GETTING PLAYED
7th ANNUAL
SYMPOSIUM ON EQUITY IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY AND AWARDS
April 24, 2021
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. PDT
Free and open to the public.
Zoom Webinar link provided upon registration.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oFk6SNfrTeWj1tEHRexKnQ
Hosted by Symposium Founder
Kathleen Tarr, JD
and 2016 Equity Award recipient
Myrton Running Wolf, PhD
Keynote by Tatiana Lee
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SPEAKERS
KATHLEEN TARR, JD, co-host
founder, Getting Played Symposium
Kathleen Tarr is a University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School graduate, Advanced Lecturer at Stanford University in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, former Skadden Fellow (“legal Peace Corps”), and founder of the Getting Played symposium. Kathleen has authored several publications about equity in the entertainment industry including "The Arduous Ride(r) to Inclusion" (2018) and "Bias and the Business of Show: Employment Discrimination in the 'Entertainment' Industry" (2016) which was touted by filmmaker, screenwriter, and activist Maria Giese as the most important document published on the issue of Hollywood's discriminatory hiring practices that year. "Bias and the Business of Show" evolved from Kathleen’s General Session presentation with special guests Amy Pietz and Edward James Olmos at the 2015 State Bar of California Annual Meeting which was attended by over 1,000 of Calfornia's attorneys.
2021 marks the seventh Getting Played symposium, named after Kathleen's documentary on (un)equal employment opportunities in the entertainment industry which received Honorable Mention in the 2010 International Black Women's Film Festival. Kathleen has produced two other films that were official selections in film festivals: the short animation "I Have All The Feelings" (2014 International Black Women's Film Festival) and the short sci-fi film "Early Aliens" (2015 ASTRONOMMO: Speculative Fiction on Film + Black Women). A triple threat by multiple definitions, Kathleen’s acting credits encompass stage, film, commercials, television, and video games including "House M.D.", Sundance award winner "Dopamine", "Sim City," and 2019's "Bennett's War." She is also a Women’s American Football League draftee and indoor rowing world record holder.
MYRTON RUNNING WOLF, PhD, co-host
filmmaker, Assistant Professor of Race and Media, University of Nevada, Reno
Dr. Myrton Running Wolf holds masters degrees from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He completed his Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. Behind-the-scenes, Myrton worked in Production Management for Walt Disney Studio’s ABC Television Group on primetime network series LOST, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, and Criminal Minds. He was also a Creative Producer for The CW and NBC network television affiliates. His professional performance experience includes roles in feature films The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The New World, Into the West, several network television shows, and theater productions in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. As an award-winning writer/director/producer, his film and stage work has played across the nation. As an academic, he has taught at Stanford and Occidental College, lectured at Vassar College and Santa Clara University, and led workshops on theater making, identity politics, and the politics of ethnic minority inclusion/participation in mainstream media at numerous tribal and junior colleges.
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TATIANA LEE, Keynote
actor, model & inclusion activist
Tatiana Lee is an award actress, international model, and activist. Growing up in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Lee felt unseen in popular media – and when she told people of her ambitions to be an actress and model, they laughed. Notwithstanding, Lee moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. She learned to harness social media’s power to speak boldly about accessibility and inclusion in mass media due to the lack of access and opportunities for herself and others with disabilities.
She is the voice behind the Accessible Hollywood brand, highlighting her journey as an actress, model, and lifestyle influencer born with Spina Bifida.
Lee was in one of Apple’s first ad campaigns featuring people with disabilities using Apple’s accessible features and products. Some of Lee’s credits include Stand Up, Together & Better, Jade, to name a few.
She also has appeared in modeling campaigns for Target, Zappos, Apple, and more. She is the 2018 recipient of the Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship that she accepted during the Media Access Awards for her contribution to further disability inclusion in film and media.
Currently through RespectAbility, Lee consults on various TV and film projects and conducts training for studios and production companies, including NBCUniversal, Netflix, and The Walt Disney Company, All while continuing to train and grow momentum in her acting and modeling career.
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MICHELLE KANTOR, Panelist
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Cinefemme
Michelle Kantor co-founded Cinefemme as a graduate student at San Francisco State University and has served as Executive Director since 2007. She is an award-winning writer/director and producer dedicated to creating a more inclusive industry by empowering women to greenlight themselves through Cinefemme, helping over 40 fiscal sponsorees to date. The youngest daughter of political refugees who fled Communist Czechoslovakia in the 1960’s, she is producing two projects about her family's historic escapes: Red Star (currently in post-production) documents her father's return on the 50th anniversary of his escape, and The Rebel, a narrative feature film in development. With a prolific background in documentary, shorts, and music videos, she works professionally as a producer on RuPaul's Drag Race, directed an episode of Galaxy Confidencial for Time Warner's Desportes Network, and recently shadowed the director on the Paramount scripted television series "Shooter." Her distinctions include Best Music Video at LA Femme Film Festival, Goldfarb Award for Best Student Film, and the Thunen Memorial Scholarship from the Illuminating Engineers Society. Michelle’s industry credits include work for HBO, FYI, OWN, World of Wonder, The History Channel, Sony, Universal, MJA Advertising, NASA and the advertising agency BBDO. he holds an MFA in Cinema from SFSU, and BFA in Film Production from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Michelle is also a certified paralegal, artist, and mother.
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NIKKO KIMZIN, Panelist
Creative Producer, Kimzin Creative
Nikko Kimzin is a joy filled Creative Producer that seeks to uplift the human spirit. Currently he acts as an accountability consultant assisting organizations in creating equitable change that is community created and upheld. He has served as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Transcendence Theater Company (Sonoma, CA) where he produced all education and community programming for 11,000 youth and adults annually with a focus on equitable arts access for underserved communities. He has created Corporate Professional Development programs for Google, Sotheby’s and Bay Area Executive Teams. As well as he created an in-school arts integrated curriculum for English Language Development (grades 1-5) and expanded it to multi-school/ multi-district expansion. Contributor to Sonoma County Arts Education Framework. Current Board Member of Foster’s Theatrical Artist Residency-that is dedicated to producing the NEW American Theater. In 2017 he served as Administrative Director at New York’s Project Broadway. He is a Producing Director at Epoch Creative NYC, a company dedicated to producing work of BIPOC artists where he co-wrote, produced and directed the hit web-series “The Great Black Way”, and “#Unbooked.” In 2016, he served as the Fred Coe Artist in Residence at Vanderbilt University. In 2015, Kimzin was awarded the Broadway World Award for Best Performance of a Leading Male as Bernardo in West Side Story. Other past credits include: “Benedict” in Olay Live w/ Ana Gasteyer (New World Stages), “Pablo” in Sister Act, “Jacob” in La Cage Aux Folles (North Shore Music Theatre),” Felix/ Brazilian Millionaire” in Darling Grenadine ( Goodspeed Musicals), “Ritchie Valens” in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Casa Mañana, TX), “Chino” in West Side Story (International Tour), “Lun Tha” King and I, “Luke” Anything Goes”, Evita, A Funny Thing.., My Fairytale (U.S. Premiere written by Stephen Schwartz). Kimzin earned his BFA in Musical Theater from the University of Arizona. He has devoted his career to a more inclusive and diverse theater world, particularly providing visibility to Latinx performance making. He is a member of the Latinx Theatre Commons. www.nikkokimzin.com
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MARGARET LAKE, Panelist
Founder, MarWin Films
Margaret Lake is a producer, professional fundraiser, consultant, public speaker, published writer, film programmer, concert programmer, on-air radio host, and event producer.
Her career started with positions in Operations and Management with the Sundance Film Festival. She was then concurrently hired by the Miami International Film Festival and the Provincetown International Film Festival and typically worked all three festivals each year. Simultaneously, she procured underwriting contracts, brought in funds, and had the top-grossing and top-rated show as an on-air radio music host for KRCL90.9-FM in Salt Lake City.
In 2007, Lake was recruited to Miami to serve as the head of the 1926 historic Olympia Theatre. For 35 years, the Miami community, and national consultants, had struggled to create a management structure for the venue. Lake ultimately devised the plan that saved the theater from closing. During her tenure, she spearheaded the theater’s transition from a government-operated institution into a 501(c)3, where she raised over $5,000,000 for the organization and secured funds for a capital improvements plan totaling over $10,000,000. Funds were raised from a mix of corporate, non-profit and private sources.
In 2013, Lake was recruited to downtown L.A. to head up the complete rebirth of the 1927 United Artists Theatre located on Broadway Street at the Ace Hotel; after having served as a remote consultant for the project she joined them in L.A. in early 2014. Lake opened the theater and then stayed on at ACE to ensure an incredibly successful opening and first year by bringing in her industry colleagues and booking stellar programming. While at ACE, she was responsible for creating staffing, business, marketing and budgeting plans, as well as securing all of the theatrical, technical and creative services for the venue. At the end of 2014 the venue was sold for over $100 million dollars. The ROI for the investors on the project was estimated at just under 300 percent once the property sold. It was then that Lake felt confident to go out on her own.
Early in 2015 Lake founded an International and National Theater Consulting Business; Theater Doctors and brought on former Vice President of Nederlander in N.Y.C. In 2016 Lake took over the company and is now the sole owner. She has consulted on a $100,000,000 project for the Foundation for the Carolinas and has worked with clients all over the country. Lake recently completed 6 years of service on the National Board of Directors of the League of Historic American Theaters. Lake continues to serve as a theater consultant.
Lake is founder of MarWin Films established in 2017 and is spearheading raising capital for a new film fund that will fund several film projects. This company is unique because it will stay on and see the projects through beyond production to the sale by supplementing marketing dollars and staffing in partnership with traditional distributors. This model will ensure the success of the projects and the ROI to investors. Her experience with business management, fundraising, sales, marketing, packaging, and writing have equipped her to be equally successful in the independent filmmaking world.
Lake has raised millions of dollars in her career through corporate, grant and private fundraising efforts, has executed successful film festivals, and has produced stage, music, film and radio events across the country. In her personal life she is in production of a new YouTube series and Podcast “Broken Woken” featuring Stanford University's renowned Dr. Kathleen Tarr. Lake currently resides in Santa Barbara, California and works often in Los Angeles and around the globe.
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REBECCA MURGA, Panelist
Writer / Director
Rebecca Murga is a Chicago-born, Latinx WGA writer who works in Los Angeles as a filmmaker. She produces and directs films, commercials, documentaries and branded content in both English and Spanish. Past clients include ABC, CBS, CBS Sports, Mundo FOX, NHL, MLB, NBA, Comcast, ESPN, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, HBO Boxing, US ARMY, AT&T, Lucent, Verizon, Merck & Co., Walgreens, Evan Williams and A&E Networks.
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She is currently the Director of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW), a hands-on training program committed to increasing the number of women and gender non-binary artists working professionally as narrative screen directors, and is also currently one of the eight creators in the Dan Lin / Rideback TV incubator produced by Rideback Television with financing and other support by MRC.
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Rebecca served as a U.S. Army Captain and Public Affairs Officer, and has deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. She was awarded a Bronze Star for her work with the Special Operations Command in Afghanistan, and was also was awarded the Meritorious Service Medial for her service in Iraq.
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Rebecca completed the 2016-2018 Disney / ABC Directing Program. The two-year professional directing program, which spans two television seasons based upon ABC’s production calendar, recruits experienced directors on the cusp of making the transition into episodic directing. Those selected to participate in the program become part of the Disney | ABC Directing Program directing talent pool. Rebecca has shadowed director Billy Gierhart (SONS OF ANARCHY, WALKING DEAD) on MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. She has also shadowed director and series star Kevin McKidd on GREY’S ANATOMY. She also directed the ANNUAL LOS ANGELES ABC TALENT SHOWCASE held at the EL Portal Theatre.
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A member of the inaugural class of the Ryan Murphy Television HALF Foundation Director Mentorship Program. Rebecca has shadowed episodic directors on FOX's hit television show SCREAM QUEENS staring Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis.
In 2015, she was selected for the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women. Her short film AMERICAN GIRL showcased at the DGA, the LA International Short Film Festival, the San Diego International Film Festival, and the Catalina Film Festival.
Rebecca has been the recipient of several grants including the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) grant announced at Sundance 2015. The program is sponsored by the Time Warner Foundation and National Endowment of the Arts. She has also been the recipient of the Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, The Nancy Malone Directing Award, Indiegogo New Filmmakers Grant, and a grant from the DAV.
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Rebecca is a passionate advocate for veterans and women's issues with articles published in The New York Times, The Global Journal, The Morning Call, and San Jose Mercury News, to name a few. She has appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America," and "The View." Most recently, she was featured on NPR as the director of a short film “War Ink” which tells veteran's war stories through their tattoos.
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A native of Chicago, Illinois (Go Cubs!) Rebecca earned a BS in Electronic Media from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
Rebecca is a member of Film Independent, Veterans in Film and Television and belongs to American Legion Post 43. In 2014, she was selected to participate in the Veterans Writing Project hosted by the Writer's Guild Foundation, and was awarded the UCLA's Veteran of the Year, honored at halftime at the UCLA vs. Arizona State football game in 2017.
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Speaker associations noted for identification purposes only.
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2021 Getting Played Equity Award recipient
Clifford Alexander
We are honored to be able to bestow upon Clifford Alexander this year's Getting Played Equity Award. From Bias and the Business of Show: Employment Discrimination in the "Entertainment" Industry (footnotes omitted):
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"In a 1969 hearing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, via general counsel, announced 'clear evidence' of entertainment industry discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, following lobbying by the film industry, hearing chair Clifford Alexander was called before a Senate Justice subcommittee: [Mr. Alexander] was 'subjected to a tongue-lashing,' as one journalist described, by the powerful Senate Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen. 'Stop some of this harassment of the business community . . . like your carnival hearing out there in Los Angeles . . . or I am going to the highest authority in this government to get somebody fired.' President Nixon announced a week later that Alexander was to be replaced."
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Gratitude to Mr. Clifford Alexander for his service to equity and employment rights. We owe you deep thanks.
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About Getting Played, the Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry and Awards
Getting Played: who's playing you?! - Honorary Mention recipient at the 2010 International Black Women's Film Festival - is Kathleen Antonia Tarr's feature length documentary about inequities in the entertainment industry and inspiration for her Getting Played symposia. When she first began acting - as "Kathleen Antonia" - Tarr was taken aback by what appeared in the Industry as rampant employment discrimination. Given Tarr's background as a human and civil rights attorney, she knew that key to some of society's greatest ills was intervening in these patterns to evolve the entertainment media that shapes so much of who we are and how we interact with others. Whether one compares the increased support of marriage equality to the number of LGBT characters on television, or the objectification of women in our society to the sexualization of female characters across all media, it is clear that the images we see every day - including those that are fictional - compel our thoughts and behaviors en masse. These symposia engage distinguished panels in conversation about solutions to the current inequities from casting to greenlighting that shape what we see on screens and stages throughout the nation and world. Getting Played symposia also reserve time to honor a select few courageous heroes who advance Industry equity in their everyday lives through pivotal actions that are typically less visible and recognized.​​
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Co-hosted by Kathleen Tarr, JD (Stanford University) and Myrton Running Wolf, PhD (University of Nevada, Reno), this year's Getting Played Symposium will feature a keynote by Tatiana Lee (RespectAbility) and engage distinguished panelists Michelle Kantor (Cinefemme), Nikko Kimzin (formerly of Transcendence Theatre Company), Margaret Lake (MarWin Films), and Rebecca Murga (American Film Institute), followed by audience Q&A. This year's theme focuses on anti-intellectualism within dominant entertainment industry practices from character development to efforts among even those considered to be social justice allies that disregard data and law. The imperative is clear: not only are Industry workers subjected to rampant employment discrimination, entertainment media shapes who we are. We must do better.
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For selected resources and previous symposia, visit Getting Played's host site (kantonia.wix.com/gettingplayed) and Facebook page (facebook.com/GettingPlayed).
Sponsored by the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Stanford University
Questions? Contact ktarr[at]Stanford[dot]edu