Monday

10:00-10:50 pm Film Industry, Meet New York-based director, Robert Broadhurst
Location: Zoom
Robert shares his experience working as an editor and director in film, commercials, trailers, docudramas and fashion.

2:00 pm – 3:50 pm Film Industry, Victoria Grimsley and Justin Thatcher
Location: Zoom
Your time at Palomar can Lead to a Professional Job! Victoria Grimsley and Justin Thatcher will share their time at Palomar in the Media Studies Department and beyond, leading to professional work in the television and film industries.

4:00-5:20 pm KEYNOTE: The Art and Career of Cinematography with Jayson Crothers
Location: Zoom
Jayson Crothers shares his experience as the Director of Photography for Cruel Summer, Station 19, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Axis Sally, The Thing about Harry, and Force of Nature. A former community college student with a love for photography, Jayson provides real-world advice in this Q&A session on how to build your skill set and pursue a career in this creative industry.

Tuesday

10:00-10:50 am Anatomy of the Creative Process with Morgan DeLuna
Location: Zoom
Morgan DeLuna will take you through the creative process with her series Phenotype.

3:00-4:30 pm Film Industry, Jeanne Scott of American Dream Cinema and Michael “MJ” Johnson of Perennial Films
Location: In-person in Room SSC-1.
Learn how they take a project from start to finish, from screenwriting through production to postproduction and distribution. They’ll share their knowledge of working in San Diego and how production work can prepare you for employment in a variety of industries.

Thursday

10:00-10:50 pm KEYNOTE: Landing Writing and Development Gigs In Hollywood with Alex Zaragoza
Location: Zoom
Five years ago, Alex Zaragoza was a part-time San Diego print writer. Today she is writing network comedies for NBC and working on an upcoming cable series with Michael Schur, the creator of Parks and Rec, SNL alum, and writer-producer of the Office. Come hear how she did it and chat her up. She’s excited to meet ya’ll!

11:00-12:20 pm Major Alex Lim, Director of the Entertainment Media and Liaison Office at Camp Pendleton
Location: Zoom
Ever wonder how Hollywood television and movies incorporate the military in their shows and films? Well, there’s an office for that and it’s right here in North San Diego County! Marine Corps Major Alex Lim is the Director of the Entertainment Media and Liaison Office located at Camp Pendleton. He will take us through the process of how the military works to help producers and directors get access to military bases, equipment, and personnel and assist with accuracy in scripts and story development!

1:00-1:50 pm Influencer Marketing with Ketchum Vice-President Mouna Leder
Location: H105 & on Zoom
For the last eight years, Mouna Leder has specialized in creating authentic brand partnerships for some of the world’s biggest brands including Old Navy, AT&T, Pepsi Co, Dell, Diageo, and GAP. Her strategic and personalized approach to representing musicians during her time at CAA, traditional talent at Artist & Brand, and creators at Fullscreen laid the foundation for her role at Ketchum where she leads influencer marketing for clients like Hyundai, Clorox, 3M, and Brown Foreman. Born in Germany and educated in the UK/Ireland, Mouna is based out of the LA office but works remotely from the beaches of San Diego where she can be found riding horses, surfing, or hiking her way through Southern California and beyond.

3:00-3:50 pm Palomar College Student Alumni on Transferring to University
Location: Zoom
Planning on transferring to a university? Then join us to hear from your fellow Media Studies students about their experience! Hear from students who earned Palomar degrees in Photography, Cinema Studies, Film/TV, and Journalism who transferred to CSU Northridge, CSU San Marcos, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and SDSU. Ask questions to our Transfer Center counselors.

Bios

Jayson Crothers

Jayson Crothers shot two dozen independent features before joining the NBCUniversal hit show Chicago Fire in 2013. After serving as the 2nd unit DoP for 38 episodes during seasons 2 & 3 he was asked to helm the show. Serving as the sole DoP from seasons 4 to 6, he shot 74 episodes of the series for Dick Wolf. He also did additional photography for the backdoor pilot of Chicago Med. In 2019 Jayson photographed three features – the World War 2 true story drama Axis Sally, directed by Michael Polish, starring Al Pacino and Mitch Pileggi, the romantic comedy The Thing About Harry, directed by Peter Paige, and the hurricane action film Force of Nature, also directed by Michael Polish, starring Mel Gibson, Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth. In between these films he also shot additional photography for the Starz series P-Valley as well as 2nd Unit for the Netflix feature Malibu Rescue – The Next Wave. In addition to his work being seen theatrically and on television, it’s also been seen across the festival circuit at SXSW, Tribeca and Camerimage to name a few. Jayson also served as the Technical Editor for the acclaimed book on cinematography and lighting, A Shot In The Dark. Jayson feels fortunate to love what he does and is always eager to collaborate with people who are excited to share their talents and passions. In his spare time he enjoys teaching cinematography; his past workshops have sent him across the US, the Philippines and Kosovo. Jayson earned his BA from Columbia College Chicago and his MFA from the American Film Institute. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and is represented by DDA.

Morgan DeLuna

Morgan DeLuna was raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today she lives and works in Southern California. Growing up Midwestern in a multicultural (Lebanese, Norwegian, and Ashkenazi) interfaith family led her to explore themes of identity, appearance, and human connection from an early age. Morgan’s visual arts practice integrates narrative, research, and her background in the performing arts to explore themes around the human condition and liminal space. Morgan’s work has been exhibited in spaces nationally and internationally, including the San Diego Art Institute, Los Angeles Center of Photography, and Gallery FotoNostrum in Barcelona. In addition to exhibitions, her work has been published in SHOTS Magazine and Diffusion Annual.

Victoria Grimsley & Justin Thatcher

Victoria Grimsley and Justin Thatcher are alumni of the Media Studies Cinema and DBA (then RTV) programs. They were honored with an Emmy award for their student short film, Commander Cosmos, from the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. They are now working professionally in Los Angeles in the television and film industries. Victoria is an editor on Homeland, The Chi and Surface. Justin is a gaffer and key grip on a variety of commercials and television series.

Alex Lim

Alex Lim is the current Director of HQ Marine Corps, Entertainment Media Liaison Office. His duties include advising and coordinating Marine Corps support to the entertainment industry, scripted and unscripted productions, to authentically portray the Marine Corps and reinforce its core values in tv, film, and other entertainment products. His latest assisted unscripted project “Escape from Kabul,” can be found on HBO Max and is currently nominated for a BAFTA as a single television documentary. As a career Public Affairs Officer, Alex led DOD communication efforts in Afghanistan, units in Southern California and covered major events from bases and stations in Hawaii. He’s deployed to support combat operations in Helmand, Afghanistan and military exercises in S. Korea, Philippines and Thailand. A native of Queens, NY, Alex is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

Robert Broadhurst

Robert is an east Coast, suburb-raised, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. He earned his MFA in filmmaking from Columbia University where the short films he wrote, produced, and/or edited played festivals from Tribeca to TIFF. After film school he worked as an editor in formats from commercials to trailers to fashion to broadcast docudramas. Following his work on Kanye West’s first three Yeezy fashion launches, he made the move to directing with campaign films for Adidas Y-3, Alexander Wang and Armani Beauty, among others. He returned to narrative filmmaking with An Occurrence At Arverne, his first short film as writer and director.

Mouna Leder

For the last eight years, Mouna Leder has specialized in creating authentic brand partnerships for some of the world’s biggest brands including Old Navy, AT&T, Pepsi Co, Dell, Diageo and GAP. Her strategic and personalized approach to representing musicians during her time at CAA, traditional talent at Artist & Brand and creators at Fullscreen laid the foundation for her role at Ketchum where she leads influencer marketing for clients like Hyundai, Clorox, 3M and Brown Foreman. Born in Germany and educated in the UK/Ireland, Mouna is based out of the LA office but works remote from the beaches of San Diego where she can be found riding horses, surfing or hiking her way through Southern California and beyond.

Michael Johnson

For more than 30 years, producer/director Michael Johnson has created a wide variety of media projects, especially documentary films, that are crafted to influence the thinking and behavior of individuals, organizations, communities, and the general public. Michael and his teams have garnered Emmys, Tellys, film festival awards, CINDY’s, and more. His current project is a feature-length documentary entitled, Prairie Prophecy, which highlights the problem of agriculture and the mindset needed to shift toward a sustainable future.

Jeanne Scott

Jeanne Scott has worked at many different levels of production on varied programs including live, live to tape, pre-produced in the studio, and on location. She has written and produced commercials, public service announcements and training videos for clients such as, KPBS, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, Sony Electronics, Qualcomm, Inc., MESA College, the San Diego Symphony and the Armed Services YMCA. Her new short film My Happy Place premiered in May 2022 at the San Diego GI film festival where it won Best Local Narrative Short.

Alex Zaragoza

Alex Zaragoza is a network comedy writer who was raised in San Diego and Tijuana. Prior to making the jump to television, she spent 15 years as a culture journalist – most recently working for VICE as their Senior Staff Writer. She’s currently working with Micahel Schur (SNL, The Office, Parks, and Rec, Brooklyn 99, etc) and others on an upcoming comedy series titled “Primo” that premieres on May 19th. Alex earned a BA in Theater from UCSD – which will explain a lot when you meet her.

Media Studies