The world is changing quickly. It seems to be growing more complicated by the minute.
Throughout the centuries, humans have used storytelling to make sense of the world around them. That is perhaps more true today than it ever was, as we have access to more stories (via the internet) than we ever have in history. But with this proliferation, it’s critical that the very best storytellers — a diverse group of storytellers — have access to the broadest audiences.
Imagine Impact, a content accelerator founded and led by Tyler Mitchell, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, aims to provide storytellers with the tools and access they need to reach as many people as possible. That’s why we’re thrilled to have Mitchell, Grazer and Howard join us at Disrupt 2020 on September 14-18.
Tyler Mitchell is a producer, writer and entrepreneur who has previously held the role of Executive Vice President at Imagine Entertainment, where he oversaw a slate of live action films as well as launching Imagine’s animation division. He has also produced films in his own right, including The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Lucky Number Slevin, and Maudie. Producer and writer for primetime shows Kidnapped and My Own Worst Enemy, Mitchell also has experience in the world of television.
Brian Grazer is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and Grammy Award-winning producer, racking up 43 Oscar nominations and 198 Emmy nominations, winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards for A Beautiful Mind. He’s also a NYT bestselling author twice over and was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He cofounded Imagine Entertainment alongside Ron Howard in the 80’s, and has now gone on to cofound Imagine Impact alongside Mitchell and Howard.
Ron Howard needs no introduction. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker has been a creative force in some of Hollywood’s most memorable films, including A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, and Splash. Alongside his illustrious film career, Howard has also executive produced a variety of award-winning television shows, including the Emmy-winning series “Arrested Development” and the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”.
These three launched Imagine Impact two years ago to bring Silicon Valley-style mentorship, a model cultivated by Y Combinator and various VCs in the tech world, to Hollywood. As Netflix democratizes storytelling through its global platform for talent, Imagine Impact offers a place to vet that talent from the outset and nurture it through to the networks, studios and media platforms.
Netflix and Imagine Impact struck a deal in June to identify and develop film ideas across four genres, through a global submission process, that they will bring to Netflix for production and distribution.
Imagine Impact vets submissions with both experienced readers and a natural language processing system that was developed internally at the accelerator.
Since the first Impact program, the incubator has accepted 65 writers and paired them with industry experts (such as A Beautiful Mind‘s Akiva Goldsman. Thus far, 62 developed projects have come out of the process with 22 being sold or set up with major studios, networks and/or streaming services.
We’re thrilled to have Mitchell, Grazer and Howard join us at Disrupt 2020 to talk about how they’re mixing Silicon Valley tech and mentorship with the traditional Hollywood creative process and what the future of storytelling has in store for us. Get your pass today to hear this fantastic session – you can even save a cool $300 in the process!
