Join us for a conversation with Charbel Youssef—an accomplished producer, line producer, and unit production manager with over a decade of experience driving major feature films and television projects for leading studios, including NBCUniversal Television, Warner Bros., and Focus Features.

A member of both the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Charbel is celebrated for his collaborative leadership, operational innovation, and ability to bring creative visions to life on schedule and within budget. He has managed logistics, crew, finance/budgets, and scheduling for more than seventy-five episodes of network television and numerous studio features, guiding large interdisciplinary teams through every stage of production.

Charbel’s career began on blockbuster sets like Hitch and I Am Legend, where his passion for storytelling and precision in execution quickly propelled him from production assistant on films such as Sherlock Holmes, Cop Out, and Arthur, to producer’s assistant on Gangster Squad and Winter’s Tale, and later to production supervisor on Warner Bros.’ Run All Night. His expertise expanded further on high-profile productions including the New York VFX unit of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the star-studded Ocean’s 8.

As a production supervisor, he delivered on acclaimed, award-winning films such as BlacKkKlansman and Boogie for Focus Features.

In recent years, Charbel has played a key leadership role at NBCUniversal on flagship series such as Law & Order: Organized Crime (Seasons 1–5), where he advanced to line producer, and the reboot of the original Law & Order, where he served as DGA UPM. He is currently working on the new Dick Wolf production titled CIA.

Fluent in English and Arabic, and educated in Finance at Pace University and Hunter College, Charbel combines creative sensitivity with financial acumen. His two-decade immersion in the industry has made him a trusted partner renowned for streamlining workflows, fostering collaboration, and delivering exceptional content from greenlight to final delivery.

This event is a part of the CCAM Film Advisor Office Hours series, open to the Yale community. Students, staff, and faculty are invited to join us for these unique discussions between Susan Youssef (CCAM Film Advisor) and invited leaders from the world of film. Ask questions about everything from your creative practice as a filmmaker to getting your work out into the world. Feel free to bring your dinner or snacks to enjoy over the discussion.

The CCAM Sound Art Series presents a retrospective on the influential sound art pioneer Joe Jones (1934–1993). Join us for an evening with series curator Ross Wightman (CCAM Technical Manager), who will share his research on Jones’ innovative work and lasting impact on sound art and Fluxus. As part of his talk, Wightman will reconstruct and demonstrate a selection of Jones’ music machines from the 1960s—a rare opportunity to experience these innovative creations firsthand. 

Joe Jones was an American avant-garde musician and visual artist affiliated with the Fluxus movement. Born in 1934 in New York City, Jones developed an early interest in music, studying under composers like John Cage, Earle Brown, and Christian Wolff. Jones was best known for creating automatic music machines that perform without human intervention, incorporating elements of kinetic art and experimental music to produce unique soundscapes.

In the early 1960s, Jones created numerous music machines and other contraptions exhibited internationally, collaborating with prominent Fluxus artists such as Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik.

Jones’s work challenged traditional notions of musical performance, emphasizing the roles of chance and the environment in sound creation. His self-playing Solar Music Constructions, powered by solar energy, produced sound through the interaction of sunlight with mechanical and electronic components. This paved the way for future explorations in eco-conscious art forms. In addition to his music machines, Jones was a pioneer in early computer drawings.

The CCAM Sound Art Series is centered around the sonic arts in its many forms. It presents a diversity of works by guest artists that investigate sound through the intersections of experimental musical performance, installation art, performance art, and beyond. In addition to live performance and public presentation of sound-based art, open discussions invite the audience to further engage with the featured artists and works.