State of the Industry: How You Can Navigate and Succeed in Today's Film & TV Landscape
2020 has brought on many challenges, but also many opportunities for creatives in entertainment. In this exclusive Stage 32 Noho CineFest panel, join industry professionals on an overview of the industry today and how you can navigate and succeed in today's landscape.
Moderator: Amanda Toney - Managing Director of Stage 32
Speakers: Rich Botto - CEO of Stage 32, Andrew Fried - President of Boardwalk Pictures, Tyler Gillett - Director (Ready or Not), Sarah Cornelius - Creative and Production Executive at Whitewater Films
BIOS:
AMANDA TONEY
As Managing Director for Stage 32, Amanda oversees operations and business development for the global business. She has curated over 1,200 hours of online education created exclusively for Stage 32, and works with hundreds of entertainment industry executives from around the world to serve as educators and mentors. She has spearheaded partnerships with such prestigious organizations as the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film, American Film Market, SXSW, Austin Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, PGA, WGA and DGA, as well as brands such as AT&T, Peerspace, Pond5, Mandy, Bondit Media Capital and her personal favorite partnership, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is the official vodka of Stage 32.
Amanda has spoken all over the world at the Cannes Film Festival (France), Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Fest Festival (Portugal) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.
As a producer, Amanda has worked on the psychological thriller What Lies Ahead starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont; Chick Fight, starring Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin and Bella Thorne, Metaphorms, a Hungarian film, which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival and Dolphin Girl, an entire Stage 32 production in conjunction with the St. Petersburg Film Commission. She recently sold a television show to a major US network .
RICHARD "RB" BOTTO
Richard "RB" Botto is the Founder and CEO of Stage 32 (stage32.com). Stage 32 is the world’s largest online platform connecting and educating film, TV & digital creatives and executives worldwide. Launched in 2011, the Stage 32 community has grown to over 600,000 creatives and features an educational library of over 1,200 hours of webinars and classes taught by over 500 industry executives. Stage 32 is recognized throughout the industry as an incubator of talent and is the official film education & networking platform of the Cannes Film Festival Marche du Film and AFM.
RB is also a producer whose films have played at dozens of festivals including the Sundance award-winning feature, Another Happy Day, starring Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore and Kate Bosworth and written & directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, What Lies Ahead, starring Rumer Willis & Emma Dumont, the documentary Crutch and the upcoming Rain-Beau’s End. He is the Executive Producer on Vagic with Amy Baer at Gidden Media and My Clone’s an A-Hole with National Lampoon. Through Stage 32 he has helped incubate Chick Fight, starring Malin Akerman and Alec Baldwin, produced by Yale Productions and Ramo Law, and 10-31, produced by Eli Roth and Orion Pictures.
As a writer, RB works on active writing assignments and has two features and a TV pilot in development. As an actor, his latest film On the Corner of Ego and Desire premiered at the Raindance Film Festival.
Additionally, RB’s book Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, was published by Focal Press/Routledge under the American Film Market Presents banner and quickly became one of their best-selling titles. It has hit #1 in 6 different film and business related categories on Amazon and Audible. The book can be found at the Focal Press/Routledge booth by AFM badge registration and on Amazon and Audible, where it has garnered over 100 5-star reviews.
A sought after speaker, teacher and mentor, RB has been a keynote speaker and panelist at such festivals and conferences as Cannes, AFM, Tribeca, Sundance, Raindance, Hamburg, SXSW, Cinequest, Austin, ITVFest, Portugal FEST, Trinidad and Tobago and Winston Baker. He has also taught at institutions such as Harvard, USC and Columbia University on the subjects of filmmaking, producing, film finance, screenwriting, social media, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, entrepreneurship and business.
ANDREW FRIED
Andrew Fried is the Emmy-winning founder and President of Boardwalk Pictures, producers of premium non-fiction content for multiple networks and distributors including Netflix, Showtime, Quibi, YouTube and many others. A recipient of multiple awards and 3 Emmy nominations, Fried and Boardwalk strive to elevate and expand the idea of documentary television across an ever-growing unscripted landscape.
Boardwalk is best known for its award-winning Netflix series CHEF'S TABLE. Now entering its 7th season, CHEF'S TABLE has received 8 Emmy nominations, has won 3 James Beard Awards and the IDA Award for Best Documentary Series.
TYLER GILLETT
Tyler Gillett is a film, television and new media director based in Los Angeles. His recent film credits include Ready or Not, 20th Century FOX's Devil's Due, the Sundance hit V/H/S, The Orchard's Southbound and he is recently tapped to direct the latest installment of SCREAM
In addition to his film credits, he has sold three television shows -- a horror anthology to NBC, an action comedy to Comedy Central, and an adventure show to Disney XD.
RADIO SILENCE is a team of three filmmakers - Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Chad Villella. Fueled by an obsessive love of horror, sci-fi and adventure, the trio are focused on utilizing their unique and off-kilter vision to tell engaging stories that explore the limitless mysteries of the unknown.
SARAH CORNELIUS
Sarah Cornelius is the Creative and Production Executive at Whitewater Films, an independent production company spearheaded by veteran producer Rick Rosenthal whose more than 100 credits include BAD BOYS, HALLOWEEN 2, TRANSPARENT, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, SMALLVILLE and more.
Whitewater Film's mandate is to discover new writers with unique voices and to produce their projects.
This approach has resulted in Whitewater producing numerous notable films which have won Independent Spirit Awards, the Sundance Directing Award, a Primetime Emmy, as well as collecting nominations for an Oscar and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
Whitewater has produced projects for:
Whitewater Films recently completed their feature STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN starring Billy Crystal & Ben Schwartz with first-time director Matt Ratner. Their film, THE LAST SHIFT premiered at Sundance 2020 with two time Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins. In addition they produced FIRST GIRL I LOVED (Sundance winner), HALFWAY THERE (Sundance Episodic Showcase winner), SMALL ENGINE REPAIR (SXSW premiere).
