Publisher

Eric Mika

President & Publisher eric@thefimverdict.com Eric Mika, Publisher, Launching his career in Rome as an advertising sales executive for Variety magazine, Eric has dedicated himself to the international film & amp; TV business. He has launched products, events, and a daily TV festival news program with RAI International. As Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and Vice President of Nielsen’s Entertainment Group, he led these companies through transformational expansion, redesign and globalization and launched multiple digital products. Tasked with developing all commercial aspects of the Hollywood Reporter brand, he led it successfully through the challenging economic environment of 2008 to increase its value when it was sold to Guggenheim Partners in 2009. He also launched a daily THR New York edition of the national daily print magazine. Eric joined Nielsen Business Media in London as Senior Vice President, Managing Director, International, heading all its global entertainment brands including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. Prior to Nielsen, Eric served as Vice President and Managing Director for Reed Elsevier’s entertainment business magazine group, overseeing Variety magazine’s European, Middle East and Asian operations. He published the Variety Cannes dailies and several other festival dailies. He was Publisher of Variety China and its Beijing- based domestic market strategy. Eric’s “start-up” entrepreneurial life began when he was brought on board Vivendi Universal in Paris to develop a European, multi-access, direct marketing, advertising sales and content company. He launched five Vivendi Universal digital companies throughout Europe, integrating content and distribution technologies. This was followed by a line of successful start-up companies. Eric was born in Orléans, France, and grew up in Europe. He has worked professionally in Rome, Paris, London, New York and Los Angeles.

Business Team

Kelly Jones

Int’l Business Relations & Operations Director kelly@thefilmverdict.com Kelly Jones, former Vice President of Production and Distribution at The Hollywood Reporter and veteran of entertainment magazines Variety, Billboard & Backstage. Kelly was entrusted with the launch and daily operations at all the festival Dailies around the globe. She also was a major player in the redesign of the The Hollywood Reporter, its global re-launch, digital news-room and business development strategist. Operationally. Kelly managed the global relationship with international and domestic printers and distributors, providing effective cost analysis to ensure daily profitability. As VP of Production and Distribution, Kelly managed festival dailies, weekly & daily magazines, including special editions and features. Kelly led teams up to thirty individuals. She effectively increased distribution, streamed line production, decreased costs, and worked with both clients and sales agents to increase overall efficiency and profitability. Kelly has a unique understanding of the overall importance of business relationships and effectively responds with genuine enthusiasm to create new platforms for the clients. She created the first 3-D Hollywood Reporter front cover for Sony Animation, introduced QR codes & developed cross platform strategies. Kelly was involved overseeing multiple launches and special projects, Award Season Partnerships, Awards Ceremony programs, catalogs, specialty publishing and conferences. Energetic, creative, entrepreneurial, strategist, analytical and fun are among Kelly professional attributes.

Rashid Bahati

Business Development Director rashid@thefilmverdict.com Rashid has an extensive career focused on producing film, television, and new media projects for domestic and international distribution. As founder and managing partner of boutique distribution company LEAD DOG ENTERTAINMENT, Rashid has delivered distribution deals at major film markets, including; Cannes, Berlin, Burkina Faso, Los Angeles, Cape Town, and Toronto. Rashid’s producing credits include; “Charleston-A Cradle of Jazz Music” a documentary film on the evolution of Jazz Music in Charleston, South Carolina., served as producer of syndicated television series “Global Cinema TV” for the Black Family Channel, “Silent Warrior” biographic film African-American soldier James T. Jones WWII hero and Los Angeles Entrepreneur, Noah’s Art, a Biopic-documentary, which captures the life story of Noah Purifoy, founder of the Watts Towers Art Center in Los Angeles, the film received special recognition by the American Film Institute (AFI),;Reach For The Skies”, a sports biographical and motivational film that looks at the career of the shortest player in the NBA Anthony “Spud” Webb, released and distributed by Sony Home Video; and; The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; the DVD accompanying the award-winning HBO film by Spike Lee; The 4 Little Girls; and “The Black Cyclone: An Forgotten American Hero Major Taylor” a feature-length documentary (development phase). As a founding partner of STEAMCASTERS, LLC, a streaming media start-up co-owned by former Microsoft engineers based in the Los Angeles, Rashid has produced several new-media for such companies as; Sony Pictures Entertainment, Home Box Office, California African American Museum, Association of African American Museums, and Black College Satellite Network, to name a few. Rashid produced a live streaming – media project for HBO/Spike Lee's Academy Award nominee film documentary; 4 Little Girls; and the HBO movie; Soul of the Game; multi-media component outreached to high school students nationally. Rashid served as a founding board member of the DOWNTOWN FILM FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES. He is also a co-founder of the GLOBAL CINEMA AND URBAN MUSIC INITIATIVE that produces symposiums and knowledge exchange platforms for African Diaspora festival markets globally. Currently, Rashid is principal and curator of the AFRIQUE360 – REEL TALK FILM SERIES, an annual event showcasing films and panel discussions that speak to the legacy of Martin L. King, Jr.