MediaMKRS Partners With IATSE International, Netflix, Paramount and More for Summit on Entertainment Careers

Originally published in Variety

By Jazz Tangcay

Reel Works, the New York-based organization that helps people train for jobs in entertainment, will host its inaugural MediaMKRS entertainment summit on April 12 featuring speakers and representatives from Paramount Global, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, IATSE International, CUNY, The Mayor’s Office, and more.

Panelists will discuss the state of the entertainment industry in New York and explore studio and union training partnerships.

The summit will examine work opportunities in a post-strike environment across different sectors.

Keisha Katz, director of workforce and external partnerships at Reel Works, oversees the MediaMKRS arm of the organization, said in a statement: “We launched MediaMKRS with the goal of creating equitable solutions to diversity gaps in entertainment. Driven by numerous success stories, we continue to have the privilege of creating new training programs for individuals from underserved communities alongside IATSE locals and media companies that benefit not only the participants, but the entertainment industry who hires them, as well.”

Katz continued, “Our inaugural MediaMKRS Summit is a gathering of some of our most invested partners including policymakers, employers, educators, community-based organizations and leaders in the media industry. Together, we will explore best practices and innovate sustainable ways to keep inclusive practices at the forefront for years to come.”

Reel Works was founded in 2001 is a Brooklyn-based education and workforce development organization. It launched a partnership between Reel Works, the Mayor’s Office and CUNY, called MediaMKRS, in 2019 which has gone on to train over 900 New Yorkers and placed over 750 into careers in film and television including union and non-union crafts.

Through partnerships with the studios, Reel Works and MediaMKRS hope to chart new pathways to careers on film and TV sets for interested candidates from traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities.