Forging Your Own Path: Actor/Producers in Conversation

ABOUT THE EVENT:

In today’s entertainment landscape, more actors are stepping behind the camera to take control of their creative careers as producers. This panel brings together actor/producers to discuss how they’ve balanced their dual roles, the advantages of producing their own projects, and the challenges they’ve faced in bringing stories to life. Hear firsthand accounts of how these multi-hyphenates have forged their own paths in the industry, from securing financing to assembling the right team.

PANELISTS INCLUDE: 

Margaret Cho

Comedian. Actor. Musician. Advocate. Entrepreneur. Five-time Grammy and Emmy nominee.  Margaret Cho’s strong voice has been lighting the path for other women, other members of underrepresented groups, other performers, to follow. Her recent television appearances – guest star on Season 2 of THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (HBO Max), guest star on Season 2 of HACKS (HBO Max) and two Netflix is a Joke comedy specials: “Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration” and “Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin: Ladies Night Live” – have expanded an already wide-ranging career, and her role as the ‘mother hen’ in the well-reviewed movie FIRE ISLAND solidifies why we all love Margaret in the first place.

As a comedian Margaret has been named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time, one of Vogue magazine’s Top 9 Female Comedians of all time, while CNN chose her as one of the 50 People Who Changed American Comedy.  Thankfully, Margaret has more stories to tell, and her production company, Animal Family Productions, has multiple scripted shows in development for 2022 and beyond.

Michael Oloyede

Michael Oloyede is a Nigerian-American  actor, producer, creator, and founder of Scene & Heard, a table read series providing space for tv & film writers, producers, directors, & actors to collaborate in a workshop style environment. Throughout his career, Oloyede has showcased his talent and versatility across film, television, and stage productions, he most recently made his Broadway debut originating four roles in Tony Award winning play, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, while also making significant contributions behind the camera as a producer and creator. He played a key role in establishing organizations like The Creative Collective NYC and CultureCon, providing platforms for emerging talent and creatives of color to network and collaborate  & he’s won Webby awards for leading the creative behind some of it’s biggest cultural campaigns. As a co-founder of The Lay Out, he helped create spaces for Black people to celebrate culture and reclaim their narratives. Michael is based in LA & works between both coasts. Follow on IG @michaeloloyede_

Darrell Britt-Gibson

Darrell Britt-Gibson makes his screenwriting feature debut with SHE TAUGHT LOVE, in which he also stars, opposite Arsema Thomas, Taissa Farmiga, and D’Arcy Carden. Hulu will release the film on September 27th.  In this contemporary and timeless romance, Britt-Gibson’s script celebrates life and love in their most complex and intimate forms.  In SHE TAUGHT LOVE, ever since getting off a prestigious cable television series, “The Street,” Frank Cooper (Britt-Gibson) has been coasting through life distracting himself with women, booze and blow, while auditioning to play stereotypical gang members and drug dealers. But the minute he meets Mali Waters (Thomas), a sports agent living for the present, his whole world changes. Despite their own worst instincts, Mali and Frank are inescapably drawn to one another. As Mali is forced to face her own mortality, the clock begins to tick. The two must learn to rely on each other, choosing to love and live for the moment, even if that’s all they get.

He has a show in development with Stephen Falk and Blake Griffin called GET BUCKETS, which follows three estranged brothers who must band together following their billionaire father’s untimely death to figure out how to run the professional basketball team he left behind – and how to be a family.