State of the Industry

Talitha Watkins is President and Head of ColorCreative Management – a management and production company. ColorCreative was founded by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis with the mission of delivering women and people-of-color creators best-in-class representation to build career-defining brands through ownership, commercial success, artistic fulfillment, and visibility amongst the multicultural community and industry at large.

Formerly a Motion Picture Agent and Cultural Executive at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Watkins is based in Los Angeles and represents producers, writers, directors and actors. In addition, Watkins helps build out CAA’s multicultural business and capabilities including the multicultural leadership event CAAAmplify.

Previous to CAA, Watkins spent seven years as Vice President of Multicultural Marketing at Universal Pictures, where she worked across all marketing divisions, including publicity, media, digital, creative, research, and partnerships, to maximize the studio’s outreach efforts to African American audiences. While at Universal, she worked on numerous films, including the multicultural blockbusters FAST & FURIOUS 6, FURIOUS 7, and the record-breaking STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON. She was also instrumental in supporting the success of African American films, such as the box-office hits THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY and RIDE ALONG.

Prior to Universal Pictures, Watkins was an Assistant General Manager with Telepictures Productions, Inc. and oversaw operations, sales, and marketing for five female-focused digital properties in the Warner Bros. portfolio, including Ellentv.com, Extratv.com, and TyraShow.com, as well as worked in a development capacity for Essence.com.
Watkins is a board member of the WIF, Saturday Morning, and Made in Her Image organizations.

Watkins received her B.B.A. in Marketing from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. She lives in Los Angeles with her daughter, Selah.

Ben Silverman, the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning media entrepreneur, visionary producer and NY Times best-selling author behind The Office is the Chairman and Co-CEO of Propagate Content, creating and producing all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world. Silverman founded two of the media industry’s most renowned super indies, Electus and Reveille. Silverman founded Reveille in 2002 in order to exploit international formats by selling them in the United States. Prior to launching Electus, Silverman served as Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios from June 2007-2009 where he transformed the business model by connecting advertisers and consumers through content in a more profound way.

Mark Linsey is President, Scripted, overseeing BBC Studios’ teams in Drama Productions, Daytime, Continuing Drama Series and Comedy Productions, alongside its scripted labels (Lookout Point, Sid Gentle, Clerkenwell Films, Baby Cow Productions, House Productions), and the Scripted indie minority shareholdings and distribution relationships.

He took up the role in February 2022 when BBC Studios combined its Productions and Content Partnerships businesses to create a single content powerhouse for all productions, talent relationships, and content investment.

In January 2023 he relocated to L.A. to boost ties with Hollywood. He is working closely with Janet Brown, BBC Studios’ President of Content Distribution for North and Latin America, and Valerie Bruce, General Manager and leader of BBC Studios’ Los Angeles Productions, to build BBC Studios’ co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.

Prior to being President, Scripted, Mark was the Chief Creative Officer at BBC Studios having joined from the previous BBC Studios (formerly BBC in-house production) after it merged with BBC Worldwide in April 2018. Before this, Mark held a number of senior positions across both the BBC and the independent production sector, working for companies including Talent Television, Zeal TV and Tiger Aspect.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA. In this capacity, he oversees the world’s largest and most influential entertainment union, comprised of more than 160,000 members worldwide who work in film, television, broadcast news, commercials, music, video games and more.

Crabtree-Ireland has played a critical role in many of SAG-AFTRA’s signature achievements over the past two decades, both in his current role and prior to that as longtime chief operating officer and general counsel. He was a key participant in the successful merger between SAG and AFTRA in 2012, and has been the principal architect of SAG-AFTRA’s successful COVID safety response and return-to-work initiatives. Crabtree-Ireland is a strategic and creative lead negotiator, and has personally led or overseen negotiations for SAG-AFTRA’s Netflix Agreement and its Videogames, Commercials, Music and Network Television contracts, among others.

Crabtree-Ireland leads the union’s technology and innovation team. In collaboration with member leaders and staff members, the team has brought unique products and services to our membership, including the Member Mobile App, Sexual Harassment Reporting App, direct deposit of residuals, the Labor Innovation and Technology Summit and other useful applications of technology. He is also the co-host of the SAG-AFTRA Podcast and the SAG-AFTRA Podcast en Español.

Adam Chitwood joined TheWrap in 2021 after working for over a decade at Collider, where he spent five years as Managing Editor. As Assistant Managing Editor for Audience, Adam oversaw TheWrap’s consumer-facing content strategy. He became Co-Executive Editor in January 2023, overseeing TheWrap’s newsroom alongside Co-Executive Editor Jethro Nededog.