Kate McCallum
Kate McCallum is an Award-Winning Producer, Writer, Member of PGA: Producers Guild of America New Media Council and TV Academy Interactive Peer Group, Recipient of the PGA 2019 Marc A. Levy Award for Distinguished Service, Co-Created the PGA Social Impact Entertainment Task Force, and serves as an Advisory Board Member to the SIE Society.
Kate is a futures-oriented, multi-faceted producer, writer, and transmedia consultant passionate about storytelling, creativity, innovation, consciousness, media and the arts—and their effect on culture and society—social impact entertainment. She’s had experience working alongside some of the top creative talent in the world in the creative arts and entertainment industries for over 30 years, 20 of which were spent at NBCUniversal and Paramount Studios. Her diverse experience has given her the ability to approach projects from a unique perspective which optomizes the full value of a story world and or intellectual property. She’s currently developing and producing 360 fulldome content and immersive entertainment experiences along with a variety of arts and entertainment content under her company Bridge Arts Media, LLC with Vortex Immersion Media. Her most recent project is the award-winning fulldome arts+music show Mesmerica.
Kate is also a novice futurist and serves as the Chair of the Arts and Media Node for a global futurist think tank, The Millennium Project. Together with Jacki Morie, Kate co-authored and edited the Handbook of Research on the Roles and Global Impact of Immersive Media which was released in February 2020 by IGI Global Publishing.
A bit about her history….
After graduating with a degree in Communications and Music from Western Michigan University, Kate moved to Los Angeles and began her career in the business as a Page at ABC where she worked on such shows as Mork and Mindy, Taxi, General Hospital, The Academy Awards, The Emmy Awards and The American Music Awards. She trained as a script supervisor then spent five years gaining experience in production while freelancing on several music videos, independent films and a variety of TV projects as Script Supervisor, AD, Sound and Production Coordinator. Kate landed a job with the Executive Producers of the primetime comedy Gimme a Break then she started working at Universal Studios with various Executive Producer/Writers on such hour long dramatic series as The Equalizer, Crime Story, Miami Vice, The Human Factor, and half-hour sitcoms such as Charles in Charge and Together We Stand gaining extensive experience in the process of primetime comedy and dramatic series production.
In ’92, Kate began a long-term affiliation with WESTERN SANDBLAST at Paramount Television where she worked as a development assistant to primaries/Writers, Dan Pyne (Manchurian Candidate 2004, Sum of All Fears, Any Given Sunday, Doc Hollywood, Pacific Heights, Miami Vice, etc.), John Mankiewicz (House of Cards, Thieves, The Marshal, Miami Vice, etc.) and Director/Producer, Aaron Lipstadt (The Medium, The Marshal, Miami Vice, Android, etc.). At Western, Kate was involved with the ABC dramatic series, The Marshal and several hour-long network pilots. In ’96, Kate’s first made-for-television movie, What Kind of Mother Are You? aired on NBC, which she optioned as a life rights story and produced with Alexander/Enright and Associates (credited as Producer, Kate Rubin). Promoted to V.P. Creative Affairs/Producer at Western, Kate created their long-form division and went on to set up movies at UPN (Mars-TV) and Showtime (The Big Lie and Secret Society in co-production with Diane Keaton which became The Emmett Till story with The Tom Lynch Co. and the late Gregory Hines who was attached as director), in addition to optioning a one hour series to Paramount which she co-created (Goddesses). Kate then returned to Universal and worked as with Writer/Producer/ Showrunner, Michael Chernuchin in development at NBC Universal Television. Prior to that she worked as his development/research assistant on the NBC television series Law & Order.
Kate left the studios in 2006 to join the core staff of the HARMONY CHANNEL, where she served as their VP Programming and was instrumental in the launch of this innovative music visual VoD channel on Comcast to over 11 million homes. Her responsibilities included artist relations, acquisitions, licensing and programming of hundreds of hours of content, assisting in channel branding development and producing interstial and promotional content, as well as business development and research.
Kate returned to her roots in music when she accepted a position with the Los Angeles Opera to serve as their Board Liaison and Executive Administrator to the General Director Placido Domingo. While working with this world class arts organization, Kate gained great experience and insight into arts administration and the creative process of producing this global art form with some of the top artists in the opera world.
After two and a half seasons with the opera, Kate turned her attention to evolving both the transmedia company she founded, Bridge Arts Media, LLC and the c3: Center for Conscious Creativity. As an independent producer/writer/consultant Kate has worked as a freelance transmedia and script consultant to several clients with a specialty in transmedia development and content creation and rights acquisitions. Kate has sold, develops and produces transmedia content including; websites, books, TV series and long-form, documentary, feature projects—including two screenplays, as well as music visual content, audio and music content. Bridge Arts Media, LLC launched a boutique arts and music label called THE ART OF SOUND with composer/musician/ music producer Winter Lazerus and also created a publishing line of select books.
In November 2011, Kate Co-Executive Produced the premiere of a 360 Fulldome Immersive Art+Music performance in The Vortex Dome, Los Angeles, called Migrations, with Winter Lazerus and Audri Phillips. This project launched The Art of Sound 360 with Vortex Immersion, and together Vortex and Bridge Arts Media has produced a number of 360 fulldome Art+Music shows under The Art of Sound franchise including; Relentless Universe with cellist/musician, Ha!MAN, Melting Rainbows LIVE! with visual artist, Aaron Axelrod and musician, Ken Jordan of Crystal Method, Ultra Immersion: Deep, Deeper and Deepest, with renowned ambient musician, Steve Roach and visual artist, Audri Phillips, and Ceremony, with musician, James Hood and visual artist, Tatiana Plakova.
In 2004, Kate returned to school and earned an MA in Consciousness Studies from The University of Philosophical Research, Los Angeles, CA. In an effort to combine her experience and talent in entertainment, media and the arts with her passion for future studies, human potential and consciousness, Kate co-founded the c3: Center for Conscious Creativity with fellow UPR alumni, Philip Horvath in October 2004. The c3 is a 501 (c)(3) public benefit organization designed as an arts and educational research think tank and creative collective of artists, media-makers, futurists and consciousness experts to examine and explore the power of the arts and media on society and culture. The c3 is housed at Los Angeles Center Studios and also supports an AIR: Artist In Residence program in The Vortex Dome under the c3: CreateLAB.
In October 2005, the c3 partnered with THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WRITERS CONFERENCE and produced a conference in Los Angeles called NEW STORY PARADIGM AND THE FUTURE OF CONTENT to examine future trends in media and storytelling. Kate served as the Associate Director for this conference which investigated and promoted information and ideas about; emergent technology and new media, convergence think, and consciousness, as well as the business and craft of writing and selling media content creation. James O’Dea, the Director of IONS: Institute of Noetic Sciences was the keynote speaker.
The c3 launched a social networking platform www.consciouscreatives.ning.com in March of 2009 and produced IMMERSE IN THE FUTURE: Arts, Media and Entertainment in the 21st Century with IMERSA: Immersive Media Entertainment Research and Science Association and the Creative Visions Foundation featuring keynote speaker futurist and Founder of The Millennium Project, Jerome Glenn. GATE: Global Association of Transformational Entertainment also participated as a sponsor and the event was live streamed through Second Life with Evonne Heyning. Kate served as a Panelist and Executive Producer of the event.
In June of 2010 the c3 presented the first of an annual event it now presents called STATE OF THE ARTS in collaboration with the LA Opera and the LA Citywide Ring Festival. Kate served as a moderator and the executive producer and creator of the event. Actor/Director, LeVar Burton was the opening speaker and panelists included such artists and media professionals as; Tom Shadyac, Ken Kragen (We Are the World), Don Levy of Sony, Gaynor Strachon of Ovation Television, artist Andre Miripolsky and more (see http://consciouscreativity.com/state-of-the-arts-2010 for full list of speakers).
In 2010, Kate was invited to chair and create a Global Arts and Media Node for The Millennium Project to both contribute research and information for their annual publication, THE STATE OF THE FUTURE report, and to disseminate the report to the entertainment and artistic community and in 2011 helped create and administer a RTD: Real Time Delphi survey on future trends in the arts, media and entertainment 2020 to media professionals and futurists from around the world. The results of the survey were written up in the STATE OF THE FUTURE 2011 report.
In 2010, Kate was appointed as a Fellow with the Society for New Communications Research and was awarded a Commendation of Merit and Co-Creation for the work with the Millennium Project. She served as a Senior Fellow with the organization for three years.
Kate executive produced and live-streamed a c3: FutureVision Think Tank with the Millennium Project in the Vortex Dome Studio followed by the STATE OF THE ARTS 2011: PRODUCING CHANGE event with the PGA: Producers Guild New Media Council in with PGA Broadband Committee Chair, Jeanette De Patie. Kate executive produced STATE OF THE ARTS 2012: AMPLIFY with the EMA: Electronic Music Alliance and Executive Director, Jeanine Jordan. That event featured the premiere of BOLLYDOLL, a 360 immersive musical created by artist and musician, Amrita Sen and composer, Anthony Marinelli. The same evening the world premiere of BLUE APPLE, a 360 immersive ballet by director and choreographer, Stefan Wenta and visual artist, Audri Phillips was presented. The STATE OF THE ARTS 2013: FUTURE OF FULLDOME was presented in association with IMERSA and most recently, the STATE OF THE ARTS 2014: MINDFULNESS, WELLBEING AND VIRTUAL WORLDS featured a team of experts who created a Mindfulness Program in Second Life VR for Veterans.
As a journalist with an avid interest in the creative process, Kate served as a staff writer for scr(i)pt magazine on the bi-monthly column she created titled “THE GREAT IDEA.” This column featured Q&A interviews with feature film and television writers and examines the creative and the business development process of media; specifically feature films or television content from concept to screen. Since 2015, Kate has served as the Managing Editor for the SOC: Society of Camera Operators’ magazine Camera Operator.
Kate has been invited to serve as a guest speaker, workshop teacher and or panelist at several prominent screenwriting conferences and has presented such workshops as NAVIGATING TELEVISION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR WRITERS ON THE SMALL SCREEN at the Sante Fe Writer’s Conference in 2003 as well at the 2004 Great American Pitch Fest, CREATING CROSS MARKET CONTENT for theSouthern California Writers’ Conference 2004, as a panelist at the conference, Consciousness and Media, sponsored by The Institute of Noetic Sciences in May 2004, and in September 2005 she was one of ten presenters at The Institute For Global Transformation: The Future of Consciousness where she presented on behalf of c3: Center for Conscious Creativity. She presented THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF ART AND MEDIA, and HOLOGRAPHIC CREATIVITY: TRANSMEDIA DEVELOPMENT forThe Reel Inspiration Conference, Tucson, AZ, in October 2005, and in March of 2006 she was invited to facilitate a think-tank dialogue ARTS, MEDIA, CREATIVITY AND THE NEW ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMERS for The 2nd Enlightenment Conference which was sponsored by the World Council of Affairs and Communities of the Future in Columbia, South Carolina. Kate Executive Produces, Hosted and Moderated a panel for the 2010 STATE OF THE ARTS symposium held in LA In 2010. She served on a panel for the IMMERSIVE TECH summit held in LA, produced and moderated a panel of Positive Media for the LEADERS CAUSING LEADERS conference in Long Beach, presented at the SNCR annual conference and served as a Judge for the HOLLYWOOD, HEALTH AND SOCIETY “Sentinel for Health Awards” at USC. Kate served as a panelist at the IONS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on Transformational Media in San Francisco and at the WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY CONFERENCE in Vancouver, B.C. in July 2011. She produced and moderated a panel called “Reducing the Digital Friction with Transmedia” for Createasphere’s DAM: DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT conference in Beverly Hills, CA, February 2012 and in October, 2014 Kate programmed and produced with Createasphere, NAIT and AMPIA the premiere of STORYWORLD QUEST, a conference based in Edmonton, Canada, exploring the future of storytelling, transmedia and new media technologies. Kate worked with Createasphere as producer and writer of the SOC: Society of Camera Operators Lifetime Achievement Awards Show which took place at Paramount Studios. In 2015, Kate served as a panelist at TRANSFORMING HOLLYWOOD 6 addressing trends in immersive storytelling, VR, AR and 360 fulldome.
In May of 2013, Kate was invited to serve as a Keynote Speaker and delivered a talk called “Transmedia, Transformation and the Future of Content” at the Asian Childrens’ Content Conference in Singapore where she also taught a day long workshop called “Transmedia 101.” In October 2013 Kate was the Keynote Speaker for Western Michigan University’s Communication Department’s Distinguished Speaker series. She was also awarded an Alumni Achievement Award by WMU at that time. In 2014, Kate was invite to teach two Transmedia Masterclasses, one for Media Corp in Singapore and the other in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Design Institute. In 2018, Kate presented a talk at the TIE Conference on immersive media in Mumbai, India, and most recently is moderating a panel on immersive media for SIGGRAPH LA.
Hosted by the c3, Kate produced and presented a workshop called “Music, Meditation and Mindfulness” in March 2011 with Lotus Post and Diana Winston, the Director of the Semel Institute’s MARC: Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. In June, 2011 the c3 collaborated once again with MARC and produced a workshop at UCLA called “Mindfulness, Neuroscience and Creativity: An Interactive Exploration.” In this workshop Kate showed a film she produced called “Metasphere” and also led a guided meditation. Kate enrolled and completed the MARC Intensive Practice Program in 2014 and has attended several classes and retreats on Mindfulness Meditation through the program.
In 2011, Kate was a Finalist for the IFTF: Institute for The Future Roy Amaro Prize for Participatory Foresight for a vision she submitted for their “California Dreaming” project.
She has also been invited to participate in thinks tanks by prominent organizations on topics such as; “The Future of Intelligence Gathering” (ID8) and “The Future of Work” (Rand Corporation and the Rockerfeller Foundation).
From August to December 2011 Kate produced 240 episodes of social media TV on VidBlogger Nation for Executive Producer Marc Scarpa. VidBlogger aired on Comcast’s Xfinity on Demand as a social TV network that features self-portraits by hometown tastemakers who share the stories of people, places and things in their city from a first-person perspective. Kate was responsible for developing the website and also developing and posting the social media on YOU TUBE, FACEBOOK and TWITTER.
Kate’s transmedia clients include Orb Media Group, www.3dTV.com and ReelFX and in 2013 she was contracted by Createasphere to create, program and produce a transmedia themed conference called The TransVergence Summit. She also programmed and produced for Createasphere a Digital Asset Management Coference and two Post Producation Master Classes.
Kate served as a Board Delegate for the PGA: Producers Guild of America New Media Council for six years and was voted onto the PGA National Board and served for three, was awarded the PGA New Media Council 2019 Marc A. Levy Award for Distinguished Service, and co-created the PGA: SIE: Social Impact Entertainment Task Force. Kate is a member of ATAS: Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Television Executive peer group, the WFSF: World Future Studies Federation and has served as a judge for the ATAS College Television Awards, and the Hollywood Health and Society Awards. She also serves as an advisor for the Studio School located at LA Center Studios and the SIE: Social Impact Entertainment Society.
Kate has a 30 year-old daughter, Madison Rubin, has practiced meditation for 38 years, and also expresses herself creatively as a musician and photographer, specializing in hand-painted portraiture, and has had her work shown and published in various publications. Kate lives in Los Angeles and maintains an office at Los Angeles Center Studios with her partner, Ed Lantz.