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IIFF New York City Townhall Meeting (May 2007)Wednesday, May 16, 2007 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (ET)New York, NY |
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Event Details
IIFF/NYC Townhall Meeting at NYFA in Manhattan –
Where Film & Finance Meet To Succeed Together
abstract | moderator | venue | schedule | program | bios | registration | help
The Institute for International Film Financing (IIFF) continues its popular series of Townhall Meetings in New York City with a special event at New York Film Academy (NYFA) on Union Square.
This "grassroots" community meeting is designed to foster productive relationships between filmmakers, entrepreneurs and financiers and to provide unbiased insight and education about the business of film. The event features a powerful roster of highly topical speakers from the worlds of film and finance. We are delighted to again welcome real-world financiers among our guests for the evening.
IIFF's one-of-a-kind mission is to sustainably expand the scope & appeal of film financing, and to do so for the benefit of the public at large. True to IIFF's proven motto, "democratizing film financing," our regular, monthly Townhall Meetings bring together a wide array of professionals from relevant backgrounds in film, finance and beyond for a vibrant evening of insightful presentations and speeches, inspiring discussion and focused networking. Past meetings (e.g.: May '07 Bay Area Townhall in Mountain View, CA | April '07 New York Metro Townhall in Manhattan & April '07 Bay Area Townhall in San Francisco, CA | March '07 New England Townhall in Stowe, VT, March '07 Bay Area Townhall in San Rafael, CA & March '07 New York Metro Townhall in Manhattan | February '07 Townhall West in San Francisco, CA & February '07 Townhall East in New York City | January '07 Townhall in Santa Cruz, CA | December '06 Townhall East in New York City & December '06 Townhall West in San Francisco, CA | October '06 Townhall in New York City | September '06 Townhall in Oakland, CA | July '06 Townhall in Palo Alto, CA | June '06 Townhall in San José, CA | May '06 Townhall in San Francisco, CA | April '06 Townhall at Stanford business school) have reliably delivered useful insights into the business of film, provided valuable networking opportunities, and managed to draw large and enthusiastic crowds.
Who should attend? Entrepreneurs, technologists, attorneys, bankers, investment managers, venture capitalists and other non-film professionals are cordially invited to learn more about independent film. Are you considering taking an active role in film or would you like to expand your current involvement? Don't miss this opportunity to connect with the like-minded... Established and aspiring filmmakers are, naturally, more than welcome to join us as well!
The evening's five six presentations plus panel discussion will address key issues relevant to filmmakers, financiers, and anyone interested in the economics, business mechanics, and financial dynamics of film. They will be followed by Q&A time. Attendees will also have ample opportunity to interact & network with our distinguished presenters and panelists and amongst themselves.
An informal après-meeting celebration will take place at an area restaurant.
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Featured Moderator:
The event will be moderated by Thomas Trenker (bio | profile) who founded the Institute for Int'l Film Financing (IIFF) and runs FilmAngels, the world's first professional angel investor organization for independent film. Besides that and organizing a variety of events and initiatives at the junction of filmmaking, entrepreneurship and venture capital, Mr. Trenker is always on the lookout for worthwhile and intriguing new indie film projects that are seeking investor financing. Don't hesitate to connect with Mr. Trenker via LinkedIn or in person at this or another upcoming IIFF meeting.
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Meeting Venue:
New York Film Academy (NYFA)
100 East 17th Street (at Union Square East)
4th floor, Robert K. Hartman Screening Room
New York, NY 10003
(212) 674-4300
Map: See NYFA at 100 E 17th St on a map from Ask, Google, MapQuest, Windows Live or Yahoo.
Closest subway station (ca. 0.2 miles walking distance): 14th Street–Union Square station served by the 4 5 6, N Q R W, and L lines; see all nearby subway stations here.
Subway & walking directions: Take the 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R, W, or L train to Union Square and walk three blocks north on Union Square East to the NE corner of Union Square Park; look for NYFA's big red banner on the historic Tammany Hall building that NYFA calls home; turn right (east) on E 17th Street – NYFA's main entrance is just around the corner, on the block between Union Square East & Irving Place.
Our Host:
This month's Townhall Meeting is graciously hosted by New York Film Academy (NYFA), a leading film school headquartered in New York City.
NYFA was founded in 1992 at Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Film Center and has since expanded into a global educational force in filmmaking and acting for film. The Academy was founded on a belief that a top quality education in filmmaking should be accessible to anyone with the dirve and passion to make films. The Academy offers year-round study options at its global headquarters in New York City's Union Square; at Universal Studios in Los Angeles; and in Central London, England; and summer study options in Paris, France; Barcelona and Bilbao, Spain; Florence and Milan, Italy; and at Harvard University, Cambridge; and Universal Studios and MGM-Disney in Orlando. NYFA recently announced the planned opening of a new year-round location for Miami, Florida for fall 2007.
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Schedule:
6:00-6:30 pm ... Registration and introductions
6:30-7:30 pm ... Three featured presentations with Q&A (3x 20 min)
7:30-8:00 pm ... Networking break I (30 min)
8:00-9:00 pm ... Three featured presentations with Q&A (3x 20 min)
9:00-9:15 pm ... Networking break II (15 min)
9:15-10:00 pm ... Moderated panel discussion with Q&A (45 min)
10:00+ pm ... Community time at area restaurant
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Program Details:
1) How to Get a Film Funded: Tips From a Wall Street Pro Turned Film Financier
— by Adam Tantleff, Esq., securities trader turned film financier; Founder, President & Executive Producer at Sinestra Pictures; fmr. Currency Trader at Bear, Stearns & Co.; fmr. Futures Trader at New York Futures Exchange/New York Board of Trade (more)
2) Film Investments as Risk Capital: Exploring a Misunderstood Asset Class
— by Loren Sklar, banker/quant turned film producer; Producer at Triboro Pictures; Asst. Director & Production Assistant on "The Nanny Diaries" (starring Scarlett Johannson), "Michael Clayton" (George Clooney, Tilda Swinton), "Definitely, Maybe" (Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline, Ryan Reynolds), 2006 Sundance selection "Flannel Pajamas", etc.; fmr. Quantitative Analyst in Equity Derivative Strategies at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (more)
3) Adventures in Film Financing: A Successful Indie Producer Shares Her Lessons Learned
— by Karin Chien, leading producer in Asian American cinema; Producer of "Santa Mesa", L.A. Film Festival premiere "Undoing", Sundance premiere & Humanitas Prize winner "The Motel", Sundance premiere & Independent Spirit Award nominee "MVP", multiple award winner "Robot Stories", etc.; teaches producing workshops & classes at NYFA; Advisory Board Member at IFP; fmr. Production Coordinator on indies "Made", "Jump Tomorrow" & "Brooklyn Babylon"; fmr. Operations Director & mortgage finance consultant at The Bohan Group (more)
4) The New Landscape of Motion Picture Finance: Recent History, Status Quo & Outlook for Producers & Investors
— by Demetri Makoulis, film financier & executive producer; Co-founder & President at film finance boutique August Five Entertainment; Executive Producer of as-yet-untitled documentary about ex-boxer Luis Resto, social-impact documentary "Changing the World on Vacation", narrative feature "Lost Coast", etc.; Member of Hedge Funds vs. Malaria; fmr. Director of Sales & Business Development ProPlusMedia (more)
5) Multi-platform Storytelling: Cinema for the 21st Century. Opportunities for Filmmakers & Financiers
— by Greg Deocampo, leading technologist, entrepreneur & artist at intersection of film/video & technology; Founder & Principal at Greg Deocampo Computing + Communications Ventures; Co-founder, COO & CTO at online production studio startup Mediatronica; fmr. Founding CTO at IFILM; fmr. Co-founder at The Company of Science & Art (CoSA), makers of AfterEffects (acquired by Adobe); fmr. Member of VJ-ing pioneers Emergency Broadcast Network; fmr. Software Designer in Strategic Technology Group at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup (more)
6) Hollywood Profits: Quantitative Drivers of Motion Picture Profitability
— by Thomas Trenker, Wall Street banker & Silicon Valley executive turned film financier; Founder & Chairman at Institute for International Film Financing (IIFF); Managing Director at FilmAngels Capital; fmr. investment banker on Wall Street & in Silicon Valley (more)
In his quantitative presentation, Mr. Trenker summarizes the conclusions of his statistical analysis of factors that, alone or combined, predispose movies for profitability. Digging deep into his data, Mr. Trenker makes the case that, on average, independent films are superior not just on their widely touted creative merits, including originality, but – perhaps surprisingly – also on their commercial merits as measured by expected return on investment (ROI). With the economics of filmmaking evolving past Hollywood's traditional "rules of thumb", a new savvy generation of film entrepreneurs and financiers is well positioned to succeed through innovation.
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Speaker Bios:
- Adam B. Tantleff, Esq., investment banker turned successful film financier; Founder, President & Executive Producer at film financing & production company Sinestra Pictures (with several high-profile projects funded & in various stages of development or production); fmr. Currency Trader at Bear, Stearns & Co. (one of world's largest global investment banks, securities trading firms & brokerages); fmr. Futures Trader at New York Futures Exchange (NYFE), now division of New York Board of Trade (NYBOT); worked with Market Surveillance group at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) & Office of Mergers and Acquisitions/Division of Corporation Finance at Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); graduate of Fordham University School of Law; B.A. in Mathematics from University of Pennsylvania
- Loren Sklar, Wall Street banker/quant turned film producer; Producer at Manhattan-based indie film company Triboro Pictures; Assistant Director & Production Assistant on such recent, high-profile films as "The Nanny Diaries" (starring Scarlett Johannson), "Michael Clayton" (George Clooney, Tilda Swinton), "Definitely, Maybe" (Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline, Ryan Reynolds, Elizabeth Banks), 2006 Sundance selection "Flannel Pajamas" (Justin Kirk, Julianne Nicholson, Jamie Harrold), etc.; fmr. Quantitative Analyst in Equity Derivative Strategies at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
- Karin Chien, sought-after independent feature film producer based in New York City; leading producer in Asian American cinema (produced for Michael Kang, Greg Pak & Chris Chan Lee); Producer of "Santa Mesa" (starring Melissa Leo, Jaime Tirelli), L.A. Film Festival premiere "Undoing", Sundance/NHK Int'l Filmmakers Award winner, Sundance premiere & Humanitas Prize winner "The Motel" (Sung Kang, Clint Jordan, Eleanor Hutchins), Sundance premiere & Independent Spirit Award nominee "MVP" (Wood Harris, N'Bushe Wright, Roger Guenveur Smith), multiple award winner "Robot Stories" (35 film festival awards, self-distributed theatrically to 50+ cities), etc.; teaches producing workshops & classes at New York Film Academy; Advisory Board Member at IFP/New York's Project Involve (mentoring emerging filmmakers); fmr. Production Coordinator on independent features "Made", "Jump Tomorrow" & "Brooklyn Babylon"; fmr. Operations Director & mortgage finance consultant at The Bohan Group (nation's top due diligence firm in mortgage finance); M.A. in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University; B.A. in English from UC Berkeley
- Demetri Makoulis, indie film financier, executive producer & film finance advisor; Co-founder & President at Manhattan-based boutique film finance & advisory firm August Five Entertainment (raising capital for indie films & slates, advising filmmakers & institutions on film finance); raised equity financing for Tom Desanto's feature documentary "Ringers: Lord of the Fans" (2005 Slamdance premiere, acquired by Sony Home Entertainment), advised wealth management firm BMB Advisors on creation of fund-of-funds structure for film slate investments, etc.; Executive Producer of as-yet-untitled documentary based on disgraced ex-boxer Luis Resto's life, 'filmanthropic' documentary "Changing the World on Vacation" (about struggles of social entrepreneur in Cambodia) & narrative feature "Lost Coast"; Member of nonprofit organization Hedge Funds vs. Malaria; fmr. Director of Sales & Business Development (first employee) at online advertising firm ProPlusMedia; B.B.A. from Baruch College/CUNY
- Greg Deocampo, leading technologist, prolific entrepreneur & pioneering artist at intersection of film/video & technology; Founder & Principal at Greg Deocampo Computing + Communications Ventures; Co-founder, COO & CTO at online production studio startup Mediatronica; fmr. Co-founder at software startup Tekadence, developers of Magik (visual authoring tool for distributed applications); Co-founder at "surround cinema" VR company Obscura Digital; fmr. Founding CTO at IFILM (encompassing top-10 internet video website IFILM.com, its companion site for film industry professionals IFILMpro, and online survey & quantitative martket research service Online Testing Exchange); fmr. Co-founder at The Company of Science & Art (CoSA), makers of industry-standard digital video compositing & special effects software AfterEffects (acquired by Adobe Corp.); fmr. Member of touring multimedia performance art project Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN) that pioneered VJ-ing & immersive projection; fmr. Software Designer in Strategic Technology Group at Salomon Brothers (now Citigroup), developing system for automatic foreign-currency arbitrage
- Thomas Trenker, Wall Street banker & Silicon Valley executive turned independent film financier; Founder & Chairman at social-entrepreneurship organization Institute for Int'l Film Financing (IIFF); Managing Director at angel investor group FilmAngels Capital; fmr. CFO at online film distributor/exhibitor Eveo; fmr. investment banker at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell & DB Alex Brown in New York City & San Francisco
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Registration:
Online registration is available at http://events.filmfinancing.org/nym/?id=051607 (top of this page)
Early bird registration NLT Wednesday, April 25th:
IIFF Member ... $25 if registered online no later than April 25th
Non-member ... $40
Regular registration NLT Saturday, May 12th:
IIFF Member ... $35 if registered online no later than May 12th
Non-member ... $50
Last minute registration NLT Tuesday, May 15th:
IIFF Member ... $45 if registered online no later than May 15th
Non-member ... $60
Same day registration (online) on Wednesday, May 16th:
IIFF Member ... $50 if registered online on May 16th
Non-member ... $65
On-site registration (at the door):
IIFF Member ... $55
Non-member ... $70
To learn more about membership with IIFF, email our Membership Bureau, or approach an IIFF team member at or after the event.
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Questions?
Please direct all your questions and inquiries regarding this event to IIFF's online forum at http://forum.filmfinancing.org.
Having trouble with Eventbrite (this site) or PayPal? Please get help in IIFF's online forum. (You can also notify us by email well in advance of the event, and register on-site.)
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The Buzz: The following is a sampling of what others are saying about IIFF meetings... "Wow. Last night was great! I want to thank you again for the inspiring work you do. This is such a big need [...] and you're truly doing the work of angels (literally and figuratively)." — Brant Smith, Producer, "Quality of Life" "I really must say that I found all speakers very interesting, and I was hanging on their every word. IIFF, the mission and content, seems to be a good fit for me, because it is my dream to run a medium size production house. [...] Thank you, BIG THANK YOU [...], for inviting me to this very quality and important event." — John Henry, Owner, John Henry Filmworks "Let me again say I think you did a great job putting yesterday's event together -- great crowd, smart presentation, lots of enthusiasm." — David Rosen, Convener/Executive Producer, Digital Independence "Wow! For such a moderate investment, so much information. So much good networking. I hope you are proud of the magic you've created with IIFF." — Kevin Morrison, Writer/Director/Producer of independent film & TV "I just wanted to say thanks for another great and informative meeting. The speakers were impressive and I made some good contacts." — Jesse Ford, Founder & Executive Director, Group Hug Productions "IIFF and FilmAngels has really impressed me so far with its focus on the independent film community. I've traveled and interacted with film organizations around the world [...]." — Jin Woo Joo, Founder, Cinemasports "Thanks so much for hosting such an interesting program last week. I am always inspired by the creativity, and most recently, by the commitment to 'a better world'. It keeps my cynic's heart at bay! [...] again, my heartfelt thanks for your mission and execution. Well done!" — Teri Cundall, Founder & President, Propville.com "The event was great, very helpful." — Marc Perez, Co-President & Founding Partner, Sirk Productions "[...] I greatly enjoyed attending last night's event and found it very informative - certainly something that's been missing in New York so far." — Michael Gunther, Director/Producer, Triboro Pictures "Great presentation tonight. Lots of energetic discussions and questions." — Campbell Dalglish, Prof. of Screenwriting, MFA in Film & Video at CUNY "Thanks so much for tonight's event. It was really inspiring and incredibly informative." — Elizabeth Foley, Founding Faculty Member, Producing Dep't at NYFA "I enjoyed this evening's townhall presentation and found it very informative." — William Doll, Writer/Director, World Stage Pictures "Your Town Hall mtg was stimulating. You managed to attract the right target audience, and I loved your choice of speakers." — Sandra Schulberg, Founder, Independent Feature Project (IFP) "I attended the New York Town Hall Meeting and just wanted to thank you for setting up such an informative colloquium. It was my first IIFF event and I look forward to attending more in the future." — Blythe Frank, Producer, "Kettle of Fish" (Michael Mailer Films) "Thank you again for a wonderful event last night." — Morgan Pehme, Co-founder & CEO, Merlion Entertainment "I'm just writing [...] pertaining to the IIFF meeting last night, which I found both entertaining and informative and also promising of great things to come from IIFF in the near future!" — Thomas Woodrow, Producer, Furnace Films "I attended the IIFF town hall last week in New York and came away impressed. Thank you for putting together such an excellent panel of speakers. I found [Mr. Trenker's] presentation especially useful. As a former quant at Putnam Investments, I tend to dig into the numbers and [Mr. Trenker's] analysis was illuminating." — Robert Milacci, Executive Producer, Sinestra Pictures "I very much enjoyed the seminar last Saturday in Stowe, VT. It was a lot of driving in one day (3.25 hrs. each way...), but worth it. [...] Thanks again for a very enlightening day." — Marjorie Short, Oscar-nominated Writer/Producer/Director, Short Productions Would you like to speak out? We want to hear from you! Send us your comments by email. |
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Copyright © 2007 Institute for Int'l Film Financing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
When & Where
New York Film Academy
100 E 17th Street
Screening Room - 4th floor
New York,
NY 10003
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (ET)
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Hosted By
Institute for Int'l Film Financing (IIFF)
The Institute for International Film Financing (IIFF) is an innovative, independent social-impact organization that endeavors to bridge the gap between the worlds of filmmaking and finance for the benefit of all stakeholders – including the public at large.
Founded by Thomas Trenker in 2003 and headquartered in San Francisco, IIFF has chapters in the Bay Area, New York City, New England, Florida, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, London, the Pacific Northwest and the Lower Midwest.
Help launch or run an IIFF chapter in your area! We make it easy and worthwhile. Email the chapter development team and tell us about yourself. Or join our online community at http://forum.filmfinancing.org to keep in touch with a growing number of filmmakers and financiers.