"Finding the Future of Public Television"
Seminars in Los Angeles
Friday, October 14 - Saturday, October 15, 2005
Presented by the American Cinema Foundation
Sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
HOW TO ATTEND
Admission is free, seating is limited. Reservations advised: reservations@cinemafoundation.com or (310) 364-2002. Please include the name or time of the panel(s) you wish to attend and whether you will bring a guest. Standby seating as available.
Location: Mark Goodson Screening Room, American Film Institute 2021 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Free parking on campus.
Each of the four 90-minute panels is followed by a question-and-answer session and an informal reception. Some discussions will have live web-logging. If you would like to submit a question/comment for the panels, please email us at: cpbcomments@cinemafoundation.com. (You don't have to attend to submit a question/comment.)
INTRODUCTION
Participants are television creators, executives, and journalists, including Lionel Chetwynd, Frank Price, Harry Shearer, Mel Stuart, Rob Long, Matt Welch, Cathy Seipp, Ray Richmond, and others (see complete schedule and list of panelists below).
Public television broadcasting has been, for 40 years, one of the most visible expressions of our sense of the common good in arts and education. We're concerned that this sense of a shared culture may be lost in today's partisanship. This series of panels will focus on identifying cultural biases that might limit public television's ability to carry out its mandate to represent American culture in all its diversity.
Finding ways to remedy this situation will take much public involvement, and this is the first of a continuing series of presentations. The panelists hold a variety of viewpoints, some of which are not often expressed. Each panel will attempt to identify an area of consensus about the future of the public television system.
The American Cinema Foundation (ACF) is a non-profit arts organization. Its film and television presentations seek to connect today's audience with idealistic visions of America's common culture-past, present, and future.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967. The mission of CPB is to facilitate the development of, and ensure universal access to, non-commercial high-quality programming and telecommunications services. It does this in conjunction with non-commercial educational telecommunications licensees across America.
AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media.
SCHEDULE AND PANELISTS
Friday, October 14, 8pm
Welcome addresses
Nick De Martino, Senior Vice President for Information and Technology, American Film Institute; Michael Pack, Senior Vice President, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Program introduction: Gary McVey, Executive Director, American Cinema Foundation
Opening panel
A gaggle of imaginative producer/writers consider why they and others like them don't produce more for public television. Why do shows that take on the hot topics of the day (from Bill Maher to Dennis Miller), and shows whose genres originated on public TV, end up on cable? What part does politics play? How can public broadcasting hold its ground?
Moderator: Rob Long (writer/producer, "Cheers," "George and Leo;" columnist, National Review; commentator, "Martini Shot" on KCRW)
Panelists: Kevin Bleyer (writer/producer, "Politically Incorrect," "The Dennis Miller Show"), Luca Bentivoglio (executive director, Latino Public Broadcasting), Harry Shearer (writer/performer, "The Simpsons," "This Is Spinal Tap"), Peter Robinson (presidential speechwriter; Hoover Inst. research fellow; host of public TV's "Uncommon Knowledge")
Saturday, October 15, 2pm
Will You, Won't You Join the Dance: The Experience of Producing for Public Television
We hear from veteran producers who feel that their programming has been marginalized because they hold viewpoints that fall outside the mainstream of current PBS culture. How should stewards of a national trust go about the business of funding and distributing programs that represent a wide spectrum of positions, while maintaining their own personal and political views?
Introduction: Michael Pack (Senior Vice President, Corporation for Public Broadcasting)
Moderator: Cathy Seipp (journalist, Independent Women's Forum, National Review Online)
Panelists: Lionel Chetwynd (writer/director/producer, "Ike: Countdown to D-Day," "Varian's War," "National Desk"), Frank Price (former studio chief of Universal, Columbia; producer, "The Tuskegee Airmen" etc.), Ted Steinberg (co-executive producer, "Reverse Angle," "National Desk")
Saturday, October 15, 4pm
New Formats/New Thinking from the AFI Digital Content Lab
PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are technological innovators, who have often led the commercial TV industry-from satellite distribution in the '70s, to added content in the '90s. Over seven years, the AFI Digital Content Lab, funded in part by CPB, has produced more than 50 prototypes-from wireless, to set-top boxes, to game consoles. This session showcases examples created for PBS programs, suppliers and stations, including KCET, POV and ITVS.
Presenter: Anna Marie Piersimoni, Director, Internet Communications, Media and Technology, American Film Institute
Guest: Jackie Kain, Vice President, New Media, KCET
Saturday, October 15, 8pm
Public Television Confidential: A Look at Basic Premises
The question is whether publicly funded programming meets its own high standards, and whether we ask enough of the system that spends our dollars. Is "Sesame Street" still the ultimate in quality educational programming? Is it fair to ask producers to treat more of the country's widely held values as legitimate?
Moderator: Cathy Seipp (journalist, Independent Women's Forum, National Review Online)
Panelists: Ray Richmond (television critic, The Hollywood Reporter) , Mel Stuart (director, "The Hobart Shakespeareans," "American Masters: Billy Wilder," "The Making of the President 1960"), Matt Welch (associate editor, Reason Magazine; columnist for Canada's National Post; blogger, mattwelch.com)
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