On Saturday, February 24, 2007, the DGA Western AD/UPM/TC Council’s AD/UPM Mentor Committee presented its fourth annual event honoring the ADs and UPMs of DGA Award-winning and nominated projects in the Los Angeles headquarters boardroom.

Legendary UPM Abby Singer welcomed a distinguished panel of Unit Production Managers, Assistant Directors, and a full house of attendees to the discussion of what goes into making a DGA Award nominated project. The panel included UPM Patricia Whitcher, 2nd AD Eric Sherman, and 2nd 2nd AD Renee Hill-Sweet of Bill Condon’s feature Dreamgirls; UPM Michael Beugg of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ feature Little Miss Sunshine; and UPM Carla Corwin and 2nd AD Shawn Hanley of the series Grey’s Anatomy which was nominated in both the Dramatic Series Night and Comedy Series categories. The discussion was moderated by 1999 DGA Frank Capra Achievement Award recipient Tom Joyner.