keri putnam is a film executive and producer and the founder of putnam pictures. served for 11 years as the ceo of the sundance institute, which runs the sundance film festival. prior to that, she worked as a senior executive at miramax and hbo. she is also the co—founder of reframe. welcome. thank you, it's great to be here. stephanie allain is a film producer and writer and the newly elected co—president of the producers guild of america — the first woman of colour to hold the position. stephanie served nine years as vice president in women in film. she runs her own company, homegrown pictures, which focuses on creating content by and about women and people of colour. keri and stephanie, welcome to you both. happy to be here. now, keri, you were set on a career in theatre, but there was a plot twist when hollywood came calling. tell us about what happened. well, that was a very early plot twist in my career. i was coming out of college and i was going to go work at a theatre, and i had a a friend who was working at hbo, which at that time was a very start—up net