FWRV presents “How Hollywood Can Fight Racism: A Conversation with Alan Jenkins and Flo Mitchell-Brown”, hosted by FWRV partner Steven Beer, recorded on June 30, 2020. Alan and Flo discuss Hollywood’s impact on society at large and concrete actions that the film and television industry can undertake to fight racism and promote justice.

Alan Jenkins is Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on Race and the Law and on Communication, Law, and Social Justice. Previously, he co-founded and led The Opportunity Agenda, where he developed media and audience engagement strategies with cultural influencers, and launched Creative Change retreats at Sundance, where dozens of socially-relevant pop culture collaborations have been incubated. Alan’s prolific writing includes dozens of non-fiction articles, scripts for Fox Animation, and a pilot script, “SCOTUS”. Alan has appeared frequently as a commentator in print and broadcast media, including the Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, MSNBC and others. He also has held the positions of Director of Human Rights at the Ford Foundation, Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, Associate Counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Law Clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. Most recently, Alan published “Action! Ten Things Hollywood Can Do to Fight Racism and Promote Justice” and “Studios Should Flag Scripts for Harmful Stereotypes With a “Bigotry Pass”.

Flo Mitchell-Brown is Head of Industry Engagement for Extreme Reach’s Payroll Solutions division that provides payroll, accounting and labor relations for production casts and crews across the entertainment industry. Flo has spent 20-plus years in the entertainment industry. She spent many years at Entertainment Partners, first as VP and then as SVP of Operations, a role that honed her skills in leadership, production management and production finance. Flo is deeply involved with the production community, serving on the board of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and as Chair of the New York Production Alliance (NYPA). In 2018 she co-founded “Give Film,” an organization focused on creating content for change.

This webinar was produced by FWRV attorneys Steven Beer, Rip Beyman, Matt Lefferts, Eve Nguyen and Neil Rosini, with the technical assistance of Robert Maslonka.