Coronavirus Concerns Postpone UCLA’s “End Of The World” Entertainment Symposium

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EXCLUSIVE: As more and more industry events shutter due to fears of the expanding coronavirus, UCLA’s 44th annual Entertainment Symposium has now been postponed too.

With the now ironically “It’s the End of the World as We Know It – And We Feel Fine” entitled keynote from WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer boss Bob Greenblatt no longer happening, the move to temporality shut down the March 20 – 21 law school event comes less than 24 hours after ULCA suspended further in-person classes. Exams at the school will now taking place digitally as classes shut down until at least April 10 on campus.

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“The health and safety of our attendees, speakers and the greater UCLA community is our top priority,” proclaimed an email that just went out from organizers announcing the decision for for the traditionally well attended symposium. “With news of the coronavirus (COVID-19) understandably creating concern, the University has suspended all events and gatherings holding 100 persons or more, at this time,” the short correspondence added.

“Therefore, after exploring various alternatives, including moving to a virtual platform, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the 44th Annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium to a later date,” the note stated of the 2020 version of the yearly heavyweights shindig in the university’s Macgowan Hall. “This is an unfortunate development, but we believe that this decision is in the best interest of our attendees, sponsors, and greater community. Further, our thoughts and support are with those who have been affected by the virus and the disruptions it is causing.”

In the last few days, organizers debated shifting to a virtual version of the Symposium, but that was ultimately rejected, at least for now.

Along with Greenblatt, the two-day gathering from the Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law was scheduled to have appearances by the likes of Bones profits participation attorney John Berlinski, Sony Pictures TV Studio’s EVP and Business Affairs chief Karen Tatevosian, and Jeffrey Toobin of CNN and the New Yorker legal fame.

As of today, there are more than 118,000 cases over COVID-19 in 114 countries, with 4,291 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, which declared a global pandemic on Wednesday.

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