Month: July 2023

CHICAGO, July 18, 2023 /3BL/ – The results are in: the names of three more talented filmmakers have gone up in lights as McDonald’s USA unveils the rising stars who are primed to take the industry by storm. The newly selected finalists of the Spotlight Dorado short film contest will each receive a production budget of $75,000 and mentorship from renowned industry leaders as they embark on the unforgettable creative journey of producing their short films. In its second year, Spotlight Dorado continues to uplift and amplify diverse voices to help drive inclusivity and bridge the gap that exists for Hispanic filmmakers in the industry, further reinforcing McDonald’s long-standing commitment to championing the community’s rich culture through programs that fuel pride and representation.

After reviewing hundreds of submissions, a panel of industry pros handpicked this year’s top three finalists based on criteria like their originality, direction, writing, and production value. The filmmakers were surprised with the news at a star-studded celebratory event in the heart of Hollywood where they got to meet some of their mentors including comedian, writer, actor, and producer Al Madrigal, actress Danay Garcia, and writer, producer, director, and actress Gloria Calderón Kellett, along with last year’s Spotlight Dorado grand-prize winner Jesus Celaya.

“When I was starting out in Hollywood, it was challenging being the only Latina in the room. I often felt out of place and I struggled with imposter syndrome,” said Gloria Calderón Kellett, showrunner of the Amazon Original series With Love. “That’s why I am so thrilled to have joined Spotlight Dorado as a mentor to give these three rising stars the platform to tell stories that will resonate with our community and to let them know that they deserve to be seen and heard.”

Also joining this year’s all-star mentor squad are Grammy®-winning artist, Golden Globe®  and Emmy® nominated actor Anthony Ramos, director Carlos López Estrada and writer-director Nancy Mejía. Together, they will guide the finalists over the next few months as they bring their stories to life, while sharing insights into their own experiences breaking through the barriers they faced as Latino creators in Hollywood.

Meet Spotlight Dorado’s newest finalist line-up

Get ready to be mesmerized by the display of creativity and raw talent about to grace the golden screen!

The three short films will premiere on SpotlightDorado.com in November, giving viewers nationwide the opportunity to watch and vote for their favorite to help determine the 2023 grand-prize winner.

The winner will be announced in December and will receive a year-long opportunity to work with McDonald’s on next year’s Spotlight Dorado campaign along with a laptop and one year of industry standard creative software subscription services. All three finalists will also be granted entry fees for up to six national film competitions in 2024 on behalf of the program.

Marissa Díaz Fancy Florez’s

Summer Staycation

Marissa Díaz is a Tejana writer, director, and producer who has worked on notable projects including HBO’s Girls and HBO Max’s teen drama, Generation. She is also a Film Independent + Netflix Episodic Lab Fellow, a Film Independent + CNN Original Series Docuseries Fellow, and a Producers Guild of America + Google Create Fellow.

Fancy Florez’s Summer Staycation Synopsis: For ten-year-old Fancy Florez, it’s all in the name. She wants the finer things in life and puts in the work to manifest the greatest summer staycation ever, even if it means standing up to her archenemy. This slice of life comedy is a peek into all the ups and downs that come with girlhood.

Kryzz Gautier

Chimera

Kryzz Gautier is a queer Afro-Latina writer/director born and raised in the Dominican Republic. She has worked on numerous projects as a writer including the critically lauded Gordita Chronicles and the highly celebrated franchise BIOSHOCK. Gautier’s work has gained international acclaim, with her films screening at numerous Academy Awards, BAFTA, and Canadian Screen Awards qualifying festivals like Fantasia, Outfest, and Frameline.

Chimera Synopsis: Exploring obsession and how technology enables us, Chimera tells the story of Kian Zarrido, a talented virtual reality developer who leads a double life after recreating her ex-girlfriend in VR yet continuing her relationship with her fiance in real life.

Pablo Riesgo

Cuando Volvimos A La Tierra/ When We Came Back to Earth

Pablo Riesgo is a Spanish writer and director based between Los Angeles, Madrid and Mexico City. Currently pursuing his MFA at the American Film Institute, Riesgo was chosen to direct the pilot episode for the inaugural AFI Television Initiative in 2022. His latest short, Tiro Dominical, played in over 20 film festivals worldwide and received the Best Comedy Short Award at the 34th Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Cuando Volvimos A La Tierra Synopsis (CVALT): A reimagining of the legend of the astronaut and Native American, CVALT is set to take viewers on a mission to Mars through the eyes of Marcel, an ultra-rich man with lofty dreams who encounters two unexpected guests that desire a better life.

For more information about Spotlight Dorado, visit spotlightdorado.com.

ABOUT MCDONALD’S

McDonald’s has always been committed to the communities it serves, and the people that make up those communities. Spotlight Dorado underscores just one of the steps McDonald’s has taken to help achieve a more equitable and inclusive future for our employees, Franchisees, suppliers, customers, and the communities we serve and foster. Serving more than 14,000 local communities nationwide, McDonald’s wants to use its scale to empower and amplify the voices of Hispanic talent, especially in areas where they are underrepresented, including film.

Beyond Spotlight Dorado, the Golden Arches has given back and connected with the Hispanic community through initiatives in music, education, and sports, as well as supporting local charities and organizations that fuel Latino pride and representation.

McDonald’s USA, LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with quality ingredients to millions of customers every day. Ninety-five percent of McDonald’s approximately 13,500 U.S. restaurants are owned and operated by independent business owners. For more information, visit www.mcdonalds.com, or follow us on Twitter @McDonalds and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mcdonalds.

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The modern world is evolving quickly, and business is changing right with it. Those of us working in supply chain functions are adapting to keep pace and deliver even more value to our companies. Just a few years ago, we were asked to embrace General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and become knowledgeable on privacy topics to support business operations and regulatory compliance. Now, it’s commonplace to talk about these topics with suppliers. Looking ahead, the next big change is undoubtedly Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), especially with the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) from the European Union.

Personally, I could not be more thrilled to have ESG conversations with suppliers, as I’ve always been an advocate of protecting our planet. I also understand why those of us in supply chain roles have major leverage – our organizations help companies spend over $22 trillion dollars in the United States alone1.

Legislation that supports sustainable development has been slow to gain traction, especially in the United States. But corporations can and must be part of the solution. According to the UN Global Compact, there are more than 17,000 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) participants in over 160 countries. These companies have the opportunity to generate strong economic returns, while also embedding long-term social and environmental value into their operations.

To bring this to life, Responsible Sourcing2 has become a popular strategy. For many companies, this is because their biggest sustainability impact often lies within their supply chain.

I’m excited about our part to help deliver on VMware’s 2030 Agenda and ESG outcomes of Sustainability, Equity and Trust, serving as a key lever to strengthen our business resilience, create opportunities to innovate, and combat climate change through VMware Responsible Sourcing.

Over the past 12 months, our Responsible Sourcing program has made considerable progress around sustainability, diversity, and accessibility. Two significant achievements in this area are:

The official launch of our Sustainability Supplier Engagement ProgramVMware’s recognition as a CDP Supplier Engagement Leader

Sustainability Supplier Engagement Program

Our suppliers represent a significant portion of our carbon footprint, with 70%+ of our emissions coming from our supply chain in our most recent greenhouse gas inventory. As a company, VMware has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions for our operations and supply chain by 2030. As a critical first milestone, we are aiming for 75% of our annual spend to be with suppliers who have set science-based targets (SBTs) by end of FY25. Ambitious as this is, we know it is achievable and requires strong partnerships with our suppliers.

Supplier sustainability is not something that just happens on its own, nor can you make strides without a baseline understanding of what sustainability means to your suppliers. In FY21 we started this journey by leveraging EcoVadis‘ newly released Carbon Action Module to assess our suppliers on their sustainability practices. Once we had a baseline understanding we set a strategy to act.

At the end of FY22, we found that 23% of our suppliers had set science-based targets. A report published by CDP revealed that only 5% of suppliers annually are motivated to set SBTs on their own. We knew then that we had to take direct action in order to meet our FY25 goal by finding ways to accelerate progress through procurement actions, such as strengthening our Supplier Code of Conduct, direct enablement for our suppliers, and even implementing contractual language with sustainability requirements.

In early FY23 we began a pilot program to learn how direct enablement with our supply network could help move suppliers along in their sustainability journey. We were intentional in ensuring the program represented a diverse set of suppliers from across various industries, business sizes, and diversity ownership. This provided a good framing to identify nuances in how we support different types of suppliers as we work to expand the program.

The pilot revealed promising results. Seventy-three percent of participating suppliers who interacted with us are now interested and/or actively engaged in setting their own SBTs.

The pilot also became a driver for VMware Responsible Sourcing to develop an initial set of educational training and resources to help our suppliers along the way. Five training modules were created to understand where suppliers were on their sustainability journey and how VMware could help them reach new milestones. The net result was a library of educational resources covering topics like how to build a business case for sustainability and engage your stakeholders, SBTs 101, and how companies can get started on measuring their greenhouse gasses. This material is now available for free to our community through our Responsible Sourcing Website.

On May 5th, we officially launched a new, scaled Sustainability Supplier Engagement program leveraging Watershed, our supplier resource portal and carbon management system, and an automated communications platform designed by Bridge Partners. The roll out will be staged as we gather important feedback that will enable us to further optimize interactions. We expect to engage 90% of our suppliers (by spend) in FY24.

CDP Supplier Engagement Leader

In addition to the Sustainability Supplier Engagement Program, we have continued to expand our impact across several other areas. These include working with Procurement to add new contractual language related to the environment in our Supplier Code of Conduct, and more recently, launched a new Supplier Sustainability Addendum (SSA) specifically designed to support and drive supplier commitments to set science-based targets. We have begun executing this new SSA with all our highest-spend suppliers. In addition, we’re engaging our Suppliers in completing an ESG assessment in EcoVadis and launching a new program designed to increase sustainability in our promotional and giveaway items.

These efforts, all combined, led to our recent recognition by CDP as a Supplier Engagement Leader. We were among the top 8% of companies assessed for supplier engagement on climate change, based on our 2022 CDP disclosure. This recognition is a great proof point for the progress we’re making toward our supply chain emissions goals. It’s also a testament to the collaboration between our many teams.

We are well on our way to meeting our 2025 goal, and with the direct engagement and education we’re offering through our scaled program, I’m confident we’ll hit our target.

It takes all of us to do everything we can to fight against climate change. We encourage you to use our Responsible Sourcing site as a guide and you can find more on VMware’s ESG efforts here.

[1] Kramer, M. R., Agarwal, R., & Srinivas, A. (2019). Business as Usual Will Not Save the Planet.

[2] The term Responsible Sourcing herein is inclusive of the following: Sustainable Sourcing, Sustainable Supply Chain, Sustainable Procurement, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Responsible Supply Chain, Responsible Procurement, Responsible Supply Chain Management.

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