On Thursday, “Yalies in Entertainment” launched with a special guest: two-time Academy Award–winning filmmaker Bill Guttentag. “YiE,” small community of young alums in media and the arts, took form with this kickoff event in SoHo, where a mixer preceded a selection of clips and conversation with Guttentag.

Alongside his documentary and narrative endeavors, Guttentag has been teaching a course at the Stanford School of Business since 2001. One of his former students, Doreen Oliver (another Yale alum with a similarly long track record in film and television), partook in this lively conversation about the business and creative sides of film – from Ang Lee to Garfield 2.

Considering the group’s range of personal and professional interests – from filmmaker to actor, writer to enthusiast – it was a great opportunity to chat informally and intimately with our guests and with each other. And just when I thought the evening was over, some of the folks in the photo above randomly decided to duck into a pub, where we ended up winding down and continuing the conversation. Already stoked for next month!