Women Behind the Brush
In "Women Behind the Brush," NYWIFT Member Victoria Bert leads a conversation with some of the most renowned makeup artists in NYC. This discussion will provide makeup artists with ideas for their own career paths including portfolio, networking, and business tips! Makeup artist speakers include Margina Dennis (Director of LA'G Magazine), Jackie Risotto (Fosse/Verdon), Nicki Ledermann (Joker - Academy Award nominee for Best Makeup, Sex and the City, The Greatest Showman, and The Irishman), DeShawn Hatcher (Editorial and Beauty Guru) and NYWIFT Member Jennifer Snowdon (Wonderama). After the panel, a Make Up Forever educator will present a live demo. More details to come.
READ MOREDestination Co-Star! TV Tips for the Emerging Actor
Are you an actor transitioning from theater, independent film, background work, or just starting out? This workshop is for those seeking practical advice in booking their first television co-star role, and more importantly, building a life-long career. We’ll cover casting directors, agents, creating a network vs. networking, audition best practices (and managing those audition nerves), and more! Please note: If The Secret-power-of-attraction-manifesting approach is your thing—great! But this program offers its polar opposite and might not be for you. Though we will touch upon a few science-based items to maintain a healthy mindset, this will be a simple, no-nonsense primer to get you started on your career.
READ MOREFunding Your Doc
You've locked in your subject and finished the research, what's next? Production! But, how will you fund it? No worries, we'll help you! In Funding Your Doc, Lara Stolman (Director/Producer of Swim Team), leads a discussion that will provide ideas to create fundraising strategies for filmmakers without significant industry or institutional support/relationships, working on a small budget –even on a controversial topic. We will discuss filmmakers needs including festival circuit and distribution. Guest speakers include Heather White (Director/Producer of Complict and Modern Slavery and Your Devices), Carolyn Hepburn (Motto Pictures), and Mark Rossier (Director of Grants, New York Foundation for the Arts).
READ MOREPower Player Breakfast: Nancy Kanter, EVP of Content and Creative Strategy, Disney Channels Worldwide
As EVP, Content and Creative Strategy for Disney Channels Worldwide, Nancy Kanter guides program development for Disney Channels' audience of kids age 2-11, as well as produced content for Disney+. She also oversees the strategy for acquisitions, and for attracting the best creative talent to support Disney's entertainment platforms. Before rising to this role in 2017, Kanter was General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide, where she brought in numerous Peabody and Emmy® Award-winning programs. Under her leadership, Disney Junior reigned as the #1 preschooler network in total viewers and key demographics. Join us for a Power Player conversation about Nancy's influential work in children's media!
READ MOREPower Player Conversation: Finance Her – Hosted by The Women’s Network at The New York Times Company
Join us for an after-work boardroom-style conversation among members of two of New York’s most powerful women’s organizations: 100 Women in Finance and New York Women in Film & Television. In true power player fashion, women from these communities of entertainment and finance will come together to uncover strategies behind finding powerful films from female voices and securing the financing needed to bring these projects to the screen. Finance Her is the first of a series of discussions designed to tap into the entertainment and finance industries of New York City, connecting professionals from both fields to ensure that financing options are available to women filmmakers. There is a need to address everyone’s role in the process when it comes to funding and packaging a film. By ensuring that both worlds are speaking the same language and finding parallels in project development, a much clearer path to investing in untold women’s stories is sure to follow. (Registration will open later next month - check back with us!)
READ MORELunchtime Skills Workshop: Owning Your Power
Looking to have a lot more say in the way things are handled in your entertainment career? Tired of giving decisions over to your agent, manager, producer or collaborator? Feeling intimidated about money and talking a deal? This interactive workshop will give you NYWIFT Member/Certified Career Coach/TV Packaging Agent Jim Arnoff's take on how to reclaim the decisions in your career. Learn the most effective ways to build your confidence, communicate with conviction and ask for what you want. Gain the skills to negotiate in a way that minimizes the fears and maximizes the results. Hear the insider's tips on how to network that sets you apart and creates the most memorable connections. You will hear the best ways to collaborate with ease, claim your authentic voice and honor your creativity. This workshop is all about claiming your power, leveraging your strengths and being fully expressed.
READ MORE2019 NYWIFT Summit: Inclusion, Equality and Safety
The 2019 NYWIFT Summit will present a series of conversations that will address vital issues of gender and pay gap, diversity/inclusion and sexual harassment. The Summit will establish forward-moving strategies to create change in these areas with an eye towards mobilizing support and leadership for the future. DOORS OPEN 3:30pm OPENING REMARKS 4:00 – 4:10pm ...
READ MOREInnovation Series: The Promises of Artificial Intelligence in Media presented IBM and WarnerMedia
Join IBM and WarnerMedia for an evening exploring the intersection of technology and media. IBM and WarnerMedia will present how technology is driving meaningful audience engagement in this connected consumer era. Media companies and media makers are facing even more competition for the wallet and attention of audiences. IBM will present how artificial intelligence (A.I.)...
READ MOREWeb Series: From Creation To Distribution
For many filmmakers, making a web series is a calling card for getting work in the industry. For others, the series is a “proof of concept” for a broadcast television series. And yet, other storytellers prefer the web series format, and the business of creation through distribution is their primary focus. In Web Series, From...
READ MOREDocumentary Distribution 3.0 – The New Normal
What is the new normal for documentary distribution within a constantly evolving landscape? This panel explores the emerging "windows" of distribution/monetizing opportunities for documentary film compared with traditional distribution outlets. Join NYWIFT and panelists Kim Jackson (Co-Founder and President of Entertainment, Breaker), Christie Marchese (CEO, Picture Motion), DeShuna Spencer (Founder/CEO, kweliTV) and moderator Karen McMullen (Film Festival Programmer, Editor and Educator) for an engaging conversation about the future of documentary distribution.
READ MOREBite Me: A Truly Independent Journey
Join the team behind the independent feature film Bite Me for a case study on the film’s journey and the upcoming Joyful Vampire Tour of America that will feature screenings, capes, and Vampire Balls! Bite Me is a unique, while universally relatable, story about outsiders and an edgy, whip-smart, funny, heart-felt update to the rom-com genre. Naomi McDougall Jones (Writer/Actor/Producer), Sarah Wharton (Producer), Joanne Zippel (Executive Producer/NYWIFT Member) and Jack Lechner (Executive Producer) are inventing a fully democratic, filmmaker-empowered model of release that will change distribution from something you “get” into something you “do.”
READ MOREPower Player Breakfast: Megan Cunningham, Founder and CEO of Magnet Media
How do you grow up to create a global content studio that helps some of the most exciting companies on planet Earth spread their stories and marketing messages? If there’s anyone who can answer that question, it’s Megan Cunningham. In the latest of NYWIFT’s Power Player Breakfasts featuring powerful women, Cunningham will discuss how she managed to rise from a NYWIFT intern (that’s right!) to where she is today: Founder and CEO of Magnet Media. Magnet Media is a studio for brands, and its mission is to tell stories that matter. The company’s clients include: Google, Adobe, Chase, Airbnb, IBM Watson, CitiGroup, The TED Talks, Politico, YouTube, National Geographic Kids, PBS, Fandango and MIT Tech Press. Cunningham will share personal stories about how she’s tackled various challenges as well as insights into what she’s learned over the course of her career.
READ MORENew Date – Destination Co-Star! TV Tips for the Emerging Actor
Are you an actor transitioning from theater, independent film, background work, or just starting out? This workshop is for those seeking practical advice in booking their first television co-star role, and more importantly, building a life-long career. Mellini Kantayya, actor, writer, and humorist, will cover casting directors, agents, creating a network vs. networking, audition best practices (and managing those audition nerves), and more!
READ MOREDocumentary Labs: Finding the Right One for Your Film
In the last several years, foundations and festivals have developed incubator labs to help filmmakers in the development and post production of their documentaries. It is an exceptional opportunity, and the many labs offer a variety of experiences. While these creative bootcamps seek to expand emerging voices and creativity, are they for everyone? What difference can they make in the life of a doc? Join NYWIFT to learn more about labs at UnionDocs, Chicken & Egg, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Independent Feature Project, and more.
READ MORESold Out! Impact Fiction, A New Financing & Distribution Model: A Case Study of HBO’s “The Tale”
Melding “visual storytelling” and “social issue advocacy” has long been the focus of documentary films and nonfiction filmmakers. However, today a new wave is emerging for fiction film to use its art and craft to change the world. Narrative film and character-driven scripts pose great opportunities that not only contribute to society and culture artistically...
READ MOREIDA Conversation Series: Susan Lacy
NYWIFT members are invited to join the International Documentary Association (IDA) for a special East Coast edition of the IDA Conversation Series, as the IDA highlights and explores the extraordinary career of Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and producer Susan Lacy. The evening will feature a clips program and an exciting conversation between Lacy and acclaimed independent...
READ MORESold Out! Women Make the Cut: A Discussion with Female Documentary Editors
New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) partners with The International Documentary Association (IDA) to present a panel discussion with female documentary editors in a special East Coast edition of the IDA Conversation Series. Special support provided by our partner at POV. Panelists include film editors Mary Manhardt (Making a Murderer, Street Fight), Carla...
READ MORE2019 S.W.A.N. (Support Women Artists Now) Day Screening and Reception – This Changes Everything
Join NYWIFT, SAG-AFTRA, the School of Visual Arts Film Department, FF2 Media, Women in the Arts & Media Coalition (WAMC), Women Make Movies (WMM), HerFlix, ImageNation Cinema Foundation, 2020 One Woman One Vote Festival, African-American Women in Cinema (AAWIC), and the SVA Theatre for a screening of the documentary This Changes Everything in recognition of S.W.A.N. (Support Women Artists Now) Day, an annual event on the last Saturday of March that celebrates women artists. There will be a Q&A and reception following the screening. Special guest speakers to be announced.
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