SYNOPSIS
SAG-AFTRA, SAGindie and the Screen Actors Guild Foundation are excited to present the educational panel Work It! The Festival Scoop from Pros in the Know. Join producers, directors, casting directors and other industry experts as they discuss how to best make use of the tools and tips you learn through attending film festivals. Anyone can get you into a party, let this team of pros guide you on festival attendance for career advancement. Discover how to take advantage of a captive audience for your film and how to best make every festival you attend a learning experience.
PANELITS BIOS
Sheldon Candis, producer, writer, director
Candis’ feature directorial debut LUV (which he also co-wrote) was an official selection in the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Competition. He assembled an incredible cast including Common, Charles S. Dutton, Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Meagan Good, Michael K. Williams and a wonderful 11 year old breakout talent named Michael Rainey Jr. Indomina is set to release the film theatrically January 18, 2013. Candis recently teamed with Rocnation and Dreamville Grammy nominated artist J. Cole for the short film CROOKED SMILE. The film is a call to action, challenging America's current war on drugs and is a dedication to the life of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a 7 year old tragically killed during a police raid in Detroit, Michigan. Crooked Smile is nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for ‘Best Video With A Social Statement’. For his first foray into television, Candis is currently in development with the ABC event series A SLAVE IN THE WHITE HOUSE, adapted from Elizabeth Dowling Taylor’s New York Times best selling book based on the true story of personal valet Paul Jennings and his unique relationship with President James Madison. Jennings would write the first White House memoir along with historically saving George Washington’s portrait during the War of 1812. Jennings would become a ‘subversive abolitionist’, helping slaves acquire freedom twenty years before the establishment of the Underground Railroad. Candis will serve as Executive Producer, Writer, and Director for the series.
Megan Griffiths, producer, directior
Megan has been a director, writer and producer in the independent film community for over a decade. Her film The Off Hours (starring Amy Seimetz, Ross Partridge and Scoot McNairy) premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive an Independent Spirit Award nomination for cinematography before securing distribution through Film Movement. Her follow-up, Eden (starring Jamie Chung, Matt O'Leary and Beau Bridges), premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, where it won the narrative Audience Award and the Emergent Female Director award. Megan’s newest feature, Lucky Them (starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, Oliver Platt and Johnny Depp), premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was released by IFC Films. Megan has produced such projects as 2014 Sundance Special Jury Prize-winner Rat Pack Rat, 2011 Sundance horror/comedy The Catechism Cataclysm and 2006 Slamdance Special Jury prize-winner The Guatemalan Handshake. She was a co-producer on Lynn Shelton's film Your Sister's Sister (starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie Dewitt and Mark Duplass) and on Robinson Devor's acclaimed 2007 Sundance documentary Zoo. This year, she is serving as executive producer on The Greens Are Gone (starring Catherine Keener, Kaitlyn Dever, Anton Yelchin and Maya Rudolph). Megan received her MFA in Film Production from the Ohio University School of Film.
Meg Morman, casting director
Bio Coming Soon
Rene Ridinger, vp of entertainment, MPRM
As VP of Entertainment, Rene oversees MPRM clients spanning film, television and home entertainment. She provides strategic counsel and media savvy — traditional and social — to clients that include The Voice, Radius-TWC and Lionsgate Home Entertainment, among others. With a multi-faceted background in trade, consumer and international campaigns, Ridinger oversaw publicity campaigns for Alias, Ally McBeal, The Practice, CSI: Miami, Walt Disney Television Animation, and PBS, before joining MPRM. Ridinger is a graduate of Texas Christian University with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology.
Peter Trinh, agent, ICM
Peter is an agent in the international and independent film department of ICM Partners, a talent and literary agency representing clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, publishing, music, theater, corporate branding and digital media. In his role at ICM Partners, Mr. Trinh, on top of being on teams for various clients throughout the agency, packages creative and financial elements to films and negotiates the distribution deals for independent films. He was named by Variety as one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders” in 2012 and Fade In Magazine’s “The Top 100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know 2013.”
Abby Dylan, moderator
Abby is an actor who started her professional career in New York City, and is now based in Seattle. She is a National Board member of SAG-AFTRA, where she chairs the SAGIndie Committee. Abby is also a board member for the SAG Foundation. Currently, she can be seen as the despondent Sharon in Shawn Telford's BFE, which is winning awards in Film Festivals throughout the world.
LIVESTREAM & ARCHIVE
***The event will be Live Streamed.*** To watch the panel you DO NOT have to log into our website. Just go to sagfoundation.org/livestream.
Email questions to LiveStream@sagfoundation.org or tweet to #SAGF. Please DO NOT RSVP if you will be watching the live stream of this event.
Only RSVP if you want to attend this event in person. Video will be archived immediately after the event at youtube.com/sagfoundation.
If you would like to attend this event in person you must RSVP as seats are limited.
