NATPE Kicks Off LATV Festival

B&C’s Ben Grossman, Melissa Grego among panelists at three-day industry event.

By B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/30/2008 1:00:00 AM

The National Association of Television Program Executives begins its second-annual LATV Festival Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The three-day festival kicks off with Digital Day, a series of new-media-focused panels and sessions including “Syndicated Video Economy” and “Gossip Girl 360: Anatomy of an Online Success,” featuring executives behind the buzz-generating CW series.

As part of the festival’s Content Industry Forum (formerly known as the TV Producers’ Boot Camp), the Pitch Pit will allow producers and writers to pitch shows to a panel of development veterans.

Among the more than 200 executives and industry insiders participating in the event, B&C editor Ben Grossman and executive editor Melissa Grego will each moderate a panel. (Broadcasting & Cable is a festival partner.)

On July 30 at 2:30 p.m., Grossman will moderate “Social Media: Strategies in Content and Commerce,” with Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of digital media at MTV Networks Entertainment Group; Dick Glover, president and CEO of Or Die Networks and Funny or Die; Danny Kastner, CEO and founder of FanRocket; and Stephen Andrade, senior VP and general manager of digital development at NBC.com.

On July 31 at 9:45 a.m., Grego will moderate “Branded Entertainment: Your Key to Program $$$,” with Jak Severson, managing partner, Madison Road Entertainment; Rolfe Auerbach, president, Brand-in Entertainment; Douglas Scott, president, OgilvyEntertainment; and Scott Sternberg, executive producer, Scott Sternberg Productions.

For a complete LATV Festival schedule, click here.