The Hollywood and Games Summit, a co-production between the CMP Game Group [owners of Gamasutra.com] and movie industry trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, has announced its keynote for the June 2006 Los Angeles-based event, in the form of Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Alien vs. Predator and forthcoming Castlevania movie director Paul WS Anderson.
According to the conference's organizers: "With a track record of several No. 1 box office films adapted from games, Anderson's experiences as a director, producer and writer make him a uniquely credible authority on the collaboration of film and games." In his keynote, Anderson will discuss his ability to create critically and financially successful films, while drawing from and preserving the integrity of the original videogame inspiration.
Following the keynote, the Summit showcases pairs of game and film execs, with Village Roadshow CEO Steve Krone discussing "Funding and Financing Models" with Shiny Entertainment founder Dave Perry, who for complicated reasons is currently not with the company. The pair are followed by Electronic Arts Los Angeles general manager Neil Young, with a presentation on "Who and How to Pitch."
After another break for lunch, Treyarch executive producer Chris Archer and Marvel Studios production present Kevin Feige discuss fidelity to films in the upcoming Spider-Man 3 game. A yet-unfilled gap afterwards is followed by "Building the Buzz for Collaborative Franchises" with Ubisoft VP of marketing Tony Kee and New Line VP of worldwide interactive marketing Gordon Paddison.
After a final coffee break, the presentations portion of the summit wraps up with Xbox Live Arcade general manager Greg Canessa talking to Turner Network executive VP Dennis Quinn on "The Future of Revenue and Distribution," followed by EA LA's Steve Gray on "Cross-Pollinating Creative Techniques."
The Hollywood and Games Summit will be held on June 27th at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Registration details are available at
the summit website.
