Paxeros WCCDP announces judges & sponsors
Women of Color Commercial Directing Program sets distinguished panel of finalist judges and production sponsors.
On June 23rd, 2020, Paxeros launched and opened applications for their inaugural Women of Color Commercial Directing Program (WCCDP).
Through this program, one female director of color will have her spec script funded and produced while receiving one-on-one directorial mentorship from Paxeros’ co-founders Chelsea Bo and Sean Drummond, as well as, various industry professionals.
With applications now closed, as of July 31st, 2020 at Midnight, and 100+ applications received, they’re moving into Phase Two of the program.
“I’m blown away by the diverse group of talented women who have submitted to our program. Seeing the hard work and thoughtful submissions has lit my heart on fire and has brought me hope that together we can change this industry! These women have stories to tell and it will truly be an honor to bring one of them to fruition.” - Chelsea Bo, Co-founder + Director at Paxeros
Through collaboration with Tamika Lamison, Program Director at CDDP - Commercial Directors Diversity Program, as well as Dana Astrow and Lisa Sabatino at ARC, Paxeros has secured a distinguished panel of Finalist Judges. The finalist panel will come in after the 100+ applicants have gone through a pre-screening phase where they will be narrowed down to 25 semi-finalists and then down to 10 finalists. From there, these judges will play a crucial role in choosing the final winning director. In addition to their role as a finalist judge, many of these professionals will be providing one-on-one virtual mentorship to the winning WCCDP fellow, via video chat.
Without further ado, here is the lineup of WCCDP Finalist Panel Judges!
- Dana Astrow - Founder, ARC
- Anton Cropper - Television Director
- Carol Dunn - Executive Producer at Human Worldwide
- Iain Nevill - Freelance Creative Director, Copywriter
- John Nguyen - Executive Producer, Hecho Studios
- Cathleen O'Conor Stern - Partner & Executive Producer, Reverie Content
- Kamila Prokop - Managing Director at Division7
- Kate and Katy Rhamey - Co-Directors & Co-Founders, KR Squared Productions
- Lisa Sabatino - Recruiter and Consultant, ARC
- Erin Sullivan - Co-Founder & Partner, The Poolhouse
- Brittney Walker - Director of Business Development, Imaginary Forces
More information about each of our judges can be found at www.paxeros.co/wccdp
In addition to their impressive panel of judges, two production sponsors have come on board to provide production support of the winning director’s spec script – AbelCine and SirReel.
AbelCine has a full-service camera rental department with offices in Burbank, CA and Brooklyn, NY, they are a leading provider of products and services to the production, broadcast and new media industries.
SirReel Studio Rentals has a full-service rental department with industry-leading vehicles, lighting, and grip equipment - they are based in the Sun Valley and Burbank and offer a broad variety of services and equipment to production teams.
“It’s moments like these that make this program really exciting. We’re honored to create an opportunity where we are able to share our resources and connections with an up-and-coming director. There’s a blatant catch-22 restricting new and diverse voices entering the advertising industry. We hope this program serves as a way to break down that barrier for one director at a time.” - Sean Drummond, Co-founder + Executive Producer at Paxeros
The winning director of Paxeros’ inaugural Women of Color Commercial Directing Program will be announced on August 24th, 2020.