PCI-Media Impact hosted the Entertainment Summit West on October 13, 2004 in Los Angeles as a follow up to last year’s Entertainment Summit in New York.

Held at the Skirball Cultural Center, the day-long event was attended by international leaders from the entertainment, public health, and business communities in the spirit of joining together to examine how to harness the power of entertainment to deal with health-related issues here and abroad.
The Summit began with a morning plenary session and a keynote address by Todd Leavitt, President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Gary Knell, President of the Sesame Workshop, then shared how Sesame Street uses its format to deal with HIV/AIDS and other critical issues. In one of the Summit’s most memorable highlights, Mr. Knell introduced the audience to Kami, the HIV-positive five year-old muppet from the South African co-production of Sesame Street called Takalani Sesame. Kami has been dubbed a “global champion for children” by UNICEF for dealing with issues related to HIV-positive children.

Two panel discussions were also held in the morning. The first one titled “Taking It to the Next Level” explored new and innovative ways in which entertainment-education is being used to advance awareness of social and health issues. Moderated by Allan Rosenfield, MD, Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the panel included Neal Baer, MD, Executive Producer of Law and Order: SVU; Imara Jones, Director of Viacom’s HIV/AIDS initiative; Saloni Puri, Managing Editor of the BBC World Service Trust; Steve Villano, President and CEO of Cable Positive; and Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications of Coca-Cola Africa.

The second panel discussed research on entertainment-education efforts in the U.S., India, Africa, and Asia. Professor Michael Cody of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication moderated the panel, which was comprised of Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director, Entertainment Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation; Jane Bertrand, Ph.D., Director, Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University; and Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., PCI researcher.

Participants then gathered for a moving luncheon presentation about the treatment of cancer stories in entertainment programming. Award-winning actor Jack Klugman, star of The Odd Couple and Quincy and himself a cancer survivor, joined with Ed Maibach, Associate Director, National Cancer Institute, to stress the power of entertainment in conveying messages about the importance of testing and early detection. Their message of urgency and hope was echoed by Rosa Gatti, Senior Vice President for Communications and Outreach, ESPN, who spoke about the treatment of cancer stories in the world of sports. Attendees then broke away into a series of afternoon workshops designed to bring the audience closer to the experts.

According to Sonny Fox, PCI's then Senior Vice President and the main organizer of the event, the Summit reflects a deep sense of commitment to furthering the field of entertainment-education on the part of those who came to share their experiences: “They are coming from across the country, from India and from Africa. They are immensely busy and yet they judge this opportunity to bring their experience to the summit important enough to participate. For this PCI is extremely grateful.”

Entertainment Summit West was presented by PCI-Media Impact, John Hopkins University Center for Communication Policy, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Sesame Workshop, and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Principal support for the Summit was provided by the National Cancer Institute, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Favrot Fund.

Transcripts are available by clicking below:

Neal Baer, Executive Producer of Law and Order: SVU
Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director, Entertainment Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation
Imara Jones, Director of Viacom’s HIV/AIDS initiative
Gary E. Knell, President of the Sesame Workshop
Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications of Coca-Cola Africa
Ed Maibach, Associated Director, National Cancer Institute
Saloni Puri, Managing Editor of the BBC World Service Trust
Peter Vaughan, PCI researcher
Steve Villano, President and CEO of Cable Positive

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