SPEAKERS
JESSE ALEXANDER
Jesse Alexander is a writer and producer of TV SERIES, MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, COMIC BOOKS, and a gazillion other cross platform projects he has overcommitted to. He was a producer and writer on the ground breaking serialized dramas: HEROES, LOST, and ALIAS. When Jesse isn’t working on DAY ONE, his new miniseries for NBC, he shares his notes from the transmedia trenches on his blog: www.globalcouch.com
ELAN LEE
Considered among the foremost Alternate Reality Gamer creators in the world, Elan Lee believes that if you’re bored, you’re doing something wrong. A self-identified entertainment-addict, Elan has spent his career finding and sharing ways to extract adventure from the world around us. From surfing down the flooded streets of LA to broadcasting a radio drama over thousands of ringing payphones, Elan has pioneered breakthroughs in the area of entertainment and immersive gaming. Elan started his career at the Microsoft Game Studio where he was a Lead Designer for the X-Box launch portfolio. Next, he co-founded and served as the Vice President of 24 Entertainment (the company behind I Love Bees, The Vanishing Point, Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero, and The Dark Knight.) He was also the Co-Founder of EDOC Laundry, and most recently the Co-Founder and Chief Designer at Fourth Wall Studios.
LANCE WEILER
Lance Weiler is a critically acclaimed award winning writer / director. Recognized as a pioneer because of the way he makes and distributes his work – Wired magazine named him “One of twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” He has successfully self-distributed his films THE LAST BROADCAST and HEAD TRAUMA to over 20 countries while grossing over 5 million dollars in the process. He is the founder of the Workbook Project, the roving conference series DIY DAYS and a co-founder of From Here to Awesome. Lance is a partner in Seize the Media a social entertainment company that focuses on transmedia story architecture. www.textoflight.com
SCOTT MACAULAY
Scott Macaulay is the editor of Filmmaker Magazine and a producer with his partner Robin O’Hara in the New York-based production company Forensic Films. He is also the co-editor of Focus Features’ FilmInFocus website. Among his producing credits are RAISING VICTOR VARGAS, GUMMO, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY, the Sundance Grand-Prize winning WHAT HAPPENED WAS… and IDLEWILD. www.filmmakermagazine.com
DAN MIRVISH
Dan Mirvish is a filmmaker and author who just co-wrote with Eitan Gorlin the book "I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (wildly inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans." Dan's real estate musical film "Open House" (Weinstein Co.) literally rewrote the Oscar rules on original musicals. Dan was mentored by Robert Altman on his first film "Omaha (the movie)" afterwhich Dan co-founded the Slamdance Film Festival where he leads the annual Sled-Off and Hot Tub Party.
STEVE PETERS
Currently founding partner and Chief Experience Architect at No Mimes Media, Steve Peters has worked on some of the biggest and most successful transmedia experiences to date, including projects for feature films Watchmen and The Dark Knight. Formerly the Director of Experience Design for 42 Entertainment, Steve founded the Alternate Reality Gaming Network in 2002. His projects have won multiple awards, including Cannes Lions Grand Prix Awards, One Show Entertainment Awards, and Webby Awards.
JAN LIBBY
Jan Libby created the popular indie Alternate Reality Games - Sammeeeees & Wrath of Johnson. After Sammeeeees, she spent nearly a year working with LG15 Studios (on the Lonelygirl15 Series) as a Writer and Interactive Designer. Jan then partnered with Brian Clark & GMD for Book 3 of the Eldritch Errors. In between projects she works as a New Media/Interactive Consultant to Media Companies and Agencies. Although still busy wrapping up her present project with W & K and Levi's on the GO IV Fortune, Jan can also be found sneaking down to her garage and creating sets and props for her next Indie storyworld 36nine.
JERRY PAFFENDORF
Jerry Paffendorf is an artist, futurist, entrepreneur, and swell guy caught up in the matrix of New De San Frooklyn Troit: the tri-coastal circuit of Detroit, San Francisco, and New York, with Detroit being his current primary residence. As an artist he's worked on things like the Destroy Television project where a Second Life avatar lived in his kitchen cabinet while being controlled by other people and recording and posting its entire life online; as a futurist he's worked on things like the Metaverse Roadmap project exploring convergences in video games, virtual worlds, maps, social networks and the world around us; as an entrepreneur he's worked with The Electric Sheep Company and as co-founder and creative director of Wello Horld, a venture-funded startup with a wacky history doing cutting edge realtime social web stuff, and as a swell guy, well just ask around! Presently he's putting the pieces together with a new project in Detroit called LOVELAND. Academically, he has a GED, a BFA in video and mixed-media from Montclair State University in New Jersey, and an MS in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
JON REISS
Named one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch” by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has produced and directed three feature films most recently Bomb It (Tribeca 2007) about graffiti, street art and the battle over visual public space throughout the world. Based on his experience releasing Bomb It with a hybrid strategy and the classes he teaches at Cal Arts, Jon’s new bookThink Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era is being published November 2009.
MARC HOROWITZ
Marc Horowitz graduated from Indiana University with degrees in Marketing and Microeconomics. Afterwards, he traveled overseas, shearing sheep and rejecting offers to start various carpet businesses in Morocco. After returning, he attended The San Francisco Art Institute. Marc has traveled the country having dinner with strangers for a year, he has signed his name on a map pf the US and then driven that route, he even traveled across the US entirely on Google Maps. It’s not all about travel though, Marc has drawn up some plans on how to turn a brick house and diesel truck into a helicopter, and will someday attempt this.
MICKI KRIMMEL
Micki Krimmel is the founder of NeighborGoods.net, a community where you can save and earn money by sharing stuff with your friends. You might have read about it recently in Oprah Magazine! Micki is known online as Mickipedia and has developed a following for her blog and videos at Mickipedia.com. She also plays roller derby with the LA Derby Dolls.
