Independent Distribution Now Due to costs and lack of transparency Indie Filmmakers are not making the profit they could be for themselves or their investors. This panel will discuss strategies to take back control from an unregulated profit-oriented area of the business - Distribution. The panel produced by Cady McClain and Amanda Quinn Olivar.

Moderator

Cady Mclain

Cady McClain is a two-time Emmy nominated director and a producer of film. Directing/ Producing credits include the documentary "Seeing is Believing: Women Direct" (Winner Best Documentary- Artemis Film Festival, Audience Award- SOHO International Film Festival, Jury Award Best Short Doc- Newport Beach Film Festival); Directing/Producing the filmed play Paint Made Flesh (sponsored in part by Sotheby’s); Directing/Producing "Butterflies" (Winner Best Short Film- Philadelphia Independent Film Festival); Directing/Producing "The World of Albert Fuh" (Best Comedy/Drama Short- Ohio IndieGathering); Directing/Producing the web series "Switch" starring Olympia Dukakis (Hollyshorts, Dances with Pilots), Directing/Producing the short film "Flip Fantasia" (Macon FF), and Associate Producing the feature film "How We Got Away With It" directed by Jon Lindstrom (St. Louis FF Emerging Directors Nominee) distributed by Devolver. In 2017 & 2018 she was consecutively honored with Daytime Drama Emmy nominations in relation to her work Directing the web series Venice the Series. McClain was honored to receive the 2017 International Matrix Award from the Association of Women in Communications for her work in support of female directors.

Producer

Amanda Quinn Olivar

The Curator magazine editor Amanda Quinn Olivar is currently producing the play and film "Paint Made Flesh" and is a producer on "Seeing is Believing: Women Direct". She recently collaborated on "Steven Arnold: Heavenly Bodies" and an upcoming documentary about fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. A member of The International Press Academy, Amanda sits on the boards of London’s Fashion and Textile Museum and The Chimaera Project (an organization presenting opportunities for women & promoting gender equality in the media arts). As a curator and arts advocate, she received the HeArt Award for her work benefiting "A Window Between Worlds", and has curated exhibits at venues including The Cornell Art Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Fresno Art Museum, and Brand Art Center. Amanda was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.

Panelists

Emily Best

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, an entertainment platform built to increase diversity and inclusion for filmmakers and audiences. Seed&Spark’s curated streaming platform is fed by its crowdfunding platform, which has the highest campaign success rate in the world. In 2011, she produced the feature film, "Like the Water", starring Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex, UnREAL). Since then she has served as executive producer on a host of film and virtual reality projects that have played at festivals from Sundance to SXSW to Tribeca and beyond. Most recently she co-created and co-directed the web series "F*ck Yes!", which Refinery 29 called, "The sex education you wish you had in high school." Emily was named a 2013 Indiewire Influencer, a 2014 New York Woman of Influence, was included on the 2015 Upstart 100 list and graduated from the 2016 class of Techstars Boston. She has raised millions of dollars in traditional funding, equity crowdfunding, and rewards-based crowdfunding, and contributed to over 300 crowdfunding campaigns to date.

Andrew van den Houten

Award-winning Producer Andrew van den Houten is a native New Yorker born and raised on the Upper West Side. Receiving critical acclaim from the likes of Stephen King and Roger Ebert, his work has been recognized worldwide by Sundance Film Festival, The Independent Spirit Awards, SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Deauville American Film Festival, Sitges, FrightFest and many more. He has been involved in the development, financing, production and distribution of over forty feature films including Independent Spirit Award Nominee "In the Family", cult classic Jack Ketchum's "The Girl Next Door", Sundance shocker "The Woman", NBCUniversal Chiller Films "Ghoul and Camera Obscura", SXSW hit "Funeral Kings", and the Toronto Midnight Madness opener "All Cheerleaders Die". He also directed both "Headspace" and "Offspring" through his first production company Modernciné. Through Hood River Entertainment he produced the "Shudder Original The Ranger", Pollyanna McIntosh’s directorial debut, "Darlin", which premiered at SXSW 2019, and most recently Jeffrey Reddick's (creator of the Final Destination franchise) directorial debut "Good Samaritan". He’s also served as Executive Producer of "13 Cameras" and "14 Cameras", both on Netflix.

Liz Manashil

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. 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 touring festivals with her 2nd feature film, "Speed of Life", and in development on her third, "Lady Parts". She was the Manager of Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Initiative and now is the Senior Manager, Impact Distribution at Picture Motion. Liz lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Laura Palmer, her son, Colin, and her partner, Sean Wright.

Keith Ochwat

Keith Ochwat is a distribution strategist in collaboration with Peter Broderick, President of Paradigm Consulting. Keith consults with filmmakers to identify their audience, create powerful partnerships, and build sustainable creative careers. Keith produced three nationally broadcast PBS films chronicling the culture of Mongolia, a Uighur baseball team in Far-Western China, and the Senior Olympics. In addition to producing, Keith has developed and executed successful film distribution and audience engagement campaigns and co-created an online distribution educational platform called the FilmmakerMBA. For his most recent film, "Age of Champions", Keith spearheaded a series of hybrid distribution campaigns, including a 20-state theatrical tour and grassroots screening campaign reaching over 3,000 community venues. Keith established partnerships with advocacy groups like AARP and the Alzheimer’s Association and companies like Cigna Health to propel his film’s engagement campaigns. Having created his own films and led the distribution for them, Keith has expertise in such innovative strategies as corporate partnerships, PBS underwriting, and conference strategy. He recently authored an in-depth article on leveraging conferences for distribution. Before becoming a filmmaker, Keith pursued a career in public policy, working as legislative staff at the U.S. Capitol and the California State Capital. Keith believes it was his experience in advocacy and negotiation combined with his passion for storytelling that helped him understand how to create impactful win-win partnerships. Publications like Indiewire, Documentary Magazine, and No Film School have featured Keith’s audience engagement work. You can learn more about Keith and his work consulting with filmmakers at www.keithochwat.com.

Mitch Yapko

Mitch Yapko (Executive Producer, Who! Productions) is an award-winning writer/director/ producer, known for his comedic and unique character work, focusing often on surreal characters in real-life situations. He looks for the heart of the story and strives to make all of his films relatable. He loves taking ideas from concept through to completion and loves to pull people out of their day-to-day lives and into his imagined worlds. His films have shown in over 100 film festivals all around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, and many more. His most recent work, "Breathe", a 20-minute short film and proof of concept is now available on Amazon Prime. Mitch has spent over a decade developing, writing, producing, assistant directing and directing over 200 projects - shorts, pilots, features, music videos, commercials, sketch comedies, branded content, and web series. He's always writing, and he's always looking for his next project.

Deborah Riley Draper

Deborah Riley Draper is a compelling and award-winning filmmaker and advertising agency executive. Draper’s next project is "Coffee Will Make You Black". Draper penned the screenplay adaptation of April Sinclair’s seminal novel about an African-American girl growing up in the 1960’s Chicago. Produced by Octavia Spencer, Tate Taylor and John Norris, Draper will direct the film, which stars Gabrielle Union. Draper recently completed the short film “Illegal Rose”, which tackles the topic of immigration and detained children, starring Jasmine Guy and Lucca Rodriguez-Pedraza. Illegal Rose is currently on engaging audiences on the festival circuit, including official selections at Urbanworld Film Festival, BronzeLens Film Festival, DTLA Film Festival. Draper is 2016 Film Independent Lab Fellow and Variety Magazine’s “2016 Top 10 Documakers to Watch”. Her documentary, "Olympic Pride, American Prejudice", tells the untold story of 18 African Americans who defied Hitler and Jim Crow to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games. Olympic Pride is a 2017 NAACP Image Awards Nominee for Outstanding Documentary Film and one of only 3 nominees for the 2017 Peace and Sport Award in Monaco, presented by HRH Prince Albert. Draper’s debut film, "Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution", opened New York Fashion Week and Toronto Fashion Week in 2012. Versailles ’73 appeared at festivals and fashion weeks around the world. The film premiered on Logo TV in September 2015 and aired on the Aspire Network in 2017. MOMA, SCAD, Guggenheim Bilboa and the de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and many other museums integrated the film with their major fashion exhibitions. Fox Searchlight optioned the feature film rights. Deborah Riley Draper’s advertising acumen and creativity can be found in major campaigns and projects for Lamborghini, Coca-Cola classic, ExxonMobil, REI, AT&T, and Adidas. She has earned two regional Emmys, a Gold Effie, and several Addy Awards and has stewarded multi-million dollar campaigns for over 14 years, driving earned media, brand share and sales revenue for clients. Deborah Riley Draper is a 2016 Guest Filmmaker Lecturer at Indiana University, 2015 Spelman College Digital Moving Image Salon Celebration of Excellence Award Recipient and 2014 Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johnson & Wales University in Entertainment Marketing. Draper, a Savannah (GA) native, is the Atlanta Chapter lead of Film Fatales and a die-hard FSU Seminole.