Bettina Fisher is the Senior Director of Early Career Talent Development at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She helped create and leads the Academy Gold Rising Internship Enhancement and Mentorship Program, an industry-wide diversity and inclusion talent development program. She and her team are responsible for recruitment, creating and executing the summer curriculum, and overseeing the Academy Gold Rising Production Track which is a workforce development program for students interested in below-the-line careers such as cinematography, costume design, editing, production design, sound, and visual effects.

 

In 2015 she launched the Academy’s first annual Careers in Film Summit, an educational program to inform youth about the vast jobs in the film industry. Held in Los Angeles, California, the day-long event features industry panels and clips on various careers.

 

Bettina previously worked as a producer and director at National Public Radio (npr) where she worked on shows such as the Peabody Award-winning "Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music" and "Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center."  She has held positions at Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies, Wake Forest University, and American University, where she was the Director of Strategic Programs and Partnerships and launched the Reel Journalism Film Festival. She has been a juror for New Filmmaker LA’s Best of NFMLA Awards, and the Pan African Film Festival. Additionally, she has produced numerous student short films and was one of the producers of "The Black Ghiandola" a short film for the Make a Film Foundation that featured Johnny Depp, Laura Dern, David Lynch, J.K. Simmons, Jade Pettyjohn, Penelope Ann Miller, Chad Coleman, among others. In 2022, she helped produce the short film "I'm Not Your Hero," about the effect of the Covid pandemic on frontline workers. Bettina is on the Board of ASPIRE, the Academy for Social Purpose in Responsible Entertainment, a member of the Cal State University Entertainment Alliance Advisory Council, an Advisory Board Member of Media U, and a Board Member of the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA). She has also served as a film juror for New Filmmakers LA, the Pan African Film Festival, and the Santa Domingo Film Festival.