Film Talk | Interviews With The Brightest Minds In The Film Industry.

Hanala Sagal is an award-winning writer, comedian, keynote speaker and YouTube icon with 106 million viewers. Hanala is also the co-screenwriter and co-executive producer of “Elvis & Nixon”, which stars Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, Oscar nominated Michael Shannon, and Golden Globe nominated Colin Hanks.

Ben Yennie is Co-Founder and VP of Business Development at ProductionNext, a market network for the film, video, television, and advertising industries. He's also the founder and CEO of Guerrilla Rep Media, and founder of Producer Foundry. Ben is also the former Chapter Leader of the Institute for International Film Finance for San Francisco, Vancouver, New York, and Los Angeles, where he hosted and organized more than 50 seminars on film finance. He also screened business plans for an elite group of angel investors known as The Film Angels. Ben has represented projects directed by Christopher Coppola, as well as others starring big name talent like Marvel's “Luke Cage”. In 2015 he had a 100% offer rate for the films he took to AFM. He's also the author of the book, The Guerrilla Rep: American Film Market Distribution Success on No Budget.

Kymberli Frueh is the Vice President of Programming at Fathom Events, a content provider that broadcasts entertainment events in movie theaters throughout the US. The Fathom Network provides access to over 1,700 theatres nationwide and 17,000 promotional screens. In 2015, Fathom was named "Best Distributor in the Americas" and received eight box office awards by the Event Cinema Association.

Atit Shah is a film producer with five films releasing within the next 12 months, including “Jekyll Island” starring Oscar nominated Minnie Driver, Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo, AnnaSophia Robb and Ed Westwick, and “Money” starring Kellan Lutz. He is the CEO of Create Entertainment, and is represented by UTA.

Gene Massey is the CEO of MediaShares, a crowdfinanced online stock offering company. And MediaShares owns CinemaShares, a crowdfunding film investment platform. Gene has directed numerous award-winning commercials and short films, working with celebrities such as Grammy nominated Alice Cooper, Golden Globe nominated Jane Krakowski, and Grammy winner Smokey Robinson, amongst others. He has won awards from Clio, the Telly Awards, the New York Festival, the Art Director's Club of Los Angeles, and the Homburg Award. Gene's work as a screenwriter has won awards from WorldFest International Film Festival, the Arizona Film Society, and the Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board. Gene has also filmed humanitarian documentaries in over twenty countries and frequently speaks on Wall Street and at conferences around the country on film finance.

Steven De Souza is one of few screenwriters whose films have earned over $2 billion at the box office. His work includes Oscar nominated “Die Hard”, “Die Hard 2”, “Commando”, “The Running Man”, and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life”. He has been nominated twice for the Edgar Allen Poe award for best mystery screenplay and twice for the Saturn award for best Science Fiction/Fantasy Film. In 2000 he was honored with the Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing.

Geoff Scott is an Emmy Award nominated and Canadian Screen Award nominated visual effects artist with 20 years of experience in film, television, commercial, and video game work. He is currently the Senior VFX Supervisor at Intelligent Creatures, a top visual effects production house. Geoff has worked on major studio film and television projects, including the Oscar winning “Chicago”, as well as Golden Globe nominated “Orphan Black”, Oscar nominated “Snow White and the Huntsman”, Oscar winning “Hugo”, “Panic Room”, “The Amazing Spiderman”, and many more. Scott is also sought-after for his work in character animation, modeling, texturing, and compositing.

Brad Wyman is the producer of over 40 films including Oscar winning “Monster” starring Charlize Theron, “Freeway” starring Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon and Golden Globe winner Kiefer Sutherland, and “Blitz” starring Jason Statham. He’s also an expert in crowd funding - as the lead on the film division of IndieGogo he tripled monthly contributions to $3 million a month in less than a year, and has acted as Chief Crowdfunding Officer for Fund Anything, during which time he oversaw several million dollar crowdfunding campaigns. He now acts as Chief Content Officer for fan driven crowdfunding platform Fanbacked.com.

Entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel is a contributor for the Hollywood Reporter and the author of several books, including “The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis”, which tells the story of an attempt to unionize actors on “The Hobbit”; “Hollywood on Strike!”, which chronicles and analyzes the Hollywood writers strike of 2007-2008; “Entertainment Residuals: A Full Color Guide”, which describes union reuse/royalty payments in the entertainment industry; and “Entertainment Unions and Guilds: An Interdisciplinary Bibliography”. Jonathan is an adjunct professor at USC Law School and Southwestern Law School. He’s also been an adjunct professor at UCLA Law School, associate counsel at the Writers Guild, and a talent lawyer. His writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Variety, Los Angeles Business Journal, Daily Journal, Huffington Post, Billboard, Campaigns & Elections magazine, Forbes.com and IMDb.com.

Annetta Marion is an award-winning director and Primetime Emmy-nominated producer. She recently directed the television special “Oprah Goes to Broadway: The Color Purple” that premiered on OWN. Annetta is currently the Co-Executive Producer and a Director on the acclaimed television series “Oprah’s Master Class”. She has directed over 20 scripted projects including award-winning short films, a web series, commercials and numerous PSAs. Annetta is a graduate of AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, and she is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, the Producer’s Guild of America, and she is a New York Women in Film and Television board member.

Eric Vollweiler is a world-class expert in film festival organization. He is the producer of the Saratoga Springs International Film Festival, the Marketing and Advertising consultant for the Buffalo Niagara International Film Festival, and the Marketing Specialist for the Artemis Woman in Action Film Festival. In his role as the Marketing Director of Festivals for Film Marketing Services he has worked on the Culver City Film Festival, the Marina del Rey Film Festival, the Silicon Beach Film Festival and the Film Trailer Festival. Further past events he has worked on include the Ballston Spa Film Festival, Showbiz Expo LA, FilmColumbia Film Festival, Edwood Film Festival, Ruff Cutz Indie Film Conference, Now Casting Film Festival, The Youth Actors Expo, and International Film Festival Summit.

Marcia Basichis was Senior Vice President of Aaron Spelling Television, during which time she headed development for series, movies and miniseries. She worked with key players in the entertainment industry, selling, developing and putting into production feature films and television series, including “Beverly Hills 90210”, “Melrose Place”, and the Emmy Award winning HBO movie “And the Band Played On”. Marcia took Spelling Television from zero to seven primetime on-air series. And in 1995 Marcia was named one of Hollywood Reporters "Power 50 Women in Entertainment." Early in her career, Marcia gained network television experience as a dramatic series executive at ABC Entertainment, where she was the original executive on “Dynasty” and “Battlestar Galactica”, among others. Today she is the managing partner at Brentwood Search, a boutique executive search firm. Marcia has served on the Executive Committee and Awards Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and has been a member of the American

J. Todd Harris has produced 40 films, including five Sundance Film Festival entries, two films that have appeared in the Toronto Film Festival, one that debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, and another that garnered a Special Mention for the Camera D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His most recent productions include “Bottle Shock” starring Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman and Chris Pine, “The Kids Are Alright” starring Oscar winner Julianne Moore, Oscar nominated Annette Bening and Oscar nominated Mark Ruffalo, and “Piranha 3D” from The Weinstein Company. In theatre, he produced “Heathers the Musical” off Broadway and Broadway productions “Doctor Zhivago” and Tony-nominated “American Psycho”. Additionally, Todd is a founding member of the board of the newly created Napa Valley Film Festival. He has been a member of the Producers Branch of the Motion Picture Academy since 1999, the Broadway League since 2015, and the Producers Guild since 2016.

Leanne Pooley is one of New Zealand’s most accomplished documentary filmmakers, having directed over 20 films. Leanne has made documentaries for major broadcasters including the BBC and PBS, and her documentaries have screened in more than 100 countries. Her work includes “Beyond the Edge” a 3D feature film that was a runner-up for the People's Choice Award for Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival, and “Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls” which won 21 International Awards including Audience Awards at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the Gothenburg International Film Festival, amongst others. It also won Best Feature at the New Zealand Film & TV Awards, and reached nearly $2 million at the New Zealand box office, making it the most successful New Zealand documentary of all time. In 2011 Leanne’s work was recognized by the New Zealand Arts Foundation, and she was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate. She now serves as a judge for the Internati

Darrin Fletcher is the director and writer of the documentary “The Abolitionists”, which was produced by legendary Oscar winning producer Gerald R. Molen (best known for his work on Oscar nominated “Schindler’s List”, Oscar winning “Jurassic Park” and Oscar nominated “Minority Report”.) Darrin has also acted as a storyboard artist for Emmy Award nominated “High School Musical 2” and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”, as well as for Emmy Award nominated “Everwood” and Golden Globe nominated “Touched by an Angel”.

Robb Skyler is an actor best known for his work on “Along Came Polly”, "Romy & Michele's High School Reunion", Oscar winning "Forrest Gump" and “Arrested Development”. He will shortly be starring in “Hands of Stone” alongside Oscar winner Robert DeNiro and Golden Globe nominated Edgar Ramirez.

Wendy Blackstone has composed scores for over 130 film and television projects, nine of which have been nominated for or won Oscars. She also holds the distinction of being the first ever female film composer signed by CAA.

Mark Stasenko is the co-founder of WeScreenplay and Coverfly, a script coverage and competition submission service that uses cutting edge proprietary software. As a writer last year he won the ScreenCraft fellowship and Francis Ford Coppola's ZoeTrope Competition, and has been a quarter finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship.

Emmy Award winning cinematographer Sam Henriques is known for his work on “The Farm” which won both the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and an Oscar nomination, and “Riding the Rails” which won the Peabody Award. His camera work includes “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “The Michael J. Fox Show”, as well as work for National Geographic, Viacom, HBO, Showtime, Disney, and Martha Stewart.

Award-winning sound designer Nick Palladino has developed an international reputation for excellence, innovation and hard work. During his 25 years as the owner and creative force behind NPALL Audio Nick has worked on faith-based box office successes including “Courageous”, “Fireproof”, and “Facing The Giants”, and the number 1 box office hit “War Room”. His wide-ranging client list includes: HBO, A&E, Sony Pictures, Provident Films, NASCAR, The Walt Disney Company and CBS.