SHORT BIO:

J. Sibley Law, Founder and CEO of Saxon Mills, is the creator of twenty online television series ranging from cooking shows and animation series to political spoofs and scripted narratives and everything in between. One of the first YouTube Partners (ever), he is an Official Honoree of the Webby Awards, a nominee of the IAWTV Awards, and he regularly creates commercials for broadcast. Additionally, he co-founded the NYC  Writers Group for the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV), where he also serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Board. His book, Streaming Media Delivery in Higher Education is available on IGI Global. His articles about the online video industry can be read in various industry publications. Additionally, he is a co-founder of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (now called Festival Stratford) in Connecticut and was its executive producer from 2005-2010. In addition to all this, he has been a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies since 2000. In this role he has worked with top-level executive management and line producers in every major industry segment for hundreds of the world’s most profitable companies.

FULL RESUME:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

NEW MEDIA LEADER

Industry Leadership

• Board Member, International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) – negotiated partnership/production agreement with New Media Expo, moderated monthly joint IAWTV/YouTube educational programs (2011-2012), started and run New York City monthly writers group (2010-present)
• Speaker & Panelist regarding mobile entertainment and online video – Venues include: Mobile Media Summit (London 2006), Mobile Entertainment Summit (Paris 2007), Digital Hollywood (California 2007), Digital Hollywood (New York 2010), Connecticut Film Festival (2010, 2011), Streaming Media East (2012), VidCon (2012), Film Industry Mixer (2013), Independent Television Festival (2013-booked), It Came from Lake Michigan film industry conference (2013-booked)
• Publications – Book co-editor: Streaming Media Delivery in Higher Education (IGI Global, 2011); White Papers: “Content and the Small Screen” (9/06); Article Sample: “Elements of a Hit Web Series (And the One You’re Probably Missing)” (Tubefilter.tv, 2012); Analysis and blog: “Steeping Success in Online Video” (rocketstail.com)

Content Strategy & Brand Building

• Daily Women’s News Series and Companion Cooking Series – Created, marketed, and closed syndication deals for a women’s daily video series with a companion cooking series syndicated to hundreds of thousands daily in the U.K. (The Sun: thesun.co.uk, The Times of London: thetimes.co.uk) Australia (news.com.au) and elsewhere – (2006-2007) – more than 280 episodes
• Engaged Marketing Campaign – Created university marketing campaign that exceeded enrollment goals by 30% (attributed in Steaming Media Magazine 04/09), leveraging online video, Facebook, and email
• Online Bank Campaign – Created commercial for network (ESPN) television campaign to couple with marketing across social media platforms as well as direct marketing (2012-present); product, commercial, and campaign are still active
• Web Series Creator – Created twenty online video series for online and mobile platforms with various syndication agreements ranging from comedy and lifestyle to news and scripted narrative and many genres in between (2005-present)
• Branded Series – Creator, host, interviewer of ITVFest Presents The Digital Overlap – a branded series that delivers segments of interviews around specific topics (crowd funding, what’s after YouTube, etc.) with movers and shakers in the industry (09/13)

Innovation

• Early European Syndication – Led one of the first independent media companies to pursue syndication on mobile platforms in Europe, attending Informa’s Mobile Media Summit (2005)
• Show Style – created one of the first short-short format DIY cooking series (2005-2006), syndicated internationally
• Daily Online Series – One of the first daily series on YouTube (2006-2007)
• Early YouTube Strategist – one of the first YouTube channels to successfully use spoofing as a strategy for audience growth on YouTube, generating millions of views per episode (2007)
• Early YouTube Partner – one of the first YouTube partners ever (2007)
• Cross-Over Content – Early adopter of cross-over content, delivering scripted narrative on talking-head YouTube channel (2009-2010), generating approximately a million incremental views
• Network Channel – Early originator of the “network channel” syndicating content from other creators on a niche-oriented YouTube channel, format has been emulated by other others currently syndicating on YouTube (2011)
• Animation Software – co-created Ventriloquist, the Blender Animation Software plugin that reduces the time to create 3D animations from weeks to hours (2012)

Management & Team Leadership

• National Live & Televised Events – Helped develop and over see the major events during the two months of festivities of the United Nations 50^th Commemoration: multiple production teams, liaised with UN, State Department, White House, etc.; culminating event televised live on CNN, received personal letter of thanks and commendation from U.S. President
• Production Teams – Led numerous teams of production personnel and talent to create more than 20 online video series, culminating in hundreds of episodes generating many millions of views; led the team that created a daily news series for a year from pre-production to post production to delivery to syndication partners
• Regional Live Events – Co-founded and produced Shakespeare festival in Stratford, CT; procuring and managing theatrical tech crews, theatre companies, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, etc.; attended by thousands nightly during its run each summer

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

NEW MEDIA COMPANY FOUNDER & PRESIDENT

Saxon Mills, LLC – Chief Executive (2005 – Present)

• Manage teams of directors, writers, and actors, software developers
• Creator of video entertainment brands, many which have garnered millions of views both on YouTube and in syndication
• Develop contracted relationships with media companies with deals ranging from revenue sharing to license agreements to white labeled work-for-hire, resulting in multiple revenue streams for original video content / Negotiate deals at all levels from distribution and syndication to licensing and with talent
• Develop new media strategy for clients (University of Bridgeport exceeded enrollment goals by 30%-attributed in Streaming Media Magazine)
• Co-creator of Ventriloquist Animation software – exponentially reduce the time to create original 3D animation (from weeks to hours)
• Creator of twenty online video series as producer, director, writer, etc.
• Innovator of the short-format cooking show
• Helm the building of a production facility
• Producer, Director, writer for multiple daily shows resulting in hundreds of episodes
• Writer and Editor of thought-leadership (white papers, articles, and a book)
• Speak at industry conferences

MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Baygroup International / Corporate Visions – Content Consultant (four positions) (2000 – 2013)

(Execution, Negotiation Strategy, Sales & Marketing Alignment)           

(Roles: Content Consultant, Sr. Developer, Sr. Project Manager, Project Manager)

• Bring together senior leadership in sales, marketing, and product development to align the value differentiation stories in ways organizations struggle to do on their own
• Enable global corporations to significantly improve profitability through improved execution strategy and negotiating better, more profitable agreements (such as: American Express, Cardinal Health, Cisco, ExxonMobil, GE, Hershey, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Oracle, SC Johnson & Co, Time Inc, and hundreds of the worlds most profitable companies)
• Advise and consult with Fortune 500 companies (worked directly with more than 15,000 executives, sales people, and individual contributors in every industry segment over the course of thirteen years)
• Create training curricula used at Fortune 500 companies to improve negotiation strategy and sales execution effectiveness (helped create Making Quality Contact™ and SSN2: Negotiating Value™ – consistently used at major corporations for 9 and 11 years, respectively)
• Develop knowledge base and industry expertise to provide internal advice and training to BayGroup International’s management consulting sales professionals

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, WRITER

Independent Producer, Director & Writer (1995 – 2000)

• Developed and executed major events of UN 50^th Commemoration in San Francisco (its birthplace)
• Liaison between SF/UN50 Committee and UN, State Department, White House, and Mayor’s office (events included three U.S. Presidents, numerous heads of state, and 185 Permanent Representatives to the United Nations)
• Wrote speeches and white papers for financial institutions and hi-tech companies (Bank of America, Resonate, etc.)
• Developed successful PR campaigns (including for California Assembly Member Bob Campbell, local artists, etc.)

PUBLIC SERVICE

• Past Chair of the Stratford Arts Commission
• Founder/Producer of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival/Festival Stratford (2005-2010)
• Founder of SquareWrights Playwright Center (produced more than 100 new works)
• Leader of initiatives that have raised more than $15,000 for local charities from small individual contributions
• Past board member of The Playwright Center of San Francisco and the New England Academy of Theatre

HONORS AND INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP

• Board of Directors – International Academy of Web Television
• Board of Advisors – Vidwala, mobile app
• Active member of the International Academy of Web Television (chair of awards committee, chair of Award Design Sub-Committee), founded and run NYC writers group
• Mayor’s Exemplary Community Service Recognition Award (2009)
• Making Extraordinary Differences and Leading Stratford Award (2012)
• Official Honoree of the 2007 Webby Awards, Official Selection ITVFest 2013
• Davey Awards for Cinematography, Special Effects, Entertainment, and Low Budget (2007)
• Personal letter of recognition and thanks from President Bill Clinton (1995)

EDUCATION

M.A. – COMMUNICATION (Purdue University) 1995

B.S. – COMMUNICATION (Eastern Michigan University) 1992