Meet With...
Meet With... is a series of informal and intimate information sessions on the hottest topics in today’s film industry. Meet With... provides attendees with a unique opportunity to gain insight into the fundamentals of the business and craft of filmmaking from seasoned industry professionals. For a complete list of topics and guest speakers, please visit Match Club starting Thursday, September 10, 2009 or check out our website for updates.
Meet With... is open to all Sales & Industry and Guest Relations Pass holders.
Date: Friday, September 11, 2009 through to Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time: Daily sessions from 11:00am to 12:00pm
Location: Match Club (5th Elementt Restaurant, 1033 Bay Street)
*Meet With... is open to all Sales & Industry and Guest Relations Pass holders.
2009 Meet With… Schedule:
Friday, September 11, 11:00am - 12:00pm
The Changing Role of the International Film Festival
There’s no doubt the economic crisis has taken – or, more accurately, is about to take – a toll on the film industry. This session will discuss what role international film festivals should play in this uncertain market.
Moderator:
Sean Farnel, Director of Programming, Hot Docs
Guest Speakers:
John Cooper, Director, Sundance Film Festival
Geoff Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer, Tribeca Enterprises
Piers Handling, Director & CEO, TIFF
Wieland Speck, Director Panorama and Member Selection Committee Competition, Berlin International Film Festival
Saturday, September 12, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Variety's 10 Producers to Watch
Moderator:
Sharon Swart, Senior Editor, Features, Variety
Sunday, September 13, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Web 2.0 DIY – How to leverage new media to identify, engage and extend your audience…before shooting a single frame.
The advent of social media (aka Web 2.0) has unlocked a real opportunity for entertainment producers to directly harness the energy of their most dedicated fans and turn it into a better bottom line. Using best of breed examples, the panelists will discuss how film and television producers can use new media to their advantage, whether via elaborate transmedia strategies or a simple Twitter account.
Moderator:
Matt Toner, President, Zeros 2 Heroes Media
Guest Speakers:
Paul Gertz, Executive Producer, Network Entertainment
Michael Regina, Founder, TheOneRing.net
Monday, September 14, 11:00am - 12:00pm
New Trends in Distribution
There's been a lot of talk recently about video-on-demand and Internet streaming for independent film. How can these emerging platforms and new trends help the independent producer of tomorrow? Plus, how can independent filmmakers prepare their work for the best chance to navigate either traditional or non-traditional distribution?
Moderator:
Matt Dentler, Head of Programming and Marketing, Cinetic Rights Management
Guest Speakers:
Jared Moshe, President, Sidetrack Films
Ryan Werner, VP Marketing, IFC Films
Stephanie Sharis, EVP, Snag Films
Tuesday, September 15, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Video Games, Film and Social Media
Whether you’re a filmmaker who is a hardcore console gamer who plays Halo, a casual Tetris or Solitaire player, or have been swallowed up by social games like FarmVille (which grew to 30 million users in 90 days) or Mafia Wars on Facebook, there is a lot you can learn from the gaming industry that will help you make and market your next film. Experts from both worlds will discuss the potential opportunities.
Moderator:
Nathon Gunn, CEO/COO, Social Game Universe
Guest Speakers:
Kevin Shortt, Lead Scriptwriter – Story Design for Avatar, UbiSoft Canada
Christine Aylward, Co-Founder & CEO, Makingof.com
Wednesday, September 16, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Feature Comedy Writing
There’s nothing like a good comedy. But, how do you write, fund, and direct that special combination of risky material, mass appeal, funny-on-the-page AND funny-on-screen that makes a really great comedy?
Moderator:
John Galway, President, Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund
Thursday, September 17, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Creative Financing
More than ever, filmmakers need to find new and imaginative ways to fund their projects. In this session, directors and producers discuss the creative strategies they used to bring their artistic vision to the screen.
Moderator:
Jennifer Jonas, Producer, Leslie, My Name is Evil
Guest Speakers:
Jason Lehel, Director, Gaia
John Gordon, Producer, Gaia
Blaine Thurier, Director, A Gun to the Head
Confirmed Guest Speakers include:
Christine Aylward
Co-Founder & CEO, Makingof.com
Prior to co-founding MakingOf, Christine Aylward was a strategic consultant working with leading start-up companies in industries including Internet, technology, finance, and healthcare. Previously, Aylward was Partner and Executive Vice President for Epoch Partners, an investment bank acquired by Goldman Sachs. Before working at Epoch, she held senior domestic and global marketing and communication roles with leading Fortune 100 companies.
John Cooper
Director, Sundance Film Festival
John Cooper is currently the Director of the Sundance Film Festival. He has been a member of the programming staff since 1989 and has served as the Director of Creative Development for Sundance Institute and the Director of Programming of the Sundance Film Festival since 2003.
Matt Dentler
Head of Programming and Marketing, Cinetic Media
Matt Dentler is the head of marketing and programming for Cinetic Rights Management, a sister company of Cinetic Media in New York. Prior to that, he spent five years as the Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, TX starting in 2003. Dentler currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Film Society and graduated with a BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas. At Cinetic Rights Management, Dentler programs the FilmBuff channel, a film platform available on broadband and cable VOD platforms worldwide.
Sean Farnel
Director of Programming, Hot Docs
Sean Farnel is Director of Programming at Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary film festival, market and conference. Prior to assuming this newly created position in 2005, Sean was a staff programmer at tiff, where he was responsible for a several programming and education initiatives.
John Galway
President, Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund
As the President of Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund, John is responsible for the Fund’s management and the funding of feature films and industry events. His career began with TIFF and the inaugural year of the Cinematheque Ontario. John then moved into development and production with Independent Pictures and ultimately into financing with Telefilm Canada where he was the Sector Head for English Television.
Paul Gertz
Executive Producer, Network Entertainment
Paul is a self-proclaimed “old media” executive who has seen the impact of fan engagement on the success or failure of film properties from the front lines. After a career landmarked by many memorable features and a few regrettable misses (which he is happy to talk about), Paul has become an intense advocate for fan outreach through digital media extensions.
John Gordon
Producer, Gaia
John has made a career out of helping artists birth new projects. He got his feet wet at Artisan Entertainment in the late 90's, then started an artist management company which led to his first producing gig on the award winning short film, A Matter of Principal in 2003. John also spent six winters helping create the Sales & Industry Office for the Sundance Film Festival. Gaia is John’s first feature film as a producer and he is currently developing his next slate of projects.
Nathon Gunn
CEO, Social Game Universe
Nathon co-founded Bitcasters, Citytv Interactive and Miramax New Media. Has a degree in film and new media from Ryerson University. Innovations: 1994 backstage Grammys Webcast, first e-CDs for BMG, first major-label secure digital music format for Universal and early user-generated content initiative Bitcast.com. He has won awards for games played 300+ million times, films and music videos and has spoken at Harvard, the BBC Labs and the Banff Centre. He ran Net strategy for the former Canadian Prime Minister and is a fellow at Queen’s University’s Centre for the Study of Democracy and a Director of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. His latest venture, Social Game Universe, is launching some of the most innovative ways to play with friends on social networks.
Piers Handling
Director & CEO, TIFF
Piers Handling first joined the organization in 1982 and has held several successive positions prior to taking on the role as Director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival® in 1994. Mr. Handling began his career at the Canadian Film Institute (CFI), ultimately becoming Deputy Director. After leaving the CFI, he taught Canadian cinema at Carleton University in Ottawa and Queen’s University in Kingston. He has published extensively on Canadian cinema and its filmmakers.
Mr. Handling currently sits on the Board of the Canadian Film Centre and Luminato and is a member of the Minister of Culture’s Advisory Council for Arts and Culture (MACAC). He has been honoured with the “Chevalier des Artes et Lettres”, France’s highest cultural insignia. In 2003, he was named CEO of the Year by the Canadian Public Relations Society (Toronto), recognizing for the first time a CEO from the cultural not-for-profit sector. In 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Ryerson University.
Jennifer Jonas
Producer, Leslie, My Name is Evil
Jennifer Jonas' latest feature is Reginald Harkema's Leslie, My Name is Evil which will have its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2009. She also executive produced the feature adaptation of George Ryga’s Hungry Hills which will also have its TIFF premiere in September. She produced Toronto Stories which premiered at the TIFF 2008 for which she was nominated CFTPA Producer of the Year and Bruce LaBruce's gay zombie movie Otto; Or, Up with Dead People which premiered at Sundance 2008. In 2007, she produced All Hat starring Luke Kirby and Rachel Leigh Cook for which she was also nominated CFTPA Producer of the Year. She produced Monkey Warfare starring Don McKellar and Tracy Wright which won a Special Jury Prize at the TIFF 2006.
Jason Lehel
Producer, Director, Cinematographer, GAIA
Jason started in the cutting rooms, in 1977. In 1988 he got his break as a DP, shooting additional material on Gorillas in the Mist (88). He has worked extensively as a cinematographer on advertisements, music videos, (U2, Guns n’ Roses, Frank Sinatra) and many films, including Robin Hood (20th Century Fox '90) & the Academy Award®-nominated short film The Child Eater (89). In 1993 he began directing & producing commercials & documentaries & founded Open Eye Productions UK, which produced Bob the Butler for Disney (05). He won a Grierson best documentary award for Two Hours From London, (95) for the BBC. In 2007, Los Angeles, Jason founded W.A.I.F. He has directed the short films Boiling Point (93), Eating Bitter (96) and Nobody's Hero (05). Gaia (09) is his first feature as producer & director.
Elan Mastai
Writer
Elan Mastai is currently writing feature comedies for Fox-Searchlight and the producers of Juno and Ghost World, Warner Brothers and the producers of I Love You, Man and Observe and Report, Paramount and the producers of This American Life, as well as the film adaptation of the comic novel Home Game.
Jared Moshé
President, Sidetrack Films
Jared Moshé is a NY based producer. His credits include Low and Behold (2007 Sundance Film Festival), Independent Spirit Award nominee Kurt Cobain About a Son, Destricted (2006 Sundance Film Festival, 2006 Un Certain Regard) and Beautiful Losers, which was released through an innovative distribution deal he structured with Nike.
Michael Regina
Founder, TheOneRing.net
Michael Regina has spent the better part of a decade deep within the internet fanboy zeitgeist. Directors such as Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labrynth, Hellboy) rely on him to reach out to their fan base and be their mouthpiece in order to relay news and quash rumors. The fans flock to his scoop filled websites (TheOneRing.net, KongisKing.net) for behind the scenes goodies and spoiler filled stories. Straddling the line between ultimate geek and Hollywood
insider, Michael has effectively brought A-List access to everyone's computer screen.
Stephanie Sharis
EVP, Snag Films
Before SnagFilms, Stephanie was at AOL directing business development for subscription services and then developing original programming. Stephanie co-founded Transmission Films and worked on projects for Walden Media and Content Film. Producing credits include Music Inn and The Party’s Over with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Stephanie holds degrees from Wesleyan University and Harvard University.
Kevin Shortt
Lead Scriptwriter – Story Design, Ubisoft
Kevin Shortt is lead scriptwriter for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game. A member of Ubisoft Montréal since 2006, Shortt’s game titles include Far Cry 2 and Lost – Via Domus. Before moving to video game development, Shortt was a writer and producer for film and television where his credits included the TV shows So Weird and The New Addams Family. He is a creator of the online sitcom, Suite218.com, and he has created original work for such clients as Nintendo, BC Dairy, Nike and Wynn Resorts.
Wieland Speck
Director Panorama and Member Selection Committee Competition, Berlin International Film Festival
Wieland Speck grew up in Freiburg and has been a Berlin resident since 1972. He studied German Literature, Drama and Ethnology at Freie Universität Berlin. During the 70’s he worked as a Publisher, a Video Artist and as a Cinema programmer. His filmography includes: Westler East Of The Wall (1985), Among Men (1994), Escape To Life – The Erika And Klaus Mann Story (2000) co-directed with Andrea Weiss. From 1982 to 1992 he was the assistant to former PANORAMA director Manfred Salzgeber and in 1987 he became the Founder of the TEDDY AWARD – Queer Film Award at the Berlinale. He has been the Director of the Berlin International Film Festival's PANORAMA section since 1992.
Sharon Swart
Senior Editor, Features, Variety
Sharon Swart is Senior Editor of features at Variety, primarily covering the independent film world. She oversees reports on the major film festivals and markets, and heads up several of Variety's prestigious "10 to Watch" lists, including 10 Directors to Watch. She first joined the entertainment trade paper in London as European Editor of features. Prior to Variety, Sharon spent four years as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles. Before moving into print journalism, she worked as a writer/producer for national news broadcasts on RTL Television in The Netherlands. She holds a B.Sc. in Political Science from UC Berkeley and completed graduate work in Media in her native Holland at the University of Amsterdam.
Blaine Thurier
Director, A Gun to the Head
Blaine Thurier is a Vancouver based writer/director and musician. He is best known as a member of the internationally celebrated rock band, The New Pornographers. His previous films have appeared in TIFF, SXSW and SLAMDANCE among many others. He has also directed several acclaimed rock videos and speaks fluent Japanese.
Matt Toner
President, Zeros 2 Heroes Media
Matt began work in the new media industry (when it actually was new) as a co-founder of CanApple New Media, a founding executive of We Media Inc, and Managing Director of Oven Digital (Canada). Following the dot-crash, Matt worked on a series of videogames for Electronic Arts, before leading convergent television projects for Making the Cut 2 and the award-winning Bodog TV. Since founding Zeros 2 Heroes, Matt has worked to bring digital media solutions to the film and television industry through engagements with the National Screen Institute, Telefilm Canada, ContentFilm, SEVEN24 Films, Rainmaker Entertainment, CBC Television and others.
Ryan Werner
VP Marketing, IFC Films