include Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds (Bay Area Children’s Theatre), Candide (Douglas Morrisson Theater), and The Full Monty (American Conservatory Theater - MFA Program). He is currently on opera faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is the Director of the Musical Theatre Ensemble. He also is an Artist-in-Residence at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Equally at home in opera and musical theatre, Michael's roles include the title role of Handel’s Orlando, Spirit/First Witch (Dido & Aeneas), Jake (Porgy & Bess), Amenhotep (Akhnaten), and Mitch (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). He has sung the ‘Roasting Swan’ in Carmina Burana and has been a soloist with the Early Music groups Ansámbl Luython and the Vinaccesi Ensemble. Michael holds degrees from Columbia University (BA in Music and History/Sociology) and San Francisco Conservatory of Music (MM in Vocal Performance).
Adam Moore is National Director of EEO & Diversity for SAG-AFTRA. Since joining Screen Actors Guild in 2005 as Associate National Director of Affirmative Action and Diversity, he has been responsible for developing and implementing a national diversity plan of action to achieve accurate representation of those groups historically excluded from the entertainment and news media. Such efforts include the creation of educational programs, conferences, and workshops; development of public relations strategies; and the enforcement of non-discrimination and diversity provisions as outlined in the Union’s contracts. He has facilitated scores of panel discussions for various film festivals and industry organizations, as well as city, state and federal agencies, and guest lectured at colleges and high schools throughout the United States. His insight and perspective has appeared in numerous publications and research papers around the world. He is proud to have served on President Barack Obama’s Disability Policy Committee during the 2008 Presidential Election and as liaison to the New York City Task Force on Diversity in Film, Television and Commercial Production. Born in Ames, Iowa, and raised in California’s Bay Area, Moore has spent the past 14 years in New York and currently lives with his wife and son in the Lower Hudson Valley.
Charlotte Tate, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State University. Her work is situated at the nexus of social and personality psychology. In particular, she focuses on self and identity processes as well as social perception and attitudes regarding the social identities of gender (trans* inclusive), sexual orientation, and ethnicity in the United States. Her work uses an intersectional lens as a foundation to understanding all of these topics. Her work is largely quantitative, with a focus on multivariate statistical modeling, but is guided by conceptually analytic models that are amenable to qualitative inquiry as well. She is currently on the editorial boards of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology and Journal of Lesbian Studies.
Adam Tobin is a Senior Lecturer teaching television and screenwriting in the Film & Media Studies Program in the Department of Art & Art History. Before coming to Stanford, he received an MFA in screenwriting from USC School of Cinematic Arts and worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and New York. He created the half-hour comedy series About a Girl and the reality series Best Friends’ Date for Viacom’s The-N network (now TeenNick) and was a finalist on the second season of Project Greenlight, making him likely the only teacher on campus to both create and appear in a reality show. Tobin won an Emmy for writing on Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab, has worked in script development for Jim Henson Pictures, and for the entertainment division of the National Basketball Association. He also teaches script development workshops at animation studios including Fox/Blue Sky, Aardman, and Dreamworks Animation.
Stanford University
February 27, 2016 ~ 1-5pm