A few weeks ago, Megan McGough (post supervisor for PBS Frontline and all around rad lady) emailed me about the prospect of putting together a meet-up for women at NAB this year. I’d been pondering the idea myself, so we decided to combine forces and see what we could do. Thanks to some assistance by some great people within the NAB Show staff, we’re co-hosting the first meet-up to support the voices of women and minorities in post and production. We’re calling it Expanded Focus — a casual gathering for professionals from all sides of production and post who want to enourage and expand the presence and voices of women and minorities in our industry.

Expanded Focus: Women and Minorities in Production and Post Meet-up @NAB
Register via Eventbrite
Tuesday, April 8th
South Lower Hall Arcade – SL15809
5PM – 6PM
Light refreshments served

Why? Well, here are a couple reasons:

“In 2012, women comprised 18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. This represents an increase of 2 percentage points from 2010 and an increase of 1 percentage point from 1998.”(source: wmm.com)

In 2013 the Directors Guild of America showed that hiring of minority directors stayed virtually stagnant over three years. “The report showed that Caucasian males directed 72% of all episodes; Caucasian females directed 12% of all episodes; minority males directed 14% of all episodes and minority females directed 2% of all episodes.” (source: dga.org)

I’ve talked about the lack of women on the NAB Show floor, and I’ll be talking about it again this year. But I’d like to help do something about it too. We want to make new connections, share mid-show stories and work to encourage new voices behind the camera and in the edit suite. We especially want to encourage the next generation of diverse filmmakers and production talent.

(Registration via Eventbrite isn’t required, but it’ll help us plan on said refreshments.)

Join Megan and me in the south lower hall arcade and show your support for a more diverse and exciting production industry!