God I love Beverly Hills. Here's a picture taken from my phone at the Humanitas Awards.The event was held at the beautiful Beverly Hills Hotel. Art deco, old Hollywood and palm trees. Mmmmmmmm.
First I was introduced to producer John Wells. Then I met writer Max Enesco. He had just been awarded the Humanitas award for best Children's Live Action. He was gracious and kind and his friend, artist Diana March, had wonderful energy.

The day is off to a good start!

Big night ahead. We are meeting the Emmy nominees at the Writer's Guild Party.
Whoooooohooooo!

Later that day...
The Writer's Guild Event Was Phenomenal
It was called
Sublime Primetime
A panel discussion with Emmy nominated writers.
Moderated by Larry Wilmore (The office, The Bernie Mac Show) It included such panelists as Kirk Ellis (John Adams) Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies), Danny Strong (Recount) and Robin Veith and Mathew Weiner from (Mad Men)

Their success stories were inspirational and I loved the insight in to their writing process. After the discussion concluded, we were able to talk with Kirk Ellis for quite some time. What an amazing talent. If you get a chance, check out his John Adams mini series.

Thursday
First stop was Universal/NBC where we met Bruce Evan, Sr. VP at NBC and Scott Gimple, Story Editor for LIFE. Bruce Evans oversaw several shows including Heroes, Medium and SUV. HE was the intermediary between the productions and executives. He clearly enjoyed his work and gave us a great behind the scenes look at the industry from both an executive and production vantage point.

Our next stop was Disney/ABC
The guests were moderated by Stephen Buehler of Sheree Guitar TV Management. We heard from and interacted with:
Brandon Riegg, Director alternative Series and Specials for ABC TV
Raymond Ricord, ABC Movies
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse ,Producers of Lost
Roseanne Welch, Writer Touched by an Angel

Finally we had dinner at the Shanghai Grill in Beverly Hills. I spoke with Tom Demko of Bauer Management and Paul Levine of Levine Literary Agency about the steps I would need to take to bring Give You Walls Some Soul to the networks.

Friday
Was spent at Warner Brothers. We were fortunate to have Marc Zicree as our moderator.
Marc asked all the right questions and truly enriched the experience. I'm taking Marc's mentorship program. Under his tutelage, I'll be preparing my show for pitching at the NATPE conference in January. How'd I first meet him? By getting lost on the way back from the bathroom. See it pays to ask for directions!

The guests at Warner Brothers were a great balance of personalities and information.
Matt Bankston, Muse Entertainment Enterprises, validated the work I am doing in ancillary markets.
William Rabkin, Writer (Monk, Psych, Diagnosis Murder), brought color, literally to his shows.

Virgil Williams, ER Here was this kid, passionate about his work and giving back to the community. Totally inspiring.
Thom Sherman, President CW Network, gave us a no nonsense look at the industry.,
Lee Aronsohn, Producer 2 1/2 Men, I love what he said about the script-in order for it to come alive you have to hear the music.
Jeff Astroff, New Adventures of Old Christine, showed us what it was like to be in a production that was joyful.

I came away from the experience realizing that taking my show from Access to Network was doable. And now I have help to make it happen.

It was a week well spent.



Shannon and Bugs outside of Warner Brothers