The New Producers Building the Post-DEI Hollywood Playbook
Summary
As DEI loses institutional backing, a new class of underrepresented producers is rewriting the rules—building hit content, creative power, and commercial leverage on their own terms. This session explores how to turn crisis into strategy, pitching into deals, and representation into real returns. For anyone ready to produce boldly in a cautious industry, this is the roadmap to navigating—and thriving—in post-DEI Hollywood.
- Format: Panel
- Category: Panel
- Event Type: panel
- Presented By: n/a
Contributors
- Crystal Echo Hawk
- Kamala Avila-Salmon
- Bing Chen
- Angelique Jackson
Raw Event JSON
Large nested arrays are compacted for page readability. Full payload remains in dataset files.
Open JSON payload
{
"id": "PP1162523",
"track": "Film & TV",
"focus_area": null,
"category": "Panel",
"event_id": "PP1162523",
"event_type": "panel",
"format": "Panel",
"genre": null,
"subgenre": null,
"name": "The New Producers Building the Post-DEI Hollywood Playbook",
"presented_by": null,
"publish_at": "2025-11-03T16:30:00.000-06:00",
"reservable": true,
"reservable_id": "PP1162523",
"reserved": false,
"date": "2026-03-17",
"end_time": "2026-03-17T12:30:00.000-05:00",
"start_time": "2026-03-17T11:30:00.000-05:00",
"message": null,
"image": null,
"credentials": [
{
"name": "Platinum Badge",
"type": "platinum"
},
{
"name": "Film & TV Badge",
"type": "filmtv"
}
],
"contributors": [
{
"id": 88019,
"company": "Indigenous House",
"credential_types": [
"filmtv"
],
"entity_id": 2250289,
"name": "Crystal Echo Hawk",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Co-Founder",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Crystal Echo Hawk",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/flkaD3KaAas082yguOhnTfM7UvY=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/badf3a43-b885-e0f0-90b1-e503bd7f7160/pcid-1636809"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee) is a nationally recognized strategist, thought leader, speaker, and movement builder working at the intersection of narrative change, media, culture, and Indigenous leadership. She serves as President of Honey Badger Partners, an Indigenous-owned company that manages and grows revenue-generating ventures supporting Indigenous media innovation. She is also co-founder of Indigenous House, a mission-driven media platform developing, financing, and distributing premium Indigenous-led content while building long-term infrastructure and sustainable pathways for creators.\r\rFrom 2018 to 2025, Crystal was Founder and CEO of the award-winning IllumiNative, where she helped transform Indigenous representation across media, philanthropy, and public discourse. Her work focuses on building long-term power for Indigenous peoples through storytelling, strategy, and institution building.",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
},
{
"id": 78174,
"company": "Kas Kas Productions",
"credential_types": [
"filmtv"
],
"entity_id": 2239141,
"name": "Kamala Avila-Salmon",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Founder & CEO",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Kamala Avila-Salmon",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/7UEcROPUu781b47DrGLT1U6EDEk=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/2235df30-4e86-8c28-f9f2-8685783eda0e/pcid-1605605"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Kamala Avila-Salmon is the Founder & CEO of Kas Kas Productions, a film and TV company focused on creating inclusive, impactful, and commercially successful content. Formerly the Head of Inclusive Content at Lionsgate, she spearheaded industry-leading strategies that doubled the number of underrepresented directors across the studio’s slate. With a background spanning tech, media, and studio leadership, Kamala brings deep insight into how underrepresented producers can navigate—and lead—in the post-DEI era.",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
},
{
"id": 78170,
"company": "Gold House",
"credential_types": [
"filmtv"
],
"entity_id": 2239137,
"name": "Bing Chen",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Founder",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Bing Chen",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/4RHfkrBYTc-lBwcQIxnRZ-k-gT8=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/d2bc024c-26fb-9cb4-3781-85ec52b18854/pcid-1623193"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Bing Chen is a creator and community economy builder as CEO of Gold House and, previously, a principal architect of YouTube’s global creator ecosystem. ",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
},
{
"id": 29552,
"company": "Variety",
"credential_types": [
"filmtv"
],
"entity_id": 2051247,
"name": "Angelique Jackson",
"speaker_types": [],
"title": "Senior Entertainment Writer",
"image": {
"alt_text": "Angelique Jackson",
"credit": null,
"url": "https://images.sxsw.com/LGKaSKq1Wh6iu_WknHXN78YuuIk=/600x600/images.sxsw.com/48/2c2b1539-8871-4d18-75ff-77afcfea778d/pcid-865466"
},
"speaker_type": "Speaker",
"details": "Angelique Jackson is a Senior Entertainment Writer at Variety, where she covers equity in Hollywood, breaking news, and interviews with some of the industry's most impactful changemakers. Her work centers the intersection of race, gender, and power in entertainment, and she’s one of the most trusted journalists covering DEI and systemic change in film and TV.",
"links": {},
"type": "person"
}
],
"venue": {
"accessible": false,
"age_policy": null,
"floor": null,
"id": "V2400",
"indoor_outdoor": null,
"name": "Pennybacker",
"parent_id": "V0466",
"parent_venue_name": "Omni Downtown",
"venue_entry_info": null,
"formats": null,
"location": {
"address": "700 San Jacinto Blvd.",
"lat_lon": [
30.2689471,
-97.7403971
],
"city": "Austin",
"postal_code": "78701",
"state": "TX",
"name": "Omni Downtown"
},
"root": {
"accessible": null,
"age_policy": null,
"floor": null,
"id": "V0466",
"indoor_outdoor": null,
"name": "Omni Downtown",
"parent_id": null,
"parent_venue_name": null,
"venue_entry_info": null,
"formats": null
},
"events": "[omitted 5 venue events]"
},
"description": "As DEI loses institutional backing, a new class of underrepresented producers is rewriting the rules—building hit content, creative power, and commercial leverage on their own terms. This session explores how to turn crisis into strategy, pitching into deals, and representation into real returns. For anyone ready to produce boldly in a cautious industry, this is the roadmap to navigating—and thriving—in post-DEI Hollywood.",
"experience_level": "Intermediate",
"accessibility": [
"American Sign Language"
],
"accessible_venue": false,
"add_bcl_url": false,
"add_slido": false,
"age_policy": null,
"american_sign_language": true,
"apple_url": null,
"audio_description": false,
"caption_url": null,
"closed_captioned": false,
"cpe_credit": false,
"has_subtitles": false,
"hash_tags": [],
"high_sensory_experience": false,
"live": false,
"long_description": "As DEI loses institutional backing, a new class of underrepresented producers is rewriting the rules—building hit content, creative power, and commercial leverage on their own terms. This session explores how to turn crisis into strategy, pitching into deals, and representation into real returns. For anyone ready to produce boldly in a cautious industry, this is the roadmap to navigating—and thriving—in post-DEI Hollywood.",
"meeting_url": null,
"meeting_url_live": false,
"mentorly_url": null,
"mobile_audio_url": null,
"open_captioned": false,
"playlist_tag": null,
"rebroadcast": false,
"recommended_ids": [],
"search_conversions": null,
"short_program": false,
"slido_url": null,
"sort": "NEW PRODUCERS BUILDING THE POST-DEI HOLLYWOOD PLAYBOOK",
"source": "Official",
"squad_up_url": null,
"stream_embed": null,
"stream_id": null,
"stream_url": null,
"strobe_warning": false,
"subdiscipline": null,
"summit": null,
"summit_display_name": null,
"tags": [
{
"id": 2485,
"name": "Asian Voices",
"created_at": "2024-02-13T18:44:05.183-06:00",
"updated_at": "2024-02-13T18:44:05.183-06:00",
"sort": "ASIAN VOICES",
"alpha": "A"
},
{
"id": 2483,
"name": "Black Voices",
"created_at": "2024-02-13T18:43:48.504-06:00",
"updated_at": "2024-02-13T18:43:48.504-06:00",
"sort": "BLACK VOICES",
"alpha": "B"
},
{
"id": 2481,
"name": "Indigenous Voices",
"created_at": "2024-02-13T16:51:45.767-06:00",
"updated_at": "2024-02-13T16:51:45.767-06:00",
"sort": "INDIGENOUS VOICES",
"alpha": "I"
}
],
"talent_attending": null,
"title_only": false,
"track_display_name": "Film & TV track sponsored by Crunchyroll",
"trailer_id": null,
"trailer_url": null,
"video_on_demand": null,
"vimeo_id": null,
"vod": false,
"xr_project_type": null,
"youtube_id": null,
"related_sales_client": null
}