Derrick Ashong '97 (Musician & Activist, AFROPOLITAN, THE STREAM)

By Mark Saltveit '83

Many Harvard grads have gained fame, but very few have gone viral on the Internet, that most distinctive and mysterious achievement of this new century. Derrick Ashong has, and he offers a lesson in how to harness this "lightning in a bottle" to build a serious media career.

In 2008, while attending a McCain-Obama debate, he was approached by a conservative videographer who pressed him aggressively on why he supported Obama. Ashong was casually dressed, wearing his trademark cowrie shell necklace, and the interviewer seemed to expect a slack or ignorant response, not Ashong's spontaneously eloquent and authoritative explanation of health care policy.

Shawn Ku '90 (Writer & Director, BEAUTIFUL BOY)

By Dayna Wilkinson

Shawn Ku’s new film, BEAUTIFUL BOY, tells the story of a couple in a failed marriage who must turn to each other at a time of unimaginable trauma. "At first glance this movie appears to be about tragedy, but I think it’s actually a story of hope,” Shawn says.

How did a pre-med Chemistry major end up in Hollywood? The plan was for Shawn to enter a 6-year combined college and medical program, as his sister had. "It was eating away at the back of my mind—I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in medicine,” Shawn says. "I decided to go to Harvard instead and there was a huge, huge war in my house. It wasn’t the agreed-upon trajectory.”

Paris Barclay '79 (Producer & Director, IN TREATMENT, COLD CASE, NYPD BLUE, MONK, GLEE)

By Dayna Wilkinson

What do NYPD BLUE, ER, THE WEST WING, HOUSE, MONK and GLEE have in common? Episodes of these series and many more have been directed by Paris Barclay, ’79. His producer credits include HBO’s IN TREATMENT (executive producer), COLD CASE and CITY OF ANGELS (co-executive producer) and NYPD BLUE (supervising producer). His honors include two Emmys, three Peabody Awards, two NAACP IMAGE Awards and GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award.

D. A. Wallach '07 (Musician, CHESTER FRENCH)

By Sara Melson '90

D.A. Wallach’s popular, ever-entertaining, and elucidating blog is called "D.A.’s Wild Ride,” and for good reason. His ascension, along with bandmate Max Drummey (together they make up the group CHESTER FRENCH), from college student to public pop persona can only be described as dizzying. The duo’s debut, LOVE THE FUTURE, recorded at Harvard during their senior year, was released on Pharrell’s Star Trak label in 2008, just a year after graduation. A huge array of flattering press ensued, with the pair written up in numerous magazines and featured in glossy color photos in adorably ironic outfits that were best described by Vibe magazine as "glee-club glam.”

Massy Tadjedin '99 (Writer & Director, LAST NIGHT)

By Cristina Slattery '97

"I've always wanted to make movies," Massy Tadjedin '99, the screenwriter and director of LAST NIGHT, a movie about relationships starring Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes, says brightly -- the rhythm and cadence of her speech sounding very all-American "Valley Girl." And, as she did grow up in Southern California, this isn't surprising. "Directing is what I have always wanted to do," she states authoratatively, like the daughter of a Hollywood mogul. Yet, although she grew up near Hollywood (in Yorba Linda, Orange County), Tadjedin, is the daughter of Iranian immigrants who brought her to America after the revolution in her country of origin. She thinks that this "outsider" status that she experienced growing up gave her the perspective of an observer early in life. This distinct perspective, along with the hours she spent watching the films of John Wayne, John Ford, Don Siegel, Coppola, Scorcese and John Huston with her dad, helped her to fall in love with film as a medium for storytelling.

Diallo Riddle '97 & Bashir Salahuddin '98 (Comedy Writers & Actors)

By D. Dona Le '05

"Bashir and I started off as friends, and now we barely talk,” says Diallo Riddle ‘97.

He’s joking.

Since their time together at Harvard, Diallo and Bashir Salahuddin ’98 have been close friends and artistic collaborators as writers, actors, and—most importantly—content generators. They are currently writers for LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON on NBC, but even the name of their production company, PAPER PLANES, reveals that Riddle and Salahuddin are making a name for themselves by intelligently branding their distinct comedic style.

Franklin Leonard '00 (Founder of The Black List)

By Cristina Slattery '97

What is a self-described "wild card with dreadlocks" who wrote his Social Studies thesis on slam poetry and its relation to liberal democratic theory doing in Hollywood? The answer is that Franklin Leonard '00 is on a quest to find and produce great scripts. Leonard is known primarily for "The Black List," which was first officially released in 2005 (http://blcklst.com), but which began as an email that he sent to his friends and fellow young executives in Hollywood in 2004 when he was searching for unproduced gems. The name of this list, which evokes images of "blackness" (Franklin is African-American) and, of course, the Black List of the McCarthy era, has branded Leonard "as an executive who cares about great writing," he explains.

Mynette Louie '97 (Producer, CHILDREN OF INVENTION, MUTUAL APPRECIATION)

By Mark Saltveit '83

Film producers are "suits," financiers, number crunchers and contract negotiators. They're not creative – they're the people directors have to fight in order to be creative. Independent producer Mynette Louie '97, laughs. "That’s the most common perception out there, and I think that’s why Sundance decided to start the Creative Producing Lab three years ago."

Louie was one of the first fellows of the Sundance Institute's Creative Producing Lab. She has also been a participant in Cinemart's Rotterdam Producers Lab, and frequently participates in conference panels. After just 6 years in the film business, she has emerged as an innovative producer of indie movies and a vocal participant in the conversation about the future of film.

Anne Preven '86 (Singer / Songwriter)

By Sara Melson '90

Anne Preven '86 wrote her first song in the tenth grade, as part of a creative-writing assignment. "I got encouraging feedback from my teacher,” she recalls, "even though I forced my cousin to write the lyrics, and I borrowed the chord progression from a Neil Young song.”

At Harvard, Anne was actively singing, but not songwriting. She sang in (and for one year was musical director of) THE OPPORTUNES, performed in a cabaret-style show called MOOD INDIGO, and was an occasional guest vocalist in a friend’s band. She didn’t actually write another song until after she’d graduated Harvard and was living in New York. "A friend I sang with in college, who had graduated two years before me, basically called me from the real world and said, ‘Avoid a regular job at ALL cost.’ So we formed a little band, and after getting terrible songs from an ad we had placed in the Village Voice, I decided I would just write the songs myself. I got a hold of a little Casio keyboard and a simple recording setup, and went to work.”

Ben Mezrich '91 (Author, BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE, THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES)

By D. Dona Le '05

"I think I want to live vicariously through my characters, so I’m always looking for something exciting and interesting.”

An unexpected statement from an author whose career has certainly been exciting and interesting in its own right.

Ben Mezrich ’91 has written a number of non-fiction works about young college students whose talent and intelligence enable them to "beat the system, something we all aspire to do.” BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE: THE INSIDE STORY OF SIX MIT STUDENTS WHO TOOK VEGAS FOR MILLIONS, published in 2003, was the work that truly launched Mezrich into the spotlight. Adapted into the film 21, the book describes how a group of MIT students became a team of expert card counters who jetted off to Las Vegas every weekend.