Visualizing the Future of Commercial Content: What AI Means for the Industry

Speakers

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  Nelson Granados Executive Director of the Institute for Entertainment‚ Media‚ and Sports, Pepperdine University
  

  Nelson Granados

  Executive Director of the Institute for Entertainment‚ Media‚ and Sports, Pepperdine University

  Dr. Granados is the Academic Director of the Pepperdine Executive Doctorate in Business Administration, Executive Director of the Institute for Entertainment, Media, and Sports, and professor of information systems and technology management. He actively combines academia with practice as a member of the Board of Advisors for technology start-ups, and he is a frequent contributor to the Media and Entertainment section on Forbes. His broad research interests are related to the strategic and economic consequences of digital innovation in the tech, travel, media, and entertainment industry sectors. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Granados performed multiple marketing management positions in the airline industry across four continents, and he was also a product manager for enterprise systems at IBM.

  His research on the economic and informational impacts of digital technologies has received multiple awards and recognitions, including the finalist 2012-2014 best paper in Management Science, e-Business Best Paper at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, Best Publication of the Year in the Information Systems discipline, and Best Paper of the Year in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems.

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  Darren Frankel Head of Film & Television, Adobe
  

  Darren Frankel

  Head of Film & Television, Adobe

  Darren Frankel brings 35+ years of experience in visual effects and post-production in television Northwestern and media, to both domestic and international clients. Prior to joining Adobe as Head of Film & Television, Darren was Head of Post Production and Visual Effects for Marvel Television working in both studio oversight and creative capacities. Prior to joining Marvel, he was President of Stargate Studios and was responsible for the day-to-day management of the company overseeing all operations at the ten facilities in seven countries including business development, corporate strategy, technology and financial activities. He was a freelance producer and post producer before joining Stargate. Darren consults for various visual effects companies including Untold Studios, and helped to build the episodic division of Framestore, along with two stints on the Executive Committee at the Television Academy in visual effects. Darren attended Northwestern University and UCLA and majored in Theatre Arts. When Darren isn’t working, he’s either working out, running or spending time with his wife and their two rescue dogs.

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  Scott Martin IP/AI Consultant, Aspen IP Consulting
  

  Scott Martin

  IP/AI Consultant, Aspen IP Consulting

  Scott Martin is a consultant and advisor on intellectual property, artificial intelligence, and related challenges with Aspen IP Consulting. He served as Deputy General Counsel and EVP Intellectual Property & Market Access at Paramount Pictures from 1992-2025, where he was responsible for intellectual property policy, rights acquisitions, copyrights and trademarks, production clearances, content protection strategy, film preservation, market access challenges, artificial intelligence aspects of labor relations, and WIPO negotiations. Prior to joining Paramount Scott was in private practice in New York, specializing in stage, music, and direct-to-video transactions and litigation.

  He served with the U.S. State Department as a copyright law consultant in Estonia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Lithuania.

  Scott taught as an Associate in Law at Columbia Law School, an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California Thorton School of Music.

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  Ted Schilowitz Futurist, Cinemmersion Inc.
  

  Ted Schilowitz

  Futurist, Cinemmersion Inc.

  Ted is a recognized Futurist that has presented worldwide at numerous conferences and events for the Movie, TV and interactive Entertainment industries.

  He’s been featured in Wired, Variety, NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The
  Hollywood Reporter, NBC, CNET, Film and Video, DV Magazine, TV Technology, HD Video Pro, Engadget, Gizmodo, Millimeter, American Cinematographer, MacWorld, Post Magazine, Popular Science, and countless other publications.

  Most recently, Ted worked as the Futurist in Residence with the leadership and technology teams across Paramount Global, including CBS, CBS Sports, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Plus, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, PlutoTV and Comedy Central, exploring emerging tech for entertainment with an emphasis on Virtual and Mixed Reality, Web 3.0 and Advanced Themed Entertainment pursuits.

  Prior to joining Paramount, Ted was the Futurist at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on the evolving art and science of advanced interactive visual storytelling. He was part of the creation team for the Martian VR and Wild VR experiences, which premiered at CES and Sundance. Ted helped lead creation teams for the Alien, Planet of the Apes and Predator VR experiences at
  Fox, and at his most recent home at Paramount , he’s been instrumental in bringing the Grease MR experience, the SpongeBob MR experience, the Light as a Feather MR experience and the Quiet Place VR experience to life.

  Ted was an integral part of the product development team at Red Digital Cinema as the company’s first employee. The Red One and Epic cameras have made significant impact on the Motion Picture Industry, winning a Sci-Tech Academy and technical Emmy award. Many of the world’s biggest movies are shot with these ultra high resolution digital movie cameras.

  Ted is one of the founders of the G-Tech product line of advanced hard drive storage products. As the most recognized brand in that industry, they are implemented worldwide at the highest levels on cinema and television productions.

  Before being part of the founding teams at Red Digital Cinema and G-Tech, Ted was on the team that developed and launched the Macintosh desktop video division of AJA Video in tandem with Apple. These products are used on a massive scale worldwide for video production on many of the world’s biggest movies, TV series and sporting events.

  In 2019, Ted was honored at the Variety Hall of Fame with the Variety Innovation Award.