Tim McNeal went from working as an assistant to Ari Emanuel, the real-life Ari Gold of HBO’s ‘Entourage,’ to vice president of talent development and diversity for Disney-ABC Television Group.

He will speak today in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse III at 7 p.m. at the eighth annual Conversation on Race and Television.

The conversation, led by television, radio and film professor Richard Dubin, is held each year to exchange ideas about race in the television industry and how it has evolved over the years, he said.

‘The motivation for the Annual Conversation on Race and Television is to pay attention to our role as media professionals in the shaping of culture,’ Dubin said. ‘I hope everyone will come away with greater sensitivity to ‘difference’ and the way it is expressed both on the screen and in the business.’

Jessica Johnson, a senior television, radio and film major, said she will attend the discussion and is looking forward to hearing what McNeal’s experiences have been and what he has come up against to make it in the business.

‘I want to know how McNeal feels the industry is changing in this ‘Obama era’ that is always inevitably being brought up,’ she said.

In past years, television and film writers have led the conversation. This year the speaker comes from the executive side of the industry.

Some of the questions that will be addressed will include why minority roles in film and television are limited to stereotypes, why ‘black’ shows on television are limited to specific channels and time slots, and why no one wants to talk about these things, according to the event group on Facebook.

Dubin said his goal is to make the conversation an interactive experience with audience participation in the discussion and a question and answer session with McNeal.

McNeal was chosen last summer to lead the conversation because of his ability to give insightful commentary about race in the television and film industries, Dubin said. Students of all majors and races are expected to attend the conversation, he said.

‘I hope that he is ready to really dig into the issues that are plaguing the forms of media today,’ said Anthony Tamborino, a junior English and textual studies and secondary education major, ‘and help us put into perspective why there are so few non-stereotypical minority roles and what is being done to break those trends.’

Andrea Wangsanata said she is going to the event because it will be interesting to hear from an executive at ABC, a network that airs shows that reflect the actual American population, she said.

‘I want McNeal to address not only the lack of minorities on the television screen, but the lack of positive, non-stereotypical characters on television,’ said the sophomore public relations and political science major.

Dubin said the conversation is an important one for students to hear.

‘Entertainment is a pervasive and powerful force in all our lives,’ he said. ‘Those of us who shape it have a responsibility to do so in the best interest of all people.’

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on March 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm