Finance and Distribution: How to get the money to make your film!
Panel 4: SUNDAY OCTOBER 14, 10am-12noon
How to get the money to make your film!
Venue: LA Live – Regal Cinema: 1000 West Olympic BLVD., Los Angeles 90015 (3rd Fl-screening room)
If you are an independent filmmaker the hardest part is getting the funding to actually make your film. This panel of experts will provide real world solutions to your issues and illustrate methods that can be mastered to make your dream a reality. Q & A to follow.
$20 per seminar Ticket purchase below
Deborah Gilels (Moderator)
Deborah Gilels experience in the entertainment industry has run the gamut from film/television production and development, to mergers and acquisitions in the international film market and public relations for film companies, writers, actors, authors and directors. From 2000- 2014 she was a senior executive with the Japanese media company Media Design Institute, acquiring television product for Japan TV and producing an entertainment talk show for Japan and South Korea.   As a development executive, she has also worked with JVC’s entertainment division.
Gilels has run a successful media consulting PR company for the past 14 years, assisting writers, filmmakers, and actors launch their careers in the entertainment industry, as well as promote independent feature films and documentaries, by way of public relations, marketing, distribution and project development.
Among the films she has launched are: Keiko the Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy, Cevin Soling’s award-winning documentary The War on Kids on Pivot, the Chazz Palminteri- Andie MacDowell family drama Mighty Fine for Lionsgate, the US premiere of the documentary Fallout and James Haven’s short film Court of Conscience starring his father Jon Voight and the late Anton Yelchin.  She did publicity for anime series Lupin 3rd Part 4 on Adult Swim in May 2017, Lupin the 3rd Part 5, Megalobox on Crunchyroll. She also was the lead publicist on Fathom Events release of Hayao Miyazaki’s Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro, where she set up and produced the filmed interview with John Lasseter used to promote the film’s release.
Gilels is currently launching the indie film The World Without You starring Radha Mitchell, PJ Byrne and James Tupper, Valerie McCaffrey’s acclaimed short Dirty Bomb, about the Jewish prisoners who sabotaged Hitler’s V2 Bomb, and Hajji starring The Walking Dead’s Ross Marquand.  Â
She has successfully promoted films in festivals such as Dances With Films, LA Femme, HollyShorts, Starz, Toronto International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, New Filmmakers, St. Louis, UN Film Festival, and has represented feature films and documentaries in markets such as AFM, Berlin, Cannes, and MIP-TV.
She executive produced the award-winning documentaries Bearing the Torch: Politics & the Games for ESPN/Hearst Entertainment and The Gilligan Manifesto soon to be released. Â Â Prior to that, as a development executive and producer Gilels collaborators included actors Robert Duvall, Jenna Malone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Rachel Leigh Cook; writers and directors A. Scott Berg, Michael Hirst, and Paul Verhoeven. Companies and producers such as: Warp Films, Disney, ESPN, Wind Dancer Films, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema/TV.
She has also held executive positions at Fox, Warner Brothers TV and PFG Entertainment. In that capacity, the films  she has worked on as a development executive include: Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead starring Christina Applegate and David Duchovny, Crossing the Mob starring Jason Bateman, Showdown in Little Tokyo starring the late Brandon Lee and Cary- Hiroyuki Tagawa, Penthathlon starring Dolph Lundgren, Enemy of the State starring Will Smith, A Cooler Climate starring Sally Field and Judy Davis, and A Slight Case of Murder starring William H. Macy.
Gilels is an active board member for LA Femme International Film Festival.
Contact: ddgilels@prodigy.net   or 818-758-6509
Larry Namer
An entertainment industry veteran with over 40 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan Global Entertainment Group (Metan), a venture created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. An accomplished entrepreneur, Mr. Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over $3.5 billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas. Â
Among those companies are Comspan Communications that pioneered Western forms of entertainment in the former Soviet Union, including the syndication of the popular soap opera Santa Barbara, which ran for 10 years in the region, and Steeplechase Media that served as the primary consultant to Microsoft’s MiTV for developing interactive TV applications. Steeplechase was also involved in the early development of ITV programming, creating interactive episodes of Baywatch, Pacific Blue and over 250 episodes of Judge Judy. Mr. Namer was also the Primary Strategic Consultant to The Documentary Channel.
A cable industry pioneer, Mr. Namer began his career in 1971 at Time Incorporated Manhattan Cable, and served as Vice President and General Manager of Valley Cable Television (VCTV) in Los Angeles, the nation’s first 61-channel two-way cable system. His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming. In 1989, he was awarded the prestigious President’s Award from the National Cable Television Association. Most recently, Mr. Namer was honored with the “Outstanding Contribution to Asian Television Award†at the 19th Asian Television Awards in Singapore.
Mr. Namer is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on new technology and how it is fundamentally altering the business of international media and entertainment. Among the companies that have enlisted his expertise are Microsoft, Paul Allen’s Digeo, World Digital Media Group (a joint venture of Radio Shack), EchoStar and Sirius Radio network.
Today, Mr. Namer serves as President/CEO, Metan. Metan’s flagship series is Hello! Hollywood, a weekly entertainment news series tailored to Chinese audiences, offering up the latest in celebrity, pop culture and lifestyle news. Since its launch in summer 2009, the series is now available on over 40 television stations in China and six in North America reaching over one billion Mandarin speaking viewers. Hello! Hollywood’s premier content is also available on 10 of China’s top online portals, reaching more than four million viewers weekly, and recently was revamped for Metan’s new HOLLYWOOD CHANNEL on Tudou.
Metan is currently adapting popular Western TV formats for localized versions, including Go Dance! from Ukraine and Elite Model Search. The company has also developed the original sitcom Return to Da Foo Tsun and the recently launched Web series Planet Homebuddies, that has garnered an online audience of over seven million only one month since its launch. Metan was instrumental in joining together top China production houses Mei Tian and H&R Century TV with Warner Brothers International Television Production and the creators of Gossip Girl to develop a groundbreaking new teen drama series for China, to which Metan is also a consultant. Recently, Metan and a coalition of North America’s top TV and film writers partnered to launch Metan Wen Zhi Ku, a joint venture linking Western writing talent with transmedia projects for the China market. He also serves as Senior Advisor, Strategic Development to Eurocinema On Demand and is the co-founder of MINGYIAN INC., a China brand management startup for Western celebrities and influencers.
Susan Simms
Susan Simms is the Los Angeles Liaison for the Florida Governor’s Office of Film & Entertainment. She is responsible for all aspects of the operation of the LA office and has worked on over 6000 motion picture, television, commercial, documentary and still photography projects since relocating to Los Angeles in January of 1994. Her office acts as the primary liaison between West Coast clients, state government and the network of 54 local film offices throughout the State of Florida.
Prior to moving to LA, Susan was President of Multi-Media Marketing in Orlando, FL, a full-service entertainment marketing company specializing in motion picture and television development, promotion and packaging. Her clients included independent motion picture and television producers and production companies, large format production companies, toy designers and manufacturers and international still photographers and videographers.Â
Before that she was a partner in Chameleon Entertainment Group, specializing in co-productions with Latin American partners and, prior to that was Director of Marketing for Storer Entertainment Group, where her duties included assisting in the opening of six large format theaters in China. Preceding, she was the Vice President of Land and Leisure Advertising and was responsible for all major clients along the Eastern seaboard. She began her career working for Bob Hope, packaging his quarterly television specials and promoting his signature Bob Hope Desert Classic in Palm Springs.  Â
Susan is a founder of the Florida Chapter of Women in Film, a member of Women in Film/Los Angeles, and an Advocate member of the American Film Institute. She was the co-founder of thpe Central Florida Film Institute, co-founder of the Central Florida Film Council and a board member of the Florida Entertainment Commission.
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Matt Flynn
Mr. Flynn has been in the entertainment field for thirty years, having worked out of 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Reliance MediaWorks. Â Matt has been employed by Disney, NBC Universal Television, Discovery Channel and by independent film production companies.
Flynn wrote and directed the film HACK!, which was distributed by Lionsgate, Universal and Paramount. The movie starred Academy Award Nominee Burt Young, Lochlyn Munro and Danica McKellar with its production offices at Universal Studios.  Matt Executive Produced and was Post-Production Producer on the feature SHARON 123 starring Gina Rodriguez, Skyler Samuels, Keith David, Nadine Velazquez and Erinn Hayes. The romantic comedy was directed by Mark Brown (BARBERSHOP writer/producer) and released in 2018.  He co-wrote the comedy I’M NOT LIKE THAT NO MORE, reviewed as a “cross between KNOCKED UP and STEP BROTHERS” and scripted episodes for TLC’s Award Winning Television Show OVERHAULIN’.  A prolific writer, Matt has had various screenplays optioned and/or produced by major and indie studios. Â
Matt is President of the film sales company, 10:10 Global Entertainment, which represents hundreds of classic films as well as newer music documentaries. Â Flynn holds US and Canadian passports and is a vested member of the Screen Actors Guild. His production company, Random Cow Pictures, is based in Los Angeles.
Tiffany Boyle
For more than 10 years, Tiffany Boyle has leveraged her business-oriented sales and packaging skills to bring hundreds of films and documentaries to fruition. Since 2017 alone, Tiffany has optimized clients’ financial and business positions in more than 35 films and documentaries. Through her critical review of content and strategic use of Ramo Law resources, Tiffany creates successful content packaging that bridges the needs of both client and industry demands.
Tiffany connects filmmakers with producers, co-producers, executive producers, co-finance partners, distributors, agencies and other industry representatives. Recently, she led the sales & packaging for “Tragedy Girls,†and has also served as executive producer on select films in 2018, including “White Rabbit,†which premiered at Sundance, “Better Start Running†and “Ashes in the Snow.â€
Experienced with project budgets ranging from microsized to $30 million, Tiffany has helped to establish and expand these high-value sales and packaging resources, uniquely accessed outside of the traditional management company and agency model, since joining Ramo Law in 2009.