On Saturday, March 7, 2009, the Western AD/UPM/TC Council’s Mentor Committee presented a morning honoring the ADs and UPMs of this year’s DGA award-winning and nominated projects.

With the theme of Protecting the Director's Vision, this 6th annual Meet the DGA Award-Winning and Nominated AD/UPM Teams event played to a packed 6th floor boardroom audience of DGA UPMs and ADs.  

The 17 UPMs/1st ADs/Key 2nd ADs who participated as panelists were: UPM Dan Stillman and 1st AD Bob Wagner of David Fincher’s Feature Film Award nominee The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; UPM Jan Foster, 1st AD Nilo Otero and 2nd AD Brandon Lambdin from Christopher Nolan’s Feature Film Award nominee The Dark Knight; UPM Karyn McCarthy, 1st AD Artist Robinson and 2nd AD Deanna Stadler from Tom Hooper’s Movie for Television Award nominee John Adams; UPM Dwayne Shattuck, 1st AD Nina Jack and 2nd AD Xochi Blymyer from Matthew Weiner’s Dramatic Series Night award nominated episode of Mad Men, “Meditations in an Emergency”; UPM Robert Rothbard, 1st AD Kelly Cantley and 2nd AD Jennie O’Keefe from Paul Feig’s DGA Comedy Series Award winning episode of The Office, “Dinner Party”; and UPM Terry Spazek, 1st AD Mark Hansson and 2nd AD Heather Toone from Shawn Ku’s DGA Children’s Programs Award nominee The American Mall.

Following introductions by Council Chair Cleve Landsberg and Mentor Committee Chair Randy Turrow, the DGA teams from these celebrated films and top-rated shows discussed their unique strategies and techniques and offered information via digital handouts on how to achieve better results for meeting production challenges. The event was moderated by 2009 Frank Capra Award Winner Kim Kurumada, former Western AD/UPM/TC Council Chair and current DGA National Board Member. The event was organized by Council Members Peter Jackson and Mark Hansson.