Funny or Die: Future of Comedy & Everything Else
An intimate look into the corruption, lies and deceit that transformed a website started by a video of a foul-mouthed little girl into the largest most powerful media company the world has ever seen! With a special guest moderator, Funny Or Die executives will discuss how over the past 5 years the company transformed into a new model media company, where they are going, upcoming projects, and how comedy pretty much rules the world…and everything else.
Presenters
Andrew Steele serves as Creative Director of Funny Or Die, and is the executive producer of HBO’s “Funny Or Die Presents,” and Comedy Central’s “Jon Benjamin Has a Van.” Steele spent 12 years writing for “Saturday Night Live,” the last four as head writer. During his tenure on the show, he won both Emmy and Writer’s Guild Awards.
Prior to his time on ‘SNL,’ Steele worked with John Stewart’s MTV and Paramount TV’s talk shows, as well as for MTV, Comedy Channel and Nickelodeon.
Most recently, he produced and wrote the upcoming Spanish-language feature, “Casa de mi Padre,” starring Will Ferrell, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. It opens in theaters nationwide on March 16, 2012.
Dick Glover is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Funny Or Die, the top destination for comedy on the web, and an award-winning production and distribution company. Under Glover’s leadership Funny Or Die has grown into a vertically integrated 21st century digital studio that produces high quality content over numerous platforms, operates a social media and marketing division with over 2.8 million Twitter followers, approximately 4 million Facebook fans and devoted followers on numerous social networking and sharing sites. Overseeing a growing staff of 73 employees, with offices in Hollywood, CA, Palo Alto, CA and New York, NY, Glover is one of the few CEO’s who continues to demonstrate that Hollywood and Silicon Valley can thrive together.
Prior to Funny or Die, Glover was Vice President of Broadcasting and New Media for the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and for NASCAR Digital Entertainment. At NASCAR, Glover ran the Los Angeles office overseeing all television, new media businesses, entertainment programming and promotion on behalf of the sport. A 20-year veteran of broadcasting and media, Glover was previously an Executive at the Walt Disney Company in various Senior Management roles in their ABC and Internet Groups. Glover also spent seven years with ESPN, most recently as Executive Vice President, Programming where he was responsible for all aspects of ESPN, Inc.’s domestic programming efforts, which included ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com. He was the executive in charge of the planning, development and launch of ESPN.com in 1994 and was instrumental in the site’s impressive growth to its current position as an industry leader.
Mike Farah is the President of Production for Funny or Die, overseeing the creative day-to-day operations for the premiere comedy site, along with Funny Or Die's television and feature projects. With Funny or Die for nearly four years, Farah has the produced the award-winning video "Prop 8: The Musical", the Ron Howard directed "Presidential Reunion", and Marion Cotillard's "Forehead Tittaes", among many others. Under Farah's leadership, Funny or Die's creative team produces over 20 original videos a month. He is also one of the executive producers of “Funny Or Die’s Billy on the Street,” airing on Fuse.
Farah, 32, also produced the feature film "Answer This!”, starring Chris Gorham, Arielle Kebbel and Chris Parnell, written and directed by his brother, Chris Farah. "Answer This!" was acquired by Wrekin Hill is currently in its theatrical release.
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a graduate of Indiana University, Mike began his career at United Talent Agency, and headed up feature film development for Craig Brewer and Stephanie Allain at their Paramount based production company. In November 2010, The Hollywood Reporter named Farah one of the top 35 Hollywood executives under 35.
Patrick Starzan is the Vice President of Marketing for Funny Or Die. He has been with the company for over 4 years and was hired to start Funny Or Die’s marketing department. Under Patrick’s leadership, Funny Or Die has become a social media leader within the entertainment industry with approximately 2.9 million Twitter followers making it a Top 15 brand on Twitter, 1.4M Facebook Likes and 150k Tumblr Followers. Patrick and his team work hand in hand with Funny Or Die’s production team, developing strategic marketing program for all content, including online videos, branded entertainment, television, and film.
Born and raised in Port Jervis, NY, Patrick has an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.
Twitter Handle is: @Starzan
Sunday, March 11
