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Creative Artists Agency Announces Second Annual CAA Amplify; Unveils Speaker Line-Up
[June 25, 2018]

Creative Artists Agency Announces Second Annual CAA Amplify; Unveils Speaker Line-Up


Creative Artists Agency (CAA) today announced the speaker line-up for its second annual CAA Amplify, an invitation-only event convening the leading artists and executives of color from the most impactful organizations in entertainment, sports, media, brands, technology, and social justice, to accelerate the growth, value, and visibility of inclusion. CAA Amplify begins June 27, 2018 in Ojai, CA (News - Alert), and will explore a variety of topics, including leadership, disruption and opportunity, technology, and the creative process, as well as criminal justice reform, civil rights, and immigration.

Providing a dynamic platform to share business insights, explore industry trends, and discuss social issues, CAA Amplify's invited guests will hear from, and interact with, an array of innovative leaders, including NBA All-Star, entrepreneur, producer, and philanthropist Carmelo Anthony; Attorney General of California Xavier Becerra; Algorithmic Justice League Founder Joy Buolamwini; former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro; filmmaker Jon M. Chu; LUKE CAGE Executive Producer, Creator, and Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker; Chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Cesar Conde; Oscar-nominated director, producer; and screenwriter Lee Daniels; ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey; New York Knicks Head Coach David Fizdale; Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem Thelma Golden; The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President and CEO Vanita Gupta; NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill; journalist and author Lisa Ling; writer/actor Al Madrigal; writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood; producer/activist Heather Rae; Vera Institute of Justice President and Director Nick Turner; Chobani Founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya; and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Alan Yang, among others.



"The innovative business opportunities and new relationships formed last year at CAA Amplify are helping further elevate the value of diversity and inclusion across our industries," said CAA's Ruben Garcia. "This year, we're excited to build on our collaboration with our philanthropic arm, the CAA Foundation, to program conversations around social and cultural issues, and provide guests with the tools and resources they need to make a positive impact on our world."

A leader in the promotion of inclusion and equity, CAA has long focused on the issue of diversity, and implemented strategies to create sustainable change within the industry.


In 2015, CAA launched The Writers Boot Camp, a one-day workshop designed to help accelerate the careers of diverse, emerging television writers; and You're Up (now Amplify: Next Gen), fostering the development of multicultural future industry leaders. CAA's Creators Summit Series is comprised of networking and educational events which give greater access and opportunity to underrepresented communities, including people of color, women, and LGBTQ+. CAA, in partnership with the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), launched the Creators Summit at ABFF, providing insights into the process of pitching and developing film, television, and web-based projects and helping filmmakers forge relationships with studio and network executives and industry experts; and, in tandem with GLAAD, the CAA-GLAAD Creators Summit, which aimed to increase authentic, inclusive representation of the LGBTQ community in entertainment.

Last year at CAA Amplify, the agency unveiled the CAA Motion Picture Cast Diversity Index. The primary goal of this research was to determine the correlative factors of diverse casting, diverse audiences, and box office success; and their broader implications on the business case for diversity in motion picture programming. The Index includes 603 theatrical films released from January 2014 through April 2018 and focuses on cast ethnicity for 5,953 actors/actresses, and is updated and re-evaluated quarterly. Seven of the Top 10 grossing films in both 2016 and 2017 delivered opening weekend audiences that were more than 50% non-white. As measured by domestic opening weekend box office, at every budget level, a cast that is at least 30% non-white outperforms a release that is less diverse. Furthermore, among films at the $100 million+ budget level, the cumulative worldwide box office for those with a more diverse cast was $591 million, contrasted with the less-diverse cast films which averaged $478 million, a striking $113 million difference.

CAA is a global company of diverse individuals, whose mission is to identify, create, and expand opportunities for the people who shape culture and inspire the world. The agency works with the world's premier entertainers and athletes, leaders in politics and policy, Nobel (News - Alert) Prize Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and many other of today's foremost thinkers and change agents.

ABOUT CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY (CAA)

Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents many of the most successful and innovative professionals working in film, television, music, video games, theatre, and digital content, and provides a range of strategic marketing and consulting services to corporate clients. CAA is also a leader in sports, representing more than 1,700 of the world's top athletes in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, and golf, and works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, licensing, and sports properties for sales and sponsorship opportunities.


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