Conversations with... Mike Tollin - Tv and film Producer/Director

This will be the 17th installment of our series "Conversations with...," the drama department speaker series aimed to help the next generation of artists shorten their learning curve. All are welcome!

Mike Tollin is co-chairman of Mandalay Sports Media (MSM), which he co-founded with Peter Guber in 2012. Tollin has produced and directed more than a dozen feature films, several award-winning documentaries, and hundreds of hours of television. His films include Varsity Blues, Coach Carter, Radio, Dreamer, Hardball, Summer Catch, Big Fat Liar, and Wild Hogs, along with the Tollin-directed documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, which won a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. Tollin released two films this year alone: Chuck starring Liev Schreiber and The Zookeeper’s Wife starring Jessica Chastain.

Tollin directed and/or produced several other award-winning documentaries, including Iverson, Kareem: Minority of One, Hardwood Dreams, Let Me Be Brave, The Final Season, Right to Play and Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?

In television, Tollin has won three Emmy Awards, as well as a Peabody Award as one of the founding producers on ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series. He served as executive producer of Smallville, One Tree Hill, Arli$$, The Bronx is Burning, and several Nickelodeon series, including All That, Kenan & Kel, The Amanda Show, and Sports Theater with Shaquille O’Neal.

Tollin is a founding board member of Common Sense Media and Children Now, two groups that focus on kids and media, and the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, which awards scholarships to underprivileged youth.

The event will close with a 30-minute Q&A with the audience.