Branden D. Miller, VP of in-theatre marketing for both Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures, will receive the 2010 “Al Shapiro Distinguished Service Award” during the final night banquet at the ShowEast convention, Oct. 14.

The Al Shapiro Award each year honors an executive who best represents the ideals and standards that the late Al Shapiro helped set during his distinguished career in the motion picture industry. Previous recipients include Kelly O’Connor, Nancy Kleuter, Scott Forman, Patricia Gonzalez, Bud Stone, John Lundin and Steve Bunnell.

“I can’t think of a more deserving individual in our industry to receive this award than Branden,” noted Robert Sunshine, managing director of ShowEast. “Branden’s exhibitor in-theatre marketing expertise and leadership have contributed greatly to the box-office success of some of the most notable films of all time.”

Miller has been at Twentieth Century Fox for the past 18 years, during which time he has served as manager, director and executive director of exhibitor services. Prior to working at Fox, he served for two years at Buena Vista Pictures Distribution as the Western Division marketing coordinator for their in-theatre marketing department.

During his time at Fox, Miller has been involved in the marketing of such hits as Avatar, Star Wars Episodes I, II & III, The Simpsons Movie, Independence Day, the X-Men, Ice Age and Alvin and the Chipmunks franchises, and the Fox Searchlight hits Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Miller worked for eight years in several capacities for the non-profit SCERA Corporation (Sharon’s Cultural, Educational, Recreational Association). He is currently on the board of directors of Variety the Children's Charity of Southern California (Tent 25) and serves on the Variety’s Kids committee. He is also on the board of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation and serves on their Neo Natal Committee. He was also associate producer of the independent film Sliding Home, which won the Feature Film Bronze Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in 2002.