NYWIFT Talks Reel Works

Welcome to NYWIFT Talks, a weekly series to bring updated news and vital information about the impact of COVID-19 on the media and entertainment industry. Industry professionals will be in conversation discussing what you need to know about theatrical releases, digital advances, virtual tools, festival opportunities, production updates and more. 

NYWIFT Talks are free for all to attend.

On this week’s NYWIFT Talks, join the team behind Reel Works, Co-Founder, Senior Director of Education and Programming Stephanie Walter Williams, Director of Workforce and External Partnerships Keisha Katz, to discuss 20 years of Reel Works and the impact they have made by providing platforms for the underserved community while inspiring others to follow a similar path. 

Reel Works Mission
Reel Works mentors, inspires, and empowers underserved NYC youth to share their stories through filmmaking, creating a springboard to successful careers in media and beyond.

This conversation will be moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Flo Mitchell-Brown.

Date: Wednesday, July 7th, 2021
Time: 1 PM EST
Location: Zoom (Links can be found in confirmation email)
Cost to attend: Free

Register

Panelists

Stephanie Walter Williams, Co-Founder, Senior Director of Education and Programming, is an award-winning writer, producer and director whose credits include television, radio and theater. Stephanie’s television credits include documentaries for Lifetime, MSNBC, CBS, and Viacom, as well as her own independent work. Stephanie has created original programming for a variety of broadcasters, and spent a chunk of her career documenting roots music around the U.S. After studying writing in New York and the U.K., Stephanie moved to Manhattan and opened her own theatre company, The Black Market. There she developed new voices from around the country and presented readings, and staged productions out of an old garage in the LES. She is proud to say she played at CBGB’s, and spent a decade bumming around Europe as a marginal writer. Stephanie holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University, where she created a series of lectures that examined Race and Justice, working with students using Socratic methodologies. She also staged and produced Race Riot, a series of pop up protests revolving around racial inequality in the U.S. She is the Executive Producer and Director of Reel Works Productions, training students to enter the film and television work force. The production company recently produced their first feature film, 72 Hours a Brooklyn Love Story, a jury selection at The New York Film Festival, and their first feature documentary, National Park Diaries, which is making the 2017 documentary festival circuit. 

Keisha Katz, Director of Workforce and External Partnerships, is a Queens native and a graduate of the Spring 2007 lab class at Reel Works. Keisha leads their citywide workforce program, MediaMKRS, which aims to bring together industry leaders, educators, and local government to train and credential rising talent. Keisha is particularly passionate about and uniquely qualified in her efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive in the media and entertainment industry, because of her background producing documentary film and television. Her work has aired on leading networks including NBC, Lifetime, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and BET. Keisha holds B.A. from Temple University and is a member of Sigma Lambda Upsilon/Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc.

Flo Mitchell-Brown (Moderator) is Head of Industry Engagement for Extreme Reach’s Payroll Solutions division that provides payroll, accounting and labor relations for production casts and crews across the entertainment industry. Flo has spent 20-plus years in the entertainment industry. She spent many years at Entertainment Partners, first as VP and then as SVP of Operations, a role that honed her skills in leadership, production management and production finance. Flo is deeply involved with the production community, serving on the board of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and as Chair of the New York Production Alliance (NYPA). In 2018 she co-founded “Give Film,” an organization focused on creating content for change.