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HOPEFUL FILMMAKING
2010 Independent Producers Conference
April 17, 2010
Presented in partnership with Minneapolis Community & Technical College

“We are on the verge of a new film culture and infrastructure, driven by both the creators and the audiences. We must accept that being a filmmaker means taking responsibility for our films all the way through the process. Building the new infrastructure is the first step towards real media independence.” – Ted Hope, Producer

IFP Media Arts’ 2010 Independent Producers Conference features  national industry experts to explain, point by point, how to fund, publicize, and distribute your film in this exciting time of change.

The conference begins with keynote speaker Stu Pollard (top), and his renowned presentation, “Funding Your Film,” which includes advice on business plan creation and attracting/keeping investors.

Visit Films’ Ryan Kampe will give his take on creating and distributing low-budget films for the genre audience and the mainstream (both Stu and Ryan are also available for a limited amount of individual meetings - see below on how to sign up).

Prolific producer and newly appointed IFP NY Executive Director Joana Vicente (second from top) and Cinetic Media’s Victoria Cook (third from top)will discuss the “Anatomy of a Release,” moderated by Todd Sklar (bottom), the distribution innovator behind Range Life Entertainment.

Finally, the conference will wrap up with composers in town for the American Composers Forum’s film scoring conference.  The final hour will be structured as a speed-dating event between filmmakers and composers.

We'll wrap up with a reception at Nick & Eddie for all conference participants to socialize and continue the dialogue.  We’ll see you there!

Date: Saturday, April 17, 2010
Place: Minneapolis Community & Technical College, Whitney Hall, Rm. L.3000, 1501 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis (*Whitney Hall is the newer glass library building in the center of campus directly facing Hennepin. Parking is available in the ramp directly across the street for $5.)
Times: 9:00 am–5:00 pm (Detailed schedule here)
Price: $50 IFP Members* / $40 Students & Seniors / $75 General Public
Lunch: $10
Register:  651-644-1912 (Visa/MC accepted)
*IFP MN Fiscal Sponsor Clients receive 25% off the member price. 

Lead Sponsors:

Supporting Sponsors:

With additional support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts

SCHEDULE

9–9:30             REGISTRATION & COFFEE

9:30–12:30      FUND YOUR FILM with Stu Pollard
                        Pollard initially focuses on key business plan elements, including research, structure, and design. He then provides valuable insights on the ethics and psychology of selling high-risk investments, tools for making deals more attractive, tips for identifying the best financing prospects, and suggestions for maintaining long-term relationships with investors. The presentation also features salient information for high net worth individuals who may be contemplating film investments. NOTE: Mr. Pollard will be available for a limited number of individual consultations after lunch. To schedule one, contact IFP Education Director Reilly Tillman at rtillman@ifpmn.org and include a brief description of your project by Tuesday, April 13.

Extremely insightful and refreshingly pragmatic. —Anne Lai, Producer in Residence, Sundance

Honest, upfront and beneficial to all who attended.  —Maria Bozzi, Director of Education, Film Independent

12:30–1:30            LUNCH (Middle Eastern buffet catered by Holy Land Restaurant)

1:30–1:50            VISIT FILMS with Ryan Kampe           
                        Visit Films is an independent film production and sales company based in New York whose mission is to develop, produce, and sell unique and interesting independent American and international films. Visit's films are made with reasonable budgets and possess commercial viability. Working with talented filmmakers, Visit develops and produces films that re-imagine genres and styles. Partner Ryan Kampe gives an overview of Visit Films and will be available for individual filmmaker consultation throughout the afternoon. NOTE: availability limited – those wanting a consultation should e-mail a request, including project description, to IFP Education Director Reilly Tillman at rtillman@ifpmn.org by Tuesday, April 13.                       

2:00–3:30              ANATOMY OF A RELEASE
                        Victoria Cook, whose company Cinetic Media was the sales rep for the movie Precious, and Joana Vicente, award-winning producer of over 40 films, discuss the complex process of marketing and distribution. Moderated by Todd Sklar.
                                     
3:45–5:00              SCORE!
                        Need your movie scored? The American Composers Forum will present approximately 20 accomplished composers seeking film scoring opportunities. Following a speed dating model, filmmakers will be able to meet each for 3 minutes. Don’t worry, you can chat longer with them at the reception to follow, so say hello, give ‘em a brief movie pitch, exchange business cards and go!

5:00–7:00              RECEPTION at Nick & Eddie, 1612 Harmon Place, Minneapolis

2010 IFP MN INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS CONFERENCE GUESTS

Stu Pollard: A native of Louisville, KY, Pollard has been making films for more than a decade. His recent producing credits include the road dramedy Bass Ackwards, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, True Adolescents, a Seattle-based coming of age comedy, Dirty Country, a documentary about country singer Larry Pierce, and Ira & Abby, a neurotic romantic comedy set in Manhattan.

Pollard has also directed two feature films, Nice Guys Sleep Alone and Keep Your Distance. Nice Guys, a romantic comedy, which Pollard adapted from the best-selling Bruce Feirstein book, was picked up by HBO while Keep Your Distance was released on DVD by Monarch Home Video and aired on the Showtime family of networks.

Among Pollard’s projects in development are Harmony, a drama written by Brad Riddell, and The Buffalo Soldier, a drama based on the Chris Bohjalian best seller. Pollard also freelances as a consultant and producer (see pollardfilm.com), specializing in private equity financing, investor relations, and distributor delivery. His business plans have raised more than $7 million in development and production funds.

Pollard has presented at dozens of festivals, universities, and film organizations, including the Sundance Institute, Yale, Indiana, Middlebury, Iowa State, the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Oxford Film Festival, the Santa Fe Film Festival, Film Independent, and IFP chapters in Chicago and Phoenix.

Pollard attended film school at the University of Southern California, where he produced over a dozen short films, collaborating with filmmakers such as Jeffrey Blitz (Rocket Science, Spellbound), Nathan Hope (Elsewhere), Breck Eisner (The Creepies), and Ted Iredell (MTV’s Making The Band). Prior to attending USC, Pollard majored in business at Georgetown University. He is a member of the DGA, serves on the board of the Kentucky Derby Museum, and resides in Santa Monica, CA.

Victoria Cook joined Cinetic Media's sales and film financing division in May 2009. Prior to joining Cinetic, she was a partner at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz and before that a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. While at Frankfurt Kurnit, Victoria shared many clients with Cinetic's management and financing groups and she worked together with Cinetic in structuring the financing for many films, including The Namesake, The Savages, and Broken Flowers.

Victoria is co-founder of the New York Underground Film Festival. Previously, she worked at CourtTV and also co-produced the feature-length documentary, Screwed, about New York personality and pornographer, Al Goldstein. She was admitted to the bar in 1999 in New York and New Jersey. Victoria is a graduate of Columbia University (BA, 1991), Tisch School of the Arts (MA Cinema Studies, 1995) and University of Pennsylvania (JD, cum laude, 1998).

Ryan Kampe is a partner in Visit Films and is responsible for worldwide sales for the company. Prior to founding Visit Films, he spent a number of years in International Distribution at Focus Features. With Visit Films he has been responsible for the worldwide sales of a number of important American independent films that have premiered in festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, and Toronto. He has sat on numerous panels and roundtables around the world and is on the IFP Film Week advisory board. As director, he once directed a music video for Kenny Rogers.

Todd Sklar loves coffee. In early 2008, he wrote, produced, and directed his feature length debut, Box Elder, which he self-distributed across the country on a 35+ city tour during the spring. After the innovative and successful release of Box Elder, Sklar founded Range Life Entertainment, a privately-held film exhibition and marketing company, which tours independent films across the country on a bi-annual basis.

Focusing on event-based screenings and niche-targeted marketing, Range Life has released 19 films over the last two years, including JJ Lask’s critically acclaimed On The Road with Judas, Ari Gold's break-out comedy Adventures of Power, and Bob Byington's cult hit, RSO. Range Life has also worked with numerous studios and distribution companies to help reach the college market, including Sony Pictures (Assassination of a High School President), Roadside Attractions (Mystery Team), and Variance Films (White on Rice).

Range Life plans to program over 40 new features throughout 2010, as well as continue parading dive bars and karaoke joints across the country.

Joana Vicente is a prominent leader in the New York film community. She has produced and executive produced over 40 films by such acclaimed directors as Jim Jarmusch, Miguel Arteta, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Steven Soderbergh, Nicole Holofcener, and Todd Solondz. Vicente is the co-founder of the New York based production company Open City Films, as well as the pioneering digital production companies Blow Up Pictures and HDNetFilms, which she co-founded with her partner Jason Kliot, Marc Cuban, and Todd Wagner.

Included among the many acclaimed films that Vicente has produced are Tony Bui’s Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award-winner Three Seasons, Jim Jarmusch’s cult classic Coffee and Cigarettes, Niels Mueller’s The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Todd Solondz’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Welcome to the Dollhouse, Brian De Palma’s controversial Redacted, and Alex Gibney’s Academy Award® nominated documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

Vicente’s films have garnered numerous accolades and awards over the years, including 23 Independent Spirit Award nominations and four wins. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Made in NY Award for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City’s entertainment industry.

Vicente graduated from the Masters program at The Catholic University of Portugal with a degree in Philosophy and began her career as the press attaché for the Portuguese delegate—and former Prime Minister of Portugal—at the European Parliament. She later became a radio news producer for the United Nations before turning her attention to film. Vicente served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Independent Filmmaker Project until December of 2009, when she was named IFP New York’s new Executive Director.

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Independent Producers Conference:
In partnership with Minneapolis Community and Technical College, IFP MN launched the Independent Producers Conference in 2000 to encourage and support the creation of independent films outside of Los Angeles and New York City, something which is absolutely vital to the future of independent American cinema. Because the struggle to develop and maintain film activity in the Midwest is constant and demands education from and interaction with the greater film industry, IFP MN invites some of the nation’s top independent film producers to share their experiences, encouragement and maverick vision with our community.

Guest producers such as Craig Rice, Christine Vachon, Patrick Coyle, Zach Mortensen, Susan Stover, Matthew Greenfield, Scott Macaulay, Effie Brown, Gill Holland, Susan Froemke, Diana Williams, David Eberhardt, Matt Ehling, Melody Gilbert, Ali Selim, James Bigham, Christine Kunewa Walker and Joel Viertel have shared their expertise on a wide range of topics, including the role of a producer, the producer-director relationship, financing, casting, shooting on a microbudget, shooting on location, marketing/distribution, producing documentaries and more.

When the Director Speaks, We Listen:
Whenever possible, IFP MN will host an event for a visiting director, who may appear at a preview screening of a new film to benefit IFP or present an in-depth case study on the making of a film. Our guest directors have included John Sayles, Barbara Kopple, David Cronenberg, Chris Smith and Sarah Price, Phil Morrison, Sarah Pillsbury, Niels Mueller and Vincent Gallo. Most recently, Writer/Director Ali Selim discussed the production of the award-winning Sweet Land along with Producer James Bigham and lead actor Tim Guinee.