Hollywood insiders share their perspective on the tumultuous 2021 and tectonic changes in the business of film. 

Hosted by Gary Goldstein, screenwriter/author and Los Angeles Times contributing film reviewer

Christine La Monte, producer/director/writer and former film marketing executive

at Universal, Disney and Orion, is founder of La Monte Productions where current

feature documentary projects in postproduction include VIVA VERDI!, about Casa

Verdi in Milan, the home that Giuseppe Verdi built for retired opera singers; FIGLI

DEL FIUME (CHILDREN OF THE RIVER), and with the Creative Compass Collective

(CCC), PAUSED: Life Under C-19; JUSTICE DEFERRED, is a feature film in

development based on Len Williams’ critically acclaimed legal thriller. La Monte

produced the award-winning short film, DANDELION DHARMA; the Gary Goldstein

scripted play, “Three Grooms & A Bride,” and the syndicated television talk show,

"Marilu" starring Marilu Henner. Her directing credits include the Screen Actors

Guild’s “A Heart United” with Sharon Lawrence and Jo Beth Williams, and “The

Angina Monologues” with Brenda Strong. La Monte spent over 6 years at the public

relations/marketing firm, Rogers & Cowan as the Executive Vice President of the

Motion Picture Group; as an international strategic marketer, she worked at the

legendary Italian studio, CineCittá in Rome, and served as Marketing Executive, at

TV 3 New Zealand, while living in Auckland. She is a Contributing Editor of Musée

Magazine, an avant-garde photography magazine. A long-time member of the

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences where she serves as a member of the

Executive Committee of the Student Academy Awards, La Monte is a member of the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Alliance of Women Directors. She is

a past faculty member of New York's School of Visual Arts where she initiated the

Dusty Awards, an annual festival of student short films and awards ceremony, and a

member of PEN America’s Los Angeles Committee, and SEEfest’s Advisory Board. La

Monte divides her time between Los Angeles and Rome with her author husband,

Len Williams.

Gary Goldstein, award-winning writer, director and producer of film, TV and stage,

has recently added author to his many credits with the relationship dramedy, “The

Last Birthday Party,” slated to be published August, 2021, by Hadleigh House.

Starting in exhibition at Redstone Theatres in Boston, Goldstein segued into

distribution as a film studio marketing executive at Universal, before moving into

production. A contributing film critic and feature writer for the Los Angeles Times,

he is the former longtime chair of the WGA’s LGBTQ+ Writers Committee. Current

projects in feature film development include Mark Sarvas’ acclaimed novel

“Memento Park,” a powerful drama involving fathers, sons, faith, art and the

Holocaust. Goldstein has written numerous films for Hallmark Channel and its sister

network, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, including the comedies “The Wish List,”

“Hitched for the Holidays,” “This Magic Moment” and “My Boyfriends’ Dogs,” and the

first two films in the “Flower Shop Mystery” series: “Mum’s the Word” and “Snipped

in the Bud,” starring Brooke Shields. His feature film “Politics of Love,” a romantic

comedy set during the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, was released in theaters

August 2011. He also wrote the feature romantic comedy, “If You Only Knew,” which

starred Jonathan Schaech and Alison Eastwood. In addition, he has sold or optioned

a number of original screenplays, has a string of episodic TV credits and has sold

half-hour comedy pilots to both NBC and Warner Bros Television. For the L.A. stage,

Gary wrote and produced several comedies including “Just Men,” “Parental

Discretion” and “Three Grooms and a Bride,” which all enjoyed long, well-reviewed

runs. His family drama “Curtain Call” premiered in late 2008 at Carmel, CA’s Pacific

Repertory Theatre, after winning the PacRep’s national Hyperion Playwriting

Competition. In March 2017, his play, the three-sisters dramedy “April, May & June,”

had its World Premiere at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. The play won five Broadway

World award nominations including Best Local Production. His family dramedy "To

My Children's Father," was selected by Monterey, CA's Paper Wing Theatre

Company to premiere in their 2018 "5th Annual Play Reading Series." Goldstein’s

most recent play, "Dinner at the Harbor Reef," a drama surrounding Natalie Wood

"based on fact, rumor and Hollywood," debuted in a staged reading in 2019 at

Beverly Hills' Theatre 40. A former instructor at L.A.’s Writer’s Boot Camp,

Goldstein’s multi-part series “A 6-Year Contract To NOT Be A Screenwriter, ” can be

found on filmcourage.com . The L.A.-based Goldstein has been a key moderator

during award-season panels for film studios, festivals, as well as the IDA.

Marianne Maddalena

Award-winning American film and television producer, Marianne Maddalena, spent

over twenty years collaborating and partnering with horror legend, Wes Craven on

such films as the SCREAM franchise, RED-EYE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES with

grosses over $1 billion worldwide. Starting out as assistant to director Wes Craven,

On DEADLY FRIEND, she went on to work with him on THE SERPENT AND THE

RAINBOW, then together produced the Universal films, SHOCKER and THE PEOPLE

UNDER THE STAIRS. Their common goal was to depict women with authenticity

while resisting using female sexuality as the thing that separated victims and

heroines. Maddalena produced NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 7: WES CRAVEN’S

NEW NIGHTMARE; the NEW NIGHTMARE gave the series a fresh 90's spin, and

garnered her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Picture of 1994. Her

next project with Craven, SCREAM, would redefine the horror genre for years to

come. An international blockbuster that would soon spawn three ground-breaking

sequels directed by Craven, and produced by Maddalena, won best picture at the

"Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films,” among other awards.

Creating Craven-Maddalena Films with Craven in 1999, their first project out of the

box was the Oscar-nominated film for best actress, MUSIC OF THE HEART, starring

Meryl Streep. In 2005, she produced the thriller, RED EYE, directed by Craven,

starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. In 2006, she and Craven produced,

THE HILLS HAVE EYES, and the 2007 sequel, THE HILLS HAVE EYES II with Craven

directing. Following in 2009, they produced the Universal Pictures revenge horror-

thriller, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, directed by Dennis Lliadis. More recently,

in 2019, Maddalena finished the third season of SCREAM: THE TV SERIES on

MTV/Netflix. Currently, she has several films and television shows slated for

production in 2021, and is in development on the TV series, HOW TO BE A MAN IN

THE 21st CENTURY, for the FX NETWORK. She is a member of the Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where she is producing a series of public service

announcements with former Academy president, Hawk Koch, entitled IF YOU CAN

SEE IT YOU CAN BE IT, showcasing the talents of diverse members of the film

community with introductions by Will Smith, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington and

Vanessa Hudgens. A longtime sponsor of the COLCOA French Film Festival, now in

its twentieth year, Maddalena is LA-based when she is not traveling for work or

pleasure.  

Anatol Chavez founded, in 2009, Synergetic Film, which specializes in theatrical

distribution of art house content. He has been responsible for releasing over 500

films into the domestic market. Some of the acquired titles include Pretty Toxic

(USA), Your Eyes Tell (Japan), Back Home (France), BoBoiBoy: Elemental Heroes

(Malaysia), Robolove (Austria), The Swan (Iceland), Sami Blood (Sweden), Sibel

(Turkey), Zana (Kosovo), Carmen & Lola (Spain) and Easy Land (Canada), among

others. Through Synergetic, he has released a wide range of films and series, from

British comedies to Japanese anime, Festival pedigree to Genre films. More recently,

he has overseen the development and launch of Darkroom, a hybrid digital platform

which combines virtual cinema with streaming, launching on Desktop, Android, iOS.

Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire.

David Quan, VP Business Affairs, Angry Mob Music – He oversees one of the most

critical parts of the business: the collective works and interests of writers, artists

and catalogs. As Vice President, Business Affairs, David is a constant, driven

advocate and guardian, relentlessly ensuring that talent is being paid fairly and

properly for their art, and he is always supporting the value of their music in the

vast and diverse ways it is consumed today. David was drawn to music from an

early age, and while he briefly considered becoming a doctor, he thankfully chose to

pursue his passion instead. His long-term career in music publishing began with an

internship at Warner/Chappell; he then moved to tenures with All Nations Music,

Music & Media International, Leiber & Stoller, and Universal Music Enterprises, as

well as with NBC/Universal Television and Sony Pictures Entertainment, where he

was responsible for the licensing and protection of their considerable catalogs.

A native Angelino, David loves volleyball, tennis, hiking, candle light dinners, and

(not surprisingly) long walks on the beach. He also makes a really mean bbq pulled

pork.

Mihai Crasneanu is a consummate entrepreneur whose focus is the intersection of

media and technology. He is the CEO of Beem, a new breed of social streaming

platform, and has previously launched more than 10 companies including Grey Juice

Lab, the go-to company for international VOD content and services. With more than

ten years’ experience in content licensing and aggregation, Mihai works with

operators around the world to plan, build and monetize VOD services that meet

their commercial objectives. Grey Juice Lab has a catalogue of more than 50,000

titles in all genres and languages from all six of the major Hollywood studios as well

as premium international, regional and local content providers. Mihai’s specialties

include conception, implementation and operation of OTT and On-Demand services.

He negotiates with major Hollywood studios, TV channels and content producers,

and manages large teams in seven countries on three continents. He occasionally

invests in early stage innovative companies.

James Tumminia is a producer/actor/director and received a 2019 EMMY

nomination for producing the feature documentary, Love, Gilda (Magnolia

Pictures/CNN Films) that opened the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. He is the Co-

Founder of Italus Films, an Italy/US joint venture based in Milan and Los Angeles,

producing content for all media. As a producer, James has championed filmmakers

whose voices span a diverse spectrum; film credits include: All She Wrote, Three

Days in August, Somebody’s Mother and Strike One. He was head of production at

GPA Entertainment, creating content for all media. As an actor, James appeared

in Resident Evil, Angels & Demons, Criminal Minds, The Shield and Melissa & Joey. His

award-winning short film, My Christmas Wish, played at worldwide festivals, earning

him Best Director prizes at the Monaco International Film Festival and Sydney Indie

Film Festival. James is a longtime member of the Producers Guild of America, now

serving as the Co-Chair of the Documentary Committee. He is also a member of SAG-

AFTRA and the TV Academy.  Born in New York City, James graduated from

Georgetown University with a BA in Political Science. He is currently executive

producing the feature documentary, VIVA VERDI!

James C. Katz, producer, director, film preservationist and former film studio executive,

is co-founder of The Wyle/Katz Company, a production company with actor Noah Wyle .

He began his career at United Artists as Director of Worldwide Publicity, involved in the

campaigns for such films as the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns, the James Bond

movies, Norman Jewison’s “In the Heat of the Night,” and two Beatles movies, “A Hard

Day's Night” and “HELP!” He subsequently lived in Europe where he produced and

directed several documentaries, short films and commercials, and co-produced the

National Theatre's film production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, starring and directed by

Sir Laurence Olivier. He has produced such features as Paul Bartel's, “Scenes From the

Class Struggle in Beverly Hills,” written by Bruce Wagner, executive produced “Lust in

the Dust,” starring Divine and Tab Hunter, and was producer of “Nobody's Fool,” written

by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Beth Henley. Along with Bob Harris, with whom he

shared the KingVidor Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the 2020 San Luis Obispo

International Film Festival, he was responsible for the restorations of such classics as,

“Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” “Spartacus,” and “My Fair Lady.” In the early 1980’s as

President and founder of the Universal Pictures Classics Division, Katz was responsible

for the reissue of five Hitchcock films: “Rear Window,” “ Vertigo,” “Rope,” “The

Trouble With Harry,” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” as well as the reissue of the

Beatles' “A Hard Day's Night,” the reissue of the Preston Sturges package and the

theatrical distribution of Abel Gance's “Napoleon.” Under his aegis, Universal Pictures

Classics became the first classics division to be involved in film production, with John

Huston's “Under the Volcano.” Katz was also involved in bringing such films as Jerszy

Skolimowski's, “Moonlighting,” Merchant Ivory's, “Heat and Dust,” Nagisa Oshima's,

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” and Franco Zeffirelli's, “La Traviata” to U.S.

audiences. Katz also served for several years as a production VP for Universal

Pictures. A longtime member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences,

Katz is also a charter member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and

served on the 2000, and 2001 AFI Awards selection juries.