UCSB Conference Examines Issues of Television, Culture, and Identity

More than 200 scholars and entertainment industry leaders will meet at the University of California, Santa Barbara from April 24-26 for a conference exploring issues of television, culture, and identity as they relate to gender and sexuality. Presented by the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media, the conference is titled "Console-ing Passions 2008" and includes four panel discussions that are free and open to the public:

· Thursday, April 24, 5 p.m., University Center Corwin Pavilion: "Viral Media and the Politics of Media for Social Change" will investigate uses of the Internet as a tool for digital resistance and its role in the upcoming presidential elections. Speakers include panel chair Anna Everett, a professor and chair of film and media studies at UCSB; Jane Shattuc, Emerson College; Rita Raley, UCSB; and Megan Boler, University of Toronto.

· Friday, April 25, 5 p.m., 1004 Girvetz: "UC Santa Barbara Alumni Discuss Careers in the Entertainment Industry." Moderators are actor and lecturer Sage Parker-Lang and actor, writer, and director Perry Lang. Speakers include Steve Elzer, senior vice president, Columbia Tri-Star Motion Pictures Group; Georgia Packard, president of the Camera Operator's Union; Mark Panik, editor, CBS Promotions; Jamie Painter Young, national editor-in-chief of Back Stage magazine; and Jeremy Platt, talent manager.

· Saturday, April 26, 10:30 a.m., University Center Corwin Pavilion: "Working on ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.'" Producers and writers from the television series will discuss the challenges and processes involved in creating a weekly network drama. Speakers include panel chair Tonia Graphia, producer and writer; John Enbom, supervising producer/writer; Ashley Miller, co-producer/writer; Ian Goldberg, staff writer; and Denise The, staff writer.

· Saturday, April 26, 2 p.m., University Center Corwin Pavilion: "The State of the Industry." Entertainment industry leaders will discuss emerging trends that are transforming the television industry, including new programming forms, the impact of new technologies, and the future of the medium. The moderator is Constance Penley, professor of film and media studies at UCSB and co-director of the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media. Speakers include Dana Walden, chair of 20th Century Fox Television; Toni Graphia, television writer and producer of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles;" Ann Flett-Giordano, television writer and producer of the series "Desperate Housewives" and "Frasier;" and Toby Miller, professor of media and cultural studies at UC Riverside.

"Console-ing Passions" was founded in 1989 by a group of feminist media scholars and artists as a venue for presenting work and fostering scholarship in issues of television, culture, and identity, with an emphasis on gender and sexuality. Since its inception, a series of conferences have brought together scholarship from a wide scope of interests, retaining a focus on feminism but also encouraging research in spheres or race, gender, and identity.

UCSB sponsors include the offices of Chancellor Henry T. Yang, Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas, Executive Dean David Marshall, and Associate Vice Chancellor Maria Herrera-Sobek; the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center; and the Center for Information Technology and Society. Additional sponsors include the comparative literature program, the English department; German, Slavic, and Semitic Studies department; sociology department; and women's studies department.

Other university sponsors include Dartmouth College, De Montfort University, New York University, Northwestern University, Tulane University, the University of Arizona, University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin.

For more information about the conference, visit www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/cptv/cptv.html or call Cathy Boggs at (805) 252-9518.