The Women of MOME, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Lauren Marcello
Senior VP, late night current programs
CBS
Between the pandemic and last year’s labor strife, it’s been a challenging four years for latenight programs for reasons well beyond the control of executives overseeing them: the network’s marquee late-night program, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” was dark from May to October due to the writers strike. For all that, and amid all the changes wrought by streaming, Marcello remains bullish on traditional TV. “I think that late night, like sports, is a format that’s still very much thriving on broadcast,” says Marcello. “There’s not a streaming-only version of late night that has proved to be a substitution for broadcast.”
Audra Mcdonald
Actor
“The Gilded Age,” “Rustin,” “Origin”
The acclaimed actor e ortlessly swapped periods in a trifecta of indelible performances the past year. In Net ix’s “Rustin,” she portrayed civil-rights activist Ella Baker, while she embodied a more contemporary character in “Origin,” Ava Duvernay’s adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste,” delivering a powerful performance opposite Aunjanue Ellis-taylor. For HBO’S turn-of-thelast-century drama “The Gilded Age,” Mcdonald’s Dorothy Scott resides in a middle-class Black community, often neglected in other period projects depicting this era. Next up for the Broadway a cionado, who recently performed in “Ohio State Murders”: an Australian concert tour that launches May .
Monica Mcnutt
NBA, WNBA and college basketball analyst ESPN
Former Georgetown basketball player Mcnutt caught the journalism bug as an undergrad, working her way up to a post at sports broadcasting giant ESPN in . As a basketball analyst for the New York Knicks, as well as the WNBA and women’s college basketball, which are both surging in popularity, she’s one of the few women — and women of color — to work on such a big platform. Mcnutt, who also contributes to “Sportscenter,” “Around the Horn,” “First Take” and “NBA Today,” is thankful for the “sisterhood” of her TV colleagues although there’s more work to be done for parity. She also works with the nonpro t Grow Our Game, a free program for girls ages - that teaches basketball and personal empowerment through sports.
Courteney Monroe
President
National Geographic
Monroe was behind this year’s Oscar-nominated “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” which scored the IDA award for best doc. It was Nat Geo’s fourth Oscar nomination in six years. “Even though we didn’t take home the Oscar, I still feel like we won with this lm,” Monroe says, noting that Wine’s ght for democracy in Uganda has “inspired audiences all across the globe.” “Queens,” a series about matriarchies in the animal kingdom, was narrated and exec produced by Angela Bassett, part of an all-female production team. In the works: “Tucci — The Heart of Italy,” which aims to pick up where his CNN cooking show left o . nd
Pat Swinney Kaufman
Commissioner
Shira Gans
Senior executive director, policy + programs
When Kaufman joined the NYC Mayor’s O ce of Media and Entertainment in June , she came with nearly years of experience as the state lm commissioner, shepherding its rich incentive program, which had transformed the local lm and TV production landscape. She joined Gans, who’s been with the o ce since , serving as the driving force behind partnerships and programs supporting the music industry, such as New York Music Month, Sound Thinking NYC and the O ce of Nightlife, while leading its lm and TV sustainability initiatives. “Having been in the public sector for a really long time, I understand the city government and how you can make things that seem like they’re not possible, possible,” says Gans. For her part, Kaufman is determined to show producers that the Big Apple is “the city of ‘yes,’” eager and able to host their shoots. You can make it there: “New York City is where dreams really do come true,” says Kaufman. “People see it on movie screens and TV and everything else, and then they want to be here and taste and live the magic.”