Ford Motor Company Sponsors Annual NAACP Hollywood Symposium

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2007 — Ford Motor Company joins the 38th NAACP Image Awards program as a sponsor of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau (NHB) 3rd Annual Symposium, titled, “Who’s Running the Show: Creating Heroes.” The symposium, featuring some of the diverse cast of the popular television show, “Heroes,” will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and is one of the key events leading up to the 38th Annual Image Awards presentation that will air live on Friday, March 2 on Fox Television Network.

Emmy-award winning broadcaster Ed Gordon, host of TV One's “Our World with Black Enterprise,” will serve as moderator of this joint production of the television academy and the NAACP. Panel participants will include both television industry professionals and cast members of the popular NBC show, “Heroes.” Guests will include film and TV students from several local university and colleges, including the American Film Institute, Los Angles Film School, Loyola Marymount, Santa Monica College and UCLA. Also in attendance will be representatives from NAACP, the NAACP Image Awards’ Committee and members of the television academy.

“We feel privileged to sponsor the NAACP Image Awards' diversity symposium as it plays an important role in educating minorities on the skills needed to work in the television industry," said Pamela Alexander, director of Community Development and Business Operations, Ford Motor Company Fund. "The symposium will continue the NAACP Image Awards long tradition of showcasing the many accomplishments of people of color."

The symposium will focus on the “how to’s” of creating a successful television show for today’s diverse culture and the process and steps of creating a show from pilot to production, getting the show picked up and keeping it there. Following the panel presentation, students will get the opportunity to ask questions of the panel participants in order to obtain real world information in breaking into the industry.

Panelists confirmed for the symposium include Vic Bulluck, executive director, NAACP Hollywood Bureau; Tim Kring, executive producer/creator, “Heroes;” Bruce Evans, VP, current series, NBC Universal, Marc Hirschfield, EVP casting, NBC Entertainment; and four of the cast members of “Heroes,” NBC.

An additional highlight of the symposium will be the presentation of the Future Filmmaker’s Scholarship for the F. Gary Gray Filmmaking Workshop: Project Watts. This workshop inspires under-served youth to tell their unique stories through the art of filmmaking by introducing them to highly successful industry professionals and challenging them to produce their own work.