King of Networking

Networking with Netflix's Dorothy Hammond

August 13, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 57 MB

Dorothy Hammond is one of the funniest, friendliest people I know - and I've known her for almost 20 years! We both worked at Pepperdine and since then, she's moved on to be an HR executive on the rise - at NBC Universal, then Live Nation, and now four years at a tiny startup called Netflix. Follow Dorothy on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorothy-hammond-392a083/ Commercials in this episode include: The Land of The Giants podcast about Amazon (S1) and Netflix (S2): htt...

Networking with Airwing's Dan Beldy

August 11, 2020 09:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MB

Dan Beldy is an investor and venture capitalist, but began his career in the Air Force, flying F-18s off of aircraft carriers. Forget the Top Gun sequel, you got all the shirtless beach volleyball you need right here. His gutsy early career moves got him roles with leading venture firms during the Dot-Com boom of the 90s and then onto Disney's Steamboat Ventures. We met while I've been serving on the board of Fooji, and I've enjoyed learning from his deep knowledge of assessing s...

Networking with Westworld's VFX Supervisor Jay Worth

July 21, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 83.3 MB

Jay Worth is an Emmy winner, and not for something small that you haven't seen. He led the visual effects for one of the most visually iconic shows ever: Westworld on HBO. And before that, Person of Interest, Fringe, Alias, Altered Carbon, and many, many more. But if you met him, you'd never know it. He is friendly, humble and hard-working. Always connecting people and invested in his community. He's not the self-indulged Hollywood stereotype. You have to learn about his story fr...

Networking with Entrepreneur Eden Chen

July 16, 2020 09:00 - 56 minutes - 52 MB

Meet Eden Chen, co-founder of creative agency Fishermen Labs and new technology startup Pragma. He's a serial founder, having started multiple projects, companies, organizations and experiments in the seven-ish years I've known him. I've not met anyone with such a variety of passions, combined with the will to start them up. How does he have the stamina and curiosity to do it all? On top of all that, he's a humble, giving person, with a passion to serve the community around him an...

Networking with The Beard of McBeard Alan Beard

July 14, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 74.6 MB

"Here comes the general... the moment you've been waiting for!" Any Hamilton fan will know the reference, and it holds up here. Alan is the model of a modern major-general. He's a business-minded visionary, a deep well of knowledge, an esteemed family man and a kind, giving person. For those that don't know, we started McBeard together in 2008 and guided it together through a massive growth stage, hiring hundreds of employees, to acquisition by Fullscreen in 2015. We split our du...

Networking with Screenwriter Jeremy Adams

July 09, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 73.1 MB

Every time I talk to Jeremy Adams, he has a new ridiculous TV show idea. He's been cutting his teeth on Lego's DC superhero movies and last year joined the writer's room of Supernatural, after co-writing the uber-popular "Scoobynatural" episode in 2018. Like most people in LA, he's a screenwriter, but he actually writes things! We had a great conversation about perseverance, what it takes to "make it" and the vulnerability necessary to be a "real" artist, even after you've tasted s...

Networking with Literary Agent Kate McKean

July 07, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 72.5 MB

"Our blog kinda blew up last week and we want you to represent us." This was our 2009 cold email to Kate McKean, who had shepherded other "blog-to-book" deals. I'm so grateful she replied, because it led to Random House buying and publishing Historical Tweets, which became the foundation of McBeard and everything after. In many ways, Kate is everything you want in a literary agent: smart, funny and very New York. But she's surprising too: from her Southern roots to her unabashed su...

A Follow-up on Race with Billy Parks

July 02, 2020 10:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MB

A follow-up to our conversation about Billy's career and creative pursuits, where we shared our views on and experience with racial inequality - and what we can do to make change. No commercials in this episode but I do mention these resources: 13th - a documentary on Netflix by Ava DuVernay Just Mercy - both the book and movie, and Bryan Stevenson's org Equal Justice Initiative: https://eji.org/ Revisionist History episode: The Limits of Power - by Malcolm Gladwell: https://ap...

Networking with Creative Producer/Genius Billy Parks

July 02, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 72.6 MB

Billy and I met in 2013, during the pre-planning stages of a branded web series that would eventually be known as Summer Break. His uncanny ability to foresee digital consumption trends is unmatched. He later was a peer at Fullscreen, after it acquired my social media agency McBeard. He's been a music video producer, worked in film, worked closely with Peter Chernin, Jesse Jacobs and Sarah Harden at The Chernin Group, advised all kinds of companies and now helps Chernin's newest ve...

1. Networking with Disney's Jennifer Miles

June 30, 2020 09:00 - 1 hour - 69.8 MB

Jennifer Miles has been working in television and media for over 20 years, at ABC/Disney, then AT&T and now Disney again. I originally met her when she was at AT&T/DirecTV, helping us build creative social media campaigns in support of Fullscreen's video subscription service. She's a total pro, a generous, creative soul and someone who knows everyone. She's also currently the President of the Southern California chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), empowering female...

Networking with Disney's Jennifer Miles