Stareable Fest is THIS WEEKEND! Here’s the event schedule
You can still purchase tickets at filmfreeway.com/stareablefest/tickets!
Stareable Fest is a three day celebration of excellence in independent television, July 20–22, 2018 in Tribeca NYC, brought to you by the largest community of web series creators, Stareable.com.
Stareable Fest is half industry marketplace, creating face-to-face connections between independent filmmakers and decision makers at major platforms, and half creator convention, with workshops and panels about how to be a more effective filmmaker. This isn’t the same old festival, focused on screenings and awards (though we have those). Come mingle with HBO, Comedy Central, Vice, Bustle, First Look and Emmy-winning web series creators.
Buy tickets to see these awesome events here!
Friday
6–7:00pm. Two time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Bernie Su will showcase many of his interactive methods and monetization strategies starting with the groundbreaking multi-platform storytelling of Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved, which are the only YouTube-distributed series to date to have won Primetime Emmy Awards. He’ll also cover his work on his Daytime Emmy Nominated Digital Drama Series ‘Vanity,’ starring Denise Richards and Karrueche Tran while featuring exclusive sponsorship from Maybelline.
7:00pm. Networking can be awkward, especially when it takes an hour to establish context for the people around you. We’ll help you cut out the small talk and get to the good stuff, matching you to fellow filmmakers to help you meet and find new collaborators.
Saturday
9–10:00am. Led by series creator and show runner Alex LeMay, this Masterclass demystifies the business of getting paid to create content, helping creators at all stages of their careers. It dives into the most common obstacles facing creators today, like access to money, audience building, how to “get in the room” with your content buyers, and other actionable strategies to begin building a profitable content business. It will give series creators and filmmakers a new tool set they can use today to compress the time between being stuck and barely getting by to being paid premium fees to create the work you want to be known for.
Speaker: Alex LeMay, director and showrunner for digital series on YouTube Red, Go90, Disney, and more.
9am: Foreign Language Series Screening
Order: NATURAL SELECTION, Stage Fright, Too Late Baby, WOKE
9:45am: Short Form Drama Screening
Order: #WhoKilledHeather, High Life, Save Me, The Big Nothing, The Feels, Two Weeks
10:15–11:15am. The co-creator and co-star of IFC’s new show, Frank & Lamar, which he successfully pitched to IFC as a web series and, after its first season, a full length television series, walks you through how you can refine a pitch to feel as confident as possible in the way you present your idea.
Speaker: Carl Foreman Jr., co-creator and co-star of IFC’s Frank & Lamar.
11:00am-12:30pm. Independent Production Fund (IPF) and Ontario Media Development Corp (OMDC) present the future of Canadian television filmmakers in this dedicated screening block.
12:45pm: Short Form Comedy Block 1 Screening
Order: BARBELLE, BRUCE, Driving Arizona, Educated Fleas, Gal Pals, Gritzmore
11:30am-12:30pm. This panel will focus on actionable ways women can get ahead in their filmmaking careers, acknowledging how industry and culture have made this difficult in the past. It will also offer specific feedback on how indie creators can improve and empower representation in their own projects.
Speakers: Abra Potkin, Head of Talent Relations and Strategy at Oath/Verizon
Daryn Strauss, WGA Award-winning filmmaker, creator of the web series Downsized
Sinead Persaud, Writer/Actress/Producer for Shipwrecked Comedy
Keisha Zollar, Actress/Comedienne, Staff Writer on The Opposition with Jordan Klepper
About Bustle Digital Group: Bustle Digital Group is the largest premium publisher reaching millennial women. Every month, nearly 80 million readers turn to Bustle Digital Group publications — Bustle, Romper, Elite Daily, and The Zoe Report — for impactful conversation around the interests and issues engaging women today. Focusing on everything from pop culture to parenthood, Bustle Digital Group’s content leverages the power of a diverse set of voices from coast to coast. Bustle Digital Group does business with over 300 global brands, and ranks among the most popular media companies with our demographic on social media. Bustle Digital Group was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles and London.
2–3:00pm. Peeling back the curtain from increasingly opaque digital monetization opportunities to discuss on how to build a sustainable career online. This panel will cover navigating the digital monetization landscape as well as how creators can leverage their content and their communities to build more sustainable independent careers for themselves.
Speakers: Valerian Bennett, Founder/CEO of PopChest
Brent Horowitz, VP of Business & Corporate Development at Patreon. Patreon is a membership platform that connects creators with their biggest fans and enables those fans to become paying members, or patrons, of their favorite creators
Christina Raia, Director of Crowdfunding at Seed&Spark
About PopChest: PopChest is a blockchain-based media distribution platform. We enable content creators to get paid directly, in real-time, for every video view. And, we give viewers the smoothest possible video-on-demand experience with no signups, no subscriptions, and no commitments.
Think Netflix with micropayments…a la carte programming to the extreme.
2pm: Short Form Comedy Block 2 Screening
Order: How to Buy A Baby, Killing It!, Lili & Eduard present: Whipping Up Trouble!, Myrtle & Willoughby, Off Kilter, Peoplewatching
3:15–4:15pm. Teaching filmmakers how they can leverage their existing and future work to break into more mainstream positions with actionable ways to monetize, pitch, sell, or otherwise get hired.
Speakers: Joshua Caldwell, director, writer, producer and MTV Movie Award winner, formerly of the YouTube Premium channel BlackBoxTV.
Christine DáVila, Creative Executive at Stage 13, a division of Warner Bros. Digital Networks.
Daniel Schloss, director and producer of Truth Slash Fiction, ‘best comedy’ winner at Seriesfest and ITVFest
Charlie Sohne, co-creator of Truth Slash Fiction, ‘best comedy’ winner at Seriesfest and ITVFest
3:15pm: Short Form Comedy Block 3 Screening
Order: PSUSY, Small Cop, Somewhere in Highland Park, Space Riders: Division Earth II, Supa Supa, THIS IS DESMONDO RAY!, Temporary Guardian
4:30–5:30pm. Internet TV has only existed for a decade, made possible through the rise of platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. But these platforms, while they’ve revolutionized distribution, have their own set of challenges and missing features. This panel will cover how new platforms are solving for the needs of the industry and moving us towards a world where independent television filmmaking is a sustainable career.
Speakers: Angie Gaffney, Co-Founder of Stage 18 Chicago
Ted Reilly, Executive Director of Chicago Media Angels
Michael Melamedoff, Partner & Director of Development at Cowboy Bear Ninja
Caroline Christopher, Head Of Development at Oath/Verizon Studios
6:00pm. Pre-selected finalists will get 90 seconds to pitch their show concept live to our panel of industry judges, including executives from Comedy Central and PBS Digital. The winner will receive a mentorship meeting with HBO! Submit now to be considered!
Sunday
9–10:00am. This panel will focus on actionable ways people of color can get ahead in their filmmaking careers, acknowledging how industry and culture have made this difficult in the past. It will also offer specific feedback on how indie creators can improve and empower representation in their own projects
Speakers: Carl Foreman Jr., co-creator and co-star of IFC’s Frank & Lamar.
Jon Truei, writer and filmmaker, creator of the web series Gamers Generation
Sara Rodriguez, Senior Vice President of Global Video and Executive Producer of Digital Content at VICE Media
9am: Drama Block 1 Screening
Order: Keep Me Posted, Restoration, Three Trembling Cities, Split
10:15–11:15am. In this session, hear firsthand from PBS senior director and Grammy-nominated executive producer Brandon Arolfo. He’ll draw upon more than decade of experience working with TV networks, multi-channel networks, large brands, and icons to share valuable insights into his development process. Attendees will walk away knowing how a digital executive evaluates content and talent in the context of strategy and development, focusing on things like understanding the potential audience, the economics of a show, the positioning required, and cost factors.
Speaker: Brandon Arolfo, Senior Director of Content Development at PBS
10:15am: Comedy Block 1 Screening
Order: BLAST, Brooklynification, Cuddle, Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party, Kristal Clear
11:30am-12:30pm. Learn: why audience building is essential for a film career (and crowdfunding); how to define, find, talk to, and grow your audience; how to prepare for a successful crowdfunding campaign (incl. goal, incentives, communication plan); why staged financing might be right for you; and why filmmakers who use Seed&Spark have a 87% chance of reaching their goal.
Speaker: Christina Raia, Director of Crowdfunding for Seed&Spark
11:30am: Comedy Block 2 Screening
Order: Filth City, The Gamers: The Shadow Menace
12:45–1:45pm.Making a great series is no longer enough to separate yourself from a crowd, but it can be hard to find and activate a fanbase to propel you from project to project. This panel will focus on ways of identifying, authentically reaching, and, most importantly, keeping an audience with your content.
Speakers: Alex LeMay, director and showrunner for digital series on YouTube Red, Go90, Disney, and more.
J. Sibley Law, director of of Tango Dango Awards and former chairman for the International Academy for Web Television (IAWTV)
Eugene Sun Park, Founder and Executive Director of Full Spectrum Features, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to diversity in film and media
12:45pm: Drama Block 2 Screening
Order: Shepherd, Strowlers
2:45–3:45pm. This panel will focus on actionable ways members of the LGBTQ+ community can get ahead in their filmmaking careers, acknowledging how industry and culture have made this difficult in the past. It will also offer specific feedback on how indie creators can improve and empower representation in their own projects
Speakers:
Hye Yun Park, filmmaker, writer and performer, creator of the web series Hey Yun and BKPI
Diana Tourjée, writer and host, Vice Media
Sean Torrington, CEO/Co-founder of SLAY
2:30pm: Documentary Screening
Order: 1 Minute Meal, KYNNSTLAH, Naturally Ours, Shotgun Boogie
7:00pm. Presenting awards for best in show in each genre category as well as excellence in writing, acting, editing, cinematography, directing, and innovative new media elements. We will also announce the winner of the Best of Stareable Fest grand prize.
