On March 10, 2012, the AD/UPM Council West’s Mentor Committee honored the ADs and UPMs of this year’s DGA award-winning and nominated projects. For the ninth time, this popular event played to a packed audience who gathered in the DGA’s Los Angeles Boardroom to learn what went into the making of these celebrated projects.

The subtitle for this year’s event was Thinking Outside the Box: Problem Solving Strategies, and took a look at how these talented members used innovative methods to achieve their goals. The participating panelists were: UPM George Parra and 1st AD Richard L. Fox of Alexander Payne’s DGA Award-nominated feature The Descendants; UPM Dan Stillman of David Fincher’s nominated feature The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; UPM Georgia Kacandes of Martin Scorsese’s nominated feature Hugo; UPM Richard Rothschild, 1st AD Cara Giallanza, and 2nd AD Hope Garrison of Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Penelope Spheeris, Alicia Keys, and Patty Jenkins’ nominated Movie for Television Five; UPM Stewart Lyons and 1st AD Nina Jack of Vince Gilligan’s Dramatic Series Award-nominated episode "Face Off" of Breaking Bad; and Stage Manager Jerri Churchill from Robert Weide’s DGA Comedy Series Award-winning episode “Palestinian Chicken” of Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

Following a welcoming messages from Mentor Committee Chair Randy Turrow and AD/UPM Council West Chair Marie Cantin, the panelists discussed their strategies and techniques for achieving the best in film and television in a conversation moderated by 2012 Frank Capra Award recipient and former AD/UPM Council West Chair Katy Garretson.  

In addition to questions specifically designed to illustrate the unique challenges posed by these very different productions, other questions covered a number of topics such as how they got hired for these projects, tactics for working with a difficult cast or crew member, methods for effectively filtering and responding to the avalanche of data pouring into production daily via email and otherwise, and what advice they could share about keeping a project on schedule or on budget. 

After the discussion, members were able to mingle with and ask their own questions of the panelists. All who attended also received handouts from the Council, including a list of mobile production based apps for iPhone and iPad compiled by AD/UPM Council West Second Vice Chair and VFX/Digital Technology Committee Chair Susan Zwerman.