Mentors
Jennifer 8 Lee
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Jenny is the cofounder of a literary studio called Plympton, which focuses on publishing serialized fiction for digital reading. In addition she is working on a book on the struggle to be emotionally present in a hyperconnected age called "Left to My Own Devices" for Simon & Schuster.
She was a reporter for The New York Times for nine years, and has been a commentator for NPR on Marketplace. She's also been a lead judge for the Knight News Challenge, a $25 million initiative to support news innovation, and was a producer in News Foo camp. She is also on the boards of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the Center for Public Integrity, the Nieman Foundation, and the Robert F. Kennedy Courage in Journalism awards, and is a member of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Committee. Plus I am a board member of the Institute on Higher Awesome Studies, which supports the Awesome Foundation. Related to that, I am a producer on the documentary, The Search for General Tso with Ian Cheney, the director of King Corn.
She majored in applied math and economics at Harvard University and then went to Beijing University for a year on fellowship and studied international relations.
Kumar Anbalagan
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Kumar Anbalagan is an Executive Coach with over 15 years of experience working with firms like Microsoft and Mercedes Benz.
Kumar's passion is to support professionals who have the will to change and improve but do not know how to pursue their dreams.
He has developed a set of tools and tips which have helped his clients create a life and career they have always dreamed of.
Jesse Barnett
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Founded in 2005, Right Arm Resource specializes in Triple-A/Adult Rock independent radio promotion and tour marketing services. Jesse has been done indie promotion since 1999, and previously worked at Hybrid Recordings, A&M Records, and Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising.
Shaun Barrett
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
After 10 years as a bassist I Launched 4 Ohm Entertainment Group focusing on artist management and development in Fall of '06, to supply serious and up and coming artists a foothold in the music industry, and further the career of current professionals. In August '11I launched a blog called The Sound Scene to supply advice to young artists who are trying to find their way in the Music Industry. Also around that time I co-Founded Lets Get Messy Events which is a specialized events company.
Jay Batson
Interactive
Monday March 11th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
I help remix the classic & the new to create sweet new startup companies. I've founded two venture-backed companies, and bootstrapped others.
Now, I'm helping dozens of companies navigate the cacophony of starting up. I'm a Mentor-In-Residence at TechStars Boston (helping 28 companies), and helping others via MassChallenge and other local Boston startup scenes.
I help companies think about matching business model to customer and consumer acquisition.
Oh, if you can't tell, I'm also a Deep House DJ.
Anna Beatrice Scott
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
I am a pattern master. With exceptional lateral thinking, I can usually find a connection and pattern between any given set of ideas, projects, actions. Because of this, I am an exceptionally entertaining and daunting moderator. It's unusual that I can't take a conversation to a point of implementation. I make people make things happen.
People who visited my mentor table last year went on to take their crazy idea to market. If you're ready to admit that you are changing the world, come talk to me.
My current interests reside in crowdfunding. I'm building a platform, launching a news site, and creating an Atlas on the topic. Basically, I love sharing, rewarding, and making cool shi(f)t happen. Crowdfunding is a great way to do all of those.
When I am not instigating change on my own or through third parties, I spend my time dancing and throwing dinner parties (that often have the result of changing the world so they may not count). I tinker with 21st century storytelling tools, especially augmented reality. And I "read" sci-fi shows, movies and novels for glimpses of the future that already always exists for us. I an enmeshed with quantum storytelling right now (see what I did there).
Then, I spend the rest of my time making large interactive, improvisational performance pieces that function like MECE trees in a romper room.
My biz is an in arts-in-action consultancy. Clients include EnderTech, Vonigo, Birch Gold, Hint Mint, Idea Project, TEDxSkidRow, The Audacious Group. Commissions and collaborators include Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, REDCAT, Sheron Wray & Texterritory, Aimee Allison & Oaklandseen.com, Ritsu Katsumata, Meg Wolfe, and Ulysses Jenkins.
I am an escaped academic, and have the books and articles to prove it.
Brian Beck
Music
Thursday March 14th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Brian Beck is a manager at Flatiron/Borman Management that represents My Morning Jacket, Jim James, Deep Sea Diver, Flight Of The Concords and more.
Dan Beckmann
Interactive
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Obama 08 New Media - ABC News - Current TV - Boot Strapped Start-up Founder - IB5k - Schmooru - US Congress New Media Consultant - Presidential Politics Expert - Data Analytics - MS Journsliam Northwestern - PHD ABD Media Philosophy European Graduate School - Peabody & Emmy Award Winning Journalist - Advertising - Marketing - NYC Brooklyn/SF Mission
What am I missing?
Ben Brown
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Ben Brown is the CEO of XOXCO, a product design and development firm focused on creating next generation publishing tools for multi-platform digital experiences. Ben began publishing on the web in 1996.
Jordan Burger
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Jordan Burger started booking concert tours for bands in his senior year at Emory University. Jordan spent the late 90's as an agent at Pinnacle Entertainment, and the last decade at The Agency Group. In those years Jordan booked over 100 touring artists, working with everyone from Kid Rock to Squeeze, Oasis to The Cat Empire. In 2010, Jordan opened a NY office for Fleming Artists, a successful boutique agency who previously had offices in Ann Arbor MI & Melbourne AUS, and represented such artists as Toad the Wet Sprocket, Ani Difranco, and Colin Hay. In 2012, Jordan opened a Nashville office for Fleming Artists as well. Fleming Artists will host two showcases at SXSW, on Thursday March 14th at the Palm Door, and on Saturday March 16th at Antones. Some of the artists Jordan Burger is the Responsible Agent for include Civil Twilight, Delta Rae, Kris Allen, A Silent Film, Jillette Johnson, Lee Dewyze, Carbon Leaf, Vienna Teng, Jenny Owen Youngs, & Carousel.
Kelly Callahan
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
20 years of experience creating and implementing successful marketing strategies, with a special focus on the travel, hospitality and sustainable transportation categories.
Passionate about using digital media to spark customer engagement and brand advocacy.
Elisa Camahort Page
Interactive
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:00pm
As BlogHer, Inc.'s co-founder and COO. Elisa leads BlogHer's events and with her leadership, the BlogHer conference business has grown from a single conference hosting 300 attendees in 2005, to many diverse events that hosted over 6,000 attendees in 2012.
Elisa’s other major focus is to bring the story of BlogHer and the influence of the women in its community, to life, helping BlogHer’s customers glean critical insights about how women connect, share and behave online and off. Elisa’s work has resulted in coverage and profiles from many of the leading media outlets, including the USA TODAY, New York Times, the Washington Post, Advertising Age, Forbes, Fast Company, CNN, The Today Show, the Wall Street Journal, and many more.
Together, BlogHer co-founders Lisa, Elisa and Jory were in the Ernst & Young Winning Women Class of 2011, have been named among the most influential women in Web 2.0 and technology by Fast Company (2008, 2009 and 2010), and among the seven most powerful people in new media by Forbes Magazine (2009). In 2011 they were jointly awarded the PepsiCo Women’s Inspiration Award and in 2008, the Anita Borg Institute Social Impact Award. Elisa has been honored as an NCWIT Hero and as one of the AWM's Sixty@60.
Amanda Cevallos
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
I was born in Dallas and raised in Houston. Moved to Austin after living up north in WY and MT for 10 years during college. I work as a booking agent for a wedding music business by day, and play music in a honky tonk band at night. In the middle of the night I write country songs. In my spare time, I book my band, manage interns for my entertainment business, country dance, practice, and network. I am big on making a personal connection because I LOVE people, BUT I LOVE technology, too because it helps me have a life. I'm interested in what you do to be as personal as possible, but still get work done.. that's all i can think about sometimes... I can't wait to meet everyone! If we don't run into each other on the streets, I have a show at Guero's on South Congress, Sunday, March 17th at noon. Come hear some real country music while your in Texas!
Donald Chesnut
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Donald is SapientNitro’s Chief Experience officer, the global lead for SapientNitro’s Experience Design practice, and a member of SapientNitro's Global Leadership Team.
Over the course of his nearly two decades as an experience designer, Donald has worked with some of the world’s leading brands, including Disney, Target, HSBC, Wall Street Journal, Bed Bath & Beyond, United Airlines, Citibank, Rolling Stone, Unilever, Hilton International, UBS, Sprint, PetSmart, JetBlue, and Staples.
In addition to leading SapientNitro's Experience Design practice, Donald also leads SapientNitro's Experience Innovation team, a team focused on defining strategies for future-based customer experiences, and the impact that emerging technology will in have in transforming experiences of all types, including retail, financial services, media, and more.
SapientNitro's Idea Engineering teams are credited with designing and delivering ground-breaking and award-winning work such as Unilever's smile-activated ice cream machine, Vail Resort’s EpicMIX, Citibank's Bank of the Future, and Foot Locker's Sneakerpedia.
In Donald’s work, he takes customer-centered thinking and applies it to a wide-variety of business problems, from communications to commerce, and including content, community and digital service design. Donald’s work requires leading a broad range of team members, including strategists, designers, information architects, content strategists, writers, developers and user researchers in the design and development of ground-breaking customer experiences that not only win awards, but also exceed the business goals that have been defined. SapientNitro's Idea Engineering teams are credited with designing and delivering ground-breaking and award-winning work such as Unilever's smile-activated ice cream machine, Citibank's Bank of the Future, and FootLocker's Sneakerpedia.
Many of his projects have been global in nature, and he spent two years working in London helping to build SapientNitro’s presence across Europe.
Dave Cirilli
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Dave Cirilli is the Senior Director of Communications for Rally.org, an online storytelling platform designed to empower technical and non-technical users to fundraise and build awareness on a large scale for causes that matter. To date, Rally.org has enabled over 24,000 individuals and organizations to share and broadcast their passions, provide solutions to problems, leverage social networks, and mobilize communities. At Rally.org, Dave is responsible for building larger company awareness, creating media campaigns for many of Rally’s user causes, and driving business development initiatives.
Prior to Rally.org, Dave worked as a team leader and media strategist at Sunshine Sachs, where he developed and executed media strategies for startups, technology platforms, product launches and entrepreneurs.
Previously, Dave was a partner at the public relations agency, Giant Noise, and worked as publicity manager for Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal magazines. Dave started his career in music publicity, working at the firm Big Hassle Media. He lives in Brooklyn fe and rescue pit bull, Ryer.
Damon Clinkscales
Interactive
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Damon Clinkscales is the API Lead at VitalSource, one of the world's most widely used e-textbook platforms. He's also the founder of Austin on Rails, a top tier Ruby on Rails community. In 2012, Austin was selected as the site of the 7th Annual Rails Conference (RailsConf). In his spare time, he is the Managing Director of FounderDating Austin, a premier online network for finding potential co-founders. He also serves as a mentor to Longhorn Startup Lab, a program designed to encourage student entrepreneurship at the University of Texas. Damon loves to help others along their path and uses the resources he has to make connections happen and shares what he has learned along the way.
Dan Coleman
Music
Wednesday March 13th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
As the Managing Partner for Modern Works Music Publishing (formerly known as "A" Side Music), I look after a diverse roster of songwriters, producers, and composers, including Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, Bootsy Collins (James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic), Andy Summers (The Police), Michael Beinhorn (Korn, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson), Eric Bazilian (The Hooters, Joan Osborne, Ricky Martin), Tom Craskey (John Legend, Deborah Cox, Estelle, Britney Spears), and jazz luminaries such as Brad Mehldau, Joe Lovano, David Sanchez, Billy Childs, Maria Schneider, Sammy Nestico, Joey DeFrancesco, and Eddie Daniels.
Christie Dames
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:00pm
As an uber-connector and cross pollinator of people and ideas, Christie is dedicated to bringing together visionaries, engaged activists, world catalysts and planet changers to rebuild a healthy world for healthy beings.
As a custom designer of face-to-face executive visibility speaking programs for corporate clients, Christie works with thought leaders and designers around the world opening doors and building lasting partnerships between businesses, organizations, people and communities expanding their reach to making the world better.
As founder and developer of the Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc. Speakers Bureau, Dames created the first speakers bureau ever dedicated to strategically placing leaders and visionaries before rapidly growing audiences in the new and evolving technology arena. Her vision opened new doors in the conference industry by bringing tech speakers to the forefront through innovative settings, in-depth research methods, broad-based audience appeal and strategic speaker development.
Earlier in her career, Christie worked to develop Public / Private partnerships involving organizations such as Goodwill Industries, Kimpton Hotel Group, Hilton Hotels, and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Program. These grew out of her own organization “San Francisco Shine”, a forerunner of the San Francisco Business Improvement District, which hired the homeless to clean up the downtown area and was featured on CNN and C-SPAN.
Additionally, for the past 12 years Christie has translated her business experience into her personal mission — helping people find the answers to seemingly unanswerable health problems. As a medical detective, she helps people to explore new paths, find new answers, locate the hidden causes that lead to physical conditions, and build their own “map of choices” to get better.
Franz De Los Reyes
Music
Friday March 15th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Franz de los Reyes is a Manager within Island Def Jam Music Group's Digital Marketing Department. He is responsible for all aspects of digital marketing for artists on the Def Jam Recordings & Motown Records roster including Ludacris, Young Jeezy, 2 Chainz, Big Boi, Big K.R.I.T., Fabolous, Trinidad Jame$, YG, among others. Franz has over 5 years of digital marketing, social media, online publicity, media buying, digital strategic partnership development, and app/web development coordination experience, working for such clients as Violator Management, Duck Down Music Inc., Corona, Sprite, 2K Sports, and Red Bull. He previously attended SUNY Buffalo, where he graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration concentrating in Marketing and Finance.
Paul Dery
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Since arriving in New York and R/GA four years ago, Paul has played a key role in marrying the various agency offerings with compelling storytelling. Paul now heads up the new Austin office as ECD where the focus is establishing Austin as a key center of social and mobile excellence for the R/GA network.
Fred Destin
Interactive
Monday March 11th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
I am a seed stage VC and I help build companies. Founders I partnerned with include top 30 global website DailyMotion (video sharing) or leading online real estate site Zoopla, as well as Seatwave, Cinemagram, TheCurrencyCloud, Integral Ad Science (fka Adsafe), Kinvey, Lagoa, Plizy, psykosoft, Recorded Future, Secret Escapes or splitwise .
Founding investor and board member at Seedcamp, Techstars mentor.
Active blogger, startup mentor, and angel investor.
Superpowers: I help people derive simplicity from complexity
Gourmet Délice
Music
Saturday March 16th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Gourmet Délice is co-owner and co-founder of Bonsound (since 2004), a Montreal-based, management, booking, concert promotion and record company.
The artists managed by Bonsound are DJ Champion, Malajube, Les Breastfeeders, Radio Radio, Lisa LeBlanc, Monogrenade, Groenland and Philippe B.
He is also owner/founder of Blow the Fuse Records (since 1996) which released records by Les Breastfeeders, Le Nombre, The Dagons, Les George Leningrad.
He is also co-owner/co-founder of Mucho Gusto Records (since 1999), a reissue label (Les Maledictus Sound, L’Infonie, Péloquin/Sauvageau).
Brynn Evans
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Today I'm a UX designer on Google+. I fell into design after doing UX research for many years — much of it on people's social interaction patterns online. As a designer, I've worked as a freelance consultant, UX director at a tech startup, and a "gamestorming" facilitator.
I'm is also an active speaker and writer, and am involved in community events such as hackathons, workshops, and conferences that bring together designers, developers, and entrepreneurs.
James Evans
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Director of Triple A Marketing and Promotion for Interscope, Geffen & A&M Records for the last 17 years working with radio on such acts as U2, Feist, Michael Kiwanuka, Imagine Dragons, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, Snow Patrol, Beck, Wallflowers, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Keane and many more. Prior to that he did regional promotion for Hollywood Records in both Boston and Chicago. Prior to that he was the marketing director for WHJY/WHJJ in Providence, RI. He also has managed a band and worked as an analyst for a management consulting firm in Boston.
Leslie Feinzaig
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Leslie is a seasoned product manager with a penchant – and a preference – for broad, meaty roles and difficult, ambiguous problems. She is currently working on growth strategy, product planning and business development at Kinect for Windows, a small group within Microsoft that aims to create a future where there is a Kinect on every screen – not just in your living room. Prior to Kinect, Leslie led product planning efforts for MSN, Microsoft's online news and entertainment portal with more than 500MM unique users and $1B in annual revenues.
Earlier in her career, Leslie spent time in strategy consulting at Innosight, a boutique firm founded by ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’ author Clayton Christensen. She also worked in the consumer goods industry and launched a retail business in her home country of Costa Rica.
Leslie has an MBA from Harvard and a BSc from the London School of Economics.
Nancy Fly
Music
Friday March 15th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Nancy Fly has been working in the music industry since the 1970’s in diverse endeavors including publishing, community radio, performing, booking and management. Currently the Nancy Fly Agency specializes in booking roots music artists throughout the US and Canada. Her artist roster now includes Carolyn Wonderland, Del Castillo, BettySoo, Guy Forsyth, A.J. Croce, Sara Hickman, Warren Hood, Marshall Ford Swing Band, Milk Drive, Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur, Beto and the Fairlanes, Miss Lavelle White, Cindy Cashdollar and Redd Volkaert.
Nicole Forbes
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
∞ SXSW ∞
Official SXSW Mobile Meet Up 2013, 2012 Host
SXSW Panelist 2013, 2012
SXSW Interactive Awards Judge 2013, 2012, 2011
∞ Current Projects ∞
National Business Development Manager @Razorfish
Manage BD operations for North America. This includes lead generation, pipeline health, communication, events, data validation, analytics, & reports as well as the field marketing program. Currently building out a new company wide asset/knowledge management system as well creating policies and process around Lead Generation for the US.
∞ Personal Summary ∞
∞ Futurist ∞ Mobile & Digital Strategist ∞ Truffle Hunter ∞ Gangsta Rap Karaoker ∞ Social Economist ∞ Yogi ∞ Mad Ninja Skills in the Art of Mommy to a couple of awesome mini-mes
∞ Personal Faves ∞
∞ Samurai Jack ∞ bantams ∞ Family Guy ∞ ∞ innovation ∞ fashion ∞ Vinn diagrams & scatter graphs ∞ interactive & digital media ∞ intuitive functionality
∞ Where I've Checked In ∞
Born in Ruidoso, NM. Grew up in Santa Fe. Lived coast to coast. Happily settled in Austin, TX -- for now ;)
∞ Online ∞
I tweet, I pin, I post, I fork, I insta, I hipsta, I blog, I tumbl, I reddit, I check-in, I spot, I sound, I last, I turn, I quora, I tiny post, and I do just about everything else all @livehappy8
John Gibbons
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Co-founder, CEO of NeonGrid, an Angel-backed, professional network for the creative industries powered by social crediting.
Prior to NeonGrid, John spent 12+ years as a principal team member at The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) helping evolve the product into an asset used by 150+ million users, expanding the company's footprint globally, and building the site into a highly profitable business.
Rodney Gibbs
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Digital strategy and product development for The Texas Tribune, an online news organization covering Texas politics and policy with moxie. Founded two game companies focused on mobile and handheld games. Active on media boards. Public radio devotee. Turntable enthusiast. Movie lover. Gin drinker.
Cédric Giorgi
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Cédric Giorgi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cookening, a global marketplace to connect people and cultures through Food. Before that, he was Seesmic Europe Director furing one year and Scoop.it Marketing Director during 4 years.
Cédric started being involved in the startup industry in 2005 when he started blogging on his own blog, which led him to the position of Techcrunch France Co-Editor and Conference Organizer until mid 2011. He took also part to the organization of LeWeb conference during two years. Cédric has graduated in computer science and business from two major French universities, and is fluent in French, English and German.
Cédric spends 10% of his time helping the ecosystem and other startups: as a regular mentor for startups in France, especially at LeCamping, first Startup Accelerator in Paris. He's involved as a teacher in different Business and Internet schools in France, and he created and managed a closed community of 500+ French Startupers on Facebook. He's a regular speaker at tech conferences in France & Europe.
Eddie Gomez
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
A veteran of music publishing for almost 25 years, most recently as SVP of Creative for Bug Music. Knack for signing career artists and songwriters, eye for talent and ability to get deals done. Many contributions these past 18 years towards building Bug Music as one of the most respected music publishers in the industry. Has placed numerous songs in film, television, and commercials as well as artists covers. Worked with a variety of artists and writers such as Johnny Cash, Buddy Guy, T Bone Burnett, Townes Van Zandt, Iggy Pop, Kings of Leon, Wilco, Ryan Adams, Paul Westerberg, Spoon, Jay Farrar, Jimmie Vaughan, Alejandro Escovedo, Los Lobos, Hayes Carll, Buddy Miller, Dave Alvin, Calexico, the estates of Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, willie Dixon, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gram Parsons and numerous others.
Brandon Haas
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
I head up Glassnote's publishing arm, Four Song Night.
Matt Hanks
Music
Thursday March 14th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Matt Hanks is a Vice President at Shore Fire Media in Brooklyn, where he has worked for thirteen years. Some of his current and recent clients include Bon Iver, Neko Case, Grizzly Bear, Nick Lowe, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Graham Parker, St. Vincent, Mavis Staples, , Trombone Shorty, and venues including The Capitol Theatre, Hill Country Live and The Iridium.
Prior to working at Shore Fire he was a publicist at Autotonic in Memphis, TN, where his clients included labels like Drag City, Thrill Jockey and Revenant.
Bettina Hein
Interactive
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Bettina Hein is the co-author of “Video Marketing For Dummies” (Wiley 2012). She is the Founder and CEO of Pixability (www.pixability.com). Pixability is a YouTube marketing software company that helps brands, ecommerce companies and agencies build a YouTube audience and win customers via video.
Bettina is a serial technology entrepreneur, and has built successful technology companies in the United States and in Europe. Prior to Pixability Bettina co-founded the Swiss-based speech software specialist SVOX AG in 2001. SVOX was sold to Nuance Communications (NUAN) for $125 million.
Bettina holds a Master of Science degree from MIT where she was a Sloan Fellow, a law degree from the University of Constance, and a degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen.
In 1996, she was the initiator of START, an organization that advances entrepreneurship among college students. In 2000 START received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She is also the founder of the SheEOs, a network for female CEOs and founders of growth companies.
Bettina is a recent recipient of the L'Oréal NEXT Generation Award. The NEXT Generation entrepreneurial awards honor the top 5 women leading groundbreaking digital companies. She is also the 2012 recipient of The Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40 Award.”
She is also the co-author of “Video Marketing For Dummies,” released by Wiley in May 2012, which reached #2 on Amazon’s Web Marketing List.
Bettina is a frequent speaker on the topics of video, marketing and entrepreneurship, and has spoken at MIT, Harvard Business School and conferences worldwide. She resides in Cambridge, MA with her husband and daughter.
Simon Henderson
Music
Saturday March 16th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Founder of Oblique Artist Management and responsible manager for Akron/Family, Bear In Heaven, Oberhofer and Pelican.
Connie Hwong
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Connie is the Community Manager at GigaOM, a San Francisco-based media company that covers emerging tech news, produces technology conferences, and offers research and analysis of emerging technology markets. She is responsible for the company's social media strategy, the development of new programs and events, and management of the research analyst and subscriber communities. Prior to GigaOM, Connie worked at companies such as AOL, Zendesk, and ROI DNA on content production, strategy, and community engagement and management.
Before entering the tech industry, Connie spent five years working with nonprofit organizations in the art, culture, and technology spaces. She served as the grants manager for BAVC, where she worked on the MacArthur Foundation-supported Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, and she also served as a grants committee member on the San Francisco Arts Commission's Cultural Equity Initiative.
Connie is also a freelance music journalist and former editor. Her work has appeared in Flavorpill, XLR8R, and Alarm, and she has worked with San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival.
Kathryn Irwin
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 1:00pm – 2:00pm
I wear my heart on my feed. My daughter is more awesome than you & me. California girl trapped in a Texas world. All SXSW Interactive, all the time.
Jia Jiang
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
To pursue his passion for entrepreneurship, Jia quit his corporate job to build his own startup (four days before his first child was born). When he hit a financing roadblock, he hit it hard. The best way to recover? 100 Days of Rejection Therapy. Three fourth through now, it's been an astonishing journey. And proof positive unexpected events, even miracles can happen when we step out of our comfort zones and face rejections head-on.
Annie Kadavy
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Annie joined CRV in 2012, bringing experience in consumer products, e-commerce, and start-up business development and strategy. Prior to CRV, Annie worked at Bain & Company, Warby Parker, and on more start-up business plans of her own than she can count. She filed her first design patent at the age of 17 and loves consumer products that make people smile. Annie holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an M.A. in Business Operations and a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.
Kathi Kaiser
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Kathi Kaiser is co-founder and partner at Centralis, a leading Chicago-based user experience consultancy. For more than ten years, Kathi has led the Centralis team in creating great user experiences for global clients including Sony, HP and Warner Bros. Kathi's experience in human-computer interaction spans fifteen years and includes engagements at notable user experience firms HannaHodge and Doblin Group. She is an authority on user-centered design who serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design. Kathi holds a Master's degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago and a BA in Psychology from Georgetown University.
David Kaiser
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Dave helps smart but unhappy 'square pegs' to create truly rewarding careers and relationships by coaching them on their confidence, spiritual calling, creativity and leadership, using his humor, insight and perspective as a modern Shaman.
Dave has been facilitating transformational growth for eight years, during which time he has worked with hundreds of individuals. He is trained by the Coaches Training Institute and certified by the International Coaching Federation. Dave holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelors in Finance from Georgetown University.
Behnam Karbassi
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
A PGA producer and award-winning director, Behnam has been a part of some of the most renowned interactive experiences ever. Formerly the VP of Production at Emmy-winning Fourth Wall Studios, Behnam consults and runs No Mimes Media, a leader in the multi-platform storytelling space.
Jahan Khanna
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Jahan Khanna is the co-founder and CTO of SideCar, (Side.cr) and a nationally recognized expert in transportation technology. Jahan co-founded SideCar in 2012 with CEO Sunil Paul to revolutionize the way we get around, and SideCar has since become the leading on-demand rideshare community in the country. Khanna leads the SideCar technology team in all aspects of the product and tech roadmap (both the consumer facing and operational application suite).
In 2010, prior to SideCar, Jahan was a founder and CTO of Shepherd Intelligent Systems, an intelligent transportation software company for public transit, taxi, limo, school and shuttle bus fleets. Shepherd IS provides real-time fleet management via a web-based application. Jahan was additionally pursuing a Masters Degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, but left to start SideCar.
Christiane Kinney
Music
Saturday March 16th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Christiane Cargill Kinney is a partner at LeClairRyan, and Chair of the firm’s Entertainment Industry Team. Kinney’s entertainment practice is focused on the representation of talent primarily in the areas of music, film, and television. She also specializes in branding and cross-promotional opportunities for corporations and artists. Kinney is a musician herself, and a voting member of the Recording Academy. As such, her personal experience as both a recording artist and an entertainment attorney provide a unique perspective to the deal-making process.
Kinney also has significant litigation experience in federal and state court, and has handled a wide array of business litigation and intellectual property cases, including claims of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, rights of publicity, and unfair competition.
Since 2011, Christiane has worked with LexisNexis® as an Author for Lexis® Practice Advisor on Music Law Transactions. Kinney also frequently speaks on entertainment law panels and radio talk shows. As a strong supporter of education for independent artists, Kinney also writes a monthly legal column for CD Baby’s DIY Musician blog. CD Baby, the largest online distributor of independent music, recently recognized Kinney as #1 out of their list of the Top 10 Music Law Resources to follow on Twitter, noting that “her in-the-thick-of-it perspectives carry a lot of weight.” Kinney has also been recognized by Super Lawyers magazine, and has been featured in Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year issue for her charity work in bringing music and art programs to at-risk youth.
Helen Klein Ross
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Helen spent 20+ years as a writer/creative director at top ad agencies like FCB, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Ogilvy. She’s been playing in the social media sandbox since 2007 when she created AdBroad, an award-winning blog with over 11,000 followers from the advertising and digital marketing communities. In 2008, she brought several characters from AMC's drama "Mad Men" onto twitter. Her work as @BettyDraper has attracted 35,000 followers, a Shorty (Twitter) award and press coverage in Time and the Wall Street Journal.
She founded Brand Fiction Factory to help brands extend their stories into digital space via cross-platform narrative and staged the first “twepisode”--a unique approach to fan content, available on youtube.
Helen is an avid speaker on social media creative around the country. Her fiction and essays have been published by the New York Times, and numerous obscure literary journals. Her first book is being published this month by Simon & Schuster. "Making It, A Novel of Madison Avenue" takes literary fiction readers out of the box by offering opportunities to further explore characters in a digitally enhanced epilogue.
Sandeep Kumar
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Mr. Kumar is Partner at Tech Ranch (entrepreneur development and startup accelerator organization) and Managing Partner at IBTP (international consulting firm). He has 30 years’ experience in building Technology Businesses, M&A, entering New Markets, Sales Channel Creation, Business Development, and New Product Development. He has extensive operational experience in establishing businesses in US, Israel, Japan, China, Taiwan and India. He currently advises emerging technology companies in US, China and Japan in MEM’s, Robotics, Wireless, Energy, Industrial and Content Creation and Distribution Sectors. He was founder/CEO at multiple technology startups. Prior to starting his first business he was a VC and before that he was GM at Texas Instruments where he built and ran global businesses and R&D teams in Broadband Communications, DSP and MCU.
Ryan Lawler
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Ryan has spent more than five years covering business, technology, and telecom-related subjects for a variety of publications based in New York and San Francisco. Ryan currently works as a writer for TechCrunch.
Jessica Linker
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Jessica Linker has been running Pitch Perfect PR for 8 years. Pitch Perfect is a public relations company raising awareness of music and other arts through creative press campaigns designed for print, online, broadcast, and visual media. The company represents artists and festivals across a diverse spectrum of ideas and styles, all of whom are committed to maintaining integrity and individuality in their work. Clients include Girl Talk, Sharon Van Etten, The War On Drugs, Beirut, Joanna Newsom, Ty Segall, Iceage, Django Django, John Cale, Neneh Cherry, Cass McCombs, Modeselektor, Pitchfork Music Festival, Pickathon, Moogfest and many more.
Prior to Pitch Perfect PR, Jessica handled national publicity for Thrill Jockey Records and affiliate marketing/partner relations for RollingStone.com.
Marc Lipkin
Music
Friday March 15th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Award-winning music industry publicist Marc Lipkin has been Director Of Publicity for Alligator Records since September 1992.
Marc has placed countless feature stories and reviews, both locally and nationally, in newspapers, magazines and on-line. He has worked to book performances and interviews on national television and radio for Alligator artists, including Koko Taylor, Mavis Staples, Shemekia Copeland, The Holmes Brothers, Luther Allison, Marcia Ball, James Cotton, JJ Grey & Mofro, Anders Osborne, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Guitar Shorty, Charlie Musselwhite, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers and many others.
During his tenure at Alligator, he has written every artist bio for each new release (numbering near 180). Samples of his work are featured in "The Billboard Guide To Publicity" (2nd Edition), written by Jim Pettigrew. An interview, including a discussion on publicity tactics and techniques, appears in Tad Lathrope's "This Business Of Music."
In 2005, Marc received the Keeping The Blues Alive Award For Publicist of The Year from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, becoming the first-ever recipient of the award in this newly created category.
Fran Lukesh
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:00pm
After over a decade of agency experience, Fran has joined with an incredible team of entrepreneurs to create a new product. He brings a coveted mix of design and engineering skills, allowing him to both functionally participate in production as well as facilitate communication among disciplines.
Alex Maiolo
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Alex Maiolo has worked with The Future of Music Coalition for eleven years, primarily focusing on the health insurance crisis as it relates to the working musician. In 2005, with the aid of a Cummings Grant, the Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT) was developed. Musicians in need of health insurance advice can access HINT for free consultations. There's nothing for sale, just free, unbiased advice on how to sift through the complex world of health insurance. In addition, Alex plays guitar in the pop rock staple, Fan Modine, owns Seriously Adequate recording studio, is a Senior Contributor for Tape Op Magazine, and writes for Premier Guitar. He has been an active musician since he was nine years old, and an active fan since he was learning to crawl. In addition participating in many festivals (SXSW '06-'012 TapeOpCon '04-'08; Potluck Con '08, '09, 12; Pop Montreal '06; FMC Policy Summits '03-'011; PopAsheville '07-'09; Six Points Music Festival '07; San Francisco Tech Summit '11; Berlin Music Week '12) to discuss anything from music's changing landscape, to the troubling state of health insurance in the U.S., he has given his time to educate young musicians as to how they can stay active in music-related projects for their entire lives. He is a partner with an insurance agency in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Insurance as it relates to the artist, studio owner, and musician is part of a typical day's tasks.
Vince Maniago
Interactive
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Vince is a curious builder, tinkerer and thinker with 15 years experience creating and managing great internet products. Vince's passion for anything Social, especially Events & Things to Do, has fueled a desire to make Events easier to discover on the Internet for the past decade. He's also a huge fan and enabler of Innovation and can't stay away from Hack Days, SHDH, Mashup Camp and Open APIs. His experience spans web development, ecommerce, local search, social media and business development. Vince has held Product Management positions at E*Trade, Yahoo! Local, Upcoming and Zvents.
For the last 3 years Vince has helped Millions of Americans take control of their finances as a Product Management Leader at Intuit, focused on Mint.com.
Q Manning
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
CEO of Rocksauce Studios. Director, writer, & filmmaker living in Austin, Tejas!
Glenn Max
Music
Friday March 15th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
I am in my second year as a curator for the Wilderness Festival, which one Best New Festival at the UK Festival Awards
I am artistic director of the Village Underground in East London and we just opened a venue in Lisbon.
I am producing John Cale's Tribute to Nico at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Jan 16. Guest vocalists include Mercury Rev, Peaches, Sharon Van Etten, Kim Gordon, Yeasayer, Me'Shell Ndgeocello and Mark Lanegan.
I am producing the Residents 40th Anniversary concert at the Barbican Art Centre in London May 18.
Leah McDougald
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
As Director of the Design Research department, I lead the team that is responsible for championing a human-centered design process that both inspires and influences the design of future products and experiences. We deliver actionable insights to inform product strategy, marketing, and design decisions with a focus on experiential research and product innovation. My experience is based in gathering and translating findings to improve human and brand interaction on both emotional and functional levels.
Passions include public speaking and providing user insight to inform great design / brand messaging, or to fuel innovation.
I'm 100% extrovert and empathy and I absolutely love learning from people through conversation.
Amy McGee
Interactive
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Amy is the Senior Director of Marketing, Publicity & Events at ZEFR, a technology solution for online content owners and brands on YouTube located in Venice, CA. Previously, Amy worked at the Sundance Institute managing its artist alumni program, and managing public relations for the Institute and Sundance Film Festival. Prior, Amy worked in public relations in Chicago for the Adler Planetarium, and at the PR agencies Weber Shandwick, Edelman and Golin Harris on clients like M&M’S, Got Milk?, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago. She also has freelanced as the Director of Programming for the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival since 2010. She produced the 2011 short film Saving Alice Bell directed by Nathan Parker (screenwriter, Moon). Amy graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri. You can follow her on Twitter at @scoopsmcgee.
Dan McKernan
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Daniel McKernan is the Head of Digital Marketing, Advertising, and Social Media engagement at UMeTime Corp., a new local deal platform that drives traffic to local businesses through a mobile app and website. His role at one-time is to inject innovation and creative digital strategies that will help implement the startup for massive local buzz/awareness/engagement on the hyperlocal level to increase downloads and daily active users.
Concentration on bootstrapping startups with little or no marketing expenses. Know how to create/execute marketing and PR strategies entirely in house. As well as use social media channels as the main source for customer feedback and support.
Amy Mcilwain
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Amy McIlwain is internationally recognized for radical new ways of approaching social media, PR, marketing, advertising, and customer service within the financial service industry.
Author of the best selling book, The Social Advisor: Social Media Secrets of the Financial Industry, Amy has appeared live on NBC, CBS and FOX as a social media expert. Her content has been featured in several top financial industry publications, media outlets, blogs, books, and websites including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, InvestmentNews, AdvisorOne, ProducersWeb, Ignites, FundFire and more.
Film Mentor: Press/Bloggers - Dan Kois
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Dan Kois is a senior editor in the culture department at Slate and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. He was a founding editor of Vulture, New York magazine's culture vertical. He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Film Mentors: Distribution Documentary - Katie Ellen
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
As Distribution Manager within the British Film Institute's Film Fund, Katie looks after Distribution lottery funding for both specialised films (including foreign language and documentary features) and independent British films. She particularly focuses on awards for films that show innovative approaches to distribution, such as those supporting new release models and creative marketing strategies; and she also leads the cross-media strategy for lottery-funded film projects. Recently supported documentaries include Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Carol Morley’s Dreams of A Life (both of which screened at SXSW in 2012) and Ken Loach’s Spirit of ’45 which had its premiere at this year’s Berlin Film Festival; recently backed features include Michael Haneke's multi-award winning Amour, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and Ben Wheatley's Sightseers. In addition she worked on the innovative audience development projects behind Dreams of A Life and Spirit of ‘45. Katie also manages the Film Export Fund, which offers support to sales agents for British films selected for significant international film festivals. Prior to working at the BFI, she worked in film production in both the New Cinema Fund at the UK Film Council and at Myriad Pictures, coming to film from a finance background.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Keri Safran
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Keri Safran, Manager of Acquisitions, Open Road Films, has worked at Walt Disney Studios, Lionsgate, Weinstein Company and One Way Out Media.
Film Mentors: Programming: Documentary - Greg Rhem
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Greg Rhem is Director of Documentary Programming for Home Box Office. For the past eighteen years, he's been involved in discovering new and distinctive documentary programming for HBO Documentary Films. Some of his finds have been: the Oscar®-winning Freeheld, Born Into Brothels, Thoth, and Breathing Lesson: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien; and Oscar®-nominated Mondays at Racine, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner and Spellbound.
Mr. Rhem holds a M.A. in Media Studies from the New School University, and a B.A. degree in English and Film Studies from the University of Rochester.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Michael Behrens
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Michael A. Behrens is a business consultant and indie film producer. He is currently in postproduction on the documentary film 780 Frederick and is in preproduction on the short film Jaime's Car. He is consulting for San Francisco State University Cinema Department's business startup Narrative Track Venture that explores the nature and origin of rumors and for Emergency USA as they develop their distribution strategy and outreach campaign around the Oscar nominated short documentary Open Heart (2012). He also consults for Global Heart Network in the area of strategic planning and communications. He formerly ran the San Francisco Film Society’s Professional Development Program. Behrens is an award winning artist, nonprofit business consultant, and film producer with 18 years’ of experience. His clients have included Paramount, Disney, Volkswagen, Fox, Burger King, National Theatre of Finland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and many others. Recently he helped produce Jeff Rosenblum’s first documentary The Naked Brand (2012) for the Questus Agency (Ad Agency of the Year 2011). Previous award-wining films Michael has produced: My Garbage My Neighborhood (2011), Kunjo (2010) and Climate Change (2009).
Michael holds a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco and has lectured at Saint Mary's College, California Art Institute, The National Acting School of Finland, Illinois State University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Zhu Hai University and others. He was awarded the Rex Rabold Fellowship, USF Merritt Scholarship, and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, US State Department and the People’s Republic of China. Since 2008 he has raised millions for nonprofits and individuals.
Film Mentors: Legal - George Rush
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
George M. Rush is an attorney who has practiced law since 2001. George received his JD
from University of California Hastings College of the Law (2000) and received his undergraduate degree in English from University of California at Berkeley (1996). He is dedicated to supporting independent filmmakers, stewarding them in the business and
legal issues to make films both commercial and artistic successes. His clients include
producers, directors, screen-writers and investors in development, production and
distribution phases of filmmaking. George has served on the board of the Film Arts
Foundation and is an active member of the San Francisco Film Society. He also lectures frequently on legal issues for filmmakers and writes a monthly column on legal issues in
film for SF360.org. George provides both transactional and litigation services for films, as well as distribution advisory services on a case by case basis.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Chris Horton
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Chris Horton joined Sundance Institute in 2011 to run #ArtistServices, a new initiative that further extends the organization’s mission of connecting artists with audiences. Through a series of innovative deals and partnerships, #ArtistServices provides Institute alumni with powerful tools and resources that enhance creative funding and distribution opportunities.
Horton was previously the head of acquisitions for FilmBuff, a pioneering New York-based digital distribution company and sister company to John Sloss’ Cinetic Media. Under Horton’s leadership, FilmBuff acquired sales rights to hundreds of feature-length movies, including Banksy’s “Exit Through The Gift Shop”, Chris Smith’s “Collapse”, and Edward Burns’ “Nice Guy Johnny”. He also brokered numerous output deals with distributors such as MTV Films, Kino-Lorber, Palm Pictures, Wolfe Video, and MPI Media.
Horton had been with Cinetic for five years before the formation of FilmBuff in 2007. At Cinetic, a powerhouse sales agency behind titles such as “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Napoleon Dynamite”, Horton negotiated several distribution deals and led the company’s tracking and outreach strategies.
Horton previously worked for Miramax Films, following his graduation from the University of Colorado with degrees in film studies and psychology.
He lives in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Cullen Conly
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Cullen Conly serves as the Manager of the Feature Film Program at Sundance Institute. In this role, he manages the Screenwriters, Directors and New Frontier Story Labs, supporting emerging filmmakers and artists through creative workshops. Prior to Sundance, Conly worked at Paramount Vantage and the William Morris Agency. He is based in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Dylan Marchetti
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
As the founder of Variance Films, Dylan and the Variance team work directly with filmmakers to put the best independent films into theaters across North America. Variance’s model focuses on grassroots marketing, outreach, and “event-izing” theatrical runs, allowing for high visibility at a fraction of the cost of the typical independent theatrical release. Dylan endorses Hendrick’s Gin and Roland TR-808 drum machines, particularly when used at the same time.
Film Mentors: Documentary Programming - Nancy Campbell
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Nancy Campbell is a Programmer/Managing Director of the Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston) and has been with the organization since 2004. IFFBoston has been recognized by the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Boston Phoenix as the premier film festival in the Greater Boston area. The Boston Society of Film Critics recently awarded IFFBoston a commendation for its contribution to local film culture. Nancy also currently works for the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, the Boston area's only not-for-profit, art-deco theatre. In addition, she holds a position on the Board of Directors for the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film and has served on the juries for New Orleans and Boston Latino Film Festivals.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - Lea Prainsack
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Lea Prainsack is an accomplished visual effects producer at New York-based Visual Effects house, Phosphene.
Lea oversees visual effects from creative development and budgeting through execution and delivery. As a visual effects producer, Lea's primary goal is to use visual effects to help further the director's vision while respecting the confines of the project's budget. Lea's film credits include TOWER HEIST and THE BOURNE LEGACY.
Some of her broadcast credits include Todd Hayne's EMMY nominated MILDRED PIERCE, Visual Effects Society winner BOARDWALK EMPIRE, David Simon’s TREME (HBO), BLUE BLOODS (CBS), and Stephen Frears' soon to be released MUHAMMAD ALI’S GREATEST FIGHT (HBO).
Prior to transitioning to visual effects, Lea spent several years as a post-production supervisor and editor. Her work in post-production includes the Bruce Springsteen documentary THE PROMISE: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, CATECHISM CATACLYSM, STINGRAY SAM, and SHINE A LIGHT.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - Bob Byington
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Bob Byington is an award-winning independent American film director, screenwriter and actor living in Austin, Texas. He is most noted for his films RSO (Registered Sex Offender) (2008) and Harmony and Me (2009). His latest film, Somebody Up There Likes Me (2012), won The Special Jury Prize at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival. Byington grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He studied at the University of California, Santa Cruz and received a major in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Byington's work has been called literate, bawdy, sardonic, and quirky. The Los Angeles Times described his film Harmony and Me as a "collision of joyous whimsy and bittersweet melancholy. Byington considers his films thematically different from mumblecore and has resisted the label. Unlike the extreme naturalistic dialogue of many mumblecore films, Byington's work leans towards exact dialogue and, according to Roger Ebert, "perfect timing" which is "unreasonably funny". Filmmaker Magazine has likened his rich humor to the New Hollywood comedies of the 1970s. Byington often reuses performers, including Nick Offerman, Kristen Tucker, Pat Healy, Keith Poulson, Kevin Corrigan and Suzy Nakamura. Offerman starred in Byington's latest film, Somebody Up There Likes Me, which premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and is slated for wide release Spring of 2013.
Film Mentors: International - Sheena Morjaria
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Sheena Morjaria is CEO and founder of Flick the Switch, a boutique studio providing a one- stop shop for international investors, distributors and production houses looking to gain access to the vibrant, growing and exciting Indian market.
Following a degree in Law and Economics at the University of Cambridge, Sheena started her career in finance, working in mergers and acquisitions in London, in the media sector. After 3 years in the City, she decided to apply her knowledge and experience to film financing and took the bold step of launching her own film financing company, Flick the Switch in 2006.
Under her banner, Flick the Switch, she produced a collection of award-winning short films and documentaries in the UK and US and structured the finance deals for a number of feature films with budgets below $5 million, including creating the prospectus for EIS schemes in the UK. She has worked with Full Circle Films on the THE MORTICIAN following the success of their first feature KILL KILL FASTER FASTER, which won Best International Feature at the London Independent Film Festival. She was also involved in sourcing finance for ONE ARM BANDIT an action thriller with Tommy Lee Jones and the 3-D horror thriller DEADEYE with director Brett Leonard (HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE).
In 2008 she collaborated with producer/director Tom Donahue on THE GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and another documentary CASTING BY in conjunction with the who’s who of Hollywood – including Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Close, Robert Redford and many many more. In addition she worked with Tom Donahue (THANKSGIVING, THE WAKE) on the WAITING ROOM a high budget short film shot in New York, MILKMAN directed by James Rumsey, associate produced THE PRIEST and co-financed and produced FRANKIE TEARDROP starring John Dagliesh (BBC’S LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD) and Olivia Grant (BBC’S LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD).
In 2009 Sheena travelled to Mumbai to collaborate with Bollywood and in 2010, consulted for Procam Mediatel, one of the leading producers of live sport on Indian television. During her time there, Sheena increased revenues, expanded the company into new areas and elevated a brand that is now widely recognised within the live television arena.
With the launch of many tax schemes to attract foreign films and Sheena’s experience in handling them she is ideally placed to ensure Indian film productions make shooting abroad as cost effective as possible. She has worked with some of the leading producers and directors, structuring their budgets in the most cost effective way and taking advantage of worldwide incentives.
The fusion of Sheena’s Western upbringing and education with her Indian heritage, makes her ideally placed to strategize, generate ideas and create a viable vision to ensure success in one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
Sheena is now working with the new breed of Independent Indian filmmakers to bring their work to a global audience – working with them from inception to completion either as a Producer or Executive Producer.
Her experience of the Indian film industry combined with her expertise and Western mind-set has placed Sheena in a unique position to advise new and budding film-makers about the realities and requirements of creating a commercially successful film. She is often invited to speak at industry conferences and to act as a mentor at workshops and film festivals.
Her vision of a ‘Boutique Studio’ has come to fruition and Flick the Switch is now a growing and successful business, with a variety of exciting and diverse projects currently in the company’s portfolio.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Mickey Cottrell
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
In over 30 years as a publicist, Mickey Cottrell has become a specialist in filmmakers’ publicity, playing an instrumental role in launching the directing careers of Phillip Noyce, Gus Van Sant, Bryan Singer and David Gordon Green and more recently, Jonathan Caouette, Andrew Bujalski, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, and Andrew Haigh. Mickey has opened over 200 films ("Wings of Desire", "My Own Private Idaho", "George Washington" and not so long ago, "Bill Cunningham New York", "Weekend" and "Keep the Lights On"), and has acted as unit publicist on over thirty. He has helmed Oscar campaigns for many documentaries and foreign films and done extensive festival work. His past SXSW films include four award-winners. Mickey's company, Inclusive PR, represented four films at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival: Alvarez’s "C.O.G.", the first ever adaptation of a work by David Sedaris; Travis Mathews' and James Franco’s "Interior. Leather Bar.", a reimagining of the explicit lost footage from William Friedkin’s "Cruising"; the eye-opening documentary "Google and the World Brain"; and the Serbian war drama "Circles", recipient of the World Cinema Special Jury Prize. At this year’s SXSW, Mickey is thrilled to be representing Jeffrey Schwarz’s bigger-than-life documentary "I AM DIVINE", a rousing portrait of John Waters’ fearless muse.
Film Mentors: International - Diego Marambio
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Ventana Sur Program Coordination. The Market focus in Latin American Film Industry. Every december more than 400 feature films are presented and more than 350 international buyers for cinema release, TV and VOD platforms, festival programers, exhibitors attend looking for the production from Latin America.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - Todd Rohal
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Todd Rohal made his feature directorial debut with The Guatemalan Handshake, which premiered at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. In 2011, Rohal directed The Catechism Cataclysm which played at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW and was released by IFCFilms. In 2012 he directed a film that premiered at SXSW and was distributed by Magnet Releasing, but that's a secret. He lives in Austin, TX.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - Kyle Henry
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Kyle's feature directing debut ROOM premiered at both Sundance and Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. His follow-up anthology FOURPLAY had segments also play at Sundance and Cannes and is touring North America through April 2013. He is also a working film editor (e.g. Heather Courtney's Emmy and SXSW award winning Where Soldiers Come From) and teaches film production at Northwestern University.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Meghan Wurtz
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
As Vice President for Film Movement, Meghan is involved in film acquisition as well as in dvd, television, inflight and digital sales. Meghan is responsible for helping launch new digital distribution channels such as Film Festival on Demand (cable VOD platform available in 40 Million US Homes). Film Movement has relationships with subscription, transactional and ad-supported VOD platforms in the US and Canada. Meghan has secured company sponsors for the Cable VOD platform.
Founded in 2003, the New York-based distributor Film Movement has built a formidable record of releasing innovative independent cinema from across the globe. Established first as a DVD-of-the-month club (“one of the most successful experiments in alternative modes of distribution”—Indiewire), Film Movement has since released 250 feature films and shorts from 50 countries on six continents, demonstrating its commitment to cutting-edge filmmaking and emerging international talents.
Having held positions at companies including European Film Promotion (EFP)and Northstar Media selling music docs to international broadcasters, Meghan has extensive international experience and knowledge of the North American and European film and television markets. She has attended various film festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, Cannes, and also the MIPCOM & MIPTV markets. Meghan served as a member of the International Rome Film Festival jury.
Meghan received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from DePaul University and her European Master of Audiovisual Management in Rome, Italy.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Richard Abramowitz
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
RICHARD ABRAMOWITZ is at the forefront of innovation in the world of distribution and marketing of independent films. His company, Abramorama, is an industry leader in the personalized, focused form of film marketing/distribution that bypasses traditional film studios and their methodology, providing invaluable distribution alternatives to current content makers and owners.
Abramorama’s recent distribution projects include: FLOWERS OF WAR, SENNA, THE WAY, PASSIONE and EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.
He is also a founding partner in the new model distribution company, Area23a, which is devoted to the distribution of performance and social issue films, the distinguishing factor being a post-screening component of live music, a lecture or panel discussion. The initial films from Area23a include REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR, Adrian Grenier’s Sundance entry TEENAGE PAPARAZZO, SOUNDTRACK FOR THE REVOLUTION, AMERICAN HARMONY, THEY CAME TO PLAY, THE MIGHTY UKE, ROBERT BLECKER WANTS ME DEAD, and INGREDIENTS.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Matt Grady
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Grady founded Factory 25 which consistently has released edgy documentaries & Narrative's including: Frownland, Until the Light Takes Us, Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be the Same, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo and You Wont Miss Me. Prior to Factory 25, Grady, was director of production at Plexifilm.Grady's mission is to use FACTORY 25 as a way to keep physical media alive, while exposing the indie world to under-the-radar films, music, and other curiosities.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Documentary - Paul Stekler
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics have won numerous national honors including multiple Emmys, Peabodys and du-Pont-Columbia Journalism awards. His films include Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire (directed and produced with Dan McCabe. it aired on PBS's The American Experience), Vote for Me: Politics in America (directed and produced with Louie Alvarez and Andy Kolker. it was a national PBS two night special), Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style (which aired on PBS’s P.O.V. series), two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights series films, and Frontline’s The Choice 2008, about the Obama-McCain election race, which he co-produced and wrote with director Michael Kirk. His latest film, Getting Back to Abnormal, an ITVS funded film about New Orleans and race relations after Katrina, made with Alvarez, Kolker and Peter Odabashian, will premiere at SXSW 2013. Dr. Stekler has a doctorate in American politics and worked as political pollster in Louisiana. He lives in Austin where he teaches documentary film production and is the Chair of the Radio-Television-Film Dept. at the University of Texas.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Documentary - PJ Raval
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Named one of Out Magazine’s 'Out 100 2010' and Filmmaker Magazine's '25 new faces of independent film 2006', PJ Raval is an award winning filmmaker whose documentary credits include "Trinidad" (Showtime) and "Before You Know It" (SXSW 2013 WORLD PREMIERE). Also an award-winning cinematographer, PJ’s work includes the Academy Award nominated Best Documentary TROUBLE THE WATER.
Film Mentors: Funding - Meghan Oliver
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Meghan is a Motion Picture Finance Agent at Paradigm. As an industry leader, and a focus on financier representation, the overall scope Paradigm’s Motion Picture Finance group includes film packaging, film sales/distribution strategy, and corporate representation. The group packages and sells projects that offer a fresh point of view, and opportunity for meaningful financial success to be shared by the investors and the creative team.
She is a graduate of Cornell University, and lives in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - Farihah Zaman
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
FARIHAH ZAMAN began working in film as a Programmer for Film South Asia documentary film festival before moving to New York in 2005, where she was the Acquisitions Manager at independent film distribution company Magnolia Pictures. In 2008 she coordinated IFP’s No Borders program, the only international co-production market in the U.S., before becoming Program Manager of The Flaherty Seminar until 2010. Farihah currently writes for The Huffington Post, The AV Club, Filmmaker Magazine, and online film journal Reverse Shot, among others. She is co-directing a documentary, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL, set for release in 2013.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Laure Parsons
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
A media professional with several years of experience in distribution and production, Laure Parsons is a consultant and filmmaker specializing in new approaches and technologies. Previously Director of Home Media Sales and Marketing at Zeitgeist Films, she has also worked for National Film Board of Canada, New Yorker Films and Tribeca Film Festival. Laure is currently directing and producing ACCELERATION, a documentary about people involved in artificial intelligence. Previously, she worked in film and TV production at Make Believe Media in Vancouver, BC. She can be found at x + x connect and filmfwd.com.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Greg Rubidge
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
President at Syndicado Inc.
Founder of ilovedocs.com
Tech and digital media entrepreneur since 1995.
MBA, Finance - U of Windsor, ON
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - Christian Zak
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Joining Technicolor New York in early 2004 as Executive Producer, my first role was to help develop and implement the digital post production pipeline in our new facility in the West Village. We were an early advocate for the Digital Intermediate process as well as Digital Acquisition and collaborated on such independent films as Prairie Home Companion, Find Me Guilty and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. In 2007, my career brought me to Technicolor in Los Angeles where I was focused on growing our services to support the independent community. Most recently I hold a position that oversees the integration of our production workflows starting with camera acquisition through post production and delivery.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Anderson Le
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Splitting his time between Los Angeles and Honolulu, Anderson Le has
worked diligently in the global promotion of independent and world
cinema as director of programming for the Hawaii International Film
Festival (HIFF), which is now heading into its 33rd year. In addition
to his duties at HIFF, Le also serves as Artistic director for the Los
Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presenting the latest works of
Asian American and Asian International cinema to audiences in Southern
California.
Le has served on juries for the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Los
Angeles Film Festival, the Puchon Fantastic Film Festival, the
Guanajuato International Film Festival and the Singapore International
Film Festival, as well as serving as a speaker and panelist at South
By Southwest, the San Francisco Asian American International Film
Festival and the Vietnam International Film Festival.
Le also serves as programming consultant for Youtube's new Asian
American network, the YOMYOMF Channel, a new initiative headed by
Hollywood director Justin Lin (FAST FIVE, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW), with
partners Ryan Higa, KevJumba, Cash Warren and basketball star Baron
Davis.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Ryan Kampe
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Prior to founding Visit Films, Ryan spent a number of years in International Distribution at Focus Features. With Visit Films, he has been responsible for the worldwide sales and development of a number of important American independent and international films that have premiered in festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, and Toronto from filmmakers as diverse as Harmonie Korine, Werner Herzog, the Duplass Brothers, Valérie Donzelli, Joe Swanberg and David Robert Mitchell.
Ryan speaks on numerous panels each year and has served on a number of film festival juries while logging over 200,000 air miles flown annually. He is as an avid soccer enthusiast and graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Logan Mulvey
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Logan Mulvey is the C.E.O. & co-founder of GoDigital, a digital distribution company based in Los Angeles. Mulvey’s duties include overseeing GoDigital’s content operations team, acquisitions, marketing initiatives, as well as global product management and release strategy for both new and catalog titles. In 2012, Mulvey was named one of the Hollywood Reporter’s 35 under 35. IndieWire's Anne Thompson calls Mulvey, a "wunderkind,” describing his prowess in the digital space.
Before, taking on the role as C.E.O., Logan created marketing campaigns for dozens of award-winning films and platinum-selling artists as GoDigital’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Prior to his work at GoDigital, Mulvey produced music videos for some of music’s top selling artists, including Master P, Lil’ Romeo, Death Cab For Cutie, Switchfoot, and Ashley Tisdale.
Logan is on the board of directors of the Entrepreneurs Organization and on the board of advisors of the San Diego Film Festival. He is a mentor at SXSW, and a frequent speaker at digital entertainment conferences, including Variety’s BRIC Summit, Digital Hollywood, Variety’s Film Finance Summit, and the New York Film Commission at the Sundance Film Festival, among others. Logan holds a BA in Communications from Loyola Marymount University.
About GoDigital:
Launched in 2008, GoDigital has built one of the industry's premier digital distribution networks and has distributed over 400 films through their output arrangement with Lionsgate and direct deals with iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Playstation, Vudu, Fandor, DISH, and Avail-TVN. In 2012, GoDigital acquired Might Entertainment, creating a full-service digital distribution company with dedicated acquisitions, sales, marketing and technical operations teams with a library of over 1,000 catalog films. Following a highly lucrative capital infusion from Preferred Ventures, GoDigital also recently partnered with 108 Media, a Toronto-based sales company, to handle all distribution for the Canadian company. GoDigital's latest titles include the Josh Gad and Hilary Duff comedy "She Wants Me", horror-comedy “The Selling”, as well as a range of topical documentaries including Javier Bardem's "Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony", the oil spill expose “The Big Fix”, and the popular CNBC-featured documentary, "Unraveled."
Film Mentors: International - Hugues Barbier
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Hugues Barbier is a long time genre films lover that grew up watching Giallos, American Grindhouse and other exploitation flicks. He’s been involved for over 4 years in the organization and programming of the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival and is the Co-Founder/Artistic Director of the Ithaca International Fantastic Film Festival upstate NY. Hugues is also working for the Toronto based International sales/production company: Raven Banner as well as recurrent writer for the French film magazine CUT.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Keith Leopard
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Uncork'd Entertainment is led by an industry veteran with over 23 years of experience in purchasing, acquisitions, merchandising, marketing and analysis of major studio and independent suppliers to the home entertainment market.
Uncork'd Entertainment acquires motion pictures, distributes film for various content partners and consults on digital and Home Entertainment strategies.
Film Mentors: Programming: Documentary - Erik Jambor
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
For over fifteen years, Erik has led non-profit community-based regional film festivals in the South and Pacific Northwest corners of the country -- all three of which were ranked as one of MovieMaker Magazine's "25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" during his tenure. In 1999, he co-founded the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, Alabama, serving as Director for its first eight years and growing the event into a filmmaker favorite and one of Time Magazine's "Film Festivals For the Rest of Us." In 2007 he moved to Bend, Oregon to run the BendFilm Festival, where he created a program that The Oregonian called "the best crop of fictional features yet to screen at BendFilm." Since 2008, Erik has served as Executive Director of Indie Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, which runs year-round programing and special events, including the annual Indie Memphis Film Festival, presented by Duncan-Williams, Inc. The 2012 festival attracted a record-setting crowd of more than 11,000 attendees and was named a named a "Top 20 Event" by the Southeast Tourism Society. Erik has served on numerous film festival juries, including SXSW, Slamdance, Atlanta, Nashville and the Biografilm Festival in Bologna, Italy.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Matt Johnstone
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Matt Johnstone, principal & founder of Matt Johnstone Publicity, offers a boutique and hands-on publicity experience to creative talent, production companies, sales agencies, film festivals, and distributors looking for a resourceful, carefully crafted and cost-effective result. He has over eighteen years of diverse domestic and international experience as a publicist and strategic marketing consultant in the film and television business, with a unique blend of experience in the independent film marketplace and the studio arena. An innovative and resourceful strategist, he has strong understanding of both the creative and business mechanics of the entertainment industry.
Recent publicity efforts include three world premieres at the 2012 Toronto Int’l Film festival - Yellow, Out In The Dark, and 7 Boxes. Additional festival premieres include Wildness (Outfest 2012 Grand Jury Documentary Award Winner, 2012 SXSW Film Festival); A Secret World (Berlinale 2012); Trash Dance (2012 SXSW); Sunset Stories (Outfest 2012); Fourplay (Frameline 2012, Outfest 2012); I Do (Outfest 2012); The Cinema Hold Up (Sundance 2011); The Ways of Wine (Berlinale 2011); August (Outfest 2011, NewFest 2011, Seattle Int’l FF 2011); Roman’s Circuit (TIFF 2011); and Always Brando (TIFF 2011). He was a senior festival publicist at 2011 and 2012 AFI FEST in Los Angeles, and head of publicity for the inaugural 2012 Korean-American Film Festival / Los Angeles. He was also Head of Publicity for the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - David Nugent
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Based in New York city, David Nugent has worked in nearly every aspect of the independent and documentary film world. After receiving an award for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard University in 2000, he moved to New York where he teaches the history of documentary and American independent film at the New School. Upon arriving in New York, he co-wrote Isaac Julien’s three screen installation piece BALTIMORE. He has been a member of the Selection Committee for the Gotham Awards, and the IFP’s Independent Film Week. Nugent coordinated the self-distributed release of Greg Pak’s 2003 feature ROBOT STORIES which played in all major cities in the US after receiving more than 30 festival awards. Nugent recently worked as the Program Director for DocuClub and the Director of Programming for the Newport International Film Festival.
He is now the Artistic Director for the Hamptons International Film Festival where he also directs the festival’s annual Screenwriting Lab. He has been a juror for the Student Academy Awards as well as the Sarasota, Newport International, Silverdocs, Galway, Gen Art and Newfest Film Festivals. He has written festival coverage for Indiewire and participated on panels at the Sundance Film Festival, the Dubai International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Shortsfest and IFP’s Independent Film Week & Script to Screen Conference. Nugent is a founding member of the nominating committee for the Cinema Eye Awards. He has delivered guest lectures at Harvard University and Hunter College and served as a judge for student films at both New York University and the School for Visual Arts.
Film Mentors: International - Martijn Te Pas
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
As the coordinator of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA, www.idfa.nl) program department I am responsible for overseeing all research activities, processing and viewing film festival entries and I select the short films, music films and compile the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary. I have been working for IDFA since 2000.
Every year since 1988, more than 300 international documentaries are screened at IDFA for a huge number of film lovers and professionals. IDFA is unique for its international film program, the variety of genres, its committed program and the many European and world premieres featured each year.
Aside from the festival, IDFA consists of three other components: the IDFA Bertha Fund, the FORUM and the market Docs for Sale (Online).
Film Mentors: Programming: Documentary - Basil Tsiokos
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Basil Tsiokos is a consultant for filmmakers and film festivals. He is a Documentary Programming Associate for the Sundance Film Festival, Shorts & Panel Programmer for DOC NYC, and a Documentary Programming Consultant for the Seattle International Film Festival. He is a regular contributor to Indiewire covering film festivals, and also serves as the publication's curator for Hulu's Documentaries page. As a visiting professor at Pratt, Basil teaches a course on film festivals and oversees students as they organize the Wallabout student short film festival. He co-produced the feature documentary THE CANAL STREET MADAM (World Premiere, SXSW Competition 2010). Between 1996-2008, Basil was the Artistic & Executive Director of NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival. Basil has served on numerous film festival juries and panels, including Atlanta, Atlantic, Berlinale, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, DOC NYC, Fantasia, Full Frame, Hot Docs, IDA, IDFA, IFP, International Film Festival Summit, Lone Star, New York Film Festival, Outfest, Paley Center, Russia's Side-by-Side, Silverdocs, SXSW, Transylvania, and Tribeca. He can be found on Twitter as @1basil1 and on his blog what (not) to doc offering advice and information to filmmakers. Basil holds a Masters degree from New York University in Cinema Studies and two undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.
Film Mentors: Legal - Emilio Nicolas
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Emilio Nicolas represents and counsels a variety of domestic and international individuals and businesses on matters involving entertainment, media and intellectual property. His practice includes intellectual property and general commercial litigation, entertainment and media transactions, and intellectual property rights management.
Mr. Nicolas litigates civil claims in state and federal courts, including film, music, internet, copyright, trademark, right of publicity, defamation, and restraint of trade disputes. He also handles inter-party and ex parte trademark proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In addition, Mr. Nicolas assists clients with the preparation, review and negotiation of their entertainment industry contracts, such as music, film, television, literary and video game production, distribution and finance agreements; their product and services agreements; their restrictive covenants (e.g., non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements); and their other general commercial transaction documents. He also handles copyright and trademark prosecutions, intellectual property rights clearance and licensing, and pre-publication reviews.
Film Mentors: Filmmakers: Narrative - Kelly Broad
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
I love all aspects of film and have worked hard to create a career where I can make the films I want to make, as well as earn a living in film distribution. I am a BAFTA award winning independent film producer. My first feature film, Third Star, was the Closing Night Gala at Edinburgh Film Festival 2010, and went on to screen in film festivals worldwide. My second feature film, Everyone's Going to Die, will world premiere at SXSW this year. I combine making films with working on big budget releases of studio films as a film publicist & event manager. Some of the smaller releases I have worked on in the UK, including Juno and Slumdog Millionaire, have given me an insight into about smart, targeted campaigns which really create audiences. I am equally proud of the world class events I have had the privilege to work on, including the world premiere of Harry Potter 7 in central London, and premieres for The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Michael Hayden
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Michael Hayden has been programmer of the BFI London Film Festival since 2003. He had previously managed cinema venues in Manchester, Cambridge and London, and has written for a number of film publications in the UK.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Stephanie Trepanier
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Stephanie has been involved with Montreal's Fantasia International Film Festival - North-America's largest genre film festival - since 2005, alternatively as a Publicist, New Media Director, Hospitality Director, International Programmer and now Market Director. In 2012 it introduced the Frontières International Co-Production Market, the first co-production market to concentrate on genre film while bringing projects from North-America, Europe and Australia together.
She is also the founder of Evokative Films, a boutique film distribution company that independently released International films across Canada from 2008 to 2012, as well as an International Sales consultant.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Wim De Witte
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Since 2000 I am the chief programmer at the Ghent International Film Festival. Every year in October our event presents a program of some 100 feature films and some 50 shorts to an audience of over 130,000. Recently Variety called our fest one of the 50 must attend festivals in the world.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Karen Arikian
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Karen Arikian is a consultant to international film festivals and markets. She is currently the US representative for the Berlin International Film Festival as well as North American representative for European Film Promotion (EFP). Over a 25 year career in the film business in both the US and Europe, she was the Executive Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival, Co-Director of Berlin's European Film Market, Artistic and Executive Director of the Perugia International Film Festival, and Market and Executive Director of the Independent Feature Project. As Project Director for EFP, Karen created and ran programs for European films at festivals in Buenos Aires, Pusan, Toronto, and San Francisco among others. In the production area, she ran the US office for German film financier,Time Production, and while there developed and produced a number of international co-productions. She also managed development and production for Bruce Weber's Little Bear Films. In addition to Berlin and EFP, her current clients include BAFTA, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinelan and Thought Engine.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Dosin Pak
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Dosin Pak was born in Seoul, South Korea. After he graduated from high school in Korea, he immigrated to U.S. He graduated from Columbia University in Chicago majoring in filmmaking. He started working for the Busan International Film Festival(BIFF) in 2001 as a foreign press coordinator. He also worked for another film festival in Korea, Jeonju International Film Festival in 2002. The same year, he came back to BIFF for Korean Cinema Coordinator. In 2005, he became a head manager of programming department for the festival. Two years later, he was in charge of one of the festival’s section called MIDNIGHT PASSION specializing in genre or commercial films for the festival. Now, he is a programmer for North American regions, German, Russia, and a few countries in Europe.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Lindsey Ramey
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Lindsey Ramey is a graduate from the Film Studies and Digital Media program at Baylor University. Before moving to LA she worked as a Brand Ambassador for the co-sponsor of Van's Warped Tour. Once nestled into Hollywood, she began her career at Lionsgate in 2006 where, over the course of her four and half years at the company, she oversaw the production and development of more than 20 films. In 2011, Lindsey then joined Heyday Films as a Vice President targeting new material from the literary world as well as helping to expand the company into the animation space. Currently, she is a Producer at Hypnotic where she works closely with the two principals, Doug Liman and David Bartis, to develop and produce original material for the company.
Film Mentors: International - Andy Whittaker
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Andy is the Founder of Dogwoof, the leading film distributor for documentary films. Undefeated, Chasing Ice, Food Inc, Bombay Beach, Restrepo, Age of Stupid, and F*ck for Forest. and has been in the industry for 9 years now, starting from scratch to now being listed in the top 100 people in film industry by The Guardian.
Andy’s expertise is online and social media, using them the best ways to support film campaigns. Also responsible for business development for Dogwoof’s partnerships, eg Cisco. Andy looks after Dogwoof’s business strategy which is intimately linked to the development of our online activities.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - Adam Donaghey
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Adam Donaghey, founder of micro-budget indie label Zero Trans Fat Prods., is an award-winning independent film producer. His work has been nominated for both the Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards, and has been showcased at fests including Sundance, SXSW, Sitges, LA Film Festival, AFI Fest and Thessaloniki, and via distributors including IFC Films, Cinetic Media and the Lifetime Movie Network. Adam is a Partner and Vice President of Aviation Cinemas, inc., the holding company operating the historic Texas Theatre, an art house and national landmark in Dallas, Texas. The Texas Theatre was financed by Howard Hughes in 1931 and received national acclaim after the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged shooter of President John F. Kennedy. Adam Co-Founded Aviation Cinemas Prods. which recently announced an option to develop the stage play “Danny Casolaro Died for You” into a feature film which will investigate the unsolved death of the titular writer mere weeks before he was to break a story uncovering high-level corruption within the Reagan/Bush Justice Dept. Adam is also Co-Founder of and programmer for the Oak Cliff Film Festival, which has been covered in various national publications including Texas Monthly and the New York Times. He regularly speaks and judges at universities, film festivals and industry related workshops, conferences and competitions; he is a freelance film columnist for D Magazine and producer of the Texas 24 Hour Film Races. Adam is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a B.A. in philosophy.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Peter Jarowey
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Peter Jarowey is an acquisitions executive at ARC Entertainment. Jarowey has been instrumental in carrying out campaigns for over 60 titles, including The Way starring Emilio Estevez, Bunraku starring Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore, For Greater Glory starring Andy Garcia and Eva Longoria, and the 800-screen release of Nitro Circus 3-D. He has taken titles from discovery to purchase to marketing to release and has extensive experience with multi-platform releases.
Prior to joining ARC Entertainment, Jarowey worked at Trium Entertainment, supporting the work of Mark Koops (co-creator of The Biggest Loser) in digital/TV reality content. He began his career at Camelot Entertainment Group, specializing in international acquisitions and production. He graduated from Denison University with a degree in Film Studies. He resides in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Nicholas Ogiony
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Grew up in Chicago. Moved to LA with stars in my eyes. Worked at WMA / WME for Cassian Elwes and transitioned over to CAA Film Finance in 2010. Smiths Forever
Film Mentors: Funding - Lu Lippold
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Administers McKnight Foundation film funding programs through IFP Minnesota: the New Media Project Grant and the McKnight Media Arts Fellowships. Writes for the Twin Cities Daily Planet and the Flyway Film Festival. Used to be a documentary filmmaker, but it got too annoying.
Film Mentors: Legal - Deena Kalai
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Deena Kalai is an entertainment lawyer with offices in both Austin and Manhattan.
Deena represents artists and businesses engaged in entertainment, intellectual property and technology, including film, music, television, fashion, literary publishing, and mobile/interactive media. Deena has a particular interest in fair use and assists many documentary filmmakers each year in assessing the applicability of this important copyright doctrine to their projects.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - Gerald Peary
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Gerald Peary is a long-time film critic for the Boston Phoenix, a film
studies professor at Suffolk University, Boston, and the author of nine
books on the cinema. He is the programmer of the Boston University
Cinematheque and a scout for the Edinburgh and Mannheim International Film
Festivals. He was the Guest Director of the Harvard Film Archive and a
Fulbright Scholar in ex-Yugoslavia.
His feature documentary, For the Love of Movies: the Story of American Film
Criticism, premiered at SXSW 2008, and he is making a new documentary about
Archie comics. He portrays a chess master in Andrew Bujalksi's Computer
Chess, at SXSW 2013.
Film Mentors: Legal - Annie Lin
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Annie Lin is a San Francisco-based attorney who works at the intersection of entertainment, media and technology. Since 2010, Annie has been practicing with Brave Noise Legal, providing legal and entertainment counsel to enterprises and creators in music, film, advertising and mobile/interactive media.
As production counsel and music supervisor for film and television, Annie’s credits range from narrative features to documentary films, including recent titles "Rising From Ashes", "Marwencol", "Copyright Criminals", "Jack and Diane" and "Cartoon College." Prior to moving to Bay Area, Annie helped launch the licensing division of The Orchard, a digital distributor of music and film. As director of creative licensing, she was instrumental in building the company’s creative licensing ventures and establishing the business as a major player in the synchronization licensing space. Her music placements can be seen in numerous films, television shows, advertisements and interactive media projects, for brand properties such as Target, British Airways, Lexus and Crayola, and programs including “The Wire”, “Dexter” and “CSI:Miami”.
Annie collects 78's and is a co-founder of the San Francisco Mixtape Society.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Jigar Mehta
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Jigar Mehta is a documentary filmmaker, journalist and digital entrepreneur.
He is the co-creator of the collaborative documentary project, 18 Days in Egypt, about the ongoing Egyptian revolution. It was a project developed while Mehta was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. Before coming to Stanford, Mehta was a video journalist for The New York Times. His passion is for telling stories through strong characters and accurate reporting. He is a believer in collaboration and building community, and as 2009-11 president of the South Asian Journalist Association, he fostered programs that reflect those ideals.
Mehta is a double graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Journalism.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Keyvan Peymani
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Keyvan Peymani is the head of the Digital Strategy Division of ICM Partners, reporting to the Executive Board. ICM Partners is one of the preeminent talent and literary agencies in the world, representing clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, publishing, music, theater, branded entertainment and digital media, with principal offices in Los Angeles, New York and London.
As head of digital strategy, Mr. Peymani’s focus is the expansion of the agency’s efforts across all aspects of the technology and digital sectors, bringing innovative opportunities to the agency and its clients, including the creation of new businesses and investments with long-term benefits.
Prior to joining ICM Partners, Mr. Peymani served as Vice President of Direct to Consumer Business Planning and Operations at Warner Bros., where he led strategy, operations, planning and development for the DTC division within digital distribution. In addition, he oversaw the Media Manufacture on Demand, Mobile Applications and Out My Window business lines and worked on industry leading forays into the first fully digital movie applications, the first screenings of movies through Facebook and the acquisition of Flixster. Previously, he served as the head of content acquisitions for catalog content and led the wholesales efforts at Netflix; he led alternative business development for Disney’s music group; and he was the Chief Operating Officer of Nettwerk Music Group.
Mr. Peymani began his career leading his own new media company and has advised Fortune 100 companies around the world. In addition, he currently serves on the faculty of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, covering entertainment and emerging business models.
Film Mentors: Filmmakers: Documentary - Jillian Schlesinger
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Jillian Schlesinger (Director/Producer) is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker making her directorial debut with MAIDENTRIP, a World Premiere at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival. Prior to MAIDENTRIP Schlesinger worked in various capacities on a number of documentaries, including writing, story development, and archival research. She has also written, directed, and edited numerous on-air promotions for television networks, including AMC, Sundance Channel, and BBC America. Her work on Sundance Channel's Dysfunctional Family Thanksgiving earned a 2010 Promax BDA Award in the "Something for Nothing" category. Jillian grew up in Santa Cruz, CA and graduated from Brown University, where she studied dramatic writing and linguistic anthropology.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Molly Thompson
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Molly Thompson launched and runs A&E IndieFilms, the network’s feature documentary division. A&E IndieFilms’ productions include the Oscar-nominated, Sundance Award-winner “Murderball,” the Oscar-nominated “Jesus Camp” and the Emmy Award-winners “The Tillman Story” and “Under African Skies.” Thompson executive produces the division’s original productions including: “My Kid Could Paint That,” “American Teen,” “The September Issue,” “The Tillman Story” and “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.” Thompson’s latest film for A&E IndieFilms, “The Imposter” was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature in the 2012 Academy Awards. It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2012 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and received two nominations for the 2013 EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) – Best Documentary and Outstanding Debut.
Film Mentors: Filmmarker: Narrative - Kristoffer Aaron Morgan
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Aaron moved to Austin Texas in 2001 and studied film-making at the University of Texas.
He had his first directed short film BLIND premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in 2004, and his most recent short NO WAY OUT premiere at the 2011 Fantastic Fest, it was also recently selected as the Vimeo 'Short Of The Week'.
In 2010 he optioned the feature script THE HOME, that he co-wrote with writing partner Eric Vespe, to producer Elizabeth Avellan. The script is now in development.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Nancy Schafer
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Nancy Schafer is currently a consultant who works in independent film. Until July 2012 she was Executive Director of Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) and Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises (TE). In her current role as consultant Schafer continues to work with Tribeca as well as other filmmakers and film organizations.
Nancy Schafer was the Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Festival and an Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises. Schafer became co-executive director of the Festival in 2007 and executive director in 2008. She joined the festival staff for the first Festival in 2002 as a programmer and has held positions as programmer and managing director. As Executive Vice President, Schafer lead the artistic curation and business development for Tribeca’s business expansion, specifically with Tribeca Film, the distribution label which launched in 2010. As Executive Director, she oversaw all budgeting and operations for the Festival as well as working closely with the sponsorship team to raise funding. She has lead programming for the Festival since 2007, sharing the responsibilities with Geoff Gilmore and Frederic Boyer this past year. She also worked on Tribeca’s year round events and was involved in the launch of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.
Prior to joining Tribeca, she created and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW Film) in Austin, Texas for eight years. Along with her festival experience, Schafer has worked on several films including two from director John Sayles (Sunshine State, Limbo); two from director Robert Byington (Olympia, Shameless) and began her film production career on The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Schafer currently resides in Manhattan.
Schafer is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Mark Bristol
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Mark Bristol began his career as a Storyboard Artist. He has worked on over 45 feature films including, “Memento”, “The Thin Red Line”, “Narnia, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”, and most recently “The Tree of Life”. Bristol's directorial debut feature film, "The Monster Hunter" premiered on Showtime in the spring of 2002 and had a wide release on DVD in 2003.
Since 2005 Bristol has been a writer/ director in the Video Game Industry. He has written and directed in-game cinemas for "Medal of Honor: Rising Sun", Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings Trilogy", "Cipher Complex", Tony Scott's "Criminal", and he recently completed work as Writer, Cinematic and Art Director on "Doom 4".
Mark is currently the writer/ director on a WW2 FPS titled "Enemy Front."
His feature film screenplay "Empires of Dust" is being produced by Philip Steuer (Narnia films, The Rookie, OZ: the Great and Powerful).
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Melissa Robyn Glassman
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
As Creative Executive at Pressman Film, Melissa oversees all aspects of development on Pressman's slate and contributes to the company's marketing and publicity strategies. Prior to joining the company in February 2010, Melissa was a P.A. to Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU. She also has a background in journalism as an editor and staff writer for YM magazine. Melissa graduated with honors from NYU in 2000.
Founded in 1969, Pressman Film has produced more than 75 world-class motion pictures and helped launch the careers of many of the most prominent figures in the movie industry. The company’s extensive body of work includes groundbreaking films by directors such as Oliver Stone, Terrence Malick, Sam Raimi, David Byrne, Kathryn Bigelow, Alex Proyas, Brian De Palma, David Mamet, Charles Burnett, Abel Ferrara, Wayne Kramer, Mary Harron, Jason Reitman, and Werner Herzog. Led by true industry veteran, Edward R. Pressman, the company is dedicated to producing quality theatrical motion pictures and will continue its 40-year tradition, forging new territory in both the independent and Hollywood arenas.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Brandy Fons
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Brandy Fons is the co-owner of Fons PR along with her husband Ryan Fons.
She has over 14 years of experience working in film and entertainment
publicity.
Brandy began her career in New York, overseeing national brand PR for fashion and
beauty clients, including Burt's Bees, Kiehls, and Deborah Lippman Collection before
transitioning to film publicity at Barclay Communications where she handled
regional publicity for multiple studio clients including Walt Disney Studios, NewLine
Cinema, Focus Features, Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks and Universal Studios. She
was then recruited by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for the position of
publicity manager, where she headed over 500 national PR campaigns yearly for
major home video initiatives including Disney classics like Lion King, Snow White &
The Seven Dwarfs, Monsters, Inc. and more. Brandy pursued a career as a PR
consultant where she continued to consult for Walt Disney Studios as well as
theatrical and home video campaigns for Focus Features and Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment. Brandy now heads her own PR firm located in Austin, TX where she
oversees the publicity of four yearly festivals including Fantastic Fest (the largest
genre film festival in the U.S.), ATX Television Festival (a celebration of TV’s past,
present and future through screenings and panels), RTX event (a gaming and
internet convention hosted in Austin, TX) and Off-Centered Film Festival (Dogfish
Head Brewery and Alamo Drafthouse’s annual film/beer festival). In addition, her
agency represents the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain both corporately and for
their national expansion in NYC, Denver, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Kansas
City along with their family of companies: Mondo (Alamo Drafthouse’s collectable
art division), Fantastic Fest (the largest genre film festival in the U.S.), Badass Digest,
Rolling Roadshow, 400 Rabbits, Midnight Cowboy and Drafthouse Films
(representing films nationally). Fons PR also represents independent filmmakers,
studios (Summit Entertainment, The Weinstein Company), production/creative
content studios (Rooster Teeth - Red vs. Blue and Arts+Labor), and Tugg, Inc (a web-
platform that enables individuals to choose the films that play in their local
theaters). Brandy has a voracious love for her 5yr old daughter Sienna, film, pop-
culture, and all things Austin. She could not be more excited to serve as a mentor
during SXSW.
Film Mentors: Programming: Narrative - Lane Kneedler
Film
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Lane Kneedler received his degree in Film from the University of Colorado. There he studied under many influential experimental filmmakers including Stan Brakhage and Phil Solomon. In 2000 he began working for the Sundance Film Festival. Working within the organization he became a programming consultant for the Sundance Film Festival and a consultant for the Sundance Screenwriters and Filmmakers labs. Other festivals Lane has worked with and consulted for include the Cinevegas Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. In past years Lane served on the documentary jury for HBO's Comedy Arts Festival, the Northwest Film Forum and the Dallas Film Festival among others. Since 2005 Lane has worked programming AFI FEST and is currently that festival’s Associate Director of Programming.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - Megan Gilbride
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
An Independent Spirit Award nominated producer of narrative and documentary features, Megan produced LOVERS OF HATE, co-produced WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM and is currently in pre-production on Bryan Poyser's next film, THE BOUNCEBACK.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Ingrid Kopp
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Director of Digital Initiatives at the Tribeca Film Institute where I oversee the TFI New Media Fund, Tribeca Hacks and TFI Interactive. Obsessed with interactive storytelling and bring storytellers, technologists and designers together to make amazing work.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Jill Burkhart
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Jill Burkhart is the Director of Documentary Programming for Epix, a multiplatform movie service created by Lionsgate, Paramount and MGM. In her current role she is responsible for acquiring documentaries for EPIX’ Original Programming.
She is the co-founder of the Nantucket Film Festival, which she also helmed, first as Artistic Director, than as Exec. Director. Jill was also the Executive Director of the Screenwriters Colony a sister Nantucket organization created to enable screenwriters writing retreats and creative guidance. Previously, she
worked with Madstone Films as a curator for its Very Indie Film Series. And a very long time ago, Jill was an actress. She attended New York University for Theatre.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Elaine McMillon
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Elaine McMillion is an award-winning, documentary storyteller based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her work explores how digital platforms and participatory media can empower local communities. McMillion strives to bring the voices of people and places that are often underrepresented or misrepresented by the mass media to the forefront. She is currently the project director of “Hollow,” an interactive documentary that explores the issues and future of rural America through the eyes of Southern West Virginians. With support by the Tribeca Film Institute’s New Media Fund, “Hollow” will launch in May 2013 and combine documentary vignettes with photos, community-shot footage, soundscapes, animations and data visualizations in an immersive, HTML5 experience.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - Roger Erik Tinch
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Roger Erik Tinch is an experienced designer, developer, and social media consultant with a focus on film-related projects. Currently, he's part of the Online and Digital Media team at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, in charge of design and development for a variety of company brand websites including Badass Digest, Drafthouse Films and Fantastic Fest. He's also consulted for MUBI.com, Sundance Institute, filmmaker Shane Carruth and Pixar's Lee Unkrich.
Film Mentors: Legal - Anne Moebes
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Anne Moebes is a sole practitioner who provides legal advice in connection with traditional and digital promotions and advertising, including drafting website Terms of Use and Privacy Policies, FTC and state law compliance for sweepstakes and contests (including rules and other documentation), collection of personal information (including drafting of privacy policies) email marketing, green and cause marketing, buzz, stealth and viral marketing, truth-in-advertising, and intellectual property and right of publicity clearance as well as drafting and negotiating complex new media, online and traditional marketing, advertising and consulting agreements. Formerly, Ms. Moebes served as Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, where she managed the film marketing division, advising high-level executives on all of the foregoing types of matters and in addition, closed numerous content deals with high-profile companies, e.g., Yahoo, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Major League Baseball.
Film Mentors: Funding - Scilla Andreen
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Scilla Andreen is the CEO and co-founder of IndieFlix, an online streaming service dedicated to independent film and filmmakers. She is also founder of the IndieFlix Foundation, creator of the Film Festival in a Box movie game, and the Tag Now, Watch Later IndieFlix app. In addition, she is an award-winning producer and Emmy-nominated costume designer.
Scilla has deep roots in the entertainment industry and is a popular speaker, juror and tireless champion of independent film. In 2004 Scilla co-founded IndieFlix.com, an independent film distribution and discovery site founded on the principles of community, promotion, syndication and transparency. IndieFlix filmmakers keep their rights and participate in multiple revenue streams direct from IndieFlix.com and via third party platforms including Cable, VOD, iTunes, Hulu, Roku and Xbox. The IndieFlix library of film festival titles stands at 4,000+ titles and growing.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - Aaron Koblin
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Aaron Koblin is an interaction designer known for pioneering new interfaces in crowdsourcing and data visualization. His work explores the changing relationship between humans and the data they create. Notable projects include commissioning 10,000 people to draw a sheep, a 120-foot sculpture visualizing global weather, a website for animators to draw infinite, ever-evolving stories, and data-driven music videos for Radiohead and Arcade Fire. In 2010, he co-created the first crowdsourced music video, The Johnny Cash Project. Koblin leads the Data Arts Team at Google, and his work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the V&A, and the Centre Pompidou. His work has received numerous accolades, including awards from the National Science Foundation and multiple Grammy nominations. He was artist in residence at MIT and lectures frequently, including speaking at TED and Davos.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Documentary - Bradley Beesley
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Bradley Beesley has made a cinematic career documenting oddball Americana and homegrown rock stars. Post art school, he began filming with bluesman R.L. Burnside to make his first movie ‘Hill Stomp Hollar’ (SXSW). He has since directed nine feature-length films, including seven documentaries,. Bradley is the director of the backwoods cult classic Okie Noodling (PBS). The film chronicles the lost art of bare-handed catfishing. In 2005, Shout! Factory released ‘The Fearless Freaks’, a documentary starring The Flaming Lips. ‘Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' (HBO) is his latest effort and goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls. His TV credits include ‘Mudcats’ (History) ‘Paranormal State’ (A&E) and ‘Storm Chasers’ (Discovery).
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - Jennifer Cochis
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Jennifer Cochis is a producer; in 2009 she co-produced the feature film Douchebag directed by Drake Doremus (Like Crazy). Douchebag went on to have its world premiere in Dramatic Competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released later that year.
Chosen by the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program as one of five producers for the Creative Producing Lab in 2010, Jennifer attended both the Creative Producing Lab and Summit as well as Sundance Film Festival 2011 with the feature film project The West Memphis Three written and directed by Sundance alumnus Lee Toland Kreiger (Celeste and Jesse Forever, The Vicious Kind). Sundance also awarded Jennifer the Sheila C. Johnson Fellowship. By invitation, Jennifer and Lee attended Film Independent's No Borders at Independent Film Week 2010 with The West Memphis Three.
In 2012, Jennifer had two films in competition at Sundance, Smashed in Dramatic Competition and The Other Dream Team in Documentary Competition. Smashed sold to Sony Pictures Classics and also became an official selection of Toronto, Deauville, and many premiere film festivals around the world. It earned a Spirit Award nomination. The Other Dream Team sold to Film Arcade and was theatrically released in October 2012. It earned a PGA nomination.
Jennifer is at SXSW this year with the film Los Wild Ones in Documentary Competition, directed by Elise Salomon. Currently, Jennifer is collaborating with several filmmakers on multi-genre feature film projects, she has another feature beginning pre-production this spring.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - Scott Foundas
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Scott Foundas is Chief Film Critic for The Village Voice, in addition to which his reviews, interviews and essays appear regularly in the LA Weekly and all other Voice Media Group publications. From 2010-2012, he was the Associate Program Director for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, where he also served as a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee and a contributing editor to Film Comment magazine. A 1999 graduate of the USC School of Cinema-Television, Foundas' writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Variety, Cinema Scope and Cahiers du Cinema. He has also served as a special advisor to the Cannes Film Festival.
Film Mentors: Filmmakers: Documentary - Jeffrey Schwarz
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Jeffrey Schwarz's previous films include HBO's Vito, about the beloved gay activist and film scholar, Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, about the legendary Hollywood showman, and Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, on 70s adult film star Jack Wrangler. He is currently in production Tab Hunter Confidential, about the 1950s screen heartthrob. He is the director of SXSW 2013 Film I AM DIVINE.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Narrative - Shyama Friedenson
Film
Monday March 11th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
For the past three years, Shyama Friedenson, has been Paris based as the head of International Marketing for Studiocanal. She has been responsible for overseeing the marketing and distribution of Studiocanal’s international productions and acquisitions and works directly with the heads of marketing at STUDIOCANAL UK, France, Germany and Australia to develop global strategies. Friedenson has over fifteen years of collective marketing and entertainment marketing experience and a proven track record of success on a diverse slate of more than 250 feature films, that have garnered 38 Academy Award® nominations with 9 wins, 36 Golden Globe nominations with 7 wins and 51 BAFTA nominations with 9 wins. Friedenson specializes in creative conceptualization of campaigns and strategic marketing with experience in festival launches that include Cannes, Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian, Berlin, and Sundance. Prior to Studiocanal, Friedenson was SVP,International Marketing for Paramount Vantage and prior to that, held the position at Lionsgate. Recognized for having exceptional filmmaker relationships, a global distributor network and an established track record for success, her titles include Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the Coen Brothers Inside Llweyn Davis, The Tourist, Two Faces of January, Paddington, Robocop, Place Beyond the Pines, Hotel Rwanda, Monster's Ball, Amores Perros, the Saw Franchise, Revolutionary Road, No Country for Old Men and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.
Film Mentors: Digital Media - John Christiano
Film
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Founder, Creative Director Project C
Since launching Project C in 2002, John has been the creative director and chief strategist for over a decade.
Through storytelling and the creation of original content, Project C has been a pioneering force in the online entertainment space. Working directly with both clients and filmmakers, John has led countless innovative, award winning digital campaigns including: Star Trek, The Avengers, Iron Man Trilogy, Django Unchained, Transformers Trilogy, Super 8, Savages, The Lorax, Bully, Apollo 18, Despicable Me, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Benjamin Button, and Zodiac.
Prior to forming Project C, John enjoyed a long stretch as a freelance Art Director and Editorial Illustrator. He holds two bachelor’s degrees from both the Art Center College of Design and U.C.L.A.
John currently resides in Austin, TX.
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - David Lowery
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
David Lowery is a filmmaker from Texas. After his short film Pioneer premiered at Sundance in 2011 and won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, he returned to the 2013 Sundance Film Festival festival attached to three projects: co-editor of Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color, co-writer of Yen Tan’s Pit Stop, and writer/director of Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster. That film was picked up for distribution by IFC Films. His first feature, St. Nick, premiered at SXSW in 2009 and went on to play at film festivals around the world.
Film Mentors: Funding - Lois Vossen
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Lois Vossen is the founding and Senior Series Producer of Independent Lens. She is responsible for the co-curation of the series and works with filmmakers on content, editorial, and related broadcast issues. She selects the Independent Lens hosts, writes and produces the host shoot, and works with the communications team on the marketing campaigns of the series. In its first ten seasons, Independent Lens received 7 Emmy Awards, 10 Peabody Awards, 4 DuPont Awards, and has been nominated for 6 Academy Awards.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Weiman Seid
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Weiman Seid is the founder and Principal of Fat Dot. Weiman started Fat Dot in 2004 following eleven years at Miramax Films, where he rose to Senior Vice President and worked on more than 150 features as well as numerous Academy Award campaigns, from In the Bedroom, City of God and The Station Agent to Dimension Films hits Scary Movie and Scream 3.
Based in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Fat Dot provides PR and strategic marketing support to an array of entertainment industry, corporate, and individual clients. Fat Dot has worked with creative projects and people ranging from studio films, independent films and documentaries to new media projects, television, and film festivals.
Fat Dot specializes in preparing films for the U.S. film festival marketplace and managing theatrical campaigns. With an eye on how a particular project fits in to the news of the moment, our campaigns include the best in entertainment and celebrity publicity as well as news-driven stories that reach the best –and broadest possible – audience.
Fat Dot frequently collaborates with film studios such as 20th Century Fox, Miramax, and The Weinstein Company. The firm also serves as personal publicist to clients including Sissy Spacek, Todd Field, and Schuyler Fisk. Films Fat Dot has handled include Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, The Day the Earth Stood Still, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Squid and the Whale.
Fat Dot’s company name derives from a Chinese phrase that translates to “wealth and success.” We are a group that specializes in service that is personal while also professional, and our public relations are highly customized according to the needs and opportunities that are special to each project. To learn more about us, visit fatdot.net.
Film Mentors: Legal - Michael Saleman
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Michael Norman Saleman is a Martindale-Hubbell AV rated attorney at law admitted to practice in the States of California and Texas. He is in his 33rd year of practice.
Mr. Saleman has three offices, one in Los Angeles (Beverly Hills), California, one in Austin, Texas and another in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. Saleman’s practice maintains a special emphasis on the representation of independent filmmakers. In the course of such representation, he handles the creation of production companies, prepares financing documents (PPM’s, LLC’s etc.), handles production/legal contracts and distribution negotiation and agreements. He also
represents film, television, multimedia, music and software clients in California, Texas and other parts of the United States. His list of film and television credits can be seen on imdb.com at www.imdb.com/name/nm1337557/ . His website, www.movielaw.net has been acclaimed as a valuable tool for independent film producers seeking legal information in connection with their films.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Jeff Deutchman
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
As Director of Acquisitions for IFC Films/Sundance Selects, Jeff Deutchman has discovered and acquired some of the most critically-acclaimed independent films of the last five years, including documentaries "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," "The Art of the Steal," "The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975," "The Flat," and "Room 237," genre films "The Human Centipede," "Valhalla Rising," and "Kill List," and indie breakthroughs "Medicine For Melancholy," "Afterschool," "Daddy Longlegs," "Cold Weather," "Weekend," and "Sleepwalk With Me."
Deutchman is also the director/producer of the feature documentary, "11/4/08" – a vérité collage of footage shot all over the world on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The film had its world premiere at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, was released theatrically in 20 cities, and is currently available on iTunes, Netflix and other digital platforms.
Film Mentors: Filmmakers: Documentary - Malcolm Ingram
Film
Monday March 11th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Malcolm likes beer, BBQ and rainbows. His previous works include the award winning documentaries "small town gay bar" and "Bear Nation". This is his 4th film to show at SXSW.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Holly Herrick
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Holly Herrick joined the Austin Film Society in 2012 as Associate Artistic Director, overseeing the organization’s celebrated Artist Services and Programming departments. Prior to joining AFS, she served as Deputy Program Director at the Hamptons International Film Festival in New York, where in addition to film programming, she produced the festival’s signature artistic events. Concurrently with her Hamptons work, Holly served as Director of Programming at the Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, and also programmed an edition of the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Through her work in festival programming, Holly developed a passion for talent discovery while fostering her deep appreciation for daring, ambitious filmmaking in narrative, documentary and experimental forms. Also during her time in Sarasota, she established a partnership between the festival and Women Make Movies. Together, the organizations produced a symposium for the mentorship and promotion of women filmmakers, which continues to take place there. Holly collaborates with her writer/director husband, Michael Tully, on his films. In 2011, she associate produced his narrative feature SEPTIEN, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and in Austin at SxSW, and was distributed by IFC/Sundance Selects. She co-produced Tully’s upcoming narrative feature, PING PONG SUMMER. Prior to her career in film, Holly studied at New College of Florida, the honors college of the Florida state university system. She researched her undergraduate thesis on Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye at the African Cinemathèque in Paris, while continuing her literature and cinema studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. Holly continues to write about films. Her writing has appeared on the Resources Blog of the Independent Feature Project , the editorial film website Hammer To Nail, and on IndieWire.
Film Mentors: Funding - Holly Herrick
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Holly Herrick joined the Austin Film Society in 2012 as Associate Artistic Director, overseeing the organization’s celebrated Artist Services and Programming departments. Prior to joining AFS, she served as Deputy Program Director at the Hamptons International Film Festival in New York, where in addition to film programming, she produced the festival’s signature artistic events. Concurrently with her Hamptons work, Holly served as Director of Programming at the Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, and also programmed an edition of the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Through her work in festival programming, Holly developed a passion for talent discovery while fostering her deep appreciation for daring, ambitious filmmaking in narrative, documentary and experimental forms. Also during her time in Sarasota, she established a partnership between the festival and Women Make Movies. Together, the organizations produced a symposium for the mentorship and promotion of women filmmakers, which continues to take place there. Holly collaborates with her writer/director husband, Michael Tully, on his films. In 2011, she associate produced his narrative feature SEPTIEN, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and in Austin at SxSW, and was distributed by IFC/Sundance Selects. She co-produced Tully’s upcoming narrative feature, PING PONG SUMMER. Prior to her career in film, Holly studied at New College of Florida, the honors college of the Florida state university system. She researched her undergraduate thesis on Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye at the African Cinemathèque in Paris, while continuing her literature and cinema studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle. Holly continues to write about films. Her writing has appeared on the Resources Blog of the Independent Feature Project , the editorial film website Hammer To Nail, and on IndieWire.
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Josh Braun
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Josh Braun runs Submarine, a hybrid sales and production company. Mr. Braun is a producer on BUTTON MAN, a feature in development at Dreamworks with Nicholas Winding Refn directing and is a producer on THE CREEPY MOVIE, an anthology horror film directed by four directors including CHRIS COLUMBUS. Josh is producing an untitled feature documentary for CNN FILMS directed by Andrew Rossi and also produced Rossi's Sundance 2011 Feature doc
PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NY TIMES and was an Executive Producer of the Planet Green limited seriesBOOMTOWN (winner of the IDA award for limited series) Previously, Mr. Braun was an executive producer on David Cronenberg’s A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and produced the cult horror hit HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. Documentaries exec produced by Mr. Braun include SEAMLESS, GRAMERCY PARK HOTEL, CAT DANCERS, BILLIONAIRE, EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS, KILL YOUR IDOLS.
Recent films sold by Submarine include BLACKFISH, DIRTY WARS, 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, THE SUMMIT, CUTIE AND THE BOXER, QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, ME AT THE ZOO, BLACK ROCK, CHASING ICE, ROB ZOMBIE'S LORDS OF SALEM, NO PLACE ON EARTH, TABLOID, PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NY TIMES, BUCK, PROJECT NIM, BEING ELMO, THE BULLY PROJECT, BOMBAY BEACH, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL, FIRST POSITION, LAST CALL AT THE OASIS, I MELT WITH YOU, FIGHTVILLE, CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK, TINY FURNITURE, WINTER’S BONE, MAN ON WIRE, FOOD INC, JOAN RIVERS A PIECE OF WORK, VALENTINO THE LAST EMPEROR and others
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Robert Rock
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Bobby Rock is currently the head of acquisitions at Echo Bridge Entertainment, a worldwide distribution company, including an extensive DVD division located in La Crosse, Wisconsin; and international sales offices in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Barcelona, and Hong Kong. Among Echo Bridge’s recent acquisitions are PJ20, the documentary by Cameron Crowe about Pearl Jam on their 20th anniversary; Jonathan Demme’s I’M CAROLYN PARKER about the indomitable spirit of a Katrina survivor and her will to rebuild; Martin Scorsese’s LETTER TO ELIA, Scorsese’s documentary about the man who inspired him, filmmaker Elia Kazan; a new documentary about Jeffrey Dahmer, which IFC is taking out domestically. Formerly head of production for Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope, Rock was the executive producer of KINSEY and JEEPERS CREEPERS 2. Before that, Rock was senior v.p. of acquisitions at Trimark Pictures, where he shepherded the screenplay of EVE’S BAYOU, and before that was senior v.p. of acquisitions and development at Triton Pictures, where he acquired HEARTS OF DARKNESS; A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME; and TOTO LE HEROS. He was also the senior v.p. of acquisitions at Atlantic Releasing, where he acquired WISH YOU WERE HERE and STORMY MONDAY, among others.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - Dominic Buchanan
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Selected as the only producer to appear on Screen Daily’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow 2012’. Dominic has forged an in depth career in the UK film industry. He has worked at The Weinstein Company (2008) in acquisitions and production at the London office, Universal Pictures International (2009) in the co-productions and acquisitions department and recently Qwerty Films (2010-2012), under revered UK film producer Michael Kuhn as head of development, amassing a quality slate to be produced into feature films. Gimme The Loot is his first feature film as a producer (which won the grand Jury Prize at SXSW, then had it's International debut at Cannes in Un Certain Regard). His most recent feature is in post and stars Ben Whishaw, and is now casting for a Film4.0 project. Dominic was appointed Head of Film at Stink in May 2012 and is committed to making films that audiences can enjoy and be challenged by.
Film Mentors: Legal - Charlie Prince
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Charlie Prince is an entertainment attorney in the film and television group at Grubman Indursky Shire & Meiselas, PC, one of the largest entertainment law firms in the country. As part of his job, he negotiates film and television contracts and attends film festivals around the world in connection with client projects. He is also the founder and executive director of the Lighthouse International Film Festival, in Long Beach Island, NJ and the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival in NYC. He produced "Dealt Out", a feature-length documentary about underground poker clubs in New York City. In 2003 he launched www.CinemaStrikesBack.com, a website featuring coverage on international film festivals, film reviews and news. In 2009 he was certified as a Film Festival Professional by the International Film Festival Summit. He is a member of the Trustee Committee on Film for the Museum of Modern Art, the New Wave committee at the Film Society at Lincoln Center and is a board member for the Downtown Community Television Center in NYC.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Sylvia Desrochers
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Sylvia Desrochers, President and Founder of Big Time PR & Marketing, has worked with some of the most celebrated filmmakers in Hollywood, including: John Ridley, Ross Katz, Freida Mock, Sofia Coppola, Alfonso Cuaron, Mira Nair, Marc Forster, Roman Coppola, Michel Gondry, Kimberly Peirce, and The Farrelly Brothers. Feature film campaigns include: The Bling Ring, Somewhere, War Witch, The We and the I, The Iran Job, Decoding Deepak, My Reincarnation, Wonder Boys, Proof, and American Beauty. Festival experience includes Sundance, SXSW, AFI, Tribeca, LAFF, Venice, Toronto, and Cannes. Corporate clients include The American Pavilion at Cannes, Indian Film Festival of LA, and The Amazonas Film Festival in Brazil. Prior to founding Big Time, Sylvia honed her skills at Bumble Ward and Associates and Miramax. She is also an opera singer, with a degree in Vocal Performance from California Institute of the Arts.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Brady Dial
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Brady Dial has been filmmaking in Austin – and beyond – for two decades. Most recently, he traveled to
Russia and Kazakhstan to produce MAN ON A MISSION, chronicling the life and space launch of America’s
first second-generation astronaut, Richard Garriott. The doc won a SXSW audience award and was
distributed nationally by First Run Features.
Before that he produced the IMAX® film RIDE AROUND THE WORLD and developed projects for
Discovery, the BBC and PBS, including Making the Modern and Recapturing Cuba. While still pursuing
documentaries, he’s also developing sci-fi and supernatural genre films under Were-Bot Productions,
focused on integrating the latest models of hybrid distribution into all stages of production.
Film Mentors: Distribution Documentary - Amy Letourneau
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Amy Letourneau is the Senior Director of Acquisitions for PBS Distribution where she oversees home, educational and digital licensing in North America. PBS Distribution is the leading distributor of public television programming both domestically and abroad. PBSd represents a wide range of documentaries including films from Ken Burns (THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE and THE DUST BOWL), from award-winning series such as NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS and NATURE, as well as dramas from MASTERPIECE and popular children’s programming. Amy co-leads the PBS/ITVS Indies Lab which has released over 150 independent documentaries across multiple digital platforms since 2009 including SXSW films THE PARKING LOT MOVIE, THE INTERRUPTERS and SUNSHINE.
Film Mentors: International - Danny Sangho Rhee
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Danny Sangho Rhee is a programmer at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and a promising filmmaker.
After studying in Cambridge, he has directed short films and documentaries based on Cambridge, London and Seoul since 2004.
Also he has been involved in Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival(Pifan) which is the biggest fantastic film festival in Asia as Programmer especially for North&South American Film Section.
PiFan has introduced the hottest films varying from horror, thriller, sci-fi to legends of genre classics since 1997.
Over 200 filmmakers, press and professionals come and enjoy the fest every year.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Peter Van Steemburg
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Peter Van Steemburg is the Director of Acquisitions at Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing. Prior to Magnolia, Peter assisted in International Distribution and Operations for Miramax Films and worked for the Film Finance department at Cinetic Media, run by John Sloss. While at Magnolia he participated in the negotiation of such films as Bronson, The Hunter, Goon, and most recently, the upcoming Nymphomaniac, amongst others. He is a regular attendee to festivals and markets worldwide scouting for material. Peter graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Art History.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Yvonne Boudreaux
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Yvonne Boudreaux is a production designer, art director and set designer for stop motion animation, television, and live action, who has worked on over 30 films. She has served as art director on MACHETE, THE LEGEND OF HELL'S GATE, and PUNCTURE and production designer on BLACK METAL, GOOD NIGHT, DANCE WITH THE ONE and HARMONY & ME. She was the set designer on LAIKA’s new stop motion animation PARANORMAN. Yvonne received a Masters in Theatrical Design from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors of Architecture from Louisiana State University. She has taught design and architecture at University of Louisiana in Lafayette. She is currently working as art director on ABC Family’s THE LYING GAME, reenactments for PBS, and producing a documentary about her family, 61 BULLETS.
Film Mentors: Programming: Documentary - Eric Hatch
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Eric Allen Hatch is the Director of Programming for Maryland Film Festival, which will hold its fifteenth annual festival May 8-12, 2013 in beautiful downtown Baltimore. Eric oversees MFF’s call for entries; recruits and manages the screening committee that evaluates entries; acts as liaison with distributors and filmmaker alum; represents MFF at other festivals such as TIFF and SXSW; and edits the annual MFF program guide. Eric also implements MFF’s year-round programming, including the popular Gunky’s Basement 35mm genre-film series, curated and hosted by musician Dan Deacon and video artist Jimmy Joe Roche. Eric wrote music, film, and literature reviews for Baltimore City Paper from 1997-2007. He founded, programmed and hosted the Baltimore Museum of Art's Free First Thursdays Film Series (2005-2008), focusing on visionary international cinema of the 1960s and 70s. Eric was a member of the screening committee for MicroCineFest, one of the country's premiere underground film and video festivals. He also co-founded the Red Room Collective, the organization behind the High Zero festival, an internationally lauded festival dedicated to experimental, improvised music. Hatch joined MFF’s programming team in 2007, and became director of programming in 2010.
Film Mentors: Sales and Acquisitions - Hailey Wierengo
Film
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Hailey Wierengo is an agent in the Independent Film Group at leading talent
and literary UTA, where she focuses on the packaging, financing and sales
of independent film. In this capacity she has worked on titles including Mike
Mills’ BEGINNERS, Miranda July’s THE FUTURE, Jesse Peretz’s OUR IDIOT
BROTHER, Lynn Shelton’s YOUR SISTER’S SISTER and Lee Tolan Kreiger’s
CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER.
Wierengo joined UTA’s agent training program in 2008 and was promoted
to agent in 2011. Raised in Chicago, Wierengo attended the University of
Michigan where she studied Film and Media Studies and Art History. Wierengo
went on to intern at Bob Berney’s distribution company Picturehouse in New
York, where she contributed to the release of LA VIE EN ROSE starring Marion
Cotillard.
Wierengo lives in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Producers / Production 2 - Sandra Adair
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Sandra Adair, A.C.E. is an award winning feature film editor who resides in Austin, Texas. Adair has enjoyed an ongoing artistic collaboration with the iconic film director Richard Linklater, having edited 17 films for him over the past 20 years, including the 2012 comedy Bernie and the 2013 critically acclaimed Before Midnight. She was nominated for an Eddie Award for Best Editing of a Musical or Comedy by the American Cinema Editors in 2003 for School of Rock, and won the Best Edited Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2012 for the feature doc Shepard and Dark. Some of her other credits include Everything Must Go, starring Will Ferrell, and the award winning documentary Sushi: The Global Catch. Sandra not only has experience on studio features, indies and docs, but has also worked on TV series and reality TV. She is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and American Cinema Editors and continues to support and mentor new filmmakers in the Austin area.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Rene Ridinger
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
As the head of MPRM’s film practice, Ridinger oversees comprehensive film marketing and publicity, taking many projects from unit publicity though successful release campaigns and developing unique publicity models for alternative distribution, including digital and cable VOD platforms. Since joining MPRM in 2009, Ridinger has managed campaigns for Focus Features, Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate, Magnolia Pictures, Roadside Attractions and NBC Universal.
Film Mentors: Programming: Documentary - Charlie Phillips
Film
Sunday March 10th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Charlie Phillips is the Marketplace Director for Sheffield Doc/Fest, co-ordinating the MeetMarket, a unique opportunity for filmmakers and digital media producers to present their most innovative and passionate ideas to commissioners, buyers, funders and distributors. He also runs all other marketplace activities at Sheffield Doc/Fest, including public pitches, industry meetings, matchmaking and mentoring sessions, and year-round workshops. Before that, he was the Editor of FourDocs, Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning online documentary channel, and he continues to bring an interactive and cross-platform perspective to Sheffield’s marketplace activities.
Film Mentors: International - Christine Davila
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Christine Dávila is a first generation Mexican-American born and raised in Chicago and living the life in LA. Since 2008 she has been a Programming Associate, World Cinema for Sundance Film Festival, and a reader for Sundance Institute's Artist Development programs; evaluating international and U.S. projects for the Screenwriters lab and Documentary Feature Program. She is a Programmer for CineFestival in San Antonio and a Programming Correspondent for Ambulante, the traveling international documentary film festival founded by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in Mexico. Screening films throughout the year for various festivals, also including LA Film Festival and Morelia International Film Festival, she specializes in Latino cinema, and writes about emerging American Latino filmmakers on her blog, http://chicanafromchicago.com/
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Andrea Roa
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Roa came up in the independent film world, with physical production credits that include films by Jim Jarmusch, John Waters, Stephen Soderbergh, Ramin Bahrani and work across the United States and South America. Her first film as a producer, BOOSTER, premiered in competition at the SXSW Film Festival in 2012 as well as in competition at the Deauville Film Festival 2012. Her latest film Joe Swanberg’s DRINKING BUDDIES, which stars Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick, is premiering at SXSW 2013. She also produced Laurie Collyer’s SUNLIGHT JR. starring Naomi Watts, Matt Dillon and Norman Reedus, which will premiere in competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. She recently received a fellowship from IFP to attend the producer’s lab at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Brian Yang
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Brian Yang originally hails from the Bay Area but is currently a man with no real mailing address. A graduate of the University of California, at Berkeley, he works as a producer and actor on projects that run him from New York to Hawaii to Asia on a regular basis. In 2009, he was the host of Shanghai Rush, China’s most extensive reality show production at the time. Currently, he can be seen on the CBS hit series Hawaii 5-0 in the recurring role of Charlie Fong. His production company, 408 Films, has produced feature films set in both the US, as well as Asia, and currently has several projects in various stages of development in both regions.
Film Mentors: Funding - John Trigonis
Film
Saturday March 9th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
John T. Trigonis is a widely published writer, independent filmmaker, and author of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers: The Way to a Successful Film Campaign.
Trigonis launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for his short film Cerise, successfully raising $1,300 over his initial goal of $5,000 in only three months of active and innovative fundraising primarily through Facebook, Twitter. In fact, 70% of the funds he raised came from people he had never met before.
Cerise has screened at over a dozen film festivals across the country, was nominated for four awards, won an “Award of Merit,” and participated in the Court Métrage at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival.
He’s currently working with Indiegogo as the company’s Vertical Manager for Film, Web & Video.
Film Mentors: Legal - Dan Satorius
Film
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Daniel M. Satorius' firm is Satorius Law Firm, PC. His practice focuses on transactions, intellectual property, and financing principally in the entertainment business. His clients include Academy Award, Emmy Award, Independent Spirit Award, and Peabody Award winning independent producers, writers, and broadcasters in the film and television industry. He frequently writes and speaks about entertainment law and was an adjunct professor of law. He also produces independent films. He can be reached at dan@satoriuslawfirm.com.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - John Gholson
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
John Gholson (@gholson) is a writer for Movies.com and HorrorsNotDead.com as well as Director of Creative Development at Rocksauce Studios. He runs the comic blog GuttersAndPanels.com and enjoys acting and cartooning in his spare time
Film Mentors: Distribution: Documentary - Christine D'Souza
Film
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:30pm
As an agent in the finance and distribution division of WME, Christine D’Souza works to create advantageous financing packages and innovative distribution deal structures for the group’s financier clients and the agency’s content creators. Within the group, D’Souza focuses on global financing sources, films sales & distribution, and growing the international business. Previously D’Souza was the VP of Preferred Content running the sales & distribution arm of the company while also serving as an acquisitions consultant for UK-based Icon Entertainment to source projects for their international sales slate. In this capacity, D’Souza has sold titles like Ira Sachs' KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, David Gelb's JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, Nicholas McCarthy's THE PACT, Mike Cahill's ANOTHER EARTH, Matt Ross' 28 HOTEL ROOMS, Xavier Gens' THE DIVIDE, Susan Saladoff's HOT COFFEE, and Bobcat Goldthwait's GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Prior to domestic sales & distribution, D’Souza was the Manager of International Sales at T&C Pictures and Katapult Films. At T&C, she handled sales titles like Scott Sanders’ BLACK DYNAMITE, Stacy Peralta’s CRIPS & BLOODS, and Adrian Grenier’s TEENAGE PAPARAZZO. At Katapult, she was involved with Grant Gee’s JOY DIVISION, Madonna’s FILTH & WISDOM, and the Sigur Ros music documentary HEIMA.
D’Souza started her career as an intern at Jerry Bruckheimer Films and an assistant at Paradigm Talent Agency. D’Souza is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Media Arts and Business Administration. She was born and raised in New Orleans and currently resides in Los Angeles.
Film Mentors: Publicity - David Magdael
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
DAVID MAGDAEL, President - DAVID MAGDAEL & ASSOCIATES, INC.
As founder and president of DAVID MADGAEL & ASSOCIATES, INC, his company continues to specialize in documentaries, independent films, directors, and public affairs issues since 2000. From developing Oscar® campaigns for documentaries to creating film festival strategies for filmmakers and indie films to television broadcast publicity to theatrical release public relations and film unit publicity, the company has become an important entertainment communications firm that boasts a client roster including numerous Academy Award® winning and nominated documentary and short films, Sundance Film Festival Award winners, Toronto International Film Festival standouts, Tribeca Film Festival and South by Southwest gems and independent films, as well as studio projects and television broadcast films for Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal, Sony/Columbia, Variance Films, Zeitgeist, Showtime, HBO, Relativity, Fox Searchlight, Rogue, Focus Features and others.
Magdael has been representing films at SXSW Film Festival for over 7 years since 2006. Recent film projects include: BLOOD BROTHER; AMERICAN PROMISE; ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW; A RIVER CHANGES COURSE; CENTRAL PARK FIVE; COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING; BURN; ASAD; KING’S POINT; OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY; LOVE FREE OR DIE; BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*; MANSOME; THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION; EVERYBODY HAS A PLAN; 5 BROKEN CAMERAS; IF A TREE FALLS; THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM; WE ARE LEGION; BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY; THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975; COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE; ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN; THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES; GIVE UP TOMORROW; THE OTHER F WORD; POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD; WASTELAND; THE INTERRUPTERS; SEMPER FI: ALWAYS FAITHFUL; SUPERHEROES; LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR; ADDICTION INCORPORATED; SUPER SIZE ME; WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY; JAM; and others.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Matt Bolish
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Coordinator, Convergence - Film Society of Lincoln Center
As the special projects coordinator at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Matt Bolish has oversight of the organization’s immersive media program Convergence. In that role, he has built partnerships and collaborations with a diverse field of non-profit organizations, indie creators, and for-profit enterprises. Dedicated to elevating the discussion of immersive storytelling as an art form and using the associated tools to educate and entertain, Bolish is the co-curator of a two-day side-bar of the prestigious New York Film Festival that focused exclusively on transmedia storytellers.
Before joining the Film Society Bolish served as a film festival programming and operations consultant for FestWorks Consulting from 2009 to 2011. While at Festworks he established the Anaheim New Media Expo featuring 30 independent new media projects from web series to interactive films and non-traditional documentaries. He also served as a programmer for the Feel Good Film Festival, the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, and assisted in curating panel programming for the Dallas International Film Festival. Prior to Festworks, Bolish cut his teeth as the programming coordinator at the American Film Institute’s AFI Fest for the 2009 season. Before entering the world of film festivals, Bolish worked for several studious and production companies including New Line Cinema.
Film Mentors: Artist Development - Teresa Hollingsworth
Film
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
As Senior Program Director for South Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, Teresa directs the Traditional Arts and Film/Media Programs. She directs the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers working closely with filmmakers and partner communities to present new documentaries, narrative, animated and experimental films throughout the South. She is currently serving as the film programmer for Caravanserai, A Place Where Cultures Meet, a national project funded by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts that presents contemporary Muslim films and filmmakers to midsize communities. Teresa is a seasoned film festival veteran who annually attends national and regional film festival to identify filmmakers for Southern Circuit. She has contributed to a number of media projects, educational publications and scholarly journals, curated museum exhibits, and served as a project consultant, lecturer, festival stage manager and grant panelist.
Film Mentors: International - Cristina Garza
Film
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Cristina is the Vice President of MUNDIAL, a full service international distribution platform for Latin American filmmakers handling worldwide sales of Latin and Ibero-American cinema. Before her work at MUNIDAL, Cristina served as Head of Distribution at CANANA, one of Latin America’s top production and independent distributors based in Mexico City and helmed by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Pablo Cruz and Julian Levin. Before arriving to Mexico, Cristina lived in New York for ten years and served as Manager of International Sales at FiGa Films, an international sales and micro-distribution company. She also co-founded FilmCatcher.com, an online video magazine for independent film. She is currently the U.S. Delegate for the International Critics Week of the Cannes Film Festival, rides a 10-speed Peugeot, and lives with her husband and chocolate lab in Mexico City. She graduated Cum Laude from New York University with a Bachelors in Economics.
Film Mentors: Publicity - Cynthia Swartz
Film
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Cynthia Swartz is the founder and president of StrategyPR/Consulting, a boutique entertainment firm started in September 2011. Prior to that, she was a Partner and Co-Head of 42West’s Entertainment Marketing Division. Swartz has been responsible for creating, implementing, and overseeing film release campaigns, film awards campaigns, film festival launches, and publicity initiatives for a wide array of studios, financing and production companies, and filmmakers and talent. Swartz worked on the release, awards and/or festival campaigns for films including Emilio Estevez’s “The Way,” Nicholas Jarecki’s “Arbitrage,” Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell & the Butterfly,” Ryan Fleck’s “Half Nelson,” Armando Iannucci’s “In The Loop,” Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine,” Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana,” Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger,” Todd Field’s “Little Children,” Kelly Reichardt’s “Wendy & Lucy,” Craig Brewer’s “Hustle & Flow,” James Toback’s “Tyson,” Cindy Meehl’s “Buck,” Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s “Trouble The Water,” Peter Weir’s “The Way Back,” Luca Guadagnino’s “I Am Love,” Amir Bar-Lev’s “The Tillman Story,” Alex Gibney’s “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” Noah Baumbach’s “The Squid & the Whale,” James Gray’s “Two Lovers,” Ben Affleck’s “Gone Baby Gone,” and Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton.” Swartz also played a pivotal role on the Oscar-winning awards campaigns for best picture winners including Paul Haggis’ “Crash," the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men" and Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.” She also represents a number of acclaimed filmmakers including Edward Norton, Tony Gilroy and David O'Russell. Prior to joining 42West, Swartz spent several years as an Executive Vice President of Publicity at Miramax Films,overseeing national publicity and awards campaigns for theatrical releases under the leadership of Harvey Weinstein. In this role, Swartz handled national release campaigns for many of the company’s classic titles and/or also served as the company’s chief awards campaign strategist on films that included Neil Jordan’s “The Crying Game,” Jane Campion’s “The Piano,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient,” John Madden’s “Shakespeare in Love,” Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful,” Lasse Hallström’s “The Cider House Rules,” Rob Marshall’s “Chicago,” Marc Forster’s “Finding Neverland,” Ulu Grosbard’s “Georgia,” Julie Taymor’s “Frida,” Fernando Meirelles’ “City of God,” Stephen Frears’ “Dirty Pretty Things,” Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” Douglas McGrath’s “Emma,” Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions,” Gus Van Sant’s “Good Will Hunting,” Tom McCarthy’s “The Station Agent,” John Sayles’ “Passion Fish,” Phillip Noyce’s “The Quiet American,” Richard Eyre’s “Iris,” Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Amelie,” Sharon Maguire’s “Bridget Jones Diary,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” Billy Bob Thornton’s “Sling Blade,” Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway,” Michael Radford’s “Il Postino,” and Todd Field’s “In The Bedroom,” among many others. Swartz began her career working with acclaimed foreign and independent film publicist Renee Furst.
Film Mentors: Press/Bloggers - Brandon Harris
Film
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:30pm
Brandon Harris has worked in the world of American Independent Film as a
critic and programmer, a producer and director, a screenwriter and educator.
A graduate of SUNY Purchase, his writings about cinema, politics and the
intersection of the two have appeared primarily in Filmmaker Magazine,
where he is a Contributing Editor, along with Variety, N+1, indieWIRE,
Hammer to Nail, In These Times, Moving Pictures, Moviemaker and UCLA
Magazines.
Films he has produced or directed have screened at the Sundance,
Slamdance and Tribeca film festivals among dozens around the world. He’s
currently at work producing new films by Malcolm Murray (Bad Posture)
and his Hammer to Nail colleague Nelson Kim. He has previously been a
member of the National Board of Review and the programming director at
the Cincinnati Film Festival. He resides in Brooklyn New York. Redlegs, his
feature film directorial debut, opened theatrically earlier in the year to rave
reviews; it is a New York Times critic’s pick.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 1 - Gill Holland
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Spirit Award nominee for Producer of the Year, Gill Holland has worked on over 90 films, including Sundance faves FLOW: For Love of Water, SPRING FORWARD, LOGGERHEADS, the first Sundance triple winner HURRICANE STREETS, the FOX sit-com GREG THE BUNNY, the Spirit Award winner and first carbon-neutral independent film SWEETLAND, Al Gore’s 2008 Reel Current Award winning doc MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL, and the Emmy-nominated doc DEAR JESSE. He produced three volumes of cineBLAST! the short film compilations He is partner at The Group Entertainment, the KY/NYC management/production company, and former adjunct professor at NYU Graduate Film School. Gill worked at the French Film Office and has been on the jury for shorts at Sundance and selection committee for the Academy Awards, Student Division.
His record label sonaBLAST! is on its 50th release and features Ben Sollee, Nerves Junior, The Pass, and Irish star Mark Geary. He, his wife Augusta, daughter Cora and twins Owsley and Lilla opened The Green Building, the greenest commercial building in KY. Louisville Magazine named him its “Person of the Year” in 2009.
Film Mentors: Producers/Production 2 - David Fabelo
Film
Tuesday March 12th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
David Fabelo is a filmmaker based in Austin, TX whose body of work and professional experience spans nearly a decade. His work as a narrative editor has screened at festivals across the globe, including Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, SXSW and LAFF. Recent credits include Good Night, Fourplay, and An Ordinary Family. Additionally, he was post-production supervisor on The Bounceback and was an assistant editor at the Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab in 2011. On the commercial side, he has cut for companies such as Dell, LG, Blackberry and Verizon.
He has also directed two award winning short films: the comedies "Test Day" and "Do Over."
Film Mentors: Filmmaker: Narrative - Cherie Saulter
Film
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Cherie Saulter is an independent film producer. Her most recent production, THIS IS MARTIN BONNER, won the Best of NEXT Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Her credits also include MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, which premiered at SXSW 2008, played at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, and earned Cherie an NAACP Image Award nomination. Her directorial debut, NO MATTER WHAT, premiered at SXSW in 2011. Cherie went to film school at Florida State University and is currently working towards a Master of Global Policy Studies degree at the University of Texas.
Film Mentors: Producers / Production 1 - Chris Ohlson
Film
Tuesday March 12th 2:00pm – 3:30pm
In 2008, Chris Ohlson produced the feature film, THE OVERBROOK BROTHERS, directed by John Bryant. THE OVERBROOK BROTHERS premiered in the Narrative Competition at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival and went on to great reviews and was released by IFC Films.
Ohlson also served as a Co-Producer on Bryan Poyser’s LOVERS OF HATE (2010 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Dramatic Competition) a film nominated for The John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award. He also Executive Produced the THE HAPPY POET, which screened at more than 30 domestic and international festivals, including the 67th Venice Film Festival, and won critical praise from publications including The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times.
Physical production credits include Mitch Schultz’s DMT: THE SPIRIT MOLECULE, Nanette Burstein’s AMERICAN TEEN, Kevin Triplett’s BLAZE FOLEY: DUCT TAPE MESSIAH, Mari Marchbanks’ FALL TO GRACE and Jacob Vaughn’s THE CASSIDY KIDS, as well as hundreds of commercials, music videos and web projects.
Deena Merlen
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Partner with the law firm of Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP. Attorneys and affiliated attorneys admitted to practice in New York, California and Connecticut. Please visit www.rpl-law.com for further information about our firm and its practice areas.
Meghan Murphy
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Meghan is the Community Programs Manager at Twilio, a cloud communications company providing a platform for developers building the next generation of communications. Her focus is on managing and building a community of over 150,000 developers and DOers. Meghan’s background combines direct experience with community engagement, public relations, and content and social media strategy.
Prior to Twilio she consulted early-stage startups from positioning to go-to-market publicity strategy. Before that Meghan worked within the video games industry assisting the public relations and launch tactics for a variety of independent games.
William N. Hulsey III, Esq.
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Mr. Hulsey is rated “AV—Preeminent” by the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory and “10 out of 10—Superb” by the Avvo.com lawyer rating service. Over the years, Bill has prepared and prosecuted over 1500 patent applications in the technical areas of semiconductor devices, electronics, software and Internet technologies, as well as medical devices, mechanical inventions for energy and other industries, and aerospace technologies. A significant number of the patents he has obtained for clients have been deemed critical to their receiving venture investments, winning government contracts, and achieving either lucrative settlement agreements or decisions of others infringing their patents.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in theoretical mathematics from Rhodes College, where he graduated With Distinction and now serves on the national alumni executive board. Mr. Hulsey is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear program, which is widely acknowledged as having the most demanding academic program in the U.S. military. Through this training and his hands-on work as a commissioned nuclear trained naval officer, he has a deep understanding of nuclear physics, electrical power theory and generating equipment, nuclear reactor technology, thermodynamics, chemistry, materials science and metallurgy, and health physics.
As a commissioned Naval Officer, he attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force. Bill served first as a member of the USS Jacksonville (SSN699) nuclear submarine pre-commissioning and initial sea trials crew and then later as an Engineering Duty Officer, completing his naval service as Commanding Officer of a engineering unit supporting Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. While in graduate school, Bill worked as a Scientific & Technical Intelligence Analyst for the United States Army’s Foreign Science & Technology Center in Charlottesville, Virginia and Electronics Research & Development Command in Adelphi, Maryland. From this work, he maintains a Secret Security Clearance and frequently assists clients in classified matters before the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and contractors to these federal agencies.
Bill holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from the Vanderbilt School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif honorary scholastic society, served as Senior Managing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and assisted two professors in the proofreading and editing of their respective legal treatises. While a law student at Vanderbilt, he formed the by-laws and corporate charter for the Nashville Business Incubation Center, by which he began his career of serving the technology law needs of early-stage and emerging growth companies.
Bill also has earned a Masters of Arts degree in economics from the University of Virginia, where he studied mathematical and theoretical economics. His graduate thesis was to research and describe salient factors determining the growth of regional technology centers, such as Austin, Texas; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; the Route 128 Area near Boston, Massachusetts; and Silicon Valley, California.
Mr. Hulsey is a member of the State Bars of Texas, Tennessee and New York and Registered to Practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office. He is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the New York Bar Foundation, and a Sustaining Member of the New York Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, The United States Federal District Court for the Northern & Western Districts of Texas.
He serves as a Global Fellow of the IC2 (Innovation, Creativity & Capital) Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. Through his legal work, as well as with teaching through the IC2 Institute, Mr. Hulsey has visited and taught intellectual property rights formation, protection, and commercialization in 43 countries throughout the world.
Mr. Hulsey established HULSEY, P.C., Intellectual Property Lawyers to apply a highly developed specialty and experience in a broad span of technical fields. HULSEY, P.C. takes great pride in serving emerging growth companies competing in global markets with products and services relating to renewable and sustainable energy technologies, life sciences, electronics, environmental innovations, software, and aerospace technologies. As broad and numerous as are HULSEY, P.C.’s technological proficiencies, the firm is yet tightly focused in providing its clients with the highest quality in patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark legal services. As a practicing patent attorney, Mr. Hulsey has developed and implemented complete intellectual property protection and licensing programs for numerous companies.
Clients receiving HULSEY, P.C. services span the globe in geographic diversity from Norway to New Zealand, north-to-south, and from Siberia to Singapore, east-to-west. HULSEY, P.C. represents clients before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, as well as other intellectual property offices of nations around the globe via a network of foreign associates with whom the practice daily collaborates.
Bill firmly believes that the privilege of practicing law includes an obligation of continually returning value to the profession and the communities the profession serves. Accordingly HULSEY, P.C. takes a leading role in the Inventor Assistance Pro Bono Program, as established by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011. Moreover, Mr. Hulsey has served on the Selection Committee for the Central Texas Regional Center for Innovation & Commercialization under The State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund Program. Most recently, Bill wrote the submission for the City of Austin to receive a U.S. Patent Office Satellite Office, which assisted in Texas’ successful selection for the venue. He also frequently serves as a Judge in the internationally recognized Idea to Product (I2P®) UT Competition at the University of Texas campus. Most recently, He served as a judge for The I2P® Portugal Competition 2010, which has organized by COTEC Portugal and for the 2011 and 2012 Global I2P® Competition at the Royal Technical University in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bill also is the author of CREATING, MANAGING, AND LICENSING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ASSETS, a major work of over 30 hours of streaming video courses providing intellectual property education and training, through Stanford University.
An avid singer of classical choral works, Bill is a tenor with the Texas Choral Consort, the Conspirare Symphony Chorus, and the St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Chancel Choir. He has sung an extensive variety of choral works from a broad array of composers over a ten-year period, including most recently, Beethoven’s most significant work, Missa Solemnis, to be performed in the summer of 2013.
Shawn Nolan
Music
Friday March 15th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Shawn Nolan is an attorney at the law firm of Jonathan E. Leonard, P.C. in Atlanta, GA. The firm handles the legal affairs of various Grammy award winning and platinum selling performers, musicians, writers, and producers in all facets of the entertainment industry as well as publishing companies, management companies, studios and record labels.
Shawn graduated from Georgia State University School of Law and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to law school Shawn was the VP of International Marketing and Distribution and Director of Film & TV licensing at Sub Pop Records in Seattle, WA where he worked with artists such as Iron & Wine, the Postal Service, the Shins, Mudhoney and Sleater Kinney among others. Prior to his employment at Sub Pop, Shawn was the Director of Film/TV Licensing at Mammoth Records and the personal manager for artists such as Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers.
Shawn was previously on the Board of Governors of the Pacific NW Chapter of the Grammy Association and is currently an active member of the Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter.
Clients performing at SxSW 2013 include Deep Sea Diver, Hundred Visions, METZ, Mount Moriah, the Soft Moon and Turbo Fruits.
Lisa Nupoff
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Lisa Nupoff began her career in the music industry managing Ruthless Records rap artist Yomo and Maulkie. Next Lisa worked with Benny Medina and all things Jennifer Lopez. Launching JLo’s album -This Is Me, her fragrance - Glow, her clothing line – Sweetface, her restaurant – Madres and her film - Maid in Manhattan. Soon Lisa began scouting bands for Warner Bros Records and then began working for Senior Vice President of A&R at Warner Bros Records - Perry Watts-Russell. Together, Lisa and Perry worked on acts such as Muse, Damien Rice, Mutemath and Arctic Monkeys. Most recently, Lisa created iminmusic management with Brian Klein. Together they have managed Fitz and The Tantrums from their first show to their signing w indie Dangerbird Record to their upcoming Elektra Records Debut.
Clay Pasternack
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Clay Pasternack is the President of Clay Pasternack Inc.(CPI) a music industry consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio. CPI consults independent labels and artists, represents distribution companies for national account sales, owns his own independent distribution company, and is also involved with manufacturing, fulfillment, & CD reissues. A veteran of over 45 years in the independent music industry, he has held various positions in independent distribution and with independent record companies.
Steve Peters
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
A pioneering force in Transmedia and Second-Screen Entertainment, Steve has worked on some of the biggest and most successful interactive experiences to date, including most recently, the Emmy®-winning interactive web-series Dirty Work for Fourth Wall Studios/Rides.tv
In addition to founding No Mimes Media, Steve is V.P. of Experience Design at Fourth Wall Studios.
Josh Rabinowitz
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Josh Rabinowitz, SVP/Director of Music for Grey Group, has produced 5000+ tracks for commercials, film, TV and the web internationally. These include some of the most high profile initiatives to integrate compelling music with advertising, with such artists as Black Eyed Peas, Run DMC (their last known recording together), LL Cool J, Smokey Robinson, Pink, Natasha Bedingfield, Rihanna, amongst others. He’s been called a “New Music Mogul” by Fast Company, “Beethoven’s Greatest Fan” by NPR, and is a recognized voice in the music-branding scene. He’s been an adjunct at NYU and the New School, a columnist for Billboard, and a bandleader and trombonist in NYC.
Josh has been cited in every major music and advertising publication as well in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Crain's, Forbes, to name a few.
He has presented at SXSW , Midem, Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and ADE on several occasions.
Some call him the Voice of Music and Advertising.
Neeta Ragoowansi
Music
Wednesday March 13th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
President, Women in Music
Law Offices of Neeta Ragoowansi/Women in Music
Neeta has been an attorney for over twenty years. She is currently in a solo practice with a focus on Entertainment Law and also President of Women in Music, a national non profit organization established in 1985, that works to support, empower, educate and provide opportunities for women in the musical arts and industry. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Business Development and Legal Affairs for TuneSat, a music technology and audio monitoring service that employs audio fingerprinting technology to detect music and advertising use on hundreds of television broadcast channels in fourteen countries and millions of websites around the world, to help copyright owners and creators maximize their revenue. Prior to TuneSat, Neeta was Director of Artist-Label Relations at SoundExchange, the not for profit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect digital performance royalties on behalf of recording artists and record labels for over eight years. Neeta has spoken on hundreds of conference panels educating creators and copyright owners as to their rights and the new streams of revenue in the digital environment. Neeta has also served on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the Recording Academy/NARAS) in New York City and Washington, DC for many years.
Prior to her position at SoundExchange, Neeta served as Assistant General Counsel for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC for over eight years, as well as the national and international 48 Hour Film Festivals. In private practice, she has represented the interests of numerous musicians, songwriters, digital innovators, recording artists, filmmakers, film festival organizers, record producers, club owners, production companies and music managers. She also served as General Counsel of the Songwriters Association of Washington (SAW) for over four years, and has been involved in numerous film and documentary productions (producer, music supervisor, camera operator, marketing/promotions, etc.). Neeta is also an award winning songwriter and musician, and performs in the band, The Oxymorons.
Ted Rheingold
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Founder, innovator, investor, advisor. Helps connect people online. Works with young companies to navigate evolution from great ideas to successful businesses. Lover of SXSW.
Mike Rohde
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Designer. Author of the Sketchnote Handbook. Illustrator of REWORK, The $100 Startup and Little Book of Talent. Husband, father of 3. Coffee!
Lani Rosales
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Lani Rosales is the Chief Operating Officer and News Director at AGBeat, a national news organization dedicated to business news, insights, tools, and inspiration for small business owners and professionals. She is a national speaker best known for her insight on social media, generational marketing, and if you're nice, economics.
Benn Rosales
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Founder, Chief Executive Officer at AGBeat, a national news organization dedicated to business news, insights, tools, and inspiration for small business owners and professionals. He is a national speaker and recognized thought leader, but is best known for putting others in the spotlight and operating a news organization from behind the scenes.
Amy Rosen
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Amy Rosen is VP Music Licensing/Supervision at Grey Worldwide. She is honored to be a trusted resource for the identification and procurement of songs for Grey clients to use in their advertising and marketing campaigns. Brands she has worked with most recently include The National Football League, DirecTV, Crown Royal, E*TRADE, Pringles, and many more. In addition to her work in advertising, Amy has also worked as a music supervisor in film and television.
Steven Rosenbaum
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Steven Rosenbaum is an author, entrepreneur, and curator. In his groundbreaking book Curation Nation (McGraw Hill / 2011) he argues that the current path of digital content creation is a recipe for disaster. Interviewing 70 of the leading thinkers in media, publishing, and advertising, Rosenbaum makes a compelling case that the future of the web is curated, not created. And if history is any judge, he's been able to predict the future before.
As the CEO of the web's largest Video Curation Platform,Magnify.net - he provides a realtime curation solution that powers more than 86,000 sites. Increasingly, crated content is powering ecommerce, brands, and organizations like Patagonia, NY Magazine, Mediaite, and TEDx.
Rosenbaum was named New York City's first "Entrepreneur at Large" for Economic Development in 2011.
Rosenbaum created MTV's groundbreaking user-generated series MTV UNfiltered, a pre-web television project that handed cameras to young storytellers. Before email or the web, UNfiltered was what Time Magazine called "the Future of GenX News."
Since that time he has built a career finding, organizing, and contextualizing stories.
Rosenbaum's work in media includes filmmaking work as an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker. His film “7 Days In September” gathered more than 500 hours of video around 9/11 – creating a curated journey through the eyes of 28 filmmakers and citizen storytellers.
Rosenbaum's vision of curation is the subject of his book Curation Nation (McGrawHill / Spring 2011) engages with more than 60 thought leaders and companies to help explore and define the power of Curation for Brands, Media, and Consumers.
In October of 2011, he was named the Science Journalism Laureate for Purdue University. And In November of 2011, He was chosen to be New York City's first Entrepreneur At Large, working with NY's Economic Development Corporation to bring more start ups and engineering talent to New York.
He is a regular blogger on technology and the evolution of the internet for Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and Mashable.
Today, Rosenbaum says Curators are the new Superhero's of the Web – using their powers to fix the signal to noise problem, and making the world contextual and coherent again.
Caroline Rustigian Bruderer
Interactive
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
For the past 25+ years, Caroline has been creating innovative integrated marketing and PR campaigns for consumer technology, culinary, entertainment, lifestyle and social causes.
Caroline has executed campaigns for clients such as Capitol Records, dineLA Restaurant Week, Estee Lauder/Clinique, Hermes of Paris, HBO, Legendary Rock Photographer Jim Marshall, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Phillips, The Plant Recording Studios, Seagram & Sons, the 2002 SLC Winter Olympics, United States Senate, Warner Bros. Records, and YouTube.
She is an advisor for: Active Music, Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation, Beckstrand Cancer Foundation, Share our Strength, Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and The Respect Institute.
A graduate of Arizona State University and the Richmond College in London, United Kingdom, Caroline is a devotee of great food and live music, a 4th Week camper at the Lair of the Bear-Camp Gold, and is in search is the perfect pizza. She lives in Laguna Beach, CA with her husband and three sons.
Alexandra Samuel
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
I am the Vice President of Social Media for Vision Critical, a research technology provider that works with more than 600 organizations worldwide, including a third of the top 100 brands. I am the author of Work Smarter with Evernote (http://amzn.to/wswevernote), the first in my Work Smarter with Social Media series, published by Harvard Business Review Press. The Lavin Agency represents me for speaking engagements (http://alexlov.es/lavin). I blog about social media for for Harvard Business Review and on my own site at alexandrasamuel.com.
Doug Schepers
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Doug Schepers (@shepazu) is a developer and standards expert at W3C, and the W3C Developer Relations Lead. He's particularly interested in webapps, SVG, and education. He has spoken at well-known international conferences such as Web Directions and @Media, organizes the W3C developer conference, W3Conf, and loves to travel the world for his job, when he's not working from home.
Mara Schwartz
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Mara Schwartz is Sr. Vice President, Licensing 10th Street Entertainment / Eleven Seven Music, and COO of Five Nineteen Music Publishing. In this role, she spears all licensing and creative pitching efforts, as well as heading and expanding the music publishing company. Schwartz is based in 10th Street’s Los Angeles office. Prior to this she was Senior Director of Creative / Film, Television, Advertising and New Media at music publisher Bug Music (now part of BMG Chrysalis).
Rawn Shah
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 11:00am – 12:00pm
I practice, teach and write about enterprise collaboration, social CRM, social HR, online community management, and swordfighting, mostly separately. I'm buzzing away on blogs.Forbes.com/rawnshah on on how social is reshaping organizations, how and why we work.
I have written over 500 articles for many technical and business publications and helped to launch magazines such as JavaWorld, Network Computing World, Windows TechEdge. I've also written 7 books and edited others, the last being "Social Networking for Business" (Wharton School Publishing/Pearson, 2010), and "SOA Compass" (IBM Press/Pearson, 2006 in 6 languages).
At IBM I was Program Manager for the developerWorks Community intersecting the development, community management and content teams to support 7M+ members. I was with "BlueIQ", the IBM Social Business Adoption team driving adoption practices, management and measurement across our global community (400K IBMers worldwide).
These days I'm either mistaken for Tiger Woods, working on my next book, or being assaulted by high schooler samurais-in-training.
Last book read: Radical Transparency by Don Tapscott.
Last book written: Social Networking for Business (Wharton/Pearson, 2010).
Last film credit: "The Sword Guy" (2011)
Last Interview: Social Media Week (Nov 2012)
Last lecture: Heinz College, Carnegie-Mellon Univ (Feb 2013)
John Shaw
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
John "J-DOGG" Shaw graduated from Memphis State University in 1992 with a degree in music education. He has been a clinician, promoter, hip-hop journalist, producer and jazz musician. His articles have appeared in Murder Dog, Rap Pages, Grooveline, Street Masters and Down Magazine. Since 1995, he has worked for Select-O-Hits Music Distribution in the promotions department. He has spoken at numerous conventions, including the Southern Urban Music Conference, Omni Music Conference and Mid-Atlantic Music Conference, and is working on a history of Black music in Shreveport, Louisiana entitled "Action Speaks Louder Than Words: Black Music in Shreveport, LA 1948-1998."
Steve Snyder
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
At TIME, I oversee daily digital editorial coverage, which includes the wrangling of more than 12 standalone verticals and the commissioning of hard news coverage and enterprise features. I also help to monitor our homepage, expand our social feeds and develop/run special projects. Earlier at TIME, I ran the TIME.com homepage, was the culture critic for the brand's first vertical (Techland) and helped to launch the site's viral news blog NewsFeed. Prior to TIME-LIFE, I was an arts critic (specializing in film and theater criticism) and features reporter (for Newsday and the Star-Ledger). And once upon a time, I worked with NBC in bringing the Olympics online. I continue to pen arts and technology criticism, am obsessed with covering the ways in which technology and social media are redefining the production/distribution of mainstream entertainment, and just for fun I continue to serve as artistic director for a Minneapolis-based film festival. If you want to talk Aronofsky or Soderbergh, I'm your guy.
I'm already looking forward to a week of food trucks and margaritas.
Ami Spishock
Music
Friday March 15th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Ami is the co founder of Fort William Artist Management and resides in Brooklyn, NY. She is the worldwide manager of Grizzly Bear, Beirut, The War on Drugs, Menomena, Sondre Lerche, Jesse Marchant and Van Dyke Parks.
Michael Starr
Music
Saturday March 16th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
National Director of Promotions
Glassnote Records
Juliana Stock
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Juliana just recently joined the newly formed Strategy & Innovation team at A+E Networks as the VP of Product and Innovation. Before that, Juliana was the founding head of Condé Nast 's innovation team, iPG, where she lead efforts to create new products and businesses through emerging, disruptive trends and strategic partnerships. While there, iPG developed and launched Idea Flight, Idea Flight Enterprise, Santa's Hideout, the Condé Nast Collection for Win8, Fashion Hazard and Teen Vogue Me Girl. Juliana was also the founding General Manager of Gourmet Live and served as the Creative Marketing Director within Condé Nast Consumer Marketing for five years. Prior to joining Condé Nast in 2002, Juliana held various marketing positions at The Magazine of La Cucina Italiana, G+J USA Publishing and MemberWorks.
Juliana is on the Execuitve Council for New York Internet Week, was included in AdWeek’s 2012 Young Influentials and is a member of the CMO Summit.
A native New Yorker and proud theater buff, she hopes one day for Glee to fulfill her dreams of devoting an entire episode to the musical genius that is Stephen Sondheim. She also writes a personal blog about shopping and unique gift giving ideas called the Gifting Whisperer. When she's not working, writing, shopping or singing karaoke you can find her in Harlem where she lives with her husband and two kids.
Bob Stolzberg
Interactive
Tuesday March 12th 11:00am – 12:00pm
I am an extremely passionate, positive, successful leader that's highly technical and sales-minded with 100% customer-focus. I'm also a family man and a Freemason.
I'm possessed with 15 years of deep enterprise-level IT experience and have a background that includes senior engineer, architect, pre-sales, operational support, and leadership positions.
I deliver superior results by detailed planning, strategic execution, outstanding communication, teamwork, and building positive relationships.
I exceed expectations by rigorously working with teams to focus on quality assured solution design, validation, implementation, and IT migration.
I mentor peers to accelerate processes, scale organizations, and effectively build teams that deliver results.
My goal is to help You succeed!
Dana Such
Interactive
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Dana Such is Audience Development Manager for Texas Monthly, an 11-time-national-magazine-award-winner, where she analyzes consumer behavior and employs strategies to acquire, retain and monetize the brand’s print and digital audiences across multiple platforms, including the print magazine, digital magazine, apps, e-newsletters, festivals, club membership, social and more.
Stuart Sullivan
Music
Wednesday March 13th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Stuart is a professional producer/engineer who has done it for a living for 27 years. He's made records with Willie Nelson, Sublime, Jimmie Vaughn, Grupo Fantasma, Butthole Surfers, Junior Brown, Okkervil River, Meat Puppets, Robert Earl Keen and many more. He believes in great songs and music, but not fashion. Music should be make however is comes out best, be it in a room with a few mics, out of a computer, or every other way it works
Bruce Taragin
Interactive
Monday March 11th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Bruce has 20 years experience as a venture capital investor, entrepreneur, technology investment banker and corporate attorney. Prior to joining Blumberg Capital in 1998, Bruce co-founded and held several senior management positions within technology companies including Charles River Computers. Bruce also structured and managed early-stage technology transactions at Hambrecht & Quist, Mayer Brown & Platt and Bankers Trust Company. A native of New York, Bruce earned his BA in Finance and Communications, cum laude, from Yeshiva University, and his MBA and JD from Fordham University.
Bruce serves as a member or observer on the Board of Directors of Lenddo, Puravit, Momtrusted, Nolio, Revionics, Yap.tv, Appboy and Sonar. He also serves on the board and the investment monitoring committee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Northern California.
Evo Terra
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Since 2002, I've made my living as a "digital business strategist". In short, I solve problems.
Along the way, I stumbled into the publishing community. First it was co-hosting an author interview show that became a nationally syndicated radio program & podcast. Then it was launching a serialized free audio books service. I was even asked to write a couple of books in the "for Dummies" series, so I have in-the-trenches experience in what it means to be an author.
Now I'm a publishing coach. I help should-be authors get their awesome ideas published. I also help established authors who've become "shipwrecked" by sweeping changes in publishing how to use digital tools like Google+ to reestablish their carrers!
Jan Triplett
Interactive
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Jan Triplett is a sales and marketing strategist. She has helped owners successfully launch and grow businesses with products and services from A-Z (accounting products to zoos). She has been a speaker for SXSW on networking, has a degree in RTF, and was a host for KUT's "Next 200 Years" nationally syndicated radio program. She is a regular speaker for ProductCamp, an Austin Business Journal “Ask the Experts”, and a guest blogger for The Business Bank of Texas. She hosts First Looks Forum mentoring night in alliance with Texas Entrepreneurs Network, B2B Meetup & Bloggers United. She is an author of print and ebooks including Thinking Big, Staying Small.
Christine Turner
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Christine is the Senior Production Manager at lululemon, responsible for leading the Brand Creative team in all production efforts. Christine began her career in radio communications and television production, having worked at both CBC and CTV. It was this experience and background that Christine leveraged to seamlessly transfer into digital campaign production. Christine's creativity and passion for the digital space lead her to Blast Radius, where she worked on the agency's Starbucks account, creating carefully customized campaigns that energized the brand. It is this multi-disciplinary experience and creative / relevant approach that Christine applies to her position at lululemon, as she continues to develops unique and adventuresome production plans for the brand.
Sam Valenti IV
Music
Thursday March 14th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Founder and CEO of Detroit-born record label Ghostly International and music subscription service Drip.fm
Trae Vassallo
Interactive
Monday March 11th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Trae Vassallo is a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where she invests in a broad array of consumer, software, and digital energy ventures. A "design thinker" and engineer at heart, Trae thrives at the intersection of great products and big markets.
Trae led KPCB's investments in Aggregate Knowledge, Enlighted, OPOWER, and Recyclebank and was responsible for originating the firm's investments in Enphase and Silver Spring Networks. She also works closely with the management team of Nest.
Before joining KPCB in 2003, Trae was a co-founder of Good Technology, a KPCB portfolio company (acquired by Motorola) that provides end-to-end wireless e-mail services to the enterprise. Trae began her career at IDEO, where she developed ground breaking products for companies including Palm and Dell. Trae holds 13 patents across a broad array of technologies and disciplines.
Trae earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in mechanical engineering with honors from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition to working with the world's best entrepreneurs, Trae is passionate about empowering girls in technology and adventuring with her husband and three children.
Robert Vickers
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Robert Vickers owns and operates Proxy Media PR. It is an independent publicity company dedicated to assisting indie bands get the attention they deserve. Robert Vickers has over 25 years experience in the music industry as a musician with bands such as The Go-Betweens and Yo la Tengo and then as the publicist for Jetset Records where he conducted media campaigns for bands such as Luna, Sahara Hotnights, Firewater, Mogwai, Arab Strap and 16 Horsepower. He is currently working with Sun Kil Moon, Horse Feathers and former Kraftwerk member, Karl Bartos.
Brian Wallace
Interactive
Monday March 11th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Brian Wallace is the founder of NowSourcing, Inc., a infographic design and social media agency since 2005 serving everyone from startups to the Fortune 500 and everything in between. Prior to founding NowSourcing, Brian worked in a variety of technical and marketing environments being a Chief Technology Officer for a noted media company. Brian holds an MBA and MS in Information Systems and resides in Louisville, KY with his wife and children. He started the group social media blog, Collective Thoughts and appears as a guest author on Mashable and is the online marketing Louisville reporter for Examiner.com.
Jennifer Warren
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Jennifer is the co-founder and VP of Business Development at BrandCinema, spearheading partnership development between content creators, brands, and content distributors working to accelerate innovation in digital video and emerging advertising formats. A result orientated sales and marketing professional 15 years in the entertainment industry working with startups and Fortune 500 companies, Jennifer has headed marketing departments at entertainment companies in London, New York and Los Angeles.
While at Baseline StudioSystems, working in the heart of the entertainment industry she customized development reports for studio execs at companies like Miramax and Warner Bros. While at Withoutabox, a division of IMDB Jennifer worked more directly with independent producers eventually choosing to focus on the independent market, consulting for indie filmmakers developing marketing and distribution plans for multi-platform releases.
Jay Washburn
Interactive
Monday March 11th 11:00am – 12:00pm
Jay has 14 years of experience as an investor, entrepreneur, investment banker and corporate attorney. During that time, he's advised companies as diverse as day zero startups to Fortune 500s as they find their way through launch, capital raises, growth (and, yes, setbacks) and exits -- whether by acquisition or IPO.
He's heard just about every elevator pitch and read just about every type of business plan out there, and he's twice successfully raised multimillion dollar seed rounds for two of his own companies.
Jay is currently a principal at Brayburn Capital Management, a firm he co-founded, which focuses on energy related investments, and on the side he helps early stage companies -- especially payments, media and other technology companies -- as they try to find out who they are and how best to raise capital.
Ken Weinstein
Music
Wednesday March 13th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Ken Weinstein is the co-owner and co-founder of Big Hassle Media and House of Hassle Publishing.
Weinstein worked as editor on various magazines for several years before starting his career as a music critic in 1987. Shortly thereafter, he became National Director of Beggars Banquet/Thirsty Ear Press and Video where he helped break The Charlatans UK and Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" album. In 1992, Weinstein led Caroline Records' press and video department where he helped name and establish Astralwerks, one of America's first electronica labels. In 1993, Weinstein was appointed Director of Media Relations for Atlantic Records. While at Atlantic, he worked with a diverse roster of artists, including Duncan Sheik, Page & Plant, Yo La Tengo, Liz Phair, Melvins, Bad Religion and Victoria Williams, among many others. Ken also has years of experience as Director of Marketing at Mercury Records, where he worked with Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach, Spalding Gray, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Wolf.
In 1999, Weinstein co-founded Big Hassle Media. In a deliberate effort to keep the roster as eclectic as his record collection, Big Hassle’s clients have always covered many genres. Among the many bands Big Hassle has worked with over the years include, among many others: Kings of Leon, Robert Plant, Gregg Allman, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Lyle Lovett, Ray Davies, Ornette Coleman, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Dawes, Heartless Bastards, Deer Tick, Gillian Welch, Against Me!, King Sunny Ade, Nada Surf, Deer Tick, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Burning Spear, Patty Griffin, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, George Carlin, The Strokes, Patti Smith, Hanson, Manchester Orchestra, Rufus Wainwright, John Waters, Fela, Joe Jackson, Jose Gonzalez, Ben Kweller, Robyn Hitchcock, North Mississippi Allstars, Nicole Atkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Robert Randolph, Crowded House, The Libertines, Regina Spektor, Black Angels, Townes Van Zandt, Kaki King, The Bad Plus and Fountains of Wayne.
In 2007, Weinstein created House of Hassle Publishing with partner Lyle Hysen. The HoH roster includes, among many others: Grizzly Bear, Superchunk, Wye Oak, Black Lips, Vivian Girls, John Vanderslice, Tortoise, Telekinesis, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Ra Ra Riot, The Felice Brothers and Cursive
Jonathan Weiss
Music
Thursday March 14th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Jonathan Weiss is a Los Angeles based music supervisor for film and television. He is currently music supervising the Bunim-Murray Production, The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, airing on MTV. Jonathan also recently music supervised the seventh season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the E! Entertainment, Love Games, for the Oxygen Channel, Living Lohan and The Challenge: Battle of the Exes for MTV. Other music supervision credits include Interscope Presents The Next Episode for Showtime Entertainment, The Education of Max Bickford for CBS, U.C. Undercover for NBC, Celebrity Undercover for MTV and the theatrical release, “The Big Tease,” for Warner Bros. Pictures. Jonathan is also currently working with composers writing for TV.
Heather West
Music
Thursday March 14th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Heather West has 25 years of experience in music, serving as a concert promoter, record label manager, radio promoter, publicist and advocate for musicians everywhere. After serving as talent buyer for the legendary Antones Club in Austin, she became label manager for New Orleans’ Black Top Records. After moving to Chicago, West worked as a publicist before founding her own company, Western Publicity, working with labels, festivals& films.
Rachel Wilkerson
Interactive
Saturday March 9th 3:30pm – 4:30pm
By day, I'm a content and community manager for Theatrics.com. I copy edit, work for better user engagement, handle our social media channels, am on the front lines of customer support, and manage the community.
By early morning and night, I am a freelance writer. I am a panelist for U by Kotex real answers and my writing has appeared on Yahoo! Shine, SHAPE.com, Birchbox, and many other websites. I also write my own personal blog, The House Always Wins, about home, health, work, play, and being a grown-ass adult.
Brett Williams
Music
Thursday March 14th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Brett began his career in the music industry as an 18-year-old intern at Interscope Records in the international department. He continued at Interscope on an “on and off” basis until he graduated college. In late 2005 he began to manage Cold War Kids and in the wake of his success he accepted an invitation to work with at Monotone Mgmt in 2007. Over the last 5 years his roster has changed and grown. His roster currently consists of Foster The People, Cold War Kids, James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Richard Swift.
Kevin Wommack
Music
Wednesday March 13th 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Owner
Playing In Traffic Records/Loophole Management
Brian Wong
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Brian Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced “keep”), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages “moments of achievement” in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers. Backed by Hummer Winblad, Relay Ventures, True Ventures, Digital Garage and others, the company has raised $15.4 million in funding to date.
Kiip has been listed by Forbes as one of the 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List, and been named to the Dow Jones FasTech50 List. Called the youngest person to ever receive venture capital funding by CNBC and The Wall Street Journal, Brian received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia at age 18, after skipping four K-12 grades.
He has been recognized with many awards for his accomplishments and leadership, including: the Top 20 Under 20 awards for all of Canada; Business Insider’s Top 25 Under 25 in Silicon Valley, 30 Under 30 in Advertising and 18 Most Important People in Mobile Advertising; Forbes’ 30 under 30; Mashable’s Top 5 Entrepreneurs to Watch; iMedia 25; and the AdAge Creativity Top 50. Before starting Kiip, Brian led key publisher and tech partnerships at the social news website Digg.com, where he accelerated the company’s mobile presence by launching the Digg Android mobile app.
Nazli Yuzak
Interactive
Sunday March 10th 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Nazli Yuzak is passionate about delivering the best possible experience to website visitors. She gets to practice her passion at her role at Dell as Sr. Behavioral Targeting Manager; working with Adobe Test&Target 1:1 technology. Prior to joining the 1:1 team she was responsible for testing ideas that would help improve the Dell website in the short term as well as testing for site’ s future version. She leveraged several global resources, from Brazil to India, to execute best-in class Testing & Optimization projects.
Nazli has over 7 years of digital marketing experience focusing on site optimization, behavioral targeting and web analytics. In her previous role she had identified Adobe Test&Target as a solution to improve site conversion rates and leveraged this solution to support higher lead goals. Her work with T&T not only contributed to 3 times higher improvement in conversion rates but also got recognized with "Best Lead Generation Test" and "Best Segmentation Test" awards by WhichTestWon.com.
Over the past 3 years Nazli presented at the Adobe/Omniture Summit, eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, "WhichTestWon.com" webinar and Conversion Conference. This year she will be presenting at Conversion Conference –San Francisco and WhichTestWon.com The Live Event. In addition to her speaking engagements she also serves as a member of the WhichTestWon.com Leadership Advisory Board.
Nazli holds a Master of Business Administration degree in International Marketing and Management of Global Information Technology.