Date: Thursday, November 15, 2018 | Time: 04:00pm - 05:30pm | Location: Career Center, Room 200

Get a behind the scenes look at careers in production, talent management, marketing, and more!

 

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PANELISTS

Trisha Ananiades
UCLA ’04, Sociology (B.A.) / ’06, Education (M.Ed.)
Disney-ABC Networks Group

Trisha Ananiades (BA ’04, M.Ed. ’06) is a Director of Business Affairs for Disney-ABC Networks Group, where she structures and negotiates above-the-line talent deals for actors, directors, executive producers, and writers for Disney Channel live action programming. She previously worked in Legal Affairs for Disney Channel where she drafted the long form talent agreements negotiated by Business Affairs. Prior to her work for Disney, Trisha was Counsel at DreamWorks Animation, where she honed the same production legal skills in animated feature films and television such as “She-Ra” and “Fast & Furious”. Her entertainment legal career began at Tinopolis USA, working as a production lawyer for unscripted/reality television projects such as “Team Ninja Warrior”, “Top Chef”, and “All In With Cam Newton”. Trisha began her legal career as a corporate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, Calif., primarily working in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. After a five year career working in education, Trisha graduated from Harvard Law School where she served as an Executive Editor for the Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, was a teaching assistant for the course Representing the Professional Athlete, and was a legal intern for the Boston Celtics.

 

Avi Bernard
Actor/Producer/Radio Personality

Avi is an on-air personality at KJLH 102.3fm in Los Angeles and has spent 6 years as an on-air sports analyst on KTLA 5. As an actor, he has made appearances in HBO’s TRUE DETECTIVE, HBO’s BARRY, TNT’s MURDER IN THE FIRST and SCORPION on CBS. Avi is currently in collaboration with Tony Award winning writer, Christopher Durang, to adapt one of Durang’s plays into a feature film. Avi wrote and produced a short called CAN YOU NOT? which screened at the Independent Film Quarterly Film Festival and played the lead in LOTUS which won first place at Shortlands Film Competition.

June Dowad
UCLA ’11, English
Sandra Marsh & Associates

June Dowad is a filmmaker and talent agent with over thirty-five years of experience working in film and television in both the United States and abroad. Beginning her career as a freelance documentary film producer in her native England, she is responsible for a number of full-length and multi-part documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four, and Central Television. Much of Dowad’s documentary work has tackled difficult social and political subjects, often with an international perspective. The series “AIDS Today,” shot on location in New York and San Francisco in the mid-1980s, was one of the first programs on HIV/AIDS to air in the United Kingdom. Other projects, including a full-length documentary on the British military’s occupation of Northern Ireland (“The Silent War,” 1989) and another on the South African anti-apartheid activist Donald Woods (“Cry Freedom – The Making Of,” 1987), lent a critical voice to the then-current debates on post-colonial British politics.

After immigrating to Los Angeles in 1994, Dowad began her own production company, Ellora Pictures, developing independent film projects from both literary sources and original screenplays. Her 2000 short film “For the Love of May” starring Patricia Neil, received multiple awards on the American film festival circuit. However in 2007, Dowad made the momentous decision to close her company and fulfill a life-long dream of attending university. In 2011, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude and honors in English from UCLA.
After completing her degree, Dowad joined Sandra Marsh & Associates, an internationally renowned agency for “below-the-line” filmmakers, including many Academy Award-winning producers, cinematographers, costume designers, editors, and production designers.

In 2015 year she purchased the agency along with two partner agents and became a co-owner. She is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television, serves on the advisory board of SCAD Film Festival, and regularly attends film festivals throughout Europe and the United States.

Keith Goss
UCLA ’06, Political Science
Roku

Keith Goss works in the Programming Operations Group for Roku where he manages the day to day programming operations of the Roku Channel as well as management of it’s content, technical partners and operational strategy. The Roku Channel is a startup-like department within Roku that focuses on premium AVOD (advertising video on-demand) and targeted advertising. As Roku moves away from it’s hardware based business model and moves towards an ad revenue based one, initiatives like the Roku Channel are taking the company into new and uncharted territory. Keith honed his content and programming experience at companies like Netflix, DC Comics, Warner Bros., and Universal Music Group. Keith graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Political Science and currently lives in Downtown Los Angeles.

 

Tensie J. Taylor
University of Southern California
Red Carpet Host

Tensie J. Taylor is the Assistant Director of the University of Southern California Black Alumni Association. In her role, she plans programs and events for students and alumni; directs the Legacy through Leadership Mentoring Program; assists students with their academic, internship, professional, and career development; and helps raise scholarship funds for students.

In addition to working at USC, Tensie is a Hollywood red carpet host and has interviewed more than 200 celebrities at 300 + red carpet events. She has interviewed celebrities including Angela Bassett, John Singleton, Eric Benet, Kelly Osbourne, Ryan Coogler, Magic Johnson, Alan Thicke, Gary Sinise, Nick Cannon, Jesse Jackson, Russell Simmons, Vanna White, Pat Sajack, Dick Van Dyke, Kevin Hart, and more at galas, charity functions, community service events, award shows, film festivals, the Oscars, NAACP Image Awards, Grammys, and BET Awards. She has appeared in movies, television shows, and is currently co-starring in the upcoming web series BLACK.

In 2016, Tensie published her first book, BULLIED From Terror to Triumph, My Survival Story. In this autobiography, she recounts the physical, verbal, and emotional bullying she experienced for 13 years from students at school. Several celebrities have endorsed her book and support her anti-bullying efforts. She is currently working on turning her book into a script to pitch for a television show and movie.

Tensie is from Louisburg, North Carolina. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication—Media concentration—and a minor in Psychology and from the University of Southern California in 2014 with a Master of Education in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs. Her proudest moment in the entertainment industry is having the opportunity to meet, talk with, and take a selfie with someone she’s admired for years: Oprah Winfrey!


MODERATOR

 

Eboni Shaw
Management Services Officer & Student Affairs Officers, UCLA Department of African American Studies

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RSVP is not required, but recommended for planning purposes. 
You can still show-up day of–just swipe your BruinCard at the check-in table.