TIME'S UP Entertainment Announces New Mentorship Initiative

TIME'S UP Entertainment-an affiliate within TIME'S UP's expanding coalition of women across industries working toward safe, fair and dignified workplaces- announced "WHO'S IN THE ROOM," a new initiative aimed at transforming the executive and producer pipeline across the entertainment industry. The initiative will be initially funded by a $500,000 grant from CBS.

WHO'S IN THE ROOM is designed to increase the presence of people of color and people from a variety of economic and social backgrounds in the producing and executive ranks of the entertainment industry. WHO'S IN THE ROOM will target two points in the pipeline that see the high rates of attrition for people from underrepresented groups across the industry - entry level positions (START) and assistants primed to transition into junior executive positions (JUMP). The program will be structured to have a pilot class of 10 mentees for 9 months, followed by two years of 50 mentees each.

"The fact is that young people are dropping out of the industry because they are not being provided the support to succeed - this program provides them that targeted support," said Nithya Raman, Executive Director of TIME'S UP Entertainment. "We thank CBS for funding this important program and feel extraordinarily grateful to have such a committed and talented group of industry leaders lending their time and talent to shape this program."

In partnership with TIME'S UP Entertainment, the program was spearheaded by a coalition of industry veterans including Jenno Topping (President of Film and Television at Chernin), Tara Duncan (Film & Television Executive), Tendo Nagenda (Vice President of Original Films at Netflix), Niija Kuykendall (Senior Vice President, Film Production at Warner Bros. Pictures), among others.

While many mentor programs exist, this new model will ask for unprecedented engagement from industry mentors and accountability measures, including weekly check-ins and monthly attendance at curriculum events. The program will use powerful peer networks and significant programmatic support for mentors to incentivize more robust engagement between participants, while also tapping into the motivated network of women involved with TIME'S UP Entertainment. The program will also provide participants a specially designed curriculum of industry knowledge, including skills such as understanding the buyer/seller landscape, deal term literacy, the basics of financial modeling, and more. In addition to industry focused training, the program will also cultivate personal growth through workshops about personal financial planning, public speaking, and leadership styles.

"There is nothing short of an urgent need at the moment to have the people who buy, create and promote entertainment content be more representative of the people we serve," said Jenno Topping. "WITR hopes to exponentially change and expand the landscape within five years by aggressively growing the next crop of producer and executive talent. Recent financial data, such as the recent report from Creative Artists Agency and shift7, confirms it's in all of our best interests."

Since most assistant and entry level positions are low or minimum-wage positions, the program will also pilot an innovative financial aid model that can help candidates to address needs or access opportunities for advancement. The program provides mentees access to a flexible fund of up to $10,000 per candidate. The money can be utilized for professional development opportunities (i.e. attending a film festival to scout new talent), basic subsidies (i.e. gas cards to offset the cost of daily commuting associated with their job), or emergency relief (i.e. security deposit, car repair). Mentors will guide candidates through the process of applying for funding, and will work with the steering committee and program staff to approve funding requests. Revisions to the fund structure will be made after the pilot class to ensure that the funding is being most effectively used to address hurdles.

In addition to TIME'S UP Entertainment, The TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, which is housed at and administered by the National Women's Law Center Fund, will receive a $1.5 million contribution. The TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund will use the funds to continue its work of connecting survivors of workplace sexual harassment and related retaliation with legal and public relations assistance and will help it's central commitment to supporting survivors of sexual harassment and retaliation across all industries.

For more details on TIME'S UP Entertainment, please visit www.timesupnow.com.

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