The Hollywood Creative Forum (HCF) is just around the corner, and veterans of the film and television industry are getting ready to descend on Beverly Hills on February 21-22. Hosted by the Walter Kaitz Foundation, the two-day packed event full of luncheons, panels, meet-and-greets and one-on-ones is dedicated to fostering diversity and business intelligence within the industry, and has become a staple in the media and entertainment world for people of color since its start eight years ago. As we await this year’s HCF, we took some time to speak with past attendees about the influence the Forum has had in their careers and the value it offers to those looking to make a break in Hollywood.
Donna Michelle Anderson, an executive in Hollywood who is currently the President & CEO of Planet DMA, has participated in HCF in various capacities. She explained that HCF offers the face time that professionals would have a hard time getting elsewhere. “Your agent could not get you in front of the people who will be in these rooms, over the course of years, much less in two days,” said Anderson. There’s a mix of opportunities available at HCF, but all of them circle back to networking and connecting to the deeply credentialed attendees who are looking to hire or be hired. “We are trying to connect the showrunners and the producers and the directors, the people who themselves can continue to hire diversely after they’ve been placed into a position. We’re trying to close that gap as one of the main emphases of the event, and it’s been very successful,” she added.
In the past several years, Anderson has hired three showrunners and an executive within months after each of the forums. As an executive on the hiring side of the table, Anderson looks forward to the talent and resumes that come at her in different directions. “Networking is everything,” she said. “The meet-and-greets let you sit across the table from people who even if they saw your tremendous resume, may not be as connected to you as they are if they can sit across the table from you and shake your hand, and chat with you professionally and get to know you personally. They’re not just looking at you as a set of bullet points.”
Anderson also noted that although industry efforts around diversity tend to concentrate on entry-level professionals, HCF also focuses on bringing together the people who are in a position to hire. What ends up happening many times to people of color starting out in the industry is they lack a mentor or someone championing and supporting their efforts to break into field. “But we can tip the balance from the higher end of the diversity spectrum by giving [people in position to hire] the gateways they need to hire more diversely,” said Anderson. “The people who run the shows, direct, write and produce, let’s connect them to jobs so they, in turn, can then create teams that are diverse.”
As an established showrunner, producer, writer and director in the entertainment business, Adam Matalon has also reaped the benefits of networking at HCF. Matalon founded and continues to work at Chatsby Filmswhere he has worked in various capacities on feature films, documentaries, music videos, and shows. At a previous Forum, he met and hired a writer to work on a few episodes of one of his scripted comedies. On one of the panels he was selected for, he also met another showrunner from Hotline Entertainment. They ended up working on further projects and panels together as a result. “For me it’s about seeing who is out there, and to share expertise. I like to mentor,” he said.
Matalon also uses the Forum as an opportunity to relay to newcomers the tremendous amount of work that it takes to succeed in the business, which some may not realize at first. “I paid my dues, I didn’t get handed my executive producer title. I had to work really hard, and I like to share that when I’m on the panels. People really need to learn their craft,” he explained.
And similar to what Anderson shared, the Forum is the place to get your foot in the door before taking it on your own the rest of the way. “Every single minute of [HCF] is the chance to engage with exceptional colleagues in your field who you may have never met, or heard the name of, or that you have been on shows with. There’s nothing like it,” said Anderson.
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