Mackenzie is the Global Startup Evangelist at AWS. His days are spent traveling the globe to meet startups, share their stories, and connect engineering teams together. Every day there are a large number of startups launching on AWS across every imaginable industry. It’s Mackenzie’s mission to find stories of startups that are helping to improve the world and share these stories with a wide audience.
Prior to joining AWS, Mackenzie was the Head of Technical Operations at Betterment, the world’s largest independent robo-advisor based in NYC which manages over $8B in assets. Mackenzie was a founding engineer and Head of Technical Operations at Oscar Health, an insurance startup also based in NYC, helping to grow the company to over 400+ employees.
The AWS Media & Entertainment Symposium is returning to Los Angeles and will be held at the historic Culver Theater featuring inspiring keynotes and unique shared insights across the industry. This day long event will showcase how our customers and partners are driving business transformation.
Media and Entertainment companies are accelerating their adoption of the cloud to reinvent the way they create, deliver, and monetize content and continuously push the bounds of innovation. Evolving audience expectations and habits place pressure on companies to reinvent nearly every aspect of their business. To compete, organizations must prepare for an environment defined by constant change. This requires infrastructure that flexes with audience expectations, accelerates their roadmaps, facilitates innovation, and evolves with their business.
The day will begin with general sessions on the state of the industry, GenAI advances in M&E, and driving cloud economics at scale. The afternoon will be packed with sessions covering insights across content production, live cloud production, advertising solutions, and streaming. We’ll wrap the day with a cocktail reception to network with industry peers.
Please scroll to see agenda below. More sessions will be added as they are confirmed.
Welcome and Keynote
Chris Blandy, Director, Media & Entertainment Business Dev & Strategy, AWS kicks off the event with a welcome message and keynote.
Discussion: Generative AI in M&E
AI and ML services have been deployed in the Media & Entertainment industry for decades. Now, generative AI has both captured imaginations and prompted important questions about how these tools will be used. Join our panel of experts for a discussion on generative AI, as we attempt to peel back the layers to understand what generative AI is and how it can be used in the Media & Entertainment industry.
Moderator: Gretchen Libby, Director Visual Compute at AWS
Panelists:
Diya Wynn, Senior Practice Manager, Responsible AI at AWS
Arni Raghvender Director, AI/ML Customer Acceleration Team at AWS
Nikola Todorovic, CEO Wonder Dynamics
AUDITORIUM 1:
Building a Next Generation Studio
Amazon Studios has defined the state of the art in cloud production from the cameras on North America’s largest Virtual Production Stage, through post in the world’s first 8K capable facility for movies and series. Join Amazon Studios for a demonstration of this cutting edge technology.
Presenter: Jonathon Lee, Head Media, Engineering and Innovation Amazon Studios
AUDITORIUM 2:
Creating New Analytics in Sports
The raw data of sport has transitioned from box scores to tracking data and with that comes to opportunity to leverage AI/ML to surface new insights that impact how we coach, train, and consume sports. Join this session to discover how new analytics are created—from conception to on-air execution.
Moderator:
Julie Souza, M&E Practice Leader Sports AWS
Panelists:
Andrew Reich, Senior Consultant AWS
Sam Schwartzstein, Producer, Analytics & Insights, Prime Video Live Sports
Scott Karpen, Producer, Prime Video Live Sports
AUDITORIUM 1:
Fireside Chat: CBS Sports Digital: All In on the Cloud.
Learn how CBS Sports Digital launched the Golazo Show where contribution, master control, playout, distribution, and more are all handled in the cloud.
Moderator: Steph Lone, Global Leader, Solutions Architecture AWS
Panelists:
Corey Smith, CBS Sports Interactive
AUDITORIUM 2:
Virtual Production: Examining Today, Envisioning Tomorrow, Embracing the Cloud
As a concept, virtual production has taken many forms for more than two decades, finally arriving as a viable production option over the past several years due to a seemingly perfect storm of technology innovation and necessity. We know where virtual production has been and understand what it is today, but where are we going? How will technologies like the cloud further evolve virtual production, and how will that impact the future of content production? Join our panel of industry experts as we evaluate the current state of virtual production and explore its boundless potential in the cloud.
Moderator: Erin Dusseault, Principal, Studio in the Cloud AWS
Panelists:
Ken Nakada, Head of Virtual Production Operations, Amazon Studios
Lisa Gerber, Consultant, Tech & Content LLC
Erik Weaver, Head of Virtual and Adaptive Production, Entertainment Technology Center @ USC
Join us for lunch and a discussion on how are women leaders driving more inclusive work environments in the content production industry. Women work harder in male-dominated industries, and with success, comes opportunity. Women have opportunities not just for themselves but for others. Each of us can pave the way for the next generation. Hear from women leaders on how they are driving change through more inclusive work environments, what works well, and how to empower each other along the way.
AUDITORIUM 1:
Driving Efficiency and Value in the Cloud
A well-developed Cloud Financial Management (CFM) practice is critical to ensuring efficiency and value on AWS. To unleash the true potential of CFM, tech-focused professionals and finance-focused experts must unite to break down silos. In this session, CFM experts from the AWS OPTICS team will provide an overview of the Cloud Financial Management framework, with an emphasis on cost optimization and governance best practices. Drawing on industry experience and examples, we’ll explore creating a common cost language, KPIs tailored for cloud personas, and address other challenges and solutions encountered on your CFM journey.
Presenters:
Rem Baumann, Senior Optimization Specialist, AWS for M&E
Kari Olson, FinOps Success Manager, AWS for M&E
AUDITORIUM 2:
Premium Content Streaming on AWS
Learn how customers leverage core AWS Media Services to deliver premium content features such as UHD/HDR while architecting with 99.995% redundancy that premium events demand.
Presenter: Mike Cronk, Head of Product, AWS Elemental Live Media Services
AUDITORIUM 1:
Riding the wave of industry disruption in VFX & Animation
Discussion on how VFX & Animation studios are responding to industry-wide disruption including the writers strike, Gen AI, and other challenges. We'll discuss the many impacts on the production landscape including the introduction of AI, studios acquisitions, workforce consolidations, access to global talent, addressing skills gaps. How do we power forward as an industry from here?
Moderator: Nina Walsh, Global Leader, Principal Industry Specialist AWS
Panelists:
Felicity Staunton, Executive Vice President, Development & Production at Animal Logic Entertainment
Susan Akinbola, Director of Development at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
Andrew Galka, Senior Vice President, Technology at Company 3
AUDITORIUM 2:
The Agility of Cloud-based Media Supply Chains
Media companies of all types and sizes are realizing the benefits of running their media supply chain operations in the cloud to speed content deliveries. In this panel, hear from three leading companies about how their content operations have been boosted by their move to automated, optimized cloud-based supply chains, and how they now have far better visibility into their supply chain operations. Hear from Sony Pictures Entertainment, HBO Studios, and Fotokem about their move to the cloud and learn some of the metrics that show how dramatically they have enhanced their ability to meet ever-tighter deadlines for ever-more content.
Moderator: Ian McPherson, Global M&E Strategy Leader, Media Supply Chain & Data Science/Analytics
Panelists:
Greg Geier, Senior Vice President, Digital Media Supply Chain Strategy and Operations Sony Pictures Entertainment
Tyler Robinson, Senior Director of Software Engineering & Architecture HBO Studios
Stephen Buchsbaum, Senior Vice President, Media Services FotoKem
AUDITORIUM 1:
Managing the History of the NFL
In this fireside chat, learn about the massive archive that NFL Media maintains. Here about the content workflows that occur each week of the NFL season, and how that content feeds programming on NFL Network 24x7.
Moderator: Jason Dvorkin, Principle Industry Specialist, AWS
Panelist:
Brad Boim, Lead, NFL Media Services
AUDITORIUM 2:
RED CONNECT: Using AWS for Cloud-based Live Workflows with RED Cameras
Discover RED Digital Cinema’s latest innovative workflows with AWS for cloud-based live video production. We will showcase solutions for ingesting cinema quality video streams into AWS for camera-to-cloud workflows, real-time remote collaboration, GPU processing for immersive capture and much more. Also, be the first to learn about RED’s new camera feature to configure itself as a 2110-22 video source for broadcast and live events.
Presenters:
Uday Mathur - CTO, RED
Jeff Goodman - VP, Product Management, RED
