Hudlin is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern Black film movement. Prior to becoming an entertainment executive he was best known for his directing credits that include the feature films House Party, Boomerang, The Great White Hype, and Serving Sarah. He also directed the pilot of Chris Rock's new sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Hudlin was named President of Entertainment for the Black Entertainment Television Network (BET) in June 2005.
During the conversation, moderated by EDSC Co-Chair Rolando Hudson, Hudlin candidly discussed his rise from Director to Executive Producer to BET's President of Entertainment. He spoke of how he was assisted early on by the mentorship of the late entertainment executive Brandon Tartikoff. Now that he has become an entertainment company executive himself, he finds that the creative problem solving skills he honed as a director come in very handy and stressed the need for directors to utilize their own creative problem-solving skills in the course of their job searches.
Hudlin also spoke at a similar event for the DGA African American Steering Committee in Los Angeles on April 3, 2006. He joined the DGA in 1991.
