Imhotep Coleman has more than 15 years of experience as a television assistant director. He's also an instructor in film production at West Los Angeles College in Culver City. So, when he had the chance to attend this year's Media Educators Conference, presented by the Television Academy Foundation, he made the most of it.
"Man, I was front and center," he said of the two-and-a-half-days of panels with industry pros, networking opportunities and a studio tour. "I had questions on everything. I hope I didn't dominate. But this type of stuff is fascinating to me. So, I had a question for each panel about how they [approach] the industry and how we can impart the information for students."
Providing such a bridge between the classroom and the television industry is precisely the purpose of the Media Educators Conference, held October 9-11 primarily at Academy headquarters in the NoHo Arts District.
Instructors at four-year and community colleges throughout the country gathered for programming that included discussions on the current state of the industry, the use of AI and programming the broadcast networks; a presentation on storytelling and climate solutions; and the public program "The Power of TV" on television and democracy.
And even more: a masterclass on directing; tips from early-career professionals on breaking into the industry; a program on unions and guilds; a conversation with Warner Bros. TV showrunners and tour of the Warner Bros. studio; a screening of a College Television Award-winning short film; and the unveiling of a new college curriculum utilizing the Foundation's oral-history collection, The Interviews.
Having joined the Foundation this year from a position as CEO of the independent education-focused newsroom EdSource, executive director Anne Vasquez noted of her first Media Educators Conference, "I have a real appreciation and a real affinity for educators and all that they do. They have so much power to inspire. We need to help them so that students have not only a more enriching experience but feel like they have someone who's got their back and is knowledgeable about the industry."
Vasquez moderated the first panel, "The State of the Industry," which featured three journalists who cover entertainment: Clayton Davis, senior awards editor, Variety; Meg James, senior entertainment industry reporter, Los Angeles Times and Sarah Krouse, Los Angeles bureau chief, Wall Street Journal.
As 2024 has not seen the return to normalcy people had hoped for after last year's strikes, James predicted that "we probably have another two years of unsettling and more consolidation before the environment settles. Right now, some legacy studios are really struggling. They're undercapitalized and they've had leadership changes, and there's a big merger [involving Paramount Global] that will probably take effect next year."
Added Krouse, "We're starting to have a clearer view of what the new normal is going to be in terms of the levels of content production. It will probably never get back to the headiest days of streaming, when it was an evolving format and there were tons of money flowing into it. [Now,] profitability is more paramount, pun intended. Studios are being more cautious and thoughtful about what they greenlight. They are getting smarter about the insights they look at to see what's working and what's not; they probably will cut ties earlier or be less inclined to renew and the creators or showrunners that prove their worth will have far more opportunity."
Students need to embrace the changes, the panelists said. And, noted Davis to the instructors, "Encourage your students to do everything, get good at a lot of things. Make yourself really hard to fire, because [an employer will get] six things out of you, versus just one out of this other person. You make yourself competitive in this world. It really does make a difference."
Krouse noted that AI was causing concerns but believes that the people who can figure out how to blend their creativity with these tools will be part of the next chapter in AI's evolution, especially if they can save studios money. The very next panel, "AI and the Future of Entertainment," tackled ethical concerns such as copyright infringement, recommendation for tools and examples of AI use.
Participants included Anatola Araba, founder-creative director at Reimagine Story Lab; Renard Jenkins, SMPTE president and HPA MovieLabs board member and Shelby Ward, cofounder of Curious Refuge, an online home for AI storytellers. Moderating was Christina Lee Storm, founder-CEO of Asher XR and Playbook and a governor of the Academy's Emerging Media Programming peer group.
While there are lawsuits about such matters as illegally using actors' voices, there is definitely a positive side to AI, Araba said: "The issue isn't as much Hollywood using these tools to take jobs away from artists, but that Hollywood studios are in trouble because of these tools: The [entities] that are spending millions to make a movie are competing for the same eyes watching TikTok videos [made by] people using AI for no budget at all, and engaging similar amounts of the population.
"So, thinking about AI in Hollywood, I really think the power and focus is independent creators, independent filmmakers using these tools, because now people with less resources can use AI to make a film without having to get bottlenecked because of fundraising or having to go through the gatekeepers."
While many artists see AI as a threat, "The simplicity of this is that none of this works without human interaction," Jenkins pointed out. "What we're seeing now is this hybrid use of live action and artificial intelligence, especially in the areas of visual effects and animation, where you're seeing a very fast progression. If you get to the point where you're starting to speed up that process, you give the opportunity for more content creators to be a part of the party."
For students who want to learn about using AI, Ward recommended YouTube and X — "People are always putting out their tests of the tools very quickly" — and her own Curious Refuge, which presents a weekly web show of the latest and most relevant AI information.
However its storytelling is done, television can help educate and inspire viewers about social issues, the key concept of the Foundation's public series, "The Power of TV." "The Power of TV: Democracy in Focus," explored television shows' ability, in their depiction of and storytelling about political and politicized matters, to affect citizens' perceptions of public leaders, civil servants and their own civic engagement.
The idealistic 1999-2006 White House drama The West Wing would still resonate with viewers today, said panelist and former series writer Mark Goffman, now executive producer of NBC's The Irrational. Though with the current risk-averse studio environment, "We have to be able to push those bounds and try to get those out there."
Added Will Jenkins, communications director of the nonpartisan nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, "Eighty-five percent of federal government workers are actually outside of the D.C. area. So, there are so many more stories we can show about what has happened in communities and how public leaders are making a difference."
Jenkins advocated for more stories about young people, who are the future of politics; panelist producer-director Amanda McBaine has won one Emmy Award each for the Apple TV+ documentaries Boys State and Girls State, about teens who participate in experimental programs to create their own governments from scratch.
"We got into making Boys State and Girls State because we were curious about the hyper-polarization of our country after the 2016 election," said McBaine, who shared the work and the Emmys with her husband, Jesse Moss. "And we were asking ourselves, 'How do we tell a political story that is going to bring people in, and not because we're all sort of traumatized by the real world of politics?'
"We discovered this space, which brings together very different kids in one room. They have to face each other and talk about politics, though their politics are very different, and that space seemed like a very rare space." The filmmakers have been screening the films at schools of all grade levels, to spark student conversations.
Sometimes topics that are political in real life are approached instead from a character's perspective. In 2016, on the CW series Jane the Virgin, the title character's mother had an abortion to end an unwanted pregnancy. Panelist Valentina Garza, then a consulting producer on the show, said, "The show sought to have that conversation from a very human perspective, not really trying to explore the national debate.
"When it comes to a lot of these very polarizing cultural issues, I think that as a storyteller, our job is different: When you're having this conversation, and it's based on the human experience and the character that you're committed to, that's going to help [viewers] have an empathy or compassion, or just be open to, 'Oh, I never thought about it that way, but I'm invested in this character.'" The show depicted various characters' reactions to the decision, including some conflicting emotions.
Then there is MTV's drag-queen competition series RuPaul's Drag Race. "Ru always says, 'Every time I bat my eyelashes, it's a political statement,' and it's true," said panelist Michelle Visage, a senior producer on the show. "Drag has always been under attack. Drag is joy. Drag is love. What drag is not preying upon anybody. They don't want your kids, honey.
"There's a whole community, a whole host of people that are beautiful, gorgeous, lovely humans who have never felt that they've been represented on television. And their stories are so important. This is why we don't script it. These voices need to be heard. Kids need to see themselves represented."
Show host RuPaul Charles is one of the participants in the collection of 950-plus conversations that comprise the Foundation's lauded oral history project, The Interviews. The ongoing project features hours-long interviews with television pioneers, current trailblazers, creators, performers and craftspeople from every aspect and genre of television.
At MEC, the program "Must See TV: An Interactive Model for Media Education," introduced the Foundation's innovative 16-week curriculum, which integrates clips from the Interviews into a multimedia, interactive course on the history of television. The Interviews director, Jenni Matz, and Virginia Commonwealth University assistant professor Josh Smith, who designed the course, demonstrated its various components, covering such aspects as the medium's beginnings and evolution; its role in society; technology; niche topics such as news and sports; business and industry; and the future.
Included are lecture outlines, projects and assignments, discussion prompts and quizzes. Designed as a standalone course that can take the place of a textbook, the course is customizable; elements of the curriculum can also be incorporated in multiple ways to existing courses, according to an instructor's wishes.
"I think it's perfectly aligned for students who are at the 100 or 200 level; [those levels] are gateway courses," Smith said. "These are students who may not have declared a major, yet they may still be interested in trying to pursue different career paths. And a course like this, I think, gets them really energized about television, and hopefully makes them interested enough to possibly take more classes [and] declare, [for] instance, Mass Comm as their major. But the overall course itself is interdisciplinary."
Smith spoke from Virginia; on hand was professor Beth Corzo-Duchardt, an adjunct instructor at Cal State University Los Angeles who had been asked to try out the course. She praised its technical ease, and said, "There are just so many ideas that I have gotten from this curriculum, that I feel like I'm going to implement in all my courses."
Matz invited the MEC instructors to provide feedback on the course, which is due to launch in Fall 2025 but is ready to implement now.
Attendees were enthusiastic about the course, among them Ron De Genova, adjunct faculty, radio/TV at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. "When they rolled that out, I lit up!" he enthused. "I want to teach it!"
A producer-director-screenwriter, De Genova is a longtime Television Academy member in the Children's Programming peer group. He was also impressed by the detailed discussions of industry changes post-strikes and dealing with AI, as well as the scheduling panel.
"A lot of great information came out of the conference," he said. "Some of it a little sad, but also a lot of stuff that shows optimism."
Coleman also came away inspired. "I got a lot of notes, new contacts, sharing ideas and I'm going to build on some of the things from the conference," he said. "We have climate-centered things we're doing, with climate education and bridging that into the entertainment storytelling industries."
For Shontelle Thrash, a professor of theatre and communication and director of stage and screen at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, the Media Educators Conference "was a wonderful opportunity for me to gain the knowledge of what's happening now from these industry professionals, who have their hands on the pulse of the industry, of this changing industry," she said. "To have them all in one room over the course of three days, and to be able to connect and start building relationships with other media educators, that's just been invaluable."
Some favorite takeaways reflected coursework she was already presenting, such as the mental-health elements of storytelling noted in the climate panel, and the need for student-artists to be entrepreneurs and not limit themselves to one industry aspect. She'll be sharing MEC knowledge gleaned not only with her students, but other Clayton State instructors for their classes.
All three faculty members had been selected as recipients of the Alex Trebek Legacy Fellowships, named for the late Jeopardy! host and funded by a gift from The Harry & Judy Friedman Family Foundation. The grants cover registration, travel and/or lodging expenses.
And all three were deeply appreciative of both the Fellowships' practical aspects and the honor itself. "It meant so much to me personally, because I got to meet Alex Trebek at an Academy event," De Genova said. "He was so generous with his time with me, and in offering encouragement to keep at it."
Thrash was already looking ahead to keep at it. "To be able to bring this back to my students is wonderful," she said. "Hopefully, I can make it out to next year's conference and learn even more!"
