RON FRIEDMAN

President

Ron Friedman has written for television in every decade and genre starting in the 60s. Bewitched, Gilligan’s Island, Starksy and Hutch, and Fantasy Island are among his credits. In animation he created G.I. Joe, and other series, and wrote The Transformers: The Movie. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, he co-founded a de facto children’s animation network in China, is a former Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting at USC and currently at Chapman University, he wrote the book for a new musical, Uprising, a play, Talking Pittsburgh, and is now finishing a book, I Killed Optimus Prime.

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Ron believes Age Inclusion in Media will create strategic liaisons between older writers, investors, performers, and directors to provide funding, employment opportunities, product placement, and new business models in this: The Age of Convergence.

RAMONA SCHINDELHEIM

Secretary / Treasurer

Ramona Schindelheim is an award-winning writer and journalist, who has won two EMMYS, a Peabody, a duPont, a Gracie, and two Golden Mics.

She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of WorkingNation, a not-for-profit media and content company reporting on solutions to job and workplace challenges caused by rapidly-changing technology, globalization, and an aging workforce. She is also a 2019-2020 Encore Public Voices Fellow, writing at the intersections of aging, longevity, intergenerational connection, and social justice. 

Over the course of her career, Ramona has worked in sitcoms; network, cable, and local television news; syndicated talk shows; documentaries; and digital media at ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNBC, Warner Brothers, and The Wall Street Journal. Ramona has also run a media consulting firm in New York where she specialized in coaching and branding CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Through a workshop conducted by AIM’s predecessor, she wrote a new screenplay. She and her writing partner and husband, Michael, have had a television series pilot optioned. 

Ramona is proud to be part of the AIM’s mission to help combat ageism in the media—on camera and off—and to help writers develop an understanding of the current writing market, so they can put that knowledge to use doing what they, and she, loves – telling a good story.

DAVID GITTINS

Executive Director

David Gittins began his working life as a commissioned officer in Her Majesty’s Customs, but changed careers once his play, Madness and Vomit, attracted the attention of British TV producers. He wrote multiple episodes for British television, including the prime time series Family Affairs, before he segued into developing and financing independent features, working with companies in the US, China, the UK, Italy, Ireland, and France.

He has an MFA in Screenwriting from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and holds a B.A. (First Class) in Economics from the University of Manchester.