Inside Saban Clinic Gala With Bela Bajaria, David Nevins, Peter Friedlander

Hollywood power players turned out in full force at Saban Community Clinic’s milestone 50th anniversary gala on Monday evening to toast a few of their own inside the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom.

The event raised a whopping $2.2 million for Saban — a network with seven clinics across Los Angeles (and a new 12,000-sq.ft outpost on the way in the Crenshaw corridor) that provide quality healthcare to anyone who walks through the doors — and it did so by packing the ballroom with A-list studio and network executives, agency partners, producers, actors and show creators like Dan Fogelman, Sam Levinson and Jonathan Nolan.

A majority came to support the cause (growing more urgent by the day) and celebrate the night’s headliner honorees, Amazon MGM Studios’ Peter Friedlander and former Showtime chief David Nevins, while others, however, quipped they couldn’t escape the gravitational pull of event linchpin Ellen Hoberman or longtime Saban champions like event chair Richard Weitz. The WME co-chairman was also responsible for one of the night’s heartwarming moments as he led an impromptu and thunderous round of applause for ousted Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, his fellow event chair, during shared time at the podium at top of the show.

Weitz first congratulated Friedlander and Nevins for their awards before turning attention to Bajaria, “someone who has tirelessly worked for the industry, been a part of the clinic, and honestly somebody who has changed, I think, the face of Netflix — that’s my friend Bela,” he said. Weitz noted that his comments were not on the teleprompter but he wanted to take a moment to “give it up for her” because “she deserves the love.” Bajaria was ousted and replaced by Peter Rice in a major Netflix shakeup that saw her exit the streamer amid mass layoffs of 1,000 staffers. Weitz also acknowledged that he and Bajaria were Saban honorees together a few years back, “so it’s only fitting that we’re doing this together.”

It wasn’t the only nod to industry tumult from the podium but more on that — and Bajaria’s response to the ballroom love in her first interview since exiting Netflix — later. The current political landscape also played into the night’s festivities. Also at the top of the program, Hoberman noted how President Donald Trump and his administration have rolled back healthcare policies and cut programs like Medicaid, making it harder for vulnerable populations to get care. “If you want change, please vote,” said Hoberman, a philanthropist and longtime Saban advocate who is married to prominent entertainment attorney Tom Hoberman. “We must vote for leaders who will protect healthcare.”

Jimmy Smits and Wanda De Jesus also shared the podium to praise Saban’s work in the Los Angeles area and introduce an emotional video featuring a woman named Heidy and her family, a clip that detailed their personal story of challenges and triumph under the clinic’s care. Smits also flagged that the current administration has removed longstanding protections against immigration enforcement at clinics, at hospitals, schools and places of worship, a decision he noted that “has left families afraid to seek care and forcing doctors and nurses to take on the added burden of trying to protect patients from fear and intimidation instead of what they’re trained to do, care for others.”

Following their remarks, Hoberman’s two children, Eric and Sarah, took the stage in a surprise moment that was not on the program as they honored their mother’s tireless work on behalf of Saban for more than four decades. They offered a heartfelt tribute as their mother looked on in shock before she took to the stage to accept a glass trophy.

Sarah said she sends invitations by hand, assembles centerpieces, convinces musicians and comedians to donate their time and even dyes towels black to meet performer’s backstage riders. “No task is too big, no detail is too small, and there is absolutely nothing that she won’t do for the clinic. She, along with the doctors and the staff, are quite simply the heartbeat of this organization,” Sarah Hoberman said.

David Hoberman added: “To everyone in this room who’s ever seen Ellen Hoberman’s name pop up on their phone and thought, ‘Oh God, what does she want now?’ Just remember, she’s not calling for herself. She’s calling for the person who needs an eye exam so they can keep working. The child who needs dental care so they can go back to school or the young mother who needs medical care because she has nowhere else to turn.”

Actor and comedian Alex Edelman hosted the affair, and took the stage following a dinner break that saw the majority of power executives and attendees break from the their tables and mingle throughout the ballroom. Nevins and Friedlander fielded well wishes, Bajaria stood near the center of the room and chatted up many friends and former colleagues, Levinson caught up with presenter Connie Britton and Edelman shuffled through his notecards.

The comedian delivered a brief but rousing set that also touched on politics before hitting on the state of the industry and his own connection to the cause with a father, Elazer Reuven Edelman, who works as a cardiologist at Boston’s Mass General hospital and as a professor at Harvard Medical School.

“Hello, ladies, gentlemen, agents, Ellen’s family, Paramount+ executives holding on for dear life and people too afraid of Richard Weitz to not buy a table,” said Edelman in front of a room that hosted Skydance TV boss George Cheeks, who oversees Paramount+. “By the way, I was sitting next to Walton Goggins and I’ve had two Negronis, so this could go in any direction. What an interesting time for this gala. The entertainment industry obviously is going through some really tough changes, and if you’d like an example, look no further than this podium. A dinner that was hosted by [Conan O’Brien] two years ago and Jimmy Kimmel last year is now being presided over by the seventh lead on Peacock’s The Office spin-off, The Paper, a show that some of you are hearing about for the very first time.”

Then came the political quip with a dig at Trump. “There are so many incredible people in this room, philanthropists, talents, pioneers, previous honorees, like Bela, Pearlena and [Orly Adelson], board members like Dan Fogelman. Dan created Paradise, a show set in the future about an assassinated president, which is both sci-fi and aspirational,” he said as he crossed his fingers with a smirk. “Ellen told me I could do that joke. I’m not kidding.”

Britton had the honor of presenting the night’s honoree tribute to Nevins, someone she called “the best TV man I know, and that is no offense to a room full of amazing, amazing TV men.” His trophy, the Lenny Somberg Volunteer Award, came his way for embodying values like “compassion, selfless service, and an unwavering commitment to make a difference and to healthcare as a human right,” Britton said.

“I met David 20 years ago when we started shooting the TV series Friday Night Lights. David was with Imagine at that time and very much in the keeping of all of our experiences on that show, David had a passion and a commitment that far exceeded what his job as an executive producer might have required. Right away, David became part of the fabric of the show,” Britton explained. “He popped up in Austin so often I assumed he had relocated. He would go out for dinner and drinks with all of us after a day of shooting during which he could be usually spotted behind the monitor in tears. We loved when David was around. He was one of us.”

Nevins became such a close collaborator that he even helped Britton lug boxes out of her apartment at the end of the first season. “I think he was wearing a suit jacket. My comforter dragged on the ground as he shoved it into the car. It was generosity at its purest,” she. “That is David.”

“For 30 years, David has given his time, his heart, and his energy to helping the clinic fulfill its promise of compassionate care to those who need it most. His relentless commitment reminds us of the profound difference that one person can make,” she continued. “I’m so proud to call you my friend.”

In accepting, Nevins noted how his research into the award’s namesake revealed that Somberg had been killed 50 years ago this week in a botched robbery at the clinic office. “The free clinic that Lenny volunteered in the late ’60s and he eventually ran until his murder was created as a place for people had nowhere else to turn. It was short of money and resources, but it had very clear conviction that people who were poor were undocumented, which wasn’t such an issue in the 1960s, but it’s a huge issue today. People struggling with addiction or living outside the boundaries of what we call respectable society still deserve thoughtful medical care,” he detailed. “And Lenny Somberg was first among those who helped turn that conviction into a reality.”

He then thanked the staff, volunteers, doctors and donors who refuse to let the clinic’s mission disappear. “You turned a small struggling free clinic into a bedrock institution in this city, a city that, by the way, just so happens to have the largest concentration of uninsured patients in the country,” said Nevins, who saved a few charming words for fellow honoree Friedlander. “Even though you’ve only been on the job for a year [at Amazon], you are now the steward of the most stable company in all of Hollywood. So listen, all of us in the Hollywood creative community are rooting hard for you, my friend.”

Those in the room cheering him on included Amazon’s Albert Cheng and Sue Kroll, NBCUniversal’s Pearlena Igbokwe, CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach, Sony Pictures Television’s Katherine Pope, Skydance TV’s George Cheeks, Netflix’s Jinny Howe, Warner Bros. TV’s Brett Paul, Fox’s Nick Grad, former Fox Television Group CEO Gary Newman, former NBC and FOX entertainment chief Kevin Reilly, A24 co-founder Ravi Nandan, CAA’s Chris Silbermann and Mitch Rose, attorney Ken Ziffren, Bruce Rosenblum, Jim Packer, A+E’s Barry Jossen, Gersh’s Bob Gersh, attorney Marty Singer, Sony’s Keith LeGoy and Jay Levine, Disney’s Joshua Sussman, Warner Bros.’ Adam Glick and Brett Paul, Lionsgate’s Jim Packer, Sam and Ashley Levinson, actress Peri Gilpin, producer David Friendly, WME’s Sylvie Rabineau and Hilary Zaitz Michael and many more.

A brief musical interlude came courtesy of Aloe Blacc, who performed a three-song set that included “I Need a Dolla,” a tribute to his hero Bill Withers with “Lean on Me” and his hit “Wake Me Up.” Edelman then welcomed Goggins to the stage for the final award of the night, to his good buddy and onetime neighbor Friedlander. But not before a video tribute from some famous faces like Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Amanda Seyfried, Uzo Aduba, Noah Centineo, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Callum Turner.

Goggins opened his tribute by detailing how he first met Friedlander 14 years ago when he bought his dream home in a “very, very cool neighborhood,” and it just so happened to be a few doors down from the executive who, at the time, worked at Netflix.

“Now, for the actors in this room, you know exactly what that means. My brain was on fire. I’m living two doors down from a studio executive, Peter Friedlander from Netflix,” he recalled. “I just thought, ‘Man, Peter Friedlander, a studio executive from Netflix is going to get every single idea I’ve ever had.’”

Those pitch meetings never came to fruition, but what filled the void was a lasting friendship. “Most executives, nothing wrong with this, but they learn the business from behind a desk. But Peter learned it standing on a set at five o’clock in the morning in the rain and figuring out finally how to get the thing made,” said Goggins, who now works on an Amazon Prime show in Fallout. “And when you’ve done the work, you never forget the people who do the work. Peter loves talent. He believes in talent, actors, writers, directors. When Peter looks at a set, he doesn’t just see a production. I know this firsthand. He sees every single person who’s pouring themselves into it and he’s got their back. I know because in the last year, he’s had my back.”

Friedlander, who started his career as a driver for actor Gary Sinise before going on to work for Hanks and Goetzman at Playtone, took a quick walk down memory lane. He recalled how he moved to Los Angeles not to chase Hollywood dreams but to “fulfill my childhood dream and every child’s dream of becoming a career bureaucrat for the city of Los Angeles.” A career in city planning didn’t come to be, but he learned enough about how an urban sprawl functions to know the crucial role of a place like Saban Community Clinic.

“To be here tonight accepting this honor at the Saban Community Clinic Gala, it genuinely feels like a full circle moment because you cannot have a thriving city without a thriving community, and you cannot have a thriving community without accessible healthcare. It is fundamental. It is infrastructure as essential as any road, as any railway or any crosswalk. And that’s why the Saban Community Clinic plays such a vital role in the life of this city,” he said. “Our neighbors, our fellow Los Angelenos, our friends rely on this free and affordable care this clinic provides. That care is part of what makes Los Angeles a better place for all of us to live. And while I’ve spent nearly three decades in the business of storytelling, connecting people around the world, alongside so many of the colleagues I’m honored to share this room with tonight, my heart has always been split between that global work and the work we do right here at home, making our city a more humane, a more civilized, and a more functional place to live.”

Friedlander also name-checked a few power players, including Hanks and Goetzman, “the impressive trio” of Cindy Holland, Channing Dungey and Bela at Netflix, and “the formidable” Mike Hopkins at Amazon. It is worth nothing that Friedlander has been in his post at Amazon MGM Studios for a little more than a year overseeing the company’s original TV portfolio in the U.S., global tentpoles and MGM Television and MGM Alternative projects, among other duties. He joined the studio after himself being ousted from Netflix by Bajaria and Ted Sarandos after a long 14-year tenure.

In closing, Friedlander thanked his parents, including his mother who was in the room, and his father who was recuperating at home after falling and undergoing an emergency hip replacement. “I keep thinking about how lucky he was to be able to begin his recovery that quickly, that safely, and that’s not something everyone gets. That’s exactly the point of tonight. Whatever we can do to guarantee that all the people around us, all of them have that same right to that same immediate dignified care, that is what would make tonight a real success.”

The night felt like a success for Bajaria, too. After all the awards had been handed out and the event concluded, The Hollywood Reporter asked the veteran executive what it felt like to be making some high-profile rounds so soon after exiting Netflix, and she was direct in keeping her comments focused solely on Saban. But she did say that she’s felt the love since news of her exit broke, and there was never a chance that she would skip attending such a special gathering of friends, colleagues, Saban supporters and industry heavyweights. “It’s just one of those nights,” she said. “It’s such a warm room.”

“I have been part of the Saban Community Clinic for many, many years. I’ve been on the board and I’m a previous honoree. What I love about this event and being here today is it has always been the coming together of the TV community — always. This room is so warm and generous and we support each other,” she said. “And I will say the outpouring that I’ve received in the last couple of weeks has been so beautiful and amazing. I’ve been in television for 30 years, and at this point I have worked with what feels like nearly every single person from agents and producers to writers and actors. I love it. I’m so grateful for the career I have had to date, with lots more to come.”