MediaMasters Series

Lunchtime Sessions

Produce Iowa is pleased to offer these free, online webinars as part of the MediaMasters Series to enhance your professional development. Each class starts at noon and requires advance registration.

Crowdfunding to Build Independence

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CST
Presenter: Bri Castellini, Seed&Spark
Register for this class

Crowdfunding has become a fundamental piece for independent films. In this class, you’ll learn how to find and activate your audience, structure your crowdfunding campaign and pitch video, pick the right goal and incentives, and much more beyond marketing the campaign itself. You can leverage the power of funding for one film into an audience-building opportunity that can last an entire career and provide the groundwork for effective distribution. Because after all, it isn’t just about crowdfunding: it’s about career building.

About the presenter:
Bri Castellini is an award-winning screenwriter and director based in Brooklyn, NY. By day, she’s the Film Community Manager at Seed&Spark and an adjunct professor at Stephens College and LIU-Brooklyn, with an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television and a BA in Creative Writing.

Seed&Spark connects people through stories that matter. Since 2012, their platform has helped thousands of creators bring stories to life and to audiences via story-centric crowdfunding, on-platform streaming, live community events and workplace programs that cultivate a culture of diversity and inclusion. Your career starts here!

Creating an Investor-Ready Package

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CST
Presenter: Kevin Christoffersen
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What does it mean to package a film and where do you begin? This course will dive into the film financing world to demystify the process and equip you with tools to create a package of your own. You’ll learn about business plans, investment presentations, lookbooks, shooting schedules, and more to get your project noticed. Walk away with actionable tips and tricks for developing, planning and producing an independent feature film with budgets under $5 Million.

About the presenter:
Kevin Christoffersen has been working in just about every form of media for nearly three decades - producing content internationally across four continents while living in five countries. He is an Educator and Development Executive of the new platform, ‘Film Education & Development.’ In this role, Kevin guides filmmakers through the A to Z feature film Development process with his workshop courses and filmmaker consultations. Kevin sits on the Advisory Board of the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and has recently completed co-writing a feature length screenplay. On the producing side, he is coordinating a new film fund venture that includes forming co-production partnerships for multi-lateral feature films throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. This is being achieved through a slate financing structure. Kevin works between New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver always forming new relationships while discovering something new about the ever changing film industry landscape.

Marketing your Media Project

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CST
Presenter: Jon Reiss
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You already have a great idea and a stellar script. Next, learn the steps to market your movie concept and gain support from sponsors, your audience, and the media. Discover your audience, run your social media and outreach like a pro, and advertise intelligently. Wherever you are in the process of creating a film, get attention and support from the world around you.

About the presenter:
Jon Reiss is a critically-acclaimed filmmaker, author, and media strategist who wrote the book “Think Outside the Box Office.” Through his company 8 Above, he has advised hundreds of filmmakers and film organizations throughout the world including IFP, Paramount Studios, Screen Australia, Film Independent, and Creative Scotland. Film clients have included: “Hooligan Sparrow,” “Desolation Center,” “Story of Plastic,” “No Small Matter,” “Decade of Fire,” “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.” Reiss is the Senior Lab Leader at the IFP Filmmaker Labs and contributes to Filmmaker Magazine, Huffington Post, Indiewire, Screen Daily, Moviemaker Magazine and other publications. He also co-wrote “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul” and “Selling Your Film Outside the US.” Reiss also teaches at the Film Directing Program at Cal Arts. He is currently developing a feature documentary on the life of iconoclastic artist Mark Pauline and is the consulting producer on Desolation Center (Slamdance, CPH:DOX, Sheffield) which is in the midst of a 30+ city theatrical release. He also produces for native filmmaker Ben Alex Dupris who’s “Sweetheart Dancers” (DER/Topic) was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at Outfest 2019 and they are currently working on “Four Sacred Colors” for American Masters.

Navigating the Distribution Landscape

Wednesday, April 15, 2020 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CST
Presenter: Liz Manashil
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You made your micro-budget film… now what do you do with it? We’ll take a look at the business side of filmmaking and dive into how distribution works, who the relevant major players are and what they want in a film or TV project. You’ll learn about distribution from both a micro budget and a grassroots level and see successful case studies and strategies. And you’ll also come away with a working glossary of distribution and marketing terminology with a good birds-eye view of the current landscape.

About the presenter:
Liz Manashil earned her B.A. in Film and Media Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and her M.F.A. from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. Post-graduation, Liz spent several years as a film critic for the PBS/Hulu series JUST SEEN IT (which she also helped produce and direct). Overlapping this, Liz worked with distribution guru Peter Broderick. In 2016, Liz became the sole manager of Sundance's groundbreaking Creative Distribution Initiative until the program's close in 2019. As a filmmaker, her debut feature, BREAD AND BUTTER, was called “an absolute must-watch for women everywhere” by HelloGiggles. It was released by The Orchard and can be seen on VOD nearly everywhere. Liz is currently in the midst of the production of her third feature, LADY PARTS while working as the Senior Manager of Impact Distribution at Picture Motion. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Laura Palmer, her partner, Sean Wright, and her son, Colin Manashil Wright.