C3:CONVERSE | Looking Ahead: The Landscape of Film and TV for AAPI Creatives and Our Community

These are unprecedented times in Hollywood in the post-pandemic world. With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the pending IATSE contract negotiations, the proliferation of AI, and the consolidation and mega-mergers of studios and streamers – Film and TV production seems to be at its nadir. However, as the industry is cyclical, there is the optimism of expansion. Join us for a conversation with filmmakers, academia and media non-profit leaders to address the landscape of Film and TV and what it means for AAPI Creatives and our Community. 

Panelists:

Milton Liu, a recent Stage IV cancer survivor, co-founded Kulture Machine, producing Student Academy Award winner JESUS HENRY CHRIST and feature FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN starring Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Emily Watson and Willem Dafoe. A Tribeca Feature Screenplay Winner, Disney Feature Fellow and Fox TV Writing Fellow, Milton wrote and produced the feature AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS, and created the webseries JOHN HUGHES RUINED MY LIFE and short documentary I HATE BIG PHONY. He most recently associate produced the features LUCKY GRANDMA and LOVE & BUSKING, and produced the short FROM HERE. Milton is currently the Executive Director of the Asian American Media Alliance, member of the WGA/west and a Big Brother Mentor for the past seven years.

A global citizen, Iram Parveen Bilal is an award-winning empathic creator excited to tell thought-provoking stories that are socially impactful and envision an inclusive world. Bilal has quickly become a voice to reckon with on the World Cinema stage. Invested in “raising while rising”, her past films have led to measurable shifts in causes they championed. She has not only formed initiatives to uplift her community in film and tech but has also championed causes that are traditionally unpopular to support. Bilal initiated the formation of the Pakistani Oscar committee and is the founder of QALAMBAAZ, Pakistan’s first professional screenwriting lab, now in year ten. Iram is also an active mentor for women in film and tech. Spotlighted as 1 of 8 directors to watch by the Alliance of Women Directors, a board member of the Film Fatales, she is also a Film Independent, Watson fellow and multiple time Women in Film awardee. She has been profiled by the New York Times, featured on NPR, BBC, Bloomberg, Filmmaker Magazine among others. She is a proud graduate of Caltech and the USC Peter Stark Program. When she isn’t telling stories, she is dancing to Bollywood tunes or nerding out with fellow Caltech engineers. She believes genuine curiosity is the only antidote to fear. Her biggest and boldest work to date, feature film WAKHRI (English Title: One of a Kind) just returned from a critically successful nationwide theatrical release in Pakistan and a North American premiere at the prestigious Narrative Spotlight Section at SXSW 2024. She just made her TV directing debut for a show on Amazon that is slated to be announced later in the summer. 

Michael Tran is a co-author of the UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, lead Graduate Student Researcher with the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative, and a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at UCLA. In addition to his work in the Hollywood Diversity Report, his dissertation investigates the experiences and cultural politics of independent filmmakers of color.

Philiana Ng (Moderator) is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor specializing in television. She is a Daytime Emmy winner and a two-time National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards honoree. Her work hasappeared in Entertainment Tonight, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, TV Guide, Yahoo, The Daily Beast, Netflix and more.