at SFFS | NP Cinema
Panel Discussion Focusing on the Art and Craft of the Pitch with a Panel of Industry Experts
The San Francisco Film Society will present SFFS Film Arts Forum: Pitch Perfect, a panel discussion focusing on tried and true strategies for pitching a film project to industry decision makers, 7:30 pm, Monday, December 5 at San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema.
You know you’ve got it: that million-dollar idea, that gripping storyline, that perfect character for the next indie hit. But, as you buttonhole your dream producer/investor/studio head/angel in the elevator or film festival lounge, will you dazzle them with your eloquence or will you bumble it and blow your big chance? There is an art and craft to the pitch—tried and true strategies that can determine whether your film resonates with industry decision makers or falls on deaf ears.
Pitch Perfect lays bare the mechanics of effective pitching for documentaries and narrative features. Four industry experts will draw on real life experiences, ranging from insider tips to amusing anecdotes. A live session with local filmmakers pitching their projects will be followed by critiques offered by the panel with audience input and response.
PANELISTS
Carlton Evans is a San Francisco–based independent film producer and screenwriter whose productions have screened at top festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca and Rotterdam. He is also the cofounder and director of the Disposable Film Festival, currently in its fourth season, which celebrates achievements in new-media filmmaking internationally. Evans produced and cowrote the documentary feature ‘Connected’ and the short ‘Yelp’ and was a creative consultant on the narrative feature ‘The Woods,’ all of which premiered at Sundance 2011. He was the associate producer and director of distribution of ‘The Tribe’ (Sundance 2006), which was singled out by the New York Times, Variety and the Sundance Institute for its groundbreaking distribution strategy. Evans has taught film theory, art history and architecture at Stanford, SF State University and SF Art Institute and lectures worldwide about film and new media. He holds a PhD in art history and film theory from Stanford University.
Jennie Frankel Frisbie is a founder of Magnet Management, “a passionate advocate for screenwriters.” Founded six years ago as a literary boutique with a handful of select clients, Magnet has since grown into one of the most well-respected management companies in the entertainment industry, with over 50 clients thriving in film and television careers. Magnet is fueled by its founders’ relentless drive to attract the best writers in entertainment and help their clients realize—even exceed—their personal goals. The company maintains its relevance by balancing passion with pragmatism, always encouraging clients to write what they love while remaining fiercely practical about each writer’s best career options.
Michele Turnure-Salleo heads the Film Society’s filmmaker services department and oversees grants, residencies and project development programs. She is a producer and director with over 17 years experience in the United States, Australia, France and Canada. As an independent producer, and later as a staff producer for the Banff Center for the Arts, associate director of Film Arts Foundation and in her current position, she has helped guide hundreds of independent film projects through development, production and distribution. Turnure-Salleo was associate producer on the Oscar-nominated ‘Regret to Inform.’ She has also taught extensively in the US and abroad and has served on funding and award panels nationally. She holds a BFA in film from the University of New South Wales and a MFA in film from the University of British Columbia.
Bingham Ray is the Film Society’s newly appointed Executive Director. Prior to coming to San Francisco, Ray served as the first run programming consultant to the Film Society of Lincoln Center, executive consultant to the digital distribution company SnagFilms and adjunct professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Before that Ray held two posts during his three-year tenure at the Los Angeles-based production company Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, president of Kimmel Distribution and president of creative affairs; served as president of United Artists during a period when the company acquired and/or produced many highly acclaimed films such as ‘No Man’s Land,’ ‘Bowling for Columbine’ and ‘Hotel Rwanda’; and founded October Films and served as its copresident until its sale to USA Networks in 1999. Some of October Films’ credits include ‘Secrets & Lies,’ ‘The Apostle,’ ‘The Celebration,’ ‘Lost Highway’ and ‘Breaking the Waves.’
David Winton is a cofounder of Winton/duPont Films, a New York and San Francisco–based company that produces television documentaries, commercials and short-form films. He was the executive producer and producer/director of ‘Big Thinkers,’ a television documentary series about the world’s great scientists and technologists for TechTV. Other producing and directing credits include PBS’s ‘Code Rush,’ a one-hour documentary about Silicon Valley; ‘The Crash,’ a two-hour primetime special about the stock market crash of 1929 for the History Channel and ‘Learning the Hard Way,’ about California’s public education crisis for the Discovery Network.
MODERATOR
Michael A. Behrens runs the Film Society’s Film Craft & Film Studies, Film Arts Forum and Behind the Scenes programs. He has produced, directed, acted and consulted for theater, film and television for the last 15 years. Currently, he is in production on two social justice documentary films, ‘My Garbage My Neighborhood’ and ‘The Naked Company.’ ‘Kuro 2010′ and ‘Climate Change 2009,’ produced by Behrens, have screened at festivals around the world. Behrens holds an MNA in nonprofit administration from the University of San Francisco and a BFA in acting from the University of Idaho.
A test for pitching skills. SFFS will choose three filmmakers from the audience to pitch their projects and receive feedback from the panelists. Filmmakers who would like to participate in this informal pitch session should email tamara@sffs.org with a brief description of their project along with a bio and link to their website.
SFFS Film Arts Forum is the Film Society’s bimonthly information-sharing, discussion, networking, professional development jamboree. It’s an opportunity for local filmmakers and cineastes to meet one another and talk about their craft. SFFS gets the conversation started with dynamic presentations, topical panels, works-in-progress screenings and trade secrets. It’s an entire conference in the span of a few hours.
Tickets $7 for SFFS members, $10 general. Box office opens October 31 online at sffs.org and in person at San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema.
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