KATHRYN F. GALAN
NalipED@msn.com
Ms. Galan has been NALIP’s Executive Director for six years, establishing it as the preeminent national Latino media organization by taking it from an NCLR special project with a steering committee to an autonomous and substantial advocacy and professional development organization. She has overseen the growth of its membership 5-fold, plus created and programmed six respected National Signature programs. She has been responsible for all of the organization’s staffing and day-to-day management, millions in corporate and foundation fundraising, publicity strategies and branding, regional programs and chapter development, plus design of the www.nalip.org website and eNewsletter Latinos in the Industry. In addition, she has supervised NALIP’s Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth National Conferences. At Media on the Move: Power for Independents in March 2007, she and her team programmed over two hundred speakers, instructors, funders and executives into plenary sessions, workshops and seminars. She also oversaw the third Latino Media Market™ at Conference 8, a program designed to further advance the opportunities for project funding and Latino media employment.

She has been an independent producer (French Kiss, Squanto, Daybreak), new media consultant and studio executive. She wa head of production for Atlantic Entertainment Group and a production Vice President at Walt Disney Studio’s Hollywood Pictures, then ran Meg Ryan’s Prufrock Pictures and her own consultancy firm, EKR Strategies. In addition to the management and development responsibilities of these film and television production companies, she arranged for over $60 million in international co-financing. She is a graduate of Amherst College, and did initial media studies in video art at SUNY Buffalo, then MA studies in film history and criticism at UCLA, specializing in World Cinema.

November 2007

Dear NALIP Members:

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was awoken at 4:30 a.m. by a call from my son’s father.  He had just evacuated his family from a march of flames that was engulfing his canyon neighborhood, and expected his house to go ‘any minute.’  He wanted to be sure that our son Wynn knew they were safe, before seeing the news when we awoke in Colorado.  I sent them to my own house -- their family of four plus four dogs -- where they would be safe for the day.  But now I was worried about their story…and their neighbors’ stories:  the parents from Little League, Wynn’s friends from school, the girlfriend who was at my wedding.

What happened when the flames encircled my own neighborhood a few hours later?   Or when
Wynn’s dad snuck back up the hill that afternoon?   Already he knew that the 15 homes on his cul-de- sac were destroyed.  That his neighbor had defended his own house from fire but that embers jumped to the roof of Wynn’s dad’s bedroom. 

In the end, my house was fine.  Wynn’s dad’s sustained some damage, but their home still stands.  I’m sure you share my questions:  what do you take with you, when you have only minutes to choose?  What will you miss, if you can never return to your ‘things.’   And what is it about these stories that grips us, engages us, and connects us all to one another?
        
How are your stories?  How are your films, your scripts, your documentaries, your projects?  Are they uniquely your own?  Are they universal?  Do they grab us?  Do they have to be told?

We think that a remarkable group of stories – and storytellers – participated in the Latino Producers Academy this summer.  Sixteen documentary Fellows joined 8 feature producers and 4 feature directors for our Fifth intensive in August.  Do you have a project that is ready to produce or complete?  Watch for the application to attend our next LPA.

Or do you have a great story that could be nurtured at Harrison Reiner’s development workshop that runs concurrent with our National Conference in March?  Watch for registration and signup details in December.  If you want six months of mentoring and script development, please consider the 2008 Latino Writers Lab:  applications will be available in March for the Lab which runs May through September.

Our upcoming 9th Conference is all about stories – great movie and documentary stories, great ‘how they did it’ stories, great celebrations and screenings and showcases.  Sin Limites: Trends in Pan Latino Cinema is coming March 7 – 9 to  the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point, California. Co-chaired by PAN’S LABYRINTH producer Frida Torresblanco and NALIP Board Member Elaine Romero (Secret Things), this is a Conference you do not want to miss.  We will go over the LA MISMA LUNA story from start to finish, just before it is released, and many more.

NALIP spent this month looking at our own story, as well:  how NALIP came in to being in 1999, what vision we had then for changing the world, how well we have done and how much more is left to accomplish.  The NALIP 2008-2010 Strategic Plan will be available for you in a month or two, but please know that NALIP is committed to institutionalizing our fantastic National Signature Programs, to supporting and training more writers and directors, producers and creative crew, and to changing the landscape of the media decision makers so that there are Latino/a executives, agents, managers and funders.  We are committed to NALIP’s financial stability and institutional profile:  everyone should know what we do, and what we stand for.  And we even pledged to tackle the networks through which your work is disseminated:  in light of the new media and mobile revolution, we want Latino/as to control their distribution and revenue streams as much as their creative production process.

Will you join us in writing the next chapter of NALIP’s story?  Please renew your membership today.  Consider jumping to the professional level, or making a donation for artists to attend the Conference or Academy on scholarship.  Tell your filmmaker friends and students about NALIP:  help make us stronger.  And put March 6-9 on your calendar:  we really miss seeing you, and look forward to Conference 9.

Warmly,
Kathryn F. Galan
Executive Director