NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 2000
Digital Coast Awards on September 14 Will Recognize Excellence
in Digitally Delivered Entertainment
Rising Tide Studios (RTS) today announced the speakers and agenda for Digital Coast 2000 (DC2000), a three-day conference exploring the digital transformation of the entertainment industry. The conference, which will be held September 12 to 14, 2000, at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, will unite the artists, executives, technologists, venture capitalists, and visionaries who are building Southern California's dynamic Internet-driven industries.
To date, speakers include award-winning television and film director David Lynch; idealab! CEO and Chairman Bill Gross; Hilary B. Rosen, President and CEO, RIAA; Mark Cuban, founder and CEO of Yahoo's Broadcast.com (Nasdaq: YHOO); Rodney Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; WaterView Advisors Managing Director Frank J. Biondi Jr.; Massive Media Group CEO Howard Weitzman; Romp.com co-founder and Co-CEO Bruce Forman; Honkworm founder and CEO Johan Liedgren; Icebox.com Co-founder and CEO Steven Standford; directors and executive producers of George Lucas In Love, 405 The Movie and The Blair Witch Project, and special international guest Gordan Paunovic, co-founder of RadioB92 Belgrade.
"Los Angeles, and Southern California in general, has developed into one of the most important and dynamic hubs of Internet innovation in the world," said Jason McCabe Calacanis, CEO of Rising Tide Studios, editor of Digital Coast Reporter, and co-chair of DC2000. "Digital Coast 2000 is dedicated to showcasing the talent, companies, and business models that are driving not only the digital-entertainment sector, but also the high-growth e-business sector. I'm looking forward to a truly historic gathering of the traditional and new-media leaders at the forefront of this transformation."
Panels on the e-business track include an e-services CEOs roundtable with Jeff Dachis of Razorfish (Nasdaq: RAZF), Bert Ellis of iXL (Nasdaq: IIXL), Robert Bernard of marchFIRST (Nasdaq: MRCH), Bob Gett of Viant (Nasdaq: VIAN), and Scott Mednick of Xceed (Nasdaq: XCED); a "Digital Coast Enterprise Success Stories" panel examining how mature companies are re-engineering through Internet technology and new, networked operational models; "Internet Book Publishing and Online Literature" with leading executives and e-published authors; and a panel of top Digital Coast VCs on the state of venture capital in Southern California.
Topics on the Digital Coast 2000 Convergence Track include "The e-Biznification of Hollywood," in which leading executives from major and independent motion-picture studios examine the Internet's impact on the film industry; "The Animation Renaissance," featuring exclusive premiere screenings from leading online animation producers; an Interactive and Enhanced Television panel showcasing live demos from award-winning enhanced TV content creators and the American Film Institute; "Talent Rights: Artists, Agencies, and the Risks and Rewards of Online Opportunities," covering the new Internet agreements with leaders of the DGA, SAG, and WGA; and panels such as "The Future of Intellectual Property" and "Music, Money, and The P2P Revolution," including EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow; FreeNet inventor Ian Clarke; Scour.net President and co-founder Dan Rodrigues; Gene Kan of InfraSearch, AppleSoup CEO Bill Bales, and Evolab Co-Chairman Jim Griffin.
This second annual conference will also premiere "The Digital Coast Awards" in a closing-day ceremony September 14 to recognize excellence in digitally delivered entertainment projects including, but not limited to, online animation, short films, and interactive games. "We've observed phenomenal growth over the past year in the sophistication and volume of online entertainment," explained Xeni Jardin, co-chair of DC2000, Rising Tide Studios' VP of conferences, and Digital Coast Reporter senior editor, "so we've created a new showcase devoted solely to this evolving sector--there won't be awards for 'best travel site' or 'top e-commerce portal,' on September 14, just the best in Internet entertainment for Web and wireless."
DC2000 is sponsored in part by AdLink, Akamai, Beyond Interactive, Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP, Communities.com, Concrete Media, Cruel World, Cysive Inc., Deloitte & Touche, DoDots, dotTV, Epoch Internet, Eureka Broadband, Evoke Communications, FirstLook.com, Guidance, iBeam Broadcasting, Intertrust, iXL, Julien J. Studley, Inc., KPE, Latham & Watkins, L90, marchFIRST, Microsoft, Public Film Works, Radical Mail Communications, Razorfish, Redwood Partners, Shockwave.com, Soundbreak, SpiderDance, TellSoft Technologies, TrafficStation, Veon, Inc, Xceed, Yazam, Zentropy Partners.
DC2000 is produced in association with The Directors Guild of America and NATPE with the support of Variety and is a production of Rising Tide Studios, a New York-based integrated media company that produces business-to-business intelligence online, in print, and in person. RTS publishes two print magazines: Silicon Alley Reporter and Digital Coast Reporter, and produces five online publications: Silicon Alley Daily (www.siliconalleydaily.com), Digital Coast Daily (www.digitalcoastdaily.com), iHealthcareWeekly (www.ihealthcareweekly.com), Digital Music Weekly (www.digitalmusicweekly.com), and Pervasive Weekly (www.pervasiveweekly.com).
In addition to its publications, RTS produces annual events including the upcoming Silicon Alley Venture Capital Summit (www.venturecapitalsummit.com), Oct. 11 to 12 in New York City, Silicon Alley 2000, Internet Healthcare 2000, The International Network 2000, and Rising Tide Summit III.
Rising Tide Studios is privately owned and headquartered in New York, with an office in Los Angeles.
For a complete conference agenda, speaker bios, information on submitting a project for the Digital Coast Awards and press credentials, please visit www.digitalcoast2000.com.