Sep 2, 2010
SFFILM
San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Film Society will present SFFS Film Arts Forum: Pitch Perfect, a panel discussion of tried and true strategies for pitching a film project to industry decision makers, 7:30 pm, Monday, October 4 at Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street.
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 investor 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. Riding the momentum of, and involving several participants from, the San Francisco Good Pitch event (britdoc.org/real_good/pitch), the next Film Arts Forum lays bare the mechanics of effective pitching for docs and narrative features. Four industry experts will draw on real life experiences, ranging from insider tips to hilarious anecdotes. Pitchmaster Michele Turnure-Salleo, SFFS director of filmmaker services, will moderate the panel discussion.
Jennifer Chaiken most recently produced the feature documentary My Flesh and Blood, winner of two Emmys and two Sundance awards. The film was released theatrically by Strand Releasing and broadcast on the HBO series America Undercover. Chaiken produced the narrative feature Big Eden and the documentary feature Naked States, which won AFI’s Discovery Documentary Competition Prize and premiered on HBO.
Megan Gelstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a 2010 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab Fellow. She has produced and directed films for PBS including They Made America for the acclaimed history series American Experience, and coproduced Marathon Challenge for the flagship science series NOVA. She won a National Emmy Award for her work on the six-hour PBS series Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery. In addition, she has produced award-winning documentaries that have been nationally broadcast on the History Channel, ITV Network of London and the Discovery Channel.
Jacob Kornbluth is an award-winning writer and the director of two feature films, Haiku Tunnel with Josh Kornbluth, and The Best Thief in the World with Mary-Louise Parker. Both films premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Kornbluth was a fellow at the Sundance Screenwriting Labs twice and the Sundance Directing lab once. Over a period of 15 years in the film business, he has started and successfully funded two production companies and worked at virtually every job on a film set, from director to producer and from AD to PA. Currently Kornbluth works as a screenwriter-for-hire and a director-for-hire, with extensive experience with both short and long-form content.
Additional panelists may be announced in the coming weeks; visit sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/SFFS-Film-Arts-Forum for up-to-date information as it is confirmed.
Want to test your pitching skills? SFFS will choose three filmmakers from the audience to pitch their projects and receive feedback from the panelists. If you would like to participate in this informal pitch session, email mbehrens@sffs.org with a brief description of your project along with a bio and link to your Web site, if available.
Following the pitch session, filmmakers in the audience are invited to participate in the Laptop Shop, a professional show-and-tell during which attendees screen clips from their current or recent projects on their laptops and solicit feedback from peers. It’s a lively exchange and a unique opportunity to see what’s brewing in the Bay Area film world. Filmmakers wishing to screen their work should bring a short clip, headphones and a well-charged laptop.
Tickets $5 year-round SFFS members; $8 general; available in advance at sffs.org. Must be 21+ to attend.
For more information visit sffs.org/screenings-and-events.