All Panels/Workshops take place on Sunday, October 23rd 2022
"Pursuing a Career Path in the Changing Film & TV Industry” Panel
Presented by MCAD, Five Towns College, Hussian College Los Angeles, and Drexel University
9:30AM - 11:00AM - THEATER 23
Description:
Join us for an in-depth conversation with university professors about the ever-evolving film and television industry and how you can prepare for the new range of career options. Film and television has always included a careful balance of art and technology and today's increased demand for content and level of competition means that you will need a diverse skill set capable of adaptation and implementation to achieve success.
The discussion will explore practical career paths directly related to industry employment and the increased influence of digital media.
Panelists:
Karin Kelly, Department Head of Cinema & Television, Drexel University
Karin Kelly received her M.F.A. in Film from N.Y.U. She was a fellow for Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, participated in the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive and is a recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Foundation Grant. Karin studied Improv with the Groundlings and Gotham City Improv. In Los Angeles she worked for Disney and the UPN, and wrote episodes for the series In the House and Soul Man. In Philadelphia she produced the film series Through the Lens for WYBE and episodes of the series Birthday, broadcast on Discovery Health and Perfect Proposal broadcast on The Learning Channel. She served as a mentor and guest director for Digi-Fest Southwest and is the co-author of Film School Confidential: The Insider's Guide to Film Schools. Karin has assistant-directed both commercials and features and has written, produced and directed music videos, corporate projects and short films. Her narrative short, Customer Service, screened at the West Chester and Pittsburgh Film Festivals. Cinco Meses, her first bilingual film is now being submitted to festivals. She is currently in post on her first short documentary, One of Eight and is in pre-production for her next film, L’inverno (The Winter) which shoots in December. When not making her films, she instructs students on how to make theirs as the Department Head of Cinema & Television at Drexel University.
Craig Rice, Adjunct Professor of FIlmmaking at Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Craig Laurence Rice is a long established award-winning internationally recognized music executive and filmmaker with a distinguished career in the film, video, television, theater and music.
He was also Executive Producer / Director of the widely revered for the feature length documentary Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks for HBO, which was nominated for three Emmy awards, winner of the Tree of Life Award from The Friends of the Motion Picture Academy, NAACP Image Award, it was also selected to the Museum of Television and Radio in the year 2000.
In addition he has various credits serving as a Second Unit director and Assistant Director on about 20 productions, long form and feature-length films including Graffiti Bridge, Purple Rain, Brother From Another Planet and Joe Somebody.
He has also directed and produced 30 music videos and over 50 commercials for clients such as Amoco, Nike, Target, Kraft, United Way, McDonald’s, and the Partnership for Drug Free America. And most recently producer of two Silver Clio award winning spots for General Mills.
Notable television credits include Producer of We Teach Our Children for CBS, 90-minute PBS variety show A The Prairie Home Companion 30th, Producer for New Dramas for Television for The Eugene O’ Neill Theater Center for 4 seasons. Executive Producer on the nationally syndicated series Million Dollar Idea.
Also has been Adjunct Professor of FIlmmaking at Minneapolis College of Art and Design since 2007.
Rice holds degrees from the University of Southern California Cinema Department, Filmmaking at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and a Liberal Arts degree from Minneapolis Community and Technical College and studies in theater and filmmaking at the University of Minnesota.
Michael Prywes, Esq., Film and Television Division Chair; Professor – Law, Producing, and Writing
Michael Prywes, Esq. is the Chair of Film & Television at Five Towns College (FTCFilm.com), a small, suburban arts and entertainment-focused 4-year college just outside New York City in Dix Hills, Long Island. He is an attorney, writer, producer, mentor, and teacher.
Michael's bestselling business book The Gasp: How to Seize that A-Ha! Moment and Turn It Into a Winning Business teaches creatives how to launch and grow a creative enterprise. He has also written a book for filmmakers and television producers about the law and practicality of producing projects based on real life.
Over more than two decades, Michael has taught law, producing, business, and/or writing at Touro Law Center, CUNY Queens College, LIU Brooklyn, St. John’s, and has guest lectured at NYU and UCLA. He has also been a producer on a number of feature films, including his award-winning theatrically-released PG-13 comedy Returning Mickey Stern, starring Joseph Bologna, Tom Bosley, Renee Taylor, and Connie Stevens.
As an undergraduate at Northwestern University, Michael was one of only twelve students selected for the two-year intensive Creative Writing for the Media Program, alongside some of today’s most renowned Hollywood writers and producers. He also launched Chicagoland’s still-thriving “Jewish Theatre Ensemble” in 1995. Michael later attended Hofstra’s Maurice Dean School of Law at night on a full merit scholarship and was selected as a Dean’s Scholar and Dean’s Ambassador, all while working in the entertainment industry during the day. He has also completed UCLA’s yearlong professional screenwriting program.
Michael is primary counsel to the non-profit Long Island Film/Television Foundation and he continues to serve New York City and Long Island entrepreneurs, filmmakers, creators, recording artists, writers, and innovators.
Elric Kane, Film & Digital Content Program Chair, Hussian College Los Angeles
Elric Kane is an award-winning filmmaker who over the last decade has directed films in both New Zealand and USA. His independent feature films Kissy Kissy and Murmurs have screened at several international film festivals. Elric is also a successful film podcaster hosting the ‘COLORS OF THE DARK’ podcast for Fangoria Magazine as well as the ‘PURE CINEMA’ podcast for the New Beverly Cinema featuring filmmaking guests such as Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson and Quentin Tarantino. . Additionally, Kane is also a passionate film curator who hosts screenings around LA and managed the popular indie film venue ‘Jumpcut café’ and created the HOLLYWOOD UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL. He has taught film production and aesthetics at Columbia College in Chicago and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.
“Creating a Trailer with Impact” Workshop
Presented by Media School at Indiana University
9:30AM - 11:00AM - THEATER 24
Description:
This presentation and workshop will look at basic elements for creating movie trailers that can boost interest in your film—whether it be potential for audiences, festivals, or university admissions. This workshop will look at existing trailers, as well as, approaches to for filmmakers to edit trailers that properly build solid expectations.
Presented by: Craig Erpelding, MFA, Director of the BFA in Cinematic Arts at Indiana University
Craig Erpelding is an award-winning Independent Filmmaker with projects screened at venues and festivals across 4 continents. His textbook, Filmmaking with Intention: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating Engaging Motion Pictures, is now in First Edition from Cognella Publishing.
Erpelding earned his MFA in Directing from DePaul University’s Digital Cinema Program in 2015, with prior educational experience at UCLA for Screenwriting and a B.A. of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University.
While he has written and directed various short films and an independent television pilot, Erpelding has also worked for several network TV shows including FOX’s “Empire,” ABC’s “Mind Games,” and NBC’s “Crisis”, he has sat on a committee for the Producers Guild of America, as well as, a juror for various Oscar-qualifying film festivals. He was a journalist and editor for various filmmaking trade magazines. His academic and creative work focuses on narrative cinema and episodic and serialized TV development and developing, producing, and directing motion pictures via intention for audience engagement with a focus on visual language, camera work and postproduction techniques.
“Cinematography: Framing and Composition” Workshop
Presented by Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University
9:30AM - 11:00AM - THEATER 25
Description:
How the elements on screen are arranged and where your eyes go when you encounter an image - moving or otherwise - and how these visual elements convey an intended message.
Presented by: George P. Nicholas, Associate Professor of Radio, Television, Film
George Nicholas is an award-winning New York - based filmmaker and director of photography. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to first-generation Greek immigrants, picked up his father's love for photography at age 7, and wrote and directed his first play at 11. He studied drama at the University of Texas, Arlington and was a founding cast member of the Dallas chapter of ComedySportz.
He moved to NYC in 1998, worked as a sound technician for Off-Broadway Theater and as a roadie, working with bands like the Rolling Stones, before moving a bit north to attend the Conservatory of Film at the State University of New York at Purchase, where he graduated with a BFA in Film Production. He has worked as a cinematographer professionally since 1992, and his work has been shown worldwide in festivals and on the air.
George has produced and directed music videos, including Elizabeth Cook's "Sunday Morning," which aired on VH-1, GAC, and CMT. His 2004 short film, "Exact Fare," won the CINE Golden Eagle Award, and his experimental documentary film, "Antigone" won the Nostimon Imar Award (for films of the Greek/Cypriot diaspora) at its premiere at the 2017 Cyprus International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Kerry International Film Festival in Killarney, Ireland and Best Experimental at the West Chester Film Festival. His next film, an animated short, “Smoke n Suds”, recently completed a successful festival run, including two screenings at the Raindance International Film Festival, as well as winning a Bronze Remy at the Houston International Film Festival. His most recent film, NOSTOS, which he directed and produced, has just started its festival run, and will be premiering at the Tacoma Film Festival on October 11th. George briefly returned to theater in 2021, designing the lighting and sound for “Onassis,” Anthony Skordi’s one-man show about Aristotle Onassis, which ran Off Broadway at New York’s historic American Theatre of Actors after previewing in Atlanta, Georgia. He then designed the lighting for Nicholas Kennedy’s “Jean Jackets and Red Pandas” at Trinity Theater.
He is currently an Associate Professor of Radio, Television, Film at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and prior to that taught at and was the Technical Director of Film and New Media at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. He resides in Mamaroneck, New York with his wife, Marie, their son Peter, and three lovely cats. He is a bassist and vocalist for the The Quarter Moon and occasionally performs stand-up comedy.
“A Conversation with FSUFilm Alumni –Life After Film School” Panel
Presented by Florida State University
11:15AM - 12:45PM - THEATER 23
Description:
Come meet some alumni of Florida State University! We will have an open conversation about their time at FSU Film, working in NYC, and life after graduation.
Meet The Panelists:
Raymond Knudsen
Raymond Knudsen is a Filipino-American director, producer and production coordinator based in NYC. He has coordinated commercial productions for brands such as Nike, LG, Remy Martin, and Truist. As a director, Knudsen aims to tell slice-of-life stories within the worlds of bodybuilding, American football and dysfunctional families that remind people they are not alone. Knudsen founded Big Blue Pictures in 2020, and his latest short film “Prep” is a bodybuilding fever dream fueled by childhood trauma, food porn and acid techno music. The film will be released in early 2023.
Dustin Waldman
Dustin Waldman is a filmmaker, writer and editor based in New York. He’s made a number of short films that have screened at film festivals - one of which Vulture described as "cringe-comedy psychodrama." His editing work includes fellow FSU alum Xander Robin’s feature Are We Not Cats, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and Jessica Beshir’s hypnotic documentary Faya Dayi, which premiered at Sundance. He has also edited many short-form documentaries for the Museum of Modern Art.
Stefany Espinoza
Stefany Espinoza, a Venezuelan filmmaker, studied Film, Video, and New Media at Florida Atlantic University and before coming to FSU for a Masters degree in Film Production. After graduating from FSU she stayed to teach four editing courses and a world cinema class before moving to Brooklyn, where she currently works as a freelance editor and production assistant.
“Directing Actors” Workshop
Presented by Hussian College Los Angeles In Studio
11:15AM - 12:45PM - THEATER 24
Description:
This workshop provides filmmakers with a practical introduction to the foundational concepts and skills of acting, with an additional emphasis on the fundamentals of collaborating with actors as a director, producer, or writer. Rather than train students in a particular acting ‘technique,’ this workshop will introduce a basic awareness and freedom of expression that will be adaptable to any future study, production, or on-set demands. These skills will serve as the basis for understanding how actors prepare a role, take adjustments from the director, and collaborate with filmmakers to achieve a shared and common goal in performance.
Presented By: Jeremy Kent Jackson, Associate Dean Of Performing And Entertainment Arts + Program Director, Acting, Hussian College Los Angeles (HCLA In Studio)
Jeremy Kent Jackson is an accomplished actor, educator, and entrepreneur. He has acted professionally in more than 60 plays, dozens of commercials, voiceovers, and films, and numerous television shows including YOU, CSI, Without a Trace, and Drake and Josh. Most notably, he recurred for four years as Douglas Davenport on the Disney XD live-action series, Lab Rats, and played a lead role in the motion capture project, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In 2006 he founded the theatre education company DiscoveryOnstage where he continues to serve as Co-Creator/Creative Director. He holds his BFA in Acting, completed a six-level improvisation program at Minneapolis’ Brave New Workshop where he performed nightly for more than a year, and recently earned his M.S. in Management and Leadership. Jackson has been teaching and coaching actors of all ages for more than 25 years.
“Auditioning for the Camera Technique” Workshop
Presented by NY Conservatory for Dramatic Arts
11:15AM - 12:45PM - THEATER 25
Description:
So what’s different about on camera acting? Explore the technical and artistic adjustments that create a compelling visual story. Bring a prepared monologue and take advantage of this opportunity to move your work into a new medium. Find out how strong choices, both emotional and behavioral, need to be adapted for the screen.
Presented by: Jason Liebman, Film & Television Faculty - NYCDA
Jason has worked on new plays with The Atlantic Theatre Co., Ensemble Studio Theatre, the O’Neill, Women’s Project, the Lark, New Dramatists and more. He spent the first few years of his career in NYC, appearing in productions of Hamlet (title role), The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, and As You Like It, among others. He works regularly in commercials and voice over, has appeared on TV in Shades of Blue, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Madam Secretary and in sketches on Letterman, Conan and Jimmy Kimmel. Films include Arranged, Motion Sickness and Tarab. Jason earned his Masters from NYU in Media, and did graduate work at Concordia University back home in Montreal.
“A Brief Introduction to Virtual Production” Workshop
Presented by Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College
1:00PM - 2:30PM - THEATER 23
Description:
This workshop presumes little to no prior experience in computer graphics, game engines, or production in general. The aim is to introduce students to the foundations of virtual production, why it’s important, what is required, and how it’s rapidly changing the pre-production>production>post-production paradigm.
Presented by: Brad Lewter Assistant Professor, Television & Digital Media Production, Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College
Brad Lewter is an artist and filmmaker working primarily in animated film and interactive installation. His work has been exhibited at international venues including SIGGRAPH, FDG Bordeaux, Festival International de Cinema de Kinshasa (DRC), and the Savannah and Melbourne (AU) Int’l Animation Festivals.
He has been working in CG and mixed-media animation for 20 years and teaching for 12. He now teaches courses in animation, motion graphics design, and CG production in the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College.
“The Evolution of the Graphic Novel Industry: How to Use the Internet to Begin Making Profitable Comics Today” Workshop
Presented by Huntington University
1:00PM - 2:30PM - THEATER 24
Description:
Today it is easier to write, illustrate, and self-publish a graphic novel than ever before. In this Panel, we will cover the essential steps needed to complete your 1st comic book from start to finish. We'll also discuss how to self-publish your work, build a following along the way, and utilize platforms like Webtoons, Instagram, and TikTok to effectively market your story both during its creation and after it's completion.
Presented by: Christian Washington, Assistant Professor of Animation at Huntington University
Christian Washington is an assistant professor of animation at Huntington University. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in animation in 2013, Christian continued his training in animation and completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in animation from Ball State University in 2016. His graduate thesis film, Brotherhood, was an official selection at 12 film festivals, was featured on Amazon Prime Video, and won an award for Best Animated Feature. Christian has self-published 5 original Graphic Novels and helped Produce 29 different animated short films during his time working at Huntington University. Several of these films have gone on to win awards including 5 Student Rocky Mountain Emmys and 3 BEA awards, including 1 best of show.
“Discuss! Write! Pitch!” Workshop
Presented by New York Film Academy
1:00PM - 2:30PM - THEATER 25
There's nothing more powerful in the world than a good story. Good stories inspire, provoke and give us a chance to hold a mirror up to ourselves and society. Ultimately, stories give us equipment for living - especially if we understand and can hone our craft. During this 90 minute workshop, Randall Dottin, Chair of the Screenwriting Department at NYFA's New York City campus will demystify the fundamentals of good storytelling through discussion, screenings of short films and an exercise designed to help students build and present their own stories.
Presented by: Randall Dottin, Chair of the Screenwriting Department at New York Film Academy
Randall Dottin received his BA from Dartmouth and his MFA from the Columbia University Graduate Film Division. His thesis film A-ALIKE was licensed by HBO and won numerous awards including the Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards. His second short LIFTED was sponsored by Fox Searchlight’s program for emerging directors - the Fox Searchlab. In July 2015, Lifted premiered on CBS as part of a collection of short films. Randall recently wrote and directed FEVAH, a short film starring Russell Hornsby (The Hate U Give, Fences) and LaRoyce Hawkins (Chicago PD). His documentary series THE HOUSE I NEVER KNEW is currently in production and explores how six families in Chicago, Houston and Boston fight against becoming casualties of housing segregation. The series recently received a grant from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund. Recently, Dottin co-wrote, co-directed and produced MINE, an animated series whose pilot premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. Dottin is Chair of the Screenwriting Department at New York Film Academy’s New York City campus where his former students have won screenwriting awards, film festivals and have recently began careers as staff writers and producers on American, South African and European television shows.