On November 21, 2009,  the DGA's Western AD/UPM Council’s Mentor Committee presented the seminar How UPMS and ADs Can Create Their Own Huge Upside in this Down Industry in the Boardroom of the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.

The event was designed to reveal how UPM/ADs can prosper through focused and powerful planning opportunities for each decade of their careers, explained by a panelists of experts that featured UPMs Tom Joyner (Jaws), Melanie Wagor (The Genesis Files) and Brad Yacobian (Cold Case); 1st AD Aldric Porter (The Secret Life of Bees); 2nd ADs Chris Castaldi (Iron Man) and Lance Lanfear (Eli Stone); entertainment attorneys Robert Greenstein and Ellis Paul Robin; Certified Public Accountant Amir Malek; and financial advisors Tom Nieves and Koorosh Zartoshty.

After an introduction by Mentor Committee Chair Randy Turrow (American Primitive), these experienced DGA members and career and life-planners shared valuable insights about cutting-edge finance, productivity and growth strategies; how to best take advantage of what’s working in new media; and how members can create freedom without compromise. UPM Duncan Henderson (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) served as moderator.