New York City-based documentary filmmaker Nina Parmee, (SFS’98) was in Cape Canaveral, Florida in early March 2004, shooting footage for her latest project about a NASA space mission. She cut her trip short on March 11, and flew home to attend the New York launch of the Georgetown Media and Entertainment Alliance (GEMA).

“I know nobody from Georgetown who works in my field and I was feeling increasingly alienated from the school,” said Parmee. “I walk in here, and 5 minutes later, I meet another independent documentary filmmaker.”

More than 200 Georgetown graduates working in television, theater, magazines, music, public relations and more, echoed Parmee’s sentiments as they met and mingled at the world headquarters of Sirius Satellite Radio in midtown Manhattan.

Six New York alumni, each highly accomplished in their own right in the media and entertainment industry, made the evening possible by host sponsoring the event: Suzanne Grimes (B’80), MaryAnn Halford (C’80), Neil McGinness (C’90), Alex Nieroth (B’73), Tricia Primrose (C’86), Elizabeth Raposo (C’98) and Heather Reynolds (C’77.)

“Media and entertainment professionals in New York have never had an opportunity to benefit from their Georgetown affiliation.” said Grimes (B’80), publisher of Glamour, and also a member of the GEMA NY Launch Event Committee. “We realized there was a genuine need,” she said.

“Every top media company is represented by someone at Georgetown,” said Rich Battista, (B’86,) executive vice president of Fox Networks Group. “CBS, NBC, Time Warner, Disney, Sony, Fox, People, Sports Illustrated, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear about a grad in the business.”

To bring these Hoyas together, Battista founded GEMA in Los Angeles in 2002. The group aims to elevate Georgetown’s profile in the entertainment and media community, build a stronger rapport between alumni and the school, and develop programs and resources for both alumni and current Georgetown students.

In Los Angeles, the 285-member alliance offers speaker panels, film screenings and GEMAConnect, an online networking service which matches alumni by interest. GEMA LA has an Externship Program which brings current Georgetown students to southern California to meet with alumni working in media and entertainment over spring break, and summer internships where students are given a work assignment for academic credit at a prestigious media or entertainment company.

“We’re really excited to bring these types of things to New York,” said Battista.

And many alumni are overjoyed that they are coming.

“This is a really good thing,” said Parmee, the documentary filmmaker. “I want to meet Rich [Battista] and shake his hand and say thank you!”

Attendees were thrilled to learn of Georgetown graduates working every corner of media and entertainment – from structuring business deals for News Corporation, to dreaming up advertising for Verizon Wireless, to editing Op-Eds at the Wall Street Journal. GEMA New York also uncovered Georgetown graduates working as novelists, record producers, even the president and general manager of NBC TV.

“I was incredibly surprised that there were so many people involved in the entertainment industry at all, then to find such amazing diversity – and at such high levels, was really impressive.” said Teddy Zambetti (C’90), executive producer of the Working Artist Group at Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc., who was also a member of the GEMA NY Launch Event Committee and instrumental in securing the great party space at Sirius.

“You would not usually think of creative folks having gone to Georgetown. When I first got there, people were going to head to Wall Street or the foreign service, or become lawyers or doctors. I was a musician, and there was really no place even to perform,” he said.

Now the university is constructing a performing arts center that will house two theaters, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia said, during his surprise appearance at the launch. It was his second alliance event of the week (the first was with the Wall Street Alliance) and he told of the university’s efforts to improve offerings for students interested in media and entertainment and praised GEMA’s organizers and its work, mentioning grateful e-mails he had received from students spending their spring break with the GEMA Externship Program in Los Angeles.

“What a difference it makes for young people to have the opportunity to connect with people like you,” DeGioia said.

Alumni also appreciated the chance to meet people who shared both their educational heritage and their career aspirations. “I wish there had been something like this when we graduated,” said Laura Sweeney, (CAS ’97), who works as an actor, most recently on Saturday Night Live.

“Especially with the job market as it is, for those who have jobs, it’s comforting to know that there’s a mechanism out there that they can fall back on,” said Zambetti. “For those without jobs, it’s great to be able to put yourself in a smaller pool to be chosen from. There’s a sense that with someone from Georgetown, you know they’ve had a good education, both intellectually and morally.”

“It’s evident we have a hit on our hands.” said Neil McGinness, GEMA’s East Coast Director. “There are some Georgetown graduates who are not becoming lawyers or investment bankers. It’s good to see them all here.”

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Rebecca Webber graduated from Georgetown in 1997 with an English major, an Italian minor, and three school records as a diver for the H2OYAs. She got her first job at a book publisher in New York, through a friend’s access to NYU’s job listings. Her Italian language skills opened a door into journalism when she was hired as an assistant editor in the New York office of AMICA, an Italian women’s magazine. She obtained a master’s degree in journalism in 2000 and started working as a freelance reporter and writer. She is currently a staff reporter for Glamour magazine.

The Georgetown Entertainment & Media Alliance, GEMA, brings together Georgetown University alumni, students and parents involved in all aspects of the media and entertainment industry. For more information or to get involved in GEMA, please go to www.GEMA-Hoyas.org