Month: September 2021

Anaheim University is excited to announce Distinguished Speaker Leah Edwards, Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, will be addressing students and alumni on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 5:00 PM California time. She will be speaking on Technology Trends in 2021. Anaheim University students and alumni are invited to join us for this special online event. Please RSVP by clicking the link below and we can send you the access information for the session. Please also review the bio below and bring your questions for the Q&A portion of the presentation. RSVP Leah Edwards Edwards is a Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures with a focus on US investments. Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley offering intellectual and financial capital to exceptional emerging technology companies around the world. In addition to a more traditional investment approach Pegasus offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for large global corporations that wish to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. Leah Edwards started her career in management consulting then launched new products for Intuit, Oracle and Taligent, a joint-venture of Apple and IBM. She then joined the founding team of an enterprise SaaS company called Post Communications, which was acquired by Netcentives within two years for $380 million. After advising and serving in interim leadership roles for other startups that were acquired by major companies including the US Green Business Council and SolarCity, she co-founded another marketing technology company, Overstat, which was purchased by Tealeaf Technology (now IBM). Leah’s deep involvement in Higher Education began in 2012 when she became the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is an active angel investor and serves on the Board of NameCoach, which serves both Higher Education and Enterprise markets. In addition to being a Lecturer for UC Berkeley’s Engineering Department, Leah regularly conducts workshops for visiting corporate innovation teams and foreign investors, and she serves as a mentor in several Silicon Valley accelerator programs. Leah holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA and Certificate of Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Anaheim University is excited to announce that we will be hosting Vice President of Warner Bros, Adam Steinman, Friday, September 17th from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm California time. We invite Anaheim University students and alumni to join us for this special online event. Please RSVP by clicking the link below and we can send you the access information for the session. Please also review the bio below and bring your questions for the Q&A portion of the presentation. RSVP Adam Steinman: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaczGVDTqWY-l4yDabxnwOm3NmV_3wF7JG49oNzIQeuuqJSw/viewform Adam Steinman served as Vice President, Non-Scripted International Development & Sales from October 2010 until October 2016 and in November 2016 was promoted to Vice President, Creative, Format, Development & Sales at Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP), where scripted formats have been added to his remit. In this position, Steinman is charged with overseeing the adaptation, development, and sale of programming based on formats and concepts developed from within the International Television Production Group and international 3rd party producers. He is also responsible for helping WBITVP identify producers and broadcasters to partner with, as well as acquiring formats to be exploited internationally. During his WB tenure, Steinman has played an integral role in the development, acquisition, and international roll out of “Impractical Jokers,” “The Bachelor,” and “Bachelorette,” “Hello Goodbye,” “America’s Best Dance Crew,” “Who Do You Think You Are?,” “First Dates,” “Back In Time For Dinner,” “The Gift,” “Ellen’s Game Of Games,” “Little Big Shots”, and “True Story” for NBC. In 2019, Steinman identified and acquired the record-breaking Korean hit series, Sky Castle, for WBTV and Berlanti Productions which was most recently being adapted at NBC. In 2020, he identified a hit Israeli drama which was acquired by WBITVP for multiple European territories. Steinman was instrumental in facilitating the CJENM/Warner Horizon first-look unscripted deal, announced in October 2020. That same year he was also thrilled to play a role in in identifying the Nippon format, MUTE IT!. This physical gameshow is now part of a multi-territory partnership with WBITVP. In March 2021 the local adaptation launched impressively in Holland on SBS6. On the scripted side, he has been responsible for identifying two new hit Korean dramas now optioned at WBTV. In 2020, he acquired the rights to a French-Canadian comedy now being developed by WB in Belgium, and a short-form digital series from Canada, which became a long-form ratings hit in 2021 from WB Sweden for Discovery +. For WB, he oversees the successful WB/CBC Canada Format Incubator which produced the series, Under New Management with two seasons in 2018. In 2020, the second WB/CBC format incubator resulted in the competition reality format, YOU GOT THIS!. Quickly commissioned to series by TVNZ in New Zealand receiving top ratings, it will soon be adapted as a primetime series in Europe. He was instrumental in managing the multi-year TV Asahi co-development deal, and also helped develop and adapt the RTE Format Farm winner, “The Hit”, which sold to seven territories including Netherlands, China, Russia, and Scandinavia

Anaheim University is excited to announce that we will be hosting Producer and Film Consultant, Kathryn Arnold, Friday, September 24th from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm California time. She will be speaking on Global Film and the Changing Film-Value Chain Sales and Markets Entrepreneurs and Investors in the Film Industry We welcome Anaheim University students and alumni for this special online event. Please RSVP by clicking the link below and we can send you the access information for the session. Please also review the bio below and bring your questions for the Q&A portion of the presentation. Click here to RSVP for Kathryn Arnold: Professional Experience Kathryn Arnold has over 20 years of hands on experience in the film development, production, finance and distribution arenas. Having produced and/or directed over 6 feature films, Live streaming television, dozens of commercials, corporate videos and events, as well as working in both the studio and independent film environment in film and television, Ms. Arnold understands the inner workings of the entertainment industry, its hiring practices, business development, financing/distribution and the economic complexities and nuances involved in a world that very few understand. Working closely with each client, she brings the full benefit of this valuable experience to bear on the client. Legal Experience & Services Ms. Arnold has been retained as an expert witness and consultant on over 6 dozen cases, with plaintiffs and defendants, such as producers, production companies, studios, media companies, investors, actors, writers, directors, on-air personalities, spokespersons, production crew, and other entertainment related personnel. She has provided expert testimony, reporting, consultation, financial forecasting and referrals for clients on cases regarding economic damage and lost wages from copyright infringement, breach of contract, film and television financing, sales and distribution, disfigurement, personal injury, wrongful death, and economic downturn. Ms. Arnold has prepared expert reports and provided deposition and trial testimony in matters before state and federal courts and in arbitration. Clients include Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Jackson Walker; Jenner & Block, Haynes & Boone; Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Dummit, Buchholz & Trapp; Hosp, Gilbert, Bergsten & Hough among others. BIO Kathryn Arnold’s career has straddled the Studio system and Independent Film worlds, as well as Corporate Sponsorship Programs. Starting out as an assistant at ICM Talent Partners and then as a script reader for the William Morris Agency, Arnold learned the inner workings of the talent agency system and the processes of managing and packaging talent and scripted material for motion pictures and television. She then became an executive at The Maltese Companies, where she developed and produced television and feature projects financed by Wall Street ad agencies. She oversaw the production of “Pound Puppies”;, an animated feature produced with Kushner Locke, and was an Associate Producer on “Manhunt Live”;, a reality-based crime show for ABC. At The Guber-Peters Entertainment Co. Ms. Arnold was involved in the development of feature films and television shows, with the company that produced “Rain Man” and “Batman.” She was the Assoc. Producer on; “Pizza Man” written and directed by Jonathan Lawton of “Pretty Woman” fame, and procured the financing and co-produced “The Webers & Fifteen Minutes” with Jennifer Tilly and David Arquette. Arnold then began her partnership with Louis Venosta. Venosta wrote and co-produced the Mel Gibson romantic comedy, “Bird on a Wire” as well as the Tri-Star release “The Last Dragon.” Their company Secondary Modern Motion Pictures was based at Universal studios where they developed projects for Venosta to write and produce. Arnold was directly involved in the writing of both studio and independent feature scripts with Venosta. They launched Venosta’s directing career, with the highly acclaimed featurette “The Coriolis Effect” which won the 1994 Venice Film Festival in its category. Arnold went on to produce “Nevada” starring Amy Brenneman, Gabrielle Anwar, Kirstie Alley and Angus Macfadyen, and as head of Production at Cineville Films, Inc, was the Executive Producer on “Façade” starring Eric Roberts and Angus Macfadyen, and “The Velocity of Gary” with Vincent D’Onofrio, Salma Hayek, Thomas Jane, and Ethan Hawke among many others. She was instrumental in launching Cineville International’s foreign sales division in Cannes of 1997, and handled financing, foreign and domestic sales, and acquisitions, in addition to packaging, development and production responsibilities for Cineville’s slate of pictures. Arnold then produced “Cowboys and Angels” starring Adam Trese, Mia Kirshner and Radha Mitchell, which won the Crystal Heart Award. The highlight of 2000 was writing and directing “Shining Stars: The Official Story of Earth, Wind & Fire,” a documentary film based on the electric and legendary band, released on DVD and Television Internationally in 2001. Arnold went on to be a consultant and then Head of Production at Monte Cristo Entertainment, an international sales and production company, which has a library of over 50 films. At Monte Cristo, Arnold oversaw script development, talent packaging, co-production/financing agreements, and US and international distribution deals in conjunction with the Directors of the Company. Arnold worked with Internet Studios, an online film sales company, and raised close to US $500,000 in a 6-week period for the Sundance Online Film Festival. She then went on to work with Infinnity, Inc, producing infomercials, corporate videos and marketing events for National Corporations. And woven in through that period, Arnold produced and production managed commercials for well-known brands such as Certs. Arnold produced the live streaming show Secrets of the Red Carpet: Style From the Inside Out, on www.empowerme.tv/secrets, which reached the top of the Itunes charts and nominated for 2 Streamy Awards in its first season and maintained its top 5 status in Fashion and Arts during its tenure. Currently Arnold consults with several investment/production companies on international sales, financing and packaging film and television projects. She has written a series of entertainment industry-related articles and have served as an entertainment media consultant to Bloomberg News, MSNBC, CCTV, NPR, and Associated Press International, NPR, The Market on the topics of entertainment standard and practices and business development. Arnold graduated from UCLA with a BA in Economics, speaks French,

Anaheim University is excited to announce that we will be hosting Taku Katu of Nikkatsu Corporation International Sales, on Friday, September 10th from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm California time. We invite Anaheim University students and alumni join us for this special event. Please RSVP by clicking the link below and we can send you the access information for the session. Please also review the bio below and bring your questions for the Q&A portion of the presentation. RSVP Taku Kato Taku Kato Born in Yokohama, Japan, Taku Kato lived in Bangladesh from nine through eleven years old. Joining NIKKATSU in 2014 after graduating from International Christian University, Tokyo, he started his career as an assistant for the producer of the feature film “Their Distance” (2016) directed by Rikiya Imaizumi. From 2017, he joined the current international sales team and has been taking on a variety of films including “Wife of a Spy” (2020) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa which won Silver Lion at 77th Venice International Film Festival and cult masterpiece “Tetsuo” (1989) by Shinya Tsukamoto. He is also selling NIKKATSU classic masterpieces such as the Venice-winning “The Burmese Harp” (1956) by Kon Ichikawa, “Tokyo Drifter” (1966) by Seijun Suzuki. Nikkatsu’s history dates back as early as 1912 when 4 companies merged to form Nippon Katsudo Shashin Corporation, the first film conglomerate in the region to produce, distribute and exhibit theatrical films. In 1952 Chofu Studio was built in Tokyo as the largest modern film studio in the Asia Pacific Region at the time; the studio even had a permanent set of Ginza city. It quickly became the cornerstone of the company’s Golden Era, together with its string of attractive stars who were then all exclusive to Nikkatsu; the legendary superstar Yujiro Ishihara, handsome young actors under the “Nikkatsu New Face” banner including Akira Kobayashi and Joe Shishido; actresses such as Sayuri Yoshinaga and Ruriko Asaoka; and directors Seijun Suzuki and Shohei Imamura. Nikkatsu flourished as the leading studio in Japan, enjoying box office mega-hits with its action films starring Ishihara (“Crazed Fruit”), teenage love stories starring Yoshinaga (“Cupola, Where the Furnaces Grow”), and “Branded to Kill” starring Joe Shishido, works with a continuing international appeal to this day – the films were so successful that Ishihara and Yoshinaga are still regarded as icons of the Showa period. When cinema attendance began to drop, Japanese studios slashed their annual film production. Nikkatsu, however, took a unique turn in 1971 when it launched the “Nikkatsu Roman Porn” brand, namely films for the adult audience. As one director recalls, “I had total creative freedom, as long as I kept some nudity in the film”, the brand enabled Nikkatsu to be the only major studio in Japan at the time to continue producing films and hire young film makers. Thus, Nikkatsu soon became the hub for upcoming innovative talents, and many of the directors who were given this rare opportunity, later became dominant film makers in Japan; amongst them are Oscar winner Youjiro Takita (“Departure”), multi-time Japanese Academy winners Masayuki Suo (“Shall We Dance?”), Yoshimitsu Morita, Youichi Sai, Shinji Soumai, and many more. The brand continued until 1988 and many films from that time joined our proud classics library. In 2005, Naoki Sato was appointed President of the company. Originally a producer himself, Nikkatsu’s recent array of titles under his leadership includes cutting-edge genre films by Sion Sono and Takashi Miike, and dramatical masterpieces. They have been highly acclaimed, including numerous Japanese Academy winners and nominees such as “Rebirth”, “Cold Fish” and “The Devil’s Path”. Today, Nikkatsu’s diverse business activities include operation of the production studio, overseas film acquisition, distribution, a cable TV channel (Channel NECO) and a Film Course at Josai International University. It is also a member of the Yomiuri-Nippon TV group, the leading media conglomerate in Japan. In today’s fast evolving market, Nikkatsu has a focus on international activities – in 2014, the company established Kantana Japan, a JV with a Thai production group – and seeks to work more closely with partners outside the industry and around the globe.