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8November

How to Get Your Film Sold

October 14th 2019
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14October

Film Sales & Distribution

How to Get Your Film Sold

October 14th 2019

We had an illuminating conversation about Film Sales and Distribution with Adrienne Becker (Level Forward), Cela Sutton (Array), Dene Anderberg (South Stage Entertainment), and Orly Ravid (The Film Collaborative), facilitated by Film Fatales members Alexandra Cuerdo and Michelle Mower. This was followed by a networking reception for Film Fatales members hosted by the WGA West.

Details

Date:
October 14, 2019
Time:
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Event Category:

Details

Date:
October 14, 2019
Time:
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Event Category:

Panelists

Adrienne Becker is CEO and co-Founder of Level Forward, a startup studio venture that aims to focus on backing projects driven by women and persons of color. Becker is also co-Founder of Killer Content, a media company that develops and produces Award-winning, multiplatform entertainment with a curated group of storytellers and brands. Combined, Killer’s properties have earned over 80 Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe Nominations, most recently for Carol. Ms. Becker is formerly an entrepreneur-in-residence at Creative Artists Agency, partner at The Media Farm, and CEO of DailyCandy, Inc. Ms. Becker has also served as Senior Vice President at The Nielsen Company and InterActive Corp. Ms. Becker got her start on an airport tarmac in Philadelphia, where she held her first critically important position holding a rope line for then Governor Bill Clinton. She then went on to hold positions at the Department of Labor and as a Press Secretary on the ’96 campaign. Ms. Becker holds an M.A. in Communications from the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. with Honors in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She sits on the Boards of the Made In New York Media Center, Youth+Tech+Health, the Story Pirates, the B-Stem Project for Women In Technology.

Cela Sutton is Manager of Development and Production at ARRAY Filmworks, where she works with the founder, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, on the television projects she produces, including QUEEN SUGAR (OWN), THE RED LINE (CBS) and the upcoming anthology series CHERISH THE DAY (OWN). Previously, she was Creative Executive at the production company and Executive Coordinator at DuVernay’s, social impact film distribution collaborative, ARRAY Releasing, which amplifies women filmmakers of all kinds and filmmakers of color. She has supported campaigns for the company’s independent films, such as, JEWEL’S CATCH ONE, NAMOUR and THE HOUSE ON COCO ROAD. In addition, as Executive Coordinator, Cela worked closely with DuVernay to coordinate her project, press and appearance schedule, among other duties. Prior to ARRAY, Sutton worked at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in their foundation and scripted television departments. There, she helped advise clients on their philanthropic goals and strategies, as well as provided administrative support for agents with key television projects and deals. Sutton began her career at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios in Chicago, first working as an intern on the 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and eventually as an associate producer for OWN’s hit reality series “Iyanla: Fix My Life.” Sutton was previously the president of Colour Associates, the junior organization of Colour Entertainment, which supports executives, coordinators and assistants of color through event programming, mentorship and job opportunities. She also co-founded AfroBrunch, an event series dedicated to building community among African and African-American people who are in the entertainment industry.

Dené Anderberg is an international sales veteran with over 10 years of experience in distribution, finance and production of feature films of various genres. Dené started at Cinema Management Group in 2009 and became Vice President of Sales & Operations in 2011 where managed all of the day to day operations including legal, servicing, all financial reporting in addition to sales & acquisitions until her departure in December 2018. From 2016-2017 Dené consulted for a Chinese company overseeing strategy, investments and co-productions. From January-June 2019, Dené consulted for sales/finance/production outfit Voltage Pictures. She is currently gearing up to launch her own sales/production/finance company, South Stage Entertainment.

Orly Ravid is committed to helping artistically and intellectually rigorous and important films reach their respective audiences via a financial model that is sustainable for filmmakers. Having established the theatrical, festival, digital distribution, and educational services, presently at TFC, Orly works primarily on distribution, sales/licensing, and contract/negotiation services, focusing on new media digital distribution. She also oversees theatrical releases, the various educational services, and the overall organizational structure. Called a “big picture” thinker, Orly founded TFC in response to a dominant and overarching structure that favors middlemen, not filmmakers. She is passionate about protecting filmmakers’ rights and revenues as much as she is about good film. Having worked in the film business for two decades, Orly’s past experience ranges from programming to all aspects of the business of film. Previously Orly was a Programming Associate for documentaries at Sundance and a programming consultant at Palm Springs International.

Alexandra Cuerdo is a writer and director, recently named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women In the World by the Filipina Women’s Network. Her feature directorial debut, ULAM: Main Dish, is the first Filipino food documentary to achieve worldwide distribution and premiered on Hulu this year. She is the recipient of the 2019 VSCO Voices Artist Grant. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Vogue, TimeOut, Filmmaker Magazine, Eater and more. The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold called Alexandra’s film a “love letter” to Filipino food, and Stark Insider has crowned ULAM with “Four Stars — Smashing.” Recently, she co-wrote the memoir and cookbook AMBOY: Recipes From the Filipino-American Dream with Eggslut chef Alvin Cailan for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She is based in Los Angeles and New York.

As the newest CEO of Imagination Worldwide LLC, Michelle Mower successfully oversaw the acquisition and release of two critically acclaimed films—Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut, Paint It Black, and the 2017 SXSW Audience Award-winning feature film The Light of the Moon. Other acquisitions include international rights to Burning Bodhi, starring Kaley Cuoco, and SXSW award-winning thriller Like Me. In addition to heading up Imagination Worldwide, Mower is an acclaimed writer, producer, and director whose work has been featured on Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network (LMN), and Nuvo Television. Her debut feature film, The Preacher’s Daughter, starring Andrea Bowen (“Desperate Housewives”), garnered the highest ratings for LMN that year. After that success, Mower wrote, co-produced, and directed two more telefilms for the network, A Woman Betrayed and The Preacher’s Sin. She is currently in production on a docu-series titled Dayna Steele: Rock the 36, slated for release in September 2018. Mower will next direct the dark teen comedy The Never List, which will be released in 2019. Michelle is heavily involved in the film community in Texas. She has served on the boards of Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) and Women In Film and Television (WiFT) and currently sits on the board of Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP).