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| | | Aviva Kempner (Photo credit: 2009 Kevin Clark, The Washington Post) |
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Docs Can Make Money: Case Study of Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
YOO-HOO...indie filmmakers out there! Is it possible for a documentary about an underappreciated Jewish hero, who happens to be a woman, to gross over a million dollars?
You bet it is! Aviva Kempner's Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg has done just that. Using clips to highlight this documentary case study, filmmaker Kempner and public relations agent Susan Senk will reveal the distribution model and PR outreach that brought this film to revenue heights rarely achieved in the documentary world.
As Gertrude Berg was a phenomenon, so too is the success of Kempner's film. It uses rare archival footage and compelling interviews to explore the life and times of "the most famous woman you've never heard of," the creator, principal writer and star of The Goldbergs, the popular radio show that became television's very first domestic sitcom in 1949. Berg received the first Best Actress Emmy for the role and paved the way for women in the entertainment industry.
Aviva Kempner (pictured above) produced and co-wrote Partisans of Vilna, a documentary on Jewish resistance, and was executive producer of the Grammy-nominated record Partisans of Vilna: The Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance. She is the scriptwriter, director and producer of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, which made 1.7 million dollars, and was awarded top honors by the National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle and Broadcast Film Critics Association, in addition to an Emmy nomination and a Peabody. Kempner wrote, directed and produced Today I Vote for My Joey, at AFI's Directing Workshop for Women. In 2009, she won the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival's Freedom of Expression Award for lifetime achievement in films.
Susan Senk has worked in entertainment public relations and marketing for 25 years. Prior to launching her New York City firm in 1996, she was Vice President of International Publicity and Promotion for Columbia TriStar International Film Distributors, based in Los Angeles. Senk has also held the positions of VP of Publicity and Promotion for Vestron Pictures, of which she was a founding member in 1981, and VP/ Creative Services for Vestron International. Working out of its European office, she directed the launch of overseas operations and the international marketing of video products.
Meryl Joseph, Moderator, recalls sitting on the living room floor of her family's NYC apartment in 1955, watching and loving Mrs. Goldberg on a tiny black and white television. Fast forward, and that girl has become a filmmaker and conceptual artist whose award-winning work, including the films City Farmers and Into The Mainstream, has been exhibited internationally at museum and festival screenings in Berlin, NYC, and L.A., as well as on TLC, Nickelodeon, Metro Channel and in the Tribeca Film Institute's ReFrame Collection. Meryl is planning sequels to both films, in addition to developing a feature.
Produced by Meryl Joseph
Aug 19, 2010 
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