INDUSTRY 101 EVENT SERIES

What types of businesses and organizations frame the Hollywood system? What are studios, networks, streamers? Production companies? What are Agencies/management companies, boutiques v. majors? How do these entities engage each other? What role(s) do lawyers play? What role(s) do Guilds play? How do screenwriters interact with each?

Humanitas's Industry 101 event series is made possible with support from our series sponsor Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Kenneth Christmas

In January 2021, Kenny Christmas was named General Counsel for MRC, a diversified global entertainment company with divisions including Television, Live & Alternative, Film, and Non-Fiction, as well as joint ventures in data and publishing. In the newly established role, Christmas oversees all corporate affairs for the leading independent entertainment company and its expansive partnerships and investments. Christmas works closely with the company’s business affairs teams across the content divisions and with the corporate team involved in mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Christmas is an entertainment industry veteran with a long career spanning positions at well-known studios, production companies, and law firms. Christmas most recently served as Of Counsel at boutique entertainment law firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. Previously he served as Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs at MarVista Entertainment, a global independent studio that creates, acquires and distributes more than 60 movies a year. He also worked at Lionsgate Television as Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs in the company’s fast-growing television division. He held various other positions throughout his career including serving as a business and legal consultant at The Tyra Banks Company, outside legal counsel for A&E Networks, working with Vincent D’Onofrio in a production company, as General Counsel/Head of Business Affairs at Edmonds Entertainment and at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, et. al, a leading talent firm in Beverly Hills. He started his career at O’Melveny & Meyers representing major studios, networks, production companies, entertainment lenders and bond companies in complex, cutting-edge transactions. A graduate of Yale Law School and Stanford University, the San Jose native has two children and lives in Los Angeles.

Shira Rockowitz

As Director of Producing and Artist Support in the Feature Film Program, Shira Rockowitz leads the Sundance Institute’s strategy for supporting emerging independent filmmakers, with a dual focus on project advancement and career development. This includes launching Elevate, an innovative professional development track supporting 250+ artists, oversight of the Feature Film Producers Lab & Fellowship and Producers Intensive, and co-leadership of the Producers Summit and select activities at the Sundance Film Festival. Shira also is a key curator and contributor to the annual Screenwriters Lab, Directors Lab and Catalyst film financing program. She previously created the pioneering sustainability-focused FilmTwo Fellowship for filmmakers developing their second features and a coaching workshop series for artists impacted by the Covid pandemic. Prior to Sundance, Shira was Director of Development and Production at Exclusive Media and a co-producer on John Carney’s Begin Again. She began her career with positions at New Regency, Paramount Vantage, and Fine Line Features / New Line Cinema. Shira is a graduate of Northwestern University and holds an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California, where she is an adjunct lecturer.

Jacqueline Sacerio

As EVP & Co-Head of Scripted Development for eOne, Jacqueline Sacerio oversees eOne projects at networks and streamers, as well as the company’s extensive roster of first-look and overall deals, including partnerships with Alexi Hawley’s Perfectman Pictures, Constance Wu’s Tempo Wubato Productions, Keke Palmer’s Big Bosses Entertainment, Mark Gordon Pictures, Merman (Sharon Horgan), Marti Noxon’s Tiny Pyro Productions and Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions. Since joining eOne in 2018, Sacerio developed celebrated series such as the YA phenomenon Cruel Summer on Freeform/Hulu and the Emmy Award nominated smash Yellowjackets for Showtime, both of which she continues to oversee.

Prior to joining the company, Sacerio was a film and television agent at CAA for nearly eight years. She made the move to television producing in 2015 when she joined the Mark Gordon Co., which was acquired by eOne in 2018. During that time, Sacerio served as the executive in charge of Designated Survivor starring Kiefer Sutherland and was later promoted to EVP in 2020.

Dr. Yalda T. Uhls

Yalda T. Uhls is an internationally recognized, award-winning research scientist, educator and author, studying how media affect young people. Her peer reviewed research has been featured in many news outlets including NPR and the NY Times. In her former career, she was a senior movie executive at MGM and Sony. Uhls is the founding director of The Center for Scholars & Storytellers, a research organization based at UCLA, which bridges the gap between social science research and media creation to support authentic and inclusive stories for youth. Uhls is also an adjunct professor at UCLA where she does research on how media affect the social behavior of tweens and teens and teaches a class on Digital Media and Human Development and is the author of the parenting book Media Moms & Digital Dads: A Fact not Fear Approach to Parenting in the Digital Age. Dr. Uhls’s knowledge of how media content is created and the science of how media affect children inform her unique perspective.