All panels will be at the Regal Cinemas @ LA LIVE Stadium 14 : 1000 W Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90212
Parking in lot E&F validation at theatre for 4 hours
INDEPENDENT PITCHING PANEL and PITCH FEST: LEARN WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SELL YOUR FILM OR PROJECT
Panel 3: SATURDAY OCTOBER 13, 3:00pm-5:30pm
INDEPENDENT PITCHING PANEL and PITCH FEST: LEARN WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SELL YOUR FILM OR IDEA
Venue: LA Live – Regal Cinema , 1000 West Olympic BLVD., Los Angeles 90015 (3rd Fl-screening room)
We explore the avenues available for independent filmmakers to get their films made through the pitching process. We will have a panel of expert managers, producers, writers, and development executives who will give pointers and reveal the process of pitching in Hollywood. We will have a Q&A with the expert panelists and then you will get a chance to pitch your idea or script in front of our panel – and get direct feedback on your idea, style, and presentation. Don’t want to pitch? Just come sit, listen, and learn. Q&A to follow.
$20 per seminar ticket purchase below
Marlene Sharp (Moderator)
Marlene Sharp is a creative and business-savvy entertainment multi-hyphenate who originally hails from New Orleans, but is now a Valley girl. She is Director, Production at LEVEL-5 abby, home of video game-based franchises YO-KAI WATCH and SNACK WORLD. Previously, as Producer, TV Series, at Sega of America, Marlene worked on much more than Teen Choice Award-nominated cartoon SONIC BOOM. For example, her Hedgehog duties helped her scale the heights of nerd-dom as an official San Diego Comic-Con panelist. Learn more about Marlene and her movie star dog-child Blanche DuBois Sharp at www.pinkpoodleproductions.com
Sheila Barnes and Mary Ann (The Barnes Sisters)
Sheila Barnes and her sister Mary Ann began their career writing for Richard Jeni’s sit-com PLATYPUS MAN, then sold their comedy feature AS YOU WISH to Bill Mechanic’s Pandemonium. The sisters were Staff Writers on ABC’s LAST MAN STANDING starring Tim Allen, then landed feature assignment WIDOWS’ WORKSHOP
. They’ve served as script doctors for pilots plus episodes of two international series– EVERMOOR, the Disney Channel Worldwide’s first live-action series which successfully premiered in 160 countries, and TDCW’s ALEX AND COMPANY. The Barnes sisters’ drafts got both projects greenlit. They are also producers on the indie films ABBEY GRACE (currently out in Redbox), THE DARK WITHIN (post prod.) and female actioner ARMY OF ONE (pre prod.) In addition to winning coveted fellowships including ABC/Disney Native American and Fox, Sheila and Mary Ann were selected by the prestigious Humanitas New Voices Program. They also won the Writers Guild’s Ladies of Laughter in 2016 with their pilot DAMAGED GOODES, inspired by the fact that they live together with their husbands and brother, all in the same house near the Hollywood sign. Yes, it’s weird.
Dr. Beverly J. Graf
Dr. Beverly J. Graf lives and works in Los Angeles wearing three hats as writer, adjunct professor and story consultant.
She teaches film studies at UCLA, UCLA Extension and Pepperdine University. Before teaching and working as a writer and story consultant, Beverly sat on the other side of the desk, working for many years as Vice President of Development and Associate Producer for director Gregory Hoblit at Abilene Pictures. During her tenure at Abilene they produced five movies: Primal Fear, Fallen, Frequency, Hart’s War, Fracture, and Untraceable. They also shot a few t.v. pilots including one for a futuristic police show titled NYPD 2069, and Wanted and sold two more t.v. pilots to CBS and Paramount respectively. Abilene is also known for television megahits NYPD Blues and L.A. Law.
Last summer marked the publication of her first short story, Shikata Ga Nai, in the Sisters-in-Crime anthology, Last Exit to Murder. She is currently at work on a rewrite of her first sci-fi mystery novel featuring the same detectives. Beverly has also done one script doctor rewrite for Buena Vista, and optioned another story.
On the academic side her article: Arya, Katniss & Merida: Empowering Girls Through the Amazonian Archetype was published this fall in Classical Myth on Screen, edited by Monica Cyrino and Meredith Safran. (Palgrave/Macmillan 2015). She has worked all manner of jobs in the film industry including costume assistant, story analyst, subtitle translator, line producer, and corporate vice president for German director Percy Adlon. Her Ph.D. and M.A., both in Classics, are from Princeton University. My B.A. is from Dartmouth College.
David Kohner Zukerman
David Kohner Zuckerman is a Hollywood Producer whose latest film “A Perfect Christmas,†premiered on Hallmark last year. David’s “The Fourth Noble 
Truth,†was also released 2016, while his “Strictly Sexual†is the #1 most watched movie of all-time on Hulu. David’s other producing credits include “All I Want for Christmas†(Hallmark), “Chump Change†(Miramax) & “Caught in the Act†(Lifetime). Before heading DKZ Films, David ran Development for Silver Lion Films, where he worked on “Man on Fire†& “Crocodile Dundee in L.A.†David’s also a licensed psychotherapist, and the owner of the popular website for writers, Virtual Pitch Fest.
Â