Money Matters

Mynette Louie is an Emmy-nominated, multiple Spirit Award-winning producer whose credits include Heidi Ewing’s Sundance 2020-winning, Spirit Award-nominated I Carry You With Me (Sony Pictures Classics); Carlo Mirabella-Davis’s Tribeca 2019-winning, Gotham-nominated Swallow (IFC Films); Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour’s Black Box (Amazon Studios/Blumhouse); Jennifer Fox’s Emmy, Golden Globe, and Spirit Award-nominated The Tale (Sundance 2018, HBO); Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s Spirit Award-winning Land Ho! (Sundance 2014, Sony Pictures Classics); Tze Chun’s Children of Invention (Sundance 2009); and Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation (SXSW 2005). As the first head of Gamechanger Films from 2014-2018, an equity financier of women-directed scripted features, Mynette greenlit and oversaw ten films which collectively garnered nine Spirit Award nominations and one win, including Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation (SXSW 2015, Drafthouse/Netflix), Christina Choe’s Sundance 2018-winning, Spirit Award-nominated Nancy (Goldwyn), Sarah Adina Smith’s Buster’s Mal Heart (TIFF 2016, Well Go/Netflix), So Yong Kim’s Spirit Award-nominated Lovesong (Sundance 2016, Strand/Netflix), Lauren Wolkstein & Christopher Radcliff’s The Strange Ones (SXSW 2017, Vertical), and Natalia Garagiola’s Venice Critics Week 2017 winner Hunting Season (Netflix). Mynette is also an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the graduate film program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She is on Film Independent’s Board of Directors and a member of the executive and diversity committees in the Producers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was named one of Business Insider’s “12 Movie Producers at the Top of Their Game to Watch in 2020 and Beyond,” Ted Hope’s “21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film,” and Indiewire’s “100 Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter.” She won the Piaget Producers Award at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards. A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese literature and film.

Tamir Muhammad is a Producer Of Film & Television and Founder of Populace. Current credits include the critically acclaimed HBO series Random Acts of Flyness and the graphic novel The New World, which he’s developing as a feature with Warner Bros. Pictures. Muhammad previously oversaw OneFifty at Warner Media (formerly Time Warner Inc.), including developing & producing the original slate. Under his direction, OneFifty incubated several boundary-pushing projects before positioning them in the company’s divisions (Warner Bros., HBO, & Turner). Before joining Warner Media, Muhammad was VP, Content Development for Tribeca Enterprise’s Digital Studios, overseeing development. He previously served as VP of Film, TV, and Online Programming at the Tribeca Film Institute, managing funding and development. Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Granderson Des Rochers rep Muhammad.

Viviana Zarragoitia began her career in the entertainment industry, working in production accounting at Millennium Films and Bold Films. She then spent five years at Lionsgate, where she started working in the accounting department and segued into the finance division, specifically, profit participation. While working in profit participation, she oversaw the preparation of multi-million dollar film and television distribution deals. She was then promoted to the group’s audit division, where she managed to film and television royalty audits of producers’ profit participation statements. In 2013, she joined Three Point Capital, a boutique firm specializing in senior lending on film and television projects. While at Three Point Capital, Viviana has been involved in the financing of over 70 independent films and worked with such producers as Cassian Elwes, Rob Barnum, Anthony Bregman, James Schamus, Aaron Gilbert, Kimberly Steward, Nicolas Chartier, and Kevin Frakes, among others. As Vice President, Viviana closes the financing on every film the company is involved in and manages its operations in its satellite offices (Ohio and Louisiana). Viviana has received over a dozen Executive Producers’ credits on titles she has financed. She graduated Cum Laude with a double major in Business and English from Loyola Marymount University, where she also teaches classes on film finance.

Fanny Grande (Formerly Fanny Véliz) is a Venezuelan-American award-winning filmmaker, actor, and director with more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment business. Grande, born in the US, grew up in Venezuela, performing from a very young age. She returned to the States to attend college; she quickly realized that the roles available for her and other Latinos were limited and often portrayed negative stereotypes. So, she decided to start creating her content. A three-time Imagen Award nominee, she has received several recognitions for her work both in front and behind the camera. She was one of 8 fellows selected by Geena Davis for the See It, Be It fellowship. Her films focus on creating content that celebrates diversity; her main goal is to transform how Latinos are portrayed in the media. Six years ago, she co-founded Avenida Productions with her husband, Nelson Grande. Avenida is a consulting and production firm that empowers independent media content creators focusing on diversity. To date, Avenida has helped raise millions of dollars via crowdfunding for many projects, and they recently opened Avenida Studios in the heart of Los Angeles, a facility with standing sets that independent filmmakers and creators can use to film their projects. In February of 2022, Avenida received financial backing from L’attitude VC to launch a proprietary crowdfunding platform called Support Our Story. She aims to create more opportunities in the entertainment industry for diverse voices by empowering independent creators.