Palm Spring ShortFest Panels: Hear from Film Industry Notables

Writers' Forum has Alexi Hawley of ABC's 'Body of Proof', Katherine Lindberg of ABC's 'Tomorrow'

Site Staff Arts & Entertainment, Attractions

Starting June 21, prominent film industry figures from CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment, Fox, ICM Partners, Nickelodeon, Night and Day Pictures, Preferred Content, Sundance Film Festival, TNT, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and other organizations will participate in three days of Palm Springs ShortFest forums and events covering emerging trends and new practices in the global film community.

The Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel, 888 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, will be the host site for the forums and panels,

“A key mission of ShortFest has always been to bring together filmmakers participating in the event with key industry executives and creative leaders who can offer the kind of information and real-world guidance that will affect the career path of these gifted young talents in singular and constructive ways,” said Festival Director Darryl Macdonald. “The educative and networking opportunities available to filmmakers through our Forum programs and Roundtable sessions fulfill that mission in concrete, tangible ways.”

The schedule for this year’s ShortFest Forums includes:

Friday, June 21 – Mythbusters: Is Content King?

11 a.m.: Taking Your Content to Market: Industry experts weigh in on distribution platforms, alternative exhibition, and multiple platform cross-media monetization models. If all this makes your head spin, think of it this way: in one hand, you have original content you created and own. In the other hand, you are looking for money, audience and attention. Now, how do we tip the balance in your favor? And who tips best?
 
Expected panelists: Sharon Badal (Tribeca Film Festival), Scott Dwyer (KQED – Imagemakers/Film School Shorts), Michael Falter (Pickford Cinemas/Sundance Arthouse Convergence), Ted Hope (San Francisco International Film Festival Society), Chris Horton (Sundance Artists Services), Jonathan Marlow (Fandor), Derry O’Brien (Network Ireland Television).

1 p.m.: Creating Content for the Marketplace – Top tier creative executives discuss the role content plays in the health and welfare of successful (i.e. sold, produced, released) entertainment content for both television and cinema. We want to know how content is creatively managed and massaged; what expectations need to be established for content to be “exhibition-ready”; how content moves across the landscape from creatively-interesting to audience-ready. And we want to know where those content creators are found in the first place.
 
Expected panelists: Kevin Iwashina (Preferred Content, managing partner), Anna Kokourina (Fox International Productions, vice president of Production), David Poynter (TNT, director current programming), Michael Roiff (Night and Day Pictures), James Stephenson (Nickelodeon Group, senior vice president, Content Development, Digital Media).

3 p.m.: Writer’s Master Class – Perfect Pitch – An all-star lineup of the busiest working writers and story executives in Hollywood will share their thoughts, expertise and insights on the fine art of the pitch. Once you’ve heard what they have to say, it will be your turn to pitch them and get their insider feedback. A great way to practice the very skill set you’ll be using every day for the rest of your professional life!
 
Expected panelists: Brian Banks (Nickelodeon), Alexi Hawley (The Following), Katherine Lindberg (Tomorrow), Tommy O’Haver (Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss), Rob Ramsey (Intolerable Cruelty).

Saturday, June 22 – Gatekeepers and Tastemakers
 
9:30 a.m.: Meet the Programmers
Expected panelists: Sharon Badal (Tribeca Film Festival), Beth Barrett (Seattle International Film Festival), Jeffrey Bowers (Hamptons International Film Festival), Andrew Crane (American Cinematheque), Claudette Godfrey (SXSW Film Festival), Laura Good (Toronto International Film Festival), Grainne Humphreys (Jameson Dublin International Film Festival), Bronwyn Kidd (FlickerFest Film Festival, Australia), Mike Plante (Sundance Film Festival), Paul Sloop (Cleveland International Film Festival), Kim Yutani (Sundance Film Festival /Outfest Film Festival).

11:30 a.m. Meet the Press
Expected panelists: John Anderson (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsday, Variety), Dana Harris (IndieWire), John Horn (Los Angeles Times), Gregg Kilday (The Hollywood Reporter), Steve Pond (The Wrap), Pat Saperstein (Variety), Katherine Tulich (Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Australia, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post).

1 p.m.: Lawyers, Guns (Managers) and Money (Agents)
Expected panelists: Stephen Breimer (Bloom, Hergott, Diemer law firm, partner), Matt Galsor (Greenberg Glusker’s Entertainment Group, entertainment attorney), Troy Nankin (Wishlab, manager), Nick Ogiony (CAA, film finance agent), Peter Trinh (ICM Partners, International and Independent film agent), Graciella Sanchez (Echo Lake Entertainment, manager).

Panel tickets are available to the public for $11 each, Master Class tickets are $12. All ShortFest Forum programs are presented free to accredited filmmakers participating in ShortFest and its concurrent Short Film Market.

Tickets can be purchased by calling (760) 322-2930 or visiting www.psfilmfest.org