WHITE SPACE At New York Comic Con

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Larry Tanz

Best known for: Chief Executive Officer Vuguru

As a digital entertainment veteran, Mr. Tanz brings more than 15 years of strategy and operating experience in media, entertainment and technology. Mr. Tanz also has extensive expertise in producing, developing and financing successful film, television, and new media projects including documentary feature films Running the Sahara and First Descent for Universal Pictures and the Emmy-nominated TV series Project Greenlight for HBO and Bravo. In December 2009, Mr. Tanz was appointed President of Vuguru, the leading independent studio developing and financing scripted content for emerging and traditional platforms. Under Mr. Tanz's direction, Vuguru, which was founded by Michael Eisner's Tornante Company in 2006 and backed by Canada's Rogers Media in October 2009, has executed global multiplatform distribution partnerships for it's slate of over 10 projects.

Before joining Vuguru, Mr. Tanz served as president and co-founder of Agility Studios, a boutique multiplatform studio that develops and finances intellectual-property based businesses. Paramount Digital Entertainment has distributed Agility Studios' multiplatform franchise The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers globally; the show is currently in its third season.

Prior to Agility, Mr. Tanz served as CEO and president of LivePlanet, a multiplatform production company founded by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sean Bailey and Chris Moore. At LivePlanet Mr. Tanz oversaw development and production of numerous projects and negotiated high-profile deals with top studios including Universal, Miramax, ABC, NBC, MTV, E! and Spike TV.

Before his tenure at LivePlanet, Mr. Tanz served as Director of Strategy and Operations at AOL Time Warner, where he managed acquisitions and strategy around subsidiary brands (including Moviefone, ICQ, Spinner/WinAmp, MapQuest, DigitalCities and AOL Instant Messenger). Before AOL Time Warner Mr.Tanz was a Senior Associate at Mercer Management Consulting, where he helped Fortune 100 clients develop and implement new products and strategies.

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Matt Mason

Best known for: Author, Pirate's Dilemna, Director of Innovation, Syrup

Matt Mason is the bestselling author of The Pirate's Dilemma, the first book in the history of the world to hit the number one spot on Amazon's economics/free enterprise bestseller list, and the rap bestseller list, at the same time. It has since been published in ten countries and counting. He was recently voted Pirate of the Year by BusinessWeek. He currently serves as Director of Innovation at Syrup and is an Advisory Board Member of PopTech.

Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London, going on to become founding Editor-in-Chief of the seminal magazine RWD. In 2004, he was selected as one of the faces of Gordon Brown's Start Talking Ideas campaign, and was presented the Prince's Trust London Business of the Year Award by HRH Prince Charles.

He has written and produced TV series, comic strips, viral videos and records. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer Music Monthly, Dazed & Confused, Adweek, VICE, Complex, Libération, and other publications in more than 20 countries. He has spoken on the subjects covered in the book all over the world. He lives in New York City.

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Cory Doctorow

Best known for: Little Brother, Pirate Cinema and Rapture of the Nerds

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Wired, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. He was formerly Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Open University (UK) and Scholar in Virtual Residence at the University of Waterloo (Canada); in 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

His novels have been translated into dozens of languages and are published by Tor Books and HarperCollins UK and simultaneously released on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their re-use and sharing, a move that increases his sales by enlisting his readers to help promote his work. He has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. His New York Times Bestseller LITTLE BROTHER was published in May 2008, a followup young adult novel called FOR THE WIN was published in 2010. His latest short story collection is WITH A LITTLE HELP, available in paperback, ebook, audiobook and limited edition hardcover. In 2011, Tachyon Books published a collection of his essays, called CONTEXT: FURTHER SELECTED ESSAYS ON PRODUCTIVITY, CREATIVITY, PARENTING, AND POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY (with an introduction by Tim O'Reilly) and IDW published a collection of comic books inspired by his short fiction called CORY DOCTOROW'S FUTURISTIC TALES OF THE HERE AND NOW. His latest adult novel is MAKERS, published by Tor Books/HarperCollins UK in October, 2009. THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW, a PM Press Outspoken Authors chapbook, was also published in 2011.

LITTLE BROTHER was nominated for the 2008 Hugo, Nebula, Sunburst and Locus Awards. It won the Ontario Library White Pine Award, the Prometheus Award as well as the Indienet Award for bestselling young adult novel in America's top 1000 independent bookstores in 2008.

He co-founded the open source peer-to-peer software company OpenCola, sold to OpenText, Inc in 2003, and presently serves on the boards and advisory boards of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the MetaBrainz Foundation, the Organization for Transformative Works, the Annenberg Center for the Study of Online Communities, the Clarion Foundation and The Glenn Gould Foundation.

In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called him, "The William Gibson of his generation." He was also named one of Forbes Magazine's 2007/8/9/10 Web Celebrities, and one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders for 2007.

His forthcoming books include PIRATE CINEMA (a young adult novel from Tor and HarperVoyager) and RAPTURE OF THE NERDS (a novel with Charles Stross); ANDA'S GAME (a graphic novel from FirstSecond).

On February 3, 2008, he became a father. The little girl is called Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow, and is a marvel that puts all the works of technology and artifice to shame.

Photo by Joi Ito (joi.ito.com).

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Jack Sullivan

Best known for: Chief Executive Officer of Broadway Video Entertainment

Jack Sullivan has served as Chief Executive Officer of Broadway Video Entertainment since 2002. Sullivan joined Broadway Video in 1994. As Chief Executive Officer Sullivan oversees all of Broadway Video Entertainment's operations, including the New York based production, editorial, distribution, and digital media divisions and the Los Angeles based primetime television division. Sullivan began his career as a finance executive for USA Network in New York. He received his juris doctorate degree from Pepperdine University School of Law and his undergraduate degree in business administration from Tulane University.

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Evan Shapiro

Best known for: President IFC & Sundance Channel

As president of IFC and Sundance Channel, Evan Shapiro oversees the strategic and creative direction, management and operation of IFC and Sundance Channel, television's premier indie networks attracting passionate, influential viewers. Named to the position in June 2008, he has had a tremendous impact on both networks, strategically evolving the brands in response to the rapidly changing programming delivery technologies and industry trends.

Central to Shapiro's role is his oversight of the unified sponsorship sales team he created when Rainbow Media acquired Sundance Channel in 2008. Under his direction, the networks continually win key business from blue chip advertisers. In December 2010, IFC successfully evolved its business model to accommodate additional advertising on the network, a testament to the high demand amongst clients eager to tap into the network's 70% male audience. IFC continues to work with partners to create customized branded content, also a hallmark of Sundance Channel's sales strategy.

Shapiro also provides key direction on IFC and Sundance Channel's original programming, content acquisition and marketing campaigns. He serves as executive producer on a number of originals, including Sundance Channel's Peabody Award-winning and Primetime Emmy® Award nominated mini-series Brick City, and IFC's critically acclaimed comedy series Portlandia and Onion News Network, as well as the Primetime Emmy® Award nominated original docu-series, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut).

Previously, Shapiro served for three years as executive vice president and general manager of IFC. During his tenure, IFC produced a number of thought-provoking and acclaimed original series, specials and documentaries, including This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which prompted the MPAA to discuss making changes to its film ratings process. IFC grew dramatically in scope and magnitude under Shapiro's guidance. In 2008, IFC launched its first On Demand offering, IFC Free, and the network became available in high-definition. Shapiro broke new ground in 2007 by bringing R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet, a landmark "hip-hopera," to IFC.com. Called "the cultural event of the year" by New York magazine, Trapped in the Closet also served as the catalyst for driving a record number of visitors to IFC.com, which Shapiro remolded into a "second network" with extensive original content. Shapiro joined IFC in 2004 as senior vice president of marketing and in this role he launched some of IFC's largest-ever marketing campaigns, including Film Fanatic Fridays and Pulp Month.

Prior to joining IFC, Shapiro served as senior vice president of marketing for Court TV, where his campaigns for "Forensic Files" garnered several top awards. In 1996, Shapiro formed a marketing agency called FourFront, which he ran until joining Court TV. With clients such as HBO, Court TV, A&E, Microsoft and Universal Pictures, he developed marketing campaigns, events and guerrilla strategies for some of the world's top brands. He was also integrally involved with the creation of countless Broadway enterprises such as The Lion King, Rent, Chicago, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk and Freak. Before FourFront, Shapiro got his first major career lift as the director of marketing for the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, where he re-launched the venerable theater's brand after 40 years and developed a new look and image for Shakespeare in the Park (FREE WILL!) and Noise/Funk.

Shapiro is on the board of The Ghetto Film School, the only youth-media non-profit in the country that specializes in providing young people of color with first-person access to the film industry; a board member of the New York Chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT NY); and a member of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and PROMAX. Shapiro is a featured lecturer for the Cable Center's Cable Mavericks program and a featured speaker at the New York University's Stern School of Business. He is currently leading an undergraduate class at NYU on Television Theory. Shapiro is also Co-Chair of Rainbow Media's green committee, which has instituted a number of policies to conserve energy and resources at the company. He also implemented an internal mentor program and Culture Committee at IFC and Sundance Channel, created to help integrate new employees and cultivate relationships.

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Kristin Jones

Best known for: Chief Creative Officer, Vuguru

Prior to joining Vuguru, Kristin spent five years as Senior Vice President of Production, International Development, and Acquisitions at Miramax Films where she oversaw more than 20 projects, including Academy Award-nominated films Tsotsi, Gone Baby Gone and The Queen. Before joining Miramax, Kristin served for six years as Vice President of Production and European Acquisitions at Buena Vista International, where she created a production label for the Disney international subsidiary and oversaw all projects, including the worldwide hit Calendar Girls. She previously spent several years as a motion picture literary agent at International Creative Management.

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Frank Rose

Best known for: Author, The Art of Immersion

Frank Rose is the author of The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories, recently published in the U.S. and the U.K. by W.W. Norton (www.artofimmersion.com). As a contributing editor at Wired for more than a decade, he has written extensively about the intersection of media and technology, covering such topics as the making of Avatar, Sony's enormous gamble on the PlayStation 3, and the posthumous career of Philip K. Dick in Hollywood. He also contributes to Wired's Epicenter blog and to his own blog on the future of narrative, Deep Media.

Before joining Wired in 1999, Frank worked as a contributing writer at Fortune and as a contributing editor at Esquire. His 1989 best-seller West of Eden, about the ouster of Steve Jobs from Apple, has recently been republished in an updated edition. Among his other books is The Agency, an unauthorized history of the oldest and at one time most successful talent agency in Hollywood. He lives in the East Village of Manhattan, where he got his start covering the punk scene at CBGB for The Village Voice.

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Molly Barton

Best known for: Vice President of Penguin

Molly Barton, Vice President of Penguin in the US overseeing Digital Publishing, Business Development and Strategy, is also President of Penguin's new subsidiary Book Country, an online community for fiction writers. She has overseen the company from its inception. Always looking for better ways to serve writers and readers, she leads Penguin's efforts to publish apps, enhanced eBooks, and eSpecials, in addition to launching new business models, strategies, and partnerships. Molly started at Penguin in 2004 as an editor and she still edits a select group of fiction writers for Viking and other imprints. She previously held editorial and marketing roles at Oxford University Press, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wesleyan University, where she was a Ford Fellow in the Writing Program.

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Keith Clayton

Best known for: Director of Creative Development for Random House Worlds

Keith Clayton is director of creative development for Random House Worlds, the IP development arm of the Random House Publishing Group. There he oversees the content side of RHPG's transmedia initiatives, working with authors, partners, and the internal creative team to develop and expand intellectual properties for multiplatform implementation. The focus of these properties is always on the story, and on building worlds that are rich enough to be extended across multiple mediums-creating the story framework from the beginning, instead of waiting for one format to be successful and then chasing this success. Random House Worlds recently announced partnerships with THQ, Inc., one of the world's largest interactive publishers, and Blacklight Transmedia, a Hollywood production company.

In addition to his role at RHW, Keith is also the associate publisher of Del Rey Spectra, the Random House Publishing Group's science fiction and fantasy imprint.