Media Industry Conversations Podcast

This MIC podcast features a panel about animation in Austin. Guests Carrye Glazer, Brad Graeber, Austin Harper, Evan Narcisse, and Craig Staggs join us to explore career paths, roles, and the state of animation industries in Austin. At the time the podcast was recorded at the UT campus on February 16, 2024, Carrye Glazer was the executive producer for Austin Community College television; she forme...

This week's MIC podcast features a panel on the anatomy of a production company. Guests Michael Garcia and Maddy Bilder join us to explore the production process and everyday workflows of 26 Keys Productions, a production company based right here in Austin. Michael Garcia, who is the President of 26 Keys, has extensive experience as an executive producer and studio executive, having worked with Lu...

Today, we’re bringing you the final episode in our special series about the Texas media industries. This podcast was recorded at the Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium, which took place on September 20th, 2024 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium and this podcast were co-produced by the Center for Entertainment and Media Industries and the Department of Radio-Televis...

Today, we’re bringing you the fourth episode in our special series about the Texas media industries. This podcast was recorded at the Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium, which took place on September 20th, 2024 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium and this podcast were co-produced by the Center for Entertainment and Media Industries and the Department of Radio-Televi...

Today, we’re bringing you the third episode in our special series about the Texas media industries. This podcast was recorded at the Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium, which took place on September 20th, 2024 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium and this podcast were co-produced by the Center for Entertainment and Media Industries and the Department of Radio-Televis...

Today, we’re bringing you the second episode in our special series about the Texas media industries. This podcast was recorded at the Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium, which took place on September 20th, 2024 at the University of Texas at Austin, which was made possible by the generous support of Wofford Denius. The Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium showcased the...

Today, we’re bringing you the first episode in a special series about the Texas media industries. This podcast was recorded at the Texas Entertainment and Media Industries Symposium, which took place on September 20th, 2024 at the University of Texas at Austin. The symposium and this podcast were co-produced by the Center for Entertainment and Media Industries and the Department of Radio-Televisio...

This week's MIC podcast features James Emmanuel Shapiro, who was President of US Distribution at XYZ films at the time of this recording. James Emanuel Shapiro is an entertainment executive veteran of twenty years and has been the COO of both Drafthouse Films and NEON, where he helped build both distribution companies from the ground up. He's worked on several academy award campaigns including Bul...

This week's MIC Podcast features a panel on the Screenwriter/Agent relationship with Jim Ehrich, literary agent, and Cindy McCreery, screenwriter and Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Department at UT Austin. Cindy McCreery is Chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film here at UT Austin, where she teaches screenwriting. Cindy has written many feature and television scripts, and most recentl...

For this week’s MIC Podcast, we’re excited to present our conversation with Mark Shapiro, moderated by Dr. Alisa Perren and James Andrew Miller. For regular listeners of the MIC podcast, this episode will have a unique structure, as James Andrew Miller moderates the first half of the conversation and Alisa Perren moderates the second half. Mark Shapiro is President and Chief Operating Officer of E...

This week's guest is Elaine Frontain Bryant who is Executive Vice President and Head of Programming at A&E, Lifetime, and LMN. She manages the programming teams for all three networks and is responsible for overseeing the development, creation and execution of all programming.  Elaine has developed lots of groundbreaking unscripted programming, such as Storage Wars and Duck Dynasty, and her work o...

This week's MIC podcast features a panel on Entertainment Law with attorneys PJ Shapiro and Greg Slewett. Both Slewett and Shapiro are founding partners at Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett, and Kole LLP, which was established in 2021 with philanthropy, civic engagement, and inclusion as its core tenants. JSSK LLP represents some of Hollywood's most in-demand talent, including Donald Glover, Florence Pugh...

This week’s guest is Colby Gaines, who is the Founder of Back Roads Entertainment. Colby, who produces unscripted series in his home state of Texas after 20 years in NYC, is an Emmy nominated executive producer and one of the top storytellers in unscripted entertainment. He’s well known for having co created cable’s longest-running hit show, Pawn Stars. He’s managed large teams and a variety of C-...

This week's guest is Brent Weinstein, Chief Development Officer of Candle Media. At Candle, Brent oversees brands like Moonbug, Faraway Road Productions, and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Before joining Candle Media, Brent worked at United Talent Agency, one of Hollywood’s largest and most influential agencies, for nearly 20 years. During his time at UTA, Brent served as Partner and Chief In...

This week's guest is Andrew Wang. Andrew Wang is Head of TV, Development & Production at JuVee Productions, a production company founded by Viola Davis and Julius Tenon that emphasizes artist driven projects from a diverse range of new and established voices. At JuVee, Andrew guides projects through all stages of the development process, seeing a title through from the early days of its conception...

This week, we're taking a look back at an MIC session with Elaine Frontain Bryant from Fall 2022. Elaine is Executive Vice President and Head of Programming at A&E Network, where she manages the A&E programming team and is responsible for overseeing the development, creation and execution of all programming for the network. In this role, Elaine won Emmy awards for launching the groundbreaking seri...

This week's guest is Scot Cru, who works as an independent international television and media consultant and previously served as Executive Vice President of Global Formats and Unscripted Content at MGM Studios. In this role, Scot was responsible for the distribution of MGM formats worldwide and launched MGM UK. Before that, Scot worked as Executive Vice President of International for Mark Burnett...

This week's podast features a panel of film festival leaders based right here in Austin. Neha Aziz, Alka Bhanot, David Finkel, Todd Hogan, and Gabriel Ornelas visited UT Austin on March 21st, 2024 to discuss the community-based film festivals that they lead. Neha is Artistic Director for the Austin Asian American Film Festival, as well an independent filmmaker and podcaster. Alka Bhanot is Co-Foun...

We concluded the Fall 2023 semester with a panel featuring five leaders in the media industry right here in Austin. Alfred Gomez is a director of programming and development at Blind Nil Magnolia, an unscripted production company operating here in Texas. Jennifer Hutchins is a freelance producer and founder of All Entertainment Business, and has worked on series such as That Animal Rescue Show. La...

This week's podcast features a panel on the Screenwriter/Agent relationship with screenwriters Davia Carter and Cindy McCreery and literary agent Jim Ehrich, who visited UT on September 11, 2023. Davia Carter is an alumna of UT Austin's MFA Screenwriting program, and now works as a writer/producer for the Sylvester Stallone-led series, Tulsa King. Davia's other credits include Snowfall, Queen of t...

This week's guest is Patrick Schumacker, who visited UT on April 1, 2024. Patrick is an Emmy-nominated Creator, Showrunner and Executive Producer at Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions, which he runs with his writing partner Justin Halpern with an overall deal at Warner Bros Television. Patrick is Executive Producer and Co-showrunner on the Emmy Award-winning hit series Abbott Elementary with Quint...

This week's guest is Amanda Harrell, who visited a UT class on Unscripted Media on April 9th, 2024. Amanda is the former Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for the Alternative and Specials division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. This division of MGM focuses on unscripted content, as well as podcasts and live events. In this role, Amanda was responsible for ensuring the legalit...

This week's guest is Jordan Levin, who spoke with UT students on October 10, 2022. At the time of his visit, Jordan was General Manager at Rooster Teeth, an Austin-based media and entertainment company, where he was responsible for leading all aspects of the business including oversight of strategy, creative and operations. Before joining Rooster Teeth in 2019, Levin served as the CEO of Awesomene...

This week's guest is Bob Berney. Bob Berney is an Alum of the RTF program here at UT Austin, and has gone on to become a leader in the field of film distribution. Bob began his career working at art house movie theaters in Houston and Dallas, where he learned the nuances of independent film distribution. He went on to found some of the most influential distribution companies in the industry, inclu...

This week's MIC podcast features a panel on Entertainment Law with attorneys PJ Shapiro and Greg Slewett. Both Slewett and Shapiro are founding partners at Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett, and Kole LLP, which was established in 2021 with philanthropy, civic engagement, and inclusion as its core tenants. JSSK LLP represents some of Hollywood's most in-demend talent, including Donald Glover, Florence Pugh...