The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) announced that its second Industry Recovery Task Force Virtual Global Town Hall will be held on August 26, 2020 from 11 AM to 12:30 PM PDT. As the industry grapples with the complexities of returning to work in the midst of the ongoing pandemic crisis, the need for comprehensive information from direct sources remains strong. The upcoming global town hall will feature another panel of experts from the creative, health and governmental arenas, who will share the latest scientific, technical and creative best practices to encourage a safe return to work.  The event is chaired by IRTF Chair Leon Silverman and HPA Board member Craig German. Discussing the upcoming town hall, Silverman noted, “During our first town hall, we clearly learned that our community seeks viable information from credible experts. With nearly 800 people engaged online, we witnessed that the concerns facing our industry are focused on how to stay safe, connected, and creative. With the current situation evolving quickly, the HPA is committed to sharing sharply focused fact based, pragmatic knowledge in real time. For our event on the 26th, we have once again gathered important and informed voices who will help our industry and community get back to work safely and creatively as we navigate this ever changing road ahead.” The panelists bring varied perspectives, experiences and unique points of view to the vital conversations that professionals need in order to understand the changing nature of the pandemic and how it is impacting our work and workflows.  Experts from VFX, cinematography, government and health and safety will come together to explore and discuss the most impactful issues we face right now. Panelists include:
  • Moderator Carolyn Giardina – Tech Editor, The Hollywood Reporter
  • Sara Bennett – Oscar winning VFX supervisor and co-founder, Milk VFX
  • Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK – award winning cinematographer
  • Kelly Howard – Senior Safety Engineer, Cal/OSHA Publications, Outreach Unit
  • Robert Legato, ASC – Oscar-winning VFX supervisor, 2nd unit director, and cinematographer
  • Peter Marx – Managing Partner, Biology Works; former CTO, City of Los Angeles
The August 26th Industry Recovery Task Force Virtual Global Town Hall is free to attend by registering. Our HPA Town Hall events are designed to encourage global audience questions, interaction and engagement during the event.  German remarked: “We want to keep the focus of the conversation on the needs of our entire industry workforce – not just here in LA or New York, but around the world. Understanding how we all move forward during this complex crisis requires a variety of expert perspectives and experiences. We’ll continue to put leaders from multiple disciplines in the viewfinder, enabling our live event attendees and those who watch later to have actionable knowledge from experts they would not normally have access to.” The key objectives of the HPA Industry Recovery Task Force are: 
  • To serve as a forum for collaboration, communication, and thought leadership regarding how to resume global production and post production in a sustainable fashion. 
  • To understand and influence evolving technical requirements such as the impact of industry remote collaboration, ‘work from home’ and other workflows which have been highlighted by the current crisis. 
  • To provide up-to-date information and access to emerging health and safety guidelines that will be issued by various governments, municipalities, unions, guilds, industry organizations and content creators.
For further information and registration, including a link to the first  Industry Recovery Task Force Virtual Global Town Hall, visit hpaonline.com. Additional details and speakers will be announced shortly. Future dates for HPA Industry Recovery Task Force Global Town Hall events will be announced shortly, including an event in mid-September.