There is an attention to detail in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story that’s both powerful and unsettling.
The series, based on the work of Vanity Fair journalist Maureen Orth, was brought to television by the careful hand of producer Ryan Murphy who has painstakingly made it walk, sometimes literally, in Versace’s steps.
Notably, the series filmed on the steps of the former Versace mansion, Casa Casuarina, where the famed fashion designer was gunned down on July 15, 1997, aged just 50 and at the height of his creative and commercial success. He was declared dead a few hours later at nearby Jackson Memorial Hospital.
“That made the whole process so moving for everyone, even for me as I was [playing] unconscious but I was listening to everything and the idea that he might have listened to the sobbing, crying, all the pain and all the craziness going around him,” says actor Edgar Ramirez, who plays Versace in the series. “That idea haunted me for weeks.”
“I was only playing dead but I was playing someone who was dying, so who knows if he was aware, if he was listening and he couldn’t say good-bye, he couldn’t explain what happened,” Ramirez says. “The fear, the terror of being paralysed. It was very moving for everyone.”
The series, written by Tom Rob Smith and directed by Murphy, Tom Minahan, Matt Bomer and others, stars singer Ricky Martin as Versace’s partner Antonio D’Amico, Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella and Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan, the 27-year-old who assassinated the designer on the steps of his Miami home.
Understanding the Versace empire, Ramirez says, requires exploring the designer’s early life in the south of Italy, surrounded by Roman ruins.
“He interpreted the world through the Roman Empire, and when we think of that we think of statues in white and beige marble but that’s the ruins of the Roman Empire,” Ramirez says. “What we discovered was how he was actually very lush and vibrant and the blues were blues and the reds were reds, it was very explosive in colour.”
Notably, Ramirez says Versace built a world in which he was emperor. “He was like an emperor, he was the centre of the universe,” Ramirez says. “And he knew very well that once this sun disappeared, the whole universe would collapse. And that was one of the main tragedies that his family had to go through.”
What lingers in popular culture is a memory of the lavishness of the world, Ramirez says. “Many people think about the House of Versace and think about the mystique and what he created, we think about the parties and the wonder, the luxury and the lush exuberance, all the parties and the excess and the richness.”
And yet, Ramirez says, the man himself was very ordinary. “He would rather go to bed early and wake up early, as any other craftsman would do, that was an interesting contradiction,” Ramirez says. “He was fascinated by beauty and luxury but as a source of inspiration, he would have all these parties but not really take part in them.”
Martin says his conversations with the real D’Amico revealed a similar aspect to Versace: that the real man, in contrast to the fashion czar the world knew, was quite an ordinary man.
“[Tony] was extremely open and he was very beautiful in saying like, Gianni was extremely powerful and he was very organised with everything that happened toward the empire but at the end of the day when he would take a shower, he would take off his clothes and leave a mess,” Martin says.
The couple’s open relationship, while a complex topic for some, sat comfortably with Martin when he accepted the role.
“With what we show I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong and a relationship being open and that’s just the way it is,” Martin says. “It was something that we needed to explore because this is a reality of [same-sex] couples nowadays and there’s nothing wrong with the openness.
"Whatever level of trust that they have between each other, they could play with fire like this,” Martin says.
The role also sits in a fascinating context when reflected against Martin’s own professional life as a high-profile recording artist, much of which was spent denying his homosexuality publicly.
“The scene where he actually brings me in, when he’s going to come out, and says, this is the man that I’ve been with … it’s something I can feel both sides because we meet in the 90s, [when] I was hiding my voice,” Martin says. “And I was very egotistical and self-centred.
"I needed to keep it quiet because, in my head, the stupid fear, which is an illusion of if I come out everything is going to collapse, that’s where I was. So when I did this scene, I could see Gianni’s side and Antonio’s side, and me playing both, because I’ve been in both situations.
"It was very, very beautiful to be able to talk about this and to normalise my family. Which is one of the reasons why I jumped into this [role] because there is a lot of injustice in this story, from homophobia to the fact that he was not allowed to come out because everything was going to collapse in the eyes of everyone around him.
"When I came out a lot of people around me, people I love, told me, this is the end of your life if you come out, so I beg you please don’t do it,” Martin says. “I did it because I had to and I had the need and it was fantastic, why didn’t I do it earlier? It’s one of those things.”
For Ramirez, encapsulating the character of Versace was not so easy. And simply imitating the designer, the actor says, was never an option.
“I’ve portrayed real-life characters before and in some ways it is a recreation of what their life would have been,” he says. “It’s never a photograph it’s always a painting. So what you try to capture is the essence of these characters and try to bring to them as much empathy as possible. It’s not about imitation, you can’t really imitate life.”
Impersonation, he says, is not a form of art. “Art needs to be created and free and new, it is a creation, it needs to have dimension,” Ramirez says.
“Impersonation does not have dimension. It’s flat. I cannot, for example, walk onto a balcony standing like a boxer if I’m playing a fashion designer like Gianni Versace. You have to respect certain traits that are inherent to that character but you have to make it your own.”
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How Ricky Martin found catharsis on ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]
Ricky Martin believes the “stars were aligned” for him to play Antonio D’Amico, Gianni Versace’s longtime partner, on “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” Unbeknownst to creator Ryan Murphy, the singer/actor is good friends with co-stars Edgar Ramirez and Penelope Cruz, and Ramirez had already told Martin that he had been cast as the late fashion designer before Murphy, with whom Martin worked on “Glee,” came calling to have dinner.
“I went there and he said, ‘I have a project I want you to be part of.’ And the thing was Edgar had told me he was going to be playing Gianni,” Martin tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview (watch the exclusive video above). “I was like, ‘That’s fantastic! Whatever you need from me. Whatever you need, let me know.’ Two weeks later, Ryan calls me and he tells me he has a part for me to be Antonio. Of course, I was screaming inside, [but] I didn’t want to show it. I said, ‘Who’s playing Donatella?’ ‘Penelope Cruz. No one knows.’ I’ve known Penelope for many years.
“The fact that I was going to be surrounded by an amazing, amazing group of actors and friends made it even more special,” he continues. “When I told him, ‘I love Edgar, I love Penelope,’ Ryan teared up. It just felt right that the stars were aligned for this to happen.”
But more meaningful than working with his close pals was the message behind the limited series. While the title is ostensibly about Versace’s 1997 murder at the hands of Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), the show was, among other things, an exploration and indictment of failings of the FBI investigation and how homophobia allowed Cunanan to go on a killing spree in plain sight.
“I think the story is full of injustice, homophobia,” Martin says. “I do this for my kids, for my family, and to create awareness, to create consciousness. At the end of the day, this is a story that could happen again. The fact that we’re being so loud and direct to the audience, and raw and real about this unfortunate crime is something very important.”
For Martin, “Versace” was also deeply personal. Having been closeted during the height of his music career before coming out in 2010, Martin says playing Antonio was cathartic and “extremely emotional.” One vital scene is when Versace brings Antonio with him for his interview with “The Advocate,” in which he came out at a time when bold-faced names weren’t.
“As an actor, I was now on the other side of the fence of most partners I had been dating when I was in the closet,” Martin says. “For Edgar to see this what this scene meant to me was extremely powerful. I lived in the closet for many years and I created a sabotage to love, from the people I was dating at the time and for self-love and dignity. It was extremely powerful.”
Martin hopes the series helps normalize open LGBT relationships and for “more people with the power that Gianni had” to come out to aid in that. “When I came out, the love from the audience and social media was amazing, but when I was doing the scene, I was like, ‘Oh, I wish I could come out again!’” he says with a laugh. “Because it is extremely important and that is one of the reasons why I said yes to this story.”
American Tragedy
It’s not quite five o’clock, but Darren Criss is sipping his first glass of champagne moments after arriving in a small basement lounge in Park City, Utah.
The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, accounting for much of the activity in the cramped space, but Criss isn’t here for that. The star of FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace just wrapped a set nearby at the ASCAP Music Café, where he performed angsty songs from his sophomore solo release, Homework.
Though plenty of Hollywood types are in town for the indie film festival, Criss says he recognized no one in the crowd at his gig, save for his fiancée, Mia Swier, who has also been joining him on the ski slopes during the day. It’s a bit of a celebratory trip, given that the pair recently got engaged and Criss just finished shooting the final episode in season two of the American Crime Story anthology series, in which he plays megalomaniacal spree killer Andrew Cunanan.
Belting out tunes for a roomful of strangers can be just as gratifying as heading an ensemble cast for his former Glee boss Ryan Murphy on Versace, where he played (briefly) opposite titular victim Edgar Ramírez and on a parallel but separate track from costars Penélope Cruz (as Donatella Versace) and Ricky Martin (as Gianni’s lover Antonio D’Amico).
The nine-episode storyline moves in reverse chronological order: Criss operates in his own thread, which traces the roots of the Talented Mr. Ripley-esque maniac, once dubbed “most likely to be remembered” by his graduating class at a posh San Diego high school.
“One of the great goals in my career is to keep things as versatile as possible and to confuse and to throw people off,” he says. “So, I like it when you have a room full of Sundance people, you know, music folks, music supervisors, filmmakers that are like, ‘Wait, what? He’s a songwriter?’ That really excites me. The same way that, when I was mostly playing music and booked an acting gig, people would be like, ‘What? You’re an actor?’”
Unlike his famous costars, who have toplined studio movies (Ramírez), won an Oscar (Cruz) and enjoyed huge musical success (Martin), Criss has been waiting for his breakout.
The Opposite of Genius: Netflix’s New Docuseries and the Limits of “True Crime”
[..] Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong indisputably had a condition. Probably several. But what hit me while I was watching the five episodes of Evil Genius was that there was something… boring going on. Not boring filmmaking—that’s not the issue. I was thinking about… well, I was thinking about Darren Criss, actually. Several of us here at Paste feel FX’s true crime drama The Assassination of Gianni Versace did not get its due in the court of public opinion and are scratching our heads at people who called it “disappointing.” Some of us think it was kind of a masterpiece. I’m one of those people, so I was weighing the shows against each other. Sure, one is a documentary and one a dramatization, with totally different styles and production values. But they’re both well-made and they’re both anatomies of sociopathy. Why did one fascinate me while the other left me faintly impatient?
The Opposite of Genius: Netflix’s New Docuseries and the Limits of “True Crime”
‘The Assassination Of Gianni Versace’s Darren Criss Searches For Humanity In Killer Andrew Cunanan
Perhaps surprisingly, preparing for the role of notorious real-life Gianni Versace killer Andrew Cunanan in FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story wasn’t such a terrifying leap for Darren Criss, despite his upbeat musical theater background. Formerly best known for his work on Ryan Murphy’s Glee, Criss embraced this new, dark role, which not only brought him back into the Murphy fold, but gave him the chance to showcase his impressive acting chops.
“Are you kidding me? This is the role of a lifetime,” Criss says of the challenge. “People wait their entire careers for something this juicy to come along. I’m thrilled to be here.”
Criss’s talents are undeniably far-reaching; he sings, dances, composes, writes scripts and plays piano, guitar, harmonica, mandolin and violin. He’s also passionate about literature, and, it seems, something of a poetic romantic, as he recalls Anne Bancroft talking about the sound of her husband Mel Brooks coming home. “I want to get this right,” he says, visibly concentrating. “Bancroft said, ‘I get excited when I hear his key in the door because I think, Oh, now the party’s going to start.’ Can you imagine feeling that way about someone? I even put it in a song I wrote.”
Cunanan was incredibly astute, clever and crafty. A fabulist, he reportedly stayed awake for days, teaching himself about opera and fashion, and building entirely new backstories for himself. He’d tailor himself to what he believed people wanted to hear, and craft wildly intricate lies to order; a methodology which, to some extent, won him popularity. Friends who grew up with Cunanan and attended the Bishop’s School in a tony part of La Jolla reportedly said that he was a likeable character, voted ‘least likely to be forgotten’ by his senior class.
But while Cunanan was obviously an out-of-control sycophant, Criss managed to find a way to relate to him, however distantly. “I’m totally a people pleaser,” he says. “I’m not really sure why. It could be that I’m a baby brother, or perhaps it could be my Catholic upbringing, but I want to make people happy.”
Perhaps this desire partly motivated Criss’s attraction to musical theater. He studied theater, musicology and Italian at the University of Michigan, and even now will occasionally spontaneously break out into song.
Embodying a bon vivant escort-turned homicidal maniac was not as traumatic as it might seem, Criss says. It was really more about finding those aspects of Cunanan’s character that made him more human. “I didn’t feel like I had to go to this extreme dark place to find Andrew, quite the opposite really. It was important to make him empathetic, someone we could all identify with, [because] otherwise it would’ve been a complete disaster.”
Indeed, it is the humanness he brings to the role that makes it such a success. “I am in no way excusing anything that Andrew Cunanan did,” he adds. “His behavior was absolutely repulsive. But if I was going to pull this off, I had to find a way to make him sympathetic or his character wouldn’t have been interesting at all. We all loved O.J. [Simpson] at one point, didn’t we? Even the worst people have their good moments.”
It’s been posited that Cunanan may have had antisocial personality disorder, meaning he had no real control over a total and complete lack of empathy. “He had a lot of pain in his life,” Criss says. “Yes, he was horrible in many ways, but that’s sad.”
After exploring this tragic story, Criss has found some solace in his beloved music once again with a new side venture. He and his fiance Mia Swier recently opened their own club in the heart of Hollywood, a piano bar called Tramp Stamp Granny’s. It’s a place where friends can gather to drink and sing around the piano, in line with the music festival he also co-founded, Elsie Fest, where Broadway and pop stars meet to sing show tunes.
“I wasn’t your typical theater geek but I love everything that comes with that,” he explains. “I like to think that I’m friends with a wider swath of people, and get along with everyone. But yeah, I was known to belt out songs at cast parties and such.”
Criss’s new business was partly motivated by his love of old-style seedy dive bars. His favorite bar in the world is the Claremont Lounge in the basement of an abandoned hotel in the Poncey-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. As the city’s oldest and longest running strip club, he loves the place for its diversity. “It’s the only place in the world you’ll see a group of frat boys sitting next to your typical hipsters. And then down from them at the other end of the bar will be a group of drunk businessman drinking whatever they can. Every celebrity working in Atlanta has to stop there.”
During Tramp Stamp Granny’s opening week, Criss was seen taking his place behind the piano almost every night. His energy seems boundless, as he never appears to stop moving and working. “Why would I?” he asks. “I don’t have the luxury that some people have, that people are just offering me roles. And actors are only as good as the parts they get, so I can’t wait around. I can create whatever I want whenever. Whether it’s music, or a new show, or a new drink, that’s what I am going to continue to do for as long as I can, and for as often as I can.”
‘The Assassination Of Gianni Versace’s Darren Criss Searches For Humanity In Killer Andrew Cunanan
Q&A with Lea Michele
EN: Absolutely. So many tears shed watching the show. I miss it so much! But, speaking of Glee, one of your costars, a gentleman named Darren Criss and you are going on a little tour this summer. Can you tell us what we can expect from the show?
Lea Michele: We’re so excited. So Darren and I obviously met during Glee, but we really found a great friendship. Out of everyone on the show, I would say that Darren and I are definitely the closest. We spent a lot of our time outside of the show together. Our families are close. And we not only sang on Glee together, but we would always get asked to perform benefits together and do little shows here and there. It only felt right that eventually, we would put together a show for the two of us. I went on tour last year and it was incredible, but you know, it’s difficult being on the road and being by yourself. So, I wanted to find an opportunity to tour with someone and when I found out that our schedules would work out, we were so excited. We are currently putting together an amazing set list.
It’s definitely going to be an awesome show – when we sing a song together, it’s so nostalgic. We’re going to do a ton of songs from Glee, songs from our solo albums, a bunch of Broadway songs. We want people to feel like they’re having a one-on-one, intimate time with the two of us. Darren is incredibly spontaneous. So I know that every show is going to be different and unique. Definitely, go if you love the show or our solo music, but there’s something in there for everyone. Nashville is our first stop, and we already said that no matter what, we’re going out while we’re there. I don’t want to pick favorites, but we’re very, very, very excited to get to Nashville.
EN: Ok. So, I am currently ‘marathoning’ The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Are are you a little creeped out with Darren after his performance in the show? Because it was terrifying.
Lea Michele: So, it’s really funny. When we first finished Glee, I went off to New Orleans to do Scream Queens he ended up watching me play a psycho killer on that show. Then, Ryan Murphy had him play Andrew Cunanan. So, we both left Glee to play psycho killers, which is hilarious. But Darren was so incredible and you know, what people may not know is that Darren really wanted to play this part – he approached Ryan (Murphy) about playing it. So not only did he do such an incredible job of playing the role, but he also helped them make this project really happen. I don’t know many other people that could’ve played that character. He was truly incredible. And, if you know Darren, you know he’s nothing like that. He’s a hippie, laid back. I’m so proud of him. And, if everyone wants to know, yes his body does really look like that. There’s no body double.
EN: Um. Definitely no complaints re: those scenes.
Lea Michele: He posted this picture, which I’m sure you have seen, of him in the little like, you know, um, I think it was like orange bikini bottoms he posted on Instagram? But before he posted it, he sent me the photo and he was, “hey, do you think this is like, bad for me to post?” I was like, “why are you sending this to me, I don’t want to see that!” I’m sure that there’s a 100 people, a million people that want to see it. But, I was like; “this is really weird for me to say because you’re my brother. But you definitely need to post that.” He posted it in the world went crazy.
EN: Yeah. The world appreciates your advice in this matter.
Lea Michele: Yeah, I mean that’s the thing about Darren and I. I think in order to do tours together, you have to be friends, and you have to have stories and experiences. You know, Darren and I have spent holidays together with our families. We’ve done New Year’s Eve together. So, those are the things, those are the moments, those are the stories that we want to share and what we want to talk to our fans about. And so I think that these little glimpses into who we are and who we are as friends. It is definitely going to be very unique and very personal.
EN: Dream Duet partner?
Lea Michele: I love singing with Jonathan Groff. And, you know, I love Darren too. And Adele.
Judith Light, #TimesUp Leaders, Mayors of Compton and Oakland to Headline Power Women Breakfasts
TheWrap on Monday announced a lineup of speakers for three Power Women Breakfast events in Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco.
On June 13, National Geographic Global Networks CEO Courteney Monroe will co-host a Power Women Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
The event, to be held at the W Hotel, will also feature a panel focusing on next steps in the #TimesUp Initiative with political strategist Hilary Rosen, National Women’s Law Center president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves and members of TimesUp Legal Defense Fund — an organization that helps individuals find legal representation after experiencing sexual misconduct including assault, abuse or harassment in the workplace.
Emmy- and Tony-winning actress Judith Light will be a featured headliner at TheWrap’s Power Women Breakfast New York on June 15 to discuss her longtime advocacy for LGBTQ issues as well as the goal of achieving 50/50 gender parity in the entertainment industry by 2020.
The star, who has received two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Jill Soloway’s “Transparent,” and who is garnering critical raves for her powerful performance as Marilyn Miglin in FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” will join in conversation with TheWrap Editor in Chief Sharon Waxman at the event, held at the Time Warner Center.
Judith Light, #TimesUp Leaders, Mayors of Compton and Oakland to Headline Power Women Breakfasts
Studio 10: May 14 – 18
On Thursday, the panel is joined by funny man Tommy Little, checks in with Bonnie Anderson ahead of her new role on Neighbours, and Glee star Darren Criss also pays a visit.
Review : The Assassination of Gianni Versace
I’m putting it out there front and center – the actual murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace is only a fraction of what is featured within the world of Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace so much so, the show would have been better titled The Delusional Life of Andrew Cunanan as Assassination delves into the world of Versace’s killer (played by Glee’s Darren Criss) more than Versace’s terrible fate as the title would suggest.
Opening with soaring operatic music and a flowing visual tour of Versace’s gaudy Miami mansion, Versace is dead even before the title credits. However, the aim for Murphy wasn’t for us to follow those trying to solve this murder (hence the title) but in fact send us back in time and follow Cunanan and how he ended up with a gun in his hands aimed at the famed fashion designer. Yes, Versace’s untimely death at the hands of Cunanan plays as the pilot episode’s main premise but that’s more to do with Versace’s celebrity status over Cunanan’s four other victims, who also get a look in during the shows eight other episodes in the form of time jumps.
Based off the book Vulgar Favors: The Hunt for Andrew Cunanan, the Man Who Killed Gianni Versace by author Maureen Orth, Assassination is spread among three different lines – Cunanan and his victims, Versace’s loved ones (including Ricky Martin as Versace’s long-time partner Antonio D’Amico) dealing with the fashion empire pre and post murder and the bumbling FBI who can’t seem to get to grips with the ‘gay’ aspect surrounding the murders (it was the 90’s).
The source material also happens to blur the lines between truth and made-up and Assassination quickly becomes a show that will have you asking “did that really happen?” while trying to decide what is fact and what is fiction considering to this day, there is still no actual proof that Versace and Cunanan had even met prior to the murder.
Gianni’s sister Donatella (played with startling verbal similarity by Penelope Cruz) has claimed the series as “a work of fiction” while the programme itself carries the disclaimer: “Some events are combined or imagined for dramatic and interpretative purposes. Dialogue is imagined to be consistent with these events” and that’s because the main players within this world are….well, dead.
Cunanan’s prior interactions (or lack thereof) with his victims – Versace (Édgar Ramírez), Jeffrey Trail (Finn Wittrock), David Madson (Cody Fern), Lee Miglin (Mike Farrell) and William Reece (Gregg Lawrence) – is somewhat pure speculation so while the work is based off fact, it is done so with much “let’s assume this is what happened”.
That aside, the character study of Andrew Cunanan is a rather intriguing one and is explored heavily within the series. Cunanan’s ability to seamlessly morph into any given situation or social standing and flee when his lies have all been revealed is quite remarkable though giving so much focus on his life, his lies and his troubled youth feels like we’re being forced into empathizing with Cunanan in light of the fact he is/was a notorious serial killer.
Part of this comes down to how star Darren Criss brings the killer to life, playing Cunanan as mysterious yet suave with an air of charm, a believer in his own lies and the false world around him that he has created while trying to decide just how much of his true self he needs to reveal. One could only presume by the middle of this series, much more freedom for Criss was enabled with Cunanan as this is where most of the fact/fiction lines become very blurred.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Assassination is the glaring fact that unlike season one’s OJ Simpson story, there is no real hero to root for. While we all knew the end result, Sarah Paulson’s Marcia Clark still had us backing her to go and get hers in a male dominated environment yet in Assassination, that task is less male dominated environment and more gay acceptance.
That job is pretty much left vacant even though it may feel like we’re being forced into believing it should be Cunanan who, while never ashamed of his sexuality, understands how being gay can be perceived by those less educated on the topic.
The missing hero however is through no fault of anyone’s as there just was never one in this story to begin with. It could never have been Cunanan (regardless of his childhood), the FBI, as it’s shown, were a bunch of bumbling bigots who couldn’t have cared any less about Cunanan’s victims and others such as Versace or even Lee Miglin’s wife Marilyn (played wonderfully by Judith Light) were so far removed from the central story line it would have meant stretching the truth even further to find that hero.
On the whole, this tale of Andrew Cunanan is a worthy watch and while lacking in the suspense and law and order that drove American Crime Story’s first season of The People Vs OJ Simpson there is still enough substance to dig in and make your own mind up about how much truth is actually found within this series.
Produced By Conference Adds Stephanie Allain, Paul Feig & Others As Speakers
The Producers Guild of America unveiled a new wave of participants for its 10th annual Produced By Conference next month. Among those added to the lineup are Dear White People producer Stephanie Allain, Bridesmaids director-producer Paul Feig, Fast and the Furious producer Neal H. Moritz along with Ian Bryce, Donald DeLine, Tracey Edmonds, Lucy Fisher, Lynette Howell Taylor, James F. Lopez, Chris Moore, Ronald D. Moore, Mary Parent, Stacy Rukeyser, Doug Wick and more.
The event is set for June 9-10 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.
In addition to a roster of speakers, the event will include Mentor Roundtables on June 9 which allow attendees a chance to ask questions about their own projects in development and learn in a more personalized, intimate setting with real one-on-one feedback (side note: no pitching allowed in these roundtables). The event will also feature the second annual “Producers Mashup” on June 10. The session will feature four distinct tracks — Feature Film, Scripted Television, Unscripted Television and Digital Media — seating a small group of participants at a table with a producer or executive, during which time the group will have 15 minutes to ask questions.
Here’s the list of newly added participants:
Alexis Martin Woodall; Executive Producer, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Produced By Conference Adds Stephanie Allain, Paul Feig & Others As Speakers
ACS news 