The Entertainment Industry Insider Series - January 2021 {FREE Panel}
Event Information
About this Event
Qs! As! AMA!
Join Showbizing & Film Launch for the Entertainment Industry Insider Series. In this month's panel, we'll be diving in to Film Finance and the trends we expect to see in 2021. We have a fantastic line-up of producers, executive producers and financiers with deep knowledge of the financing models of film and content creation.
Excited? We are!
PANELISTS
SAMUDRIKA ARORA
New York based film producer comes from a strong background in global cinema, having collaborated on several Academy-Award winning feature films such as Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, six Woody Allen films including Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi.
Her most recent producing credits include Liberté: A Call to Spy, directed by Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Lydia Dean Pilcher, starring Radhika Apte and Stana Katic – which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2019; and Radium Girls, starring Emmy-nominated American actress Joey King and Abby Quinn -- released at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Samudrika has been inspired by the magic of films since childhood and she believes that films are a powerful medium of global storytelling - she is passionate about promoting untold stories that challenge cultural sensibilities and perception. She is currently producing an international feature film with director Mira Nair.
Born and raised in India, Samudrika is a graduate of the prestigious art school École Boulle, in Paris.
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GABRIELLA LUDLOW
Gabriella Ludlow is the founder of CinePointe Advisors (formerly known as The BA Department) and has over 25 years of business affairs and project management experience in the entertainment industry. Over the course of her career, she has provided consulting services to individual producers, writers, directors, composers and music supervisors, as well as business affairs and production legal services on more than 150 feature and documentary film projects.
Prior to establishing CinePointe Advisors/The BA Department, Gabriella served as Director of Production Services at the full service media and entertainment law firm of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, PC; and as Contracts Manager at the boutique entertainment law firm of Epstein, Levinsohn, Bodine, Hurwitz & Weinstein, LLP. Before transitioning into the film industry, Gabriella served as Associate Director of Business Affairs at Sony Music Special Markets Group; Manager of Copyright at BMG Music Group; and as an independent consultant to various music and entertainment industry clients — including EMI Music, V2 Records, Sony Music, the Turner Networks Group and individual song writers and producers.
Ms. Ludlow has served as a guest lecturer on film business affairs at New York University and Columbia University, and music copyright and licensing issues at Columbia College (Chicago).
You can find a list of many of the films for which Gabriella has provided business and legal affairs services here.
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BRIAN NEWMAN
Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre, consults on content strategy, development, distribution and marketing for some of the top brands in the world. Clients include: The Climate Pledge, Patagonia, REI, IBM, Yeti Coolers, New York Times, Shopify Studios, Sonos, Stripe, Unilever, Merck, Sundance, Vulcan Productions and Zero Point Zero.
Brian is also an independent film producer. Projects include: The Outside Story (narrative, Tribeca Film Festival 2020 premiere, theatrical distribution TBA in 2021); The Ground Between Us (documentary, 2020, premiered online, Oct, 2020); Love & Taxes; (narrative, 2017 theatrical release); and executive producer of Shored Up, The Invisible World (docs) and Remittance (narrative).
Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, president of Renew Media (known for the Rockefeller Fellowships) and executive director of IMAGE Film & Video (producers of the Atlanta Film Festival & Out on Film).
Brian is the founder of the Brand/Foundation Alliance, and serves on the advisory board of the Camden International Film Festival. He has served on the boards of Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media (GFEM, now Media Impact Funders, as Vice Chair and Treasurer); Muse Film & Television, Rooftop Films (Chair) and IndieCollect (Co-Founding Board Member).
Brian is a frequent keynote speaker on branded content and the future of film and new media, and writes a popular weekly newsletter on these subjects. He was born in North Carolina and has an MA in Film Studies from Emory University.
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RON SIMONS
Ron Simons is a five-time Tony Award-nominated and four-time Tony Award-winning producer and a four-time Sundance Film Festival selected producer. He is the Founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment whose mission is to tell the stories of underrepresented communities (the trademark of the company is Tell Every Story®). Mr. Simons was recently nominated for his 5th Tony Award for the the run away hit Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations which was running at the Imperial Theater on Broadway before the pandemic shutdown. Mr. Simons is the highest African-American Tony Award winning producer of all time, cementing him as the leading Broadway producer working today bringing diversity to the stage.
As CEO of SimonSays Entertainment, Mr. Simons leads the strategic planning and development of theatre, film and television projects including the critically acclaimed Sundance films Night Catches Us (w/Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie and Wendell Pierce), Gun Hill Road (w/Esai Morales and Judy Reyes), Blue Caprice (w/ Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond) and Mother of George (w/Danai Gurira) - three of which premiered in competition). His first documentary 25 to Life premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won Best Documentary. He also produced the Broadway productions of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), The Gershwin’s’ Porgy & Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, New Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play). Mr. Simons won his fourth Tony Award for August Wilson’s Jitney. He also produced Hughie (w/Forest Whitaker), The Gin Game (w/Cecily Tyson and James Earl Jones) and the all-black Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (winner of AEA’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award). Broadway-bound shows include the revival of For Colored Girls, Thoughts of a Colored Man and Blue (w/Leslie Uggams and Lynn Whitfield directed by Phylicia Rashad with composition by Nona Hendrix and John Legend producing).
Mr. Simons is a recipient of the Heritage Award from Columbia College’s Black Alumni Council, 150 Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Washington, and is a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award Fellow, IFP Cannes’ Producer’s Network Fellow and a Sundance Producers’ Summit Fellow. He was also honored as the Emerging Producer of the Year by the National Black Theatre Festival. He holds a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MFA from the University of Washington and a proud member of the PGA.