AFCI Locations Show

Sharon Waxman and Seth MacFarlane at TheGrill 2012

For the first time, TheWrap brings its unique, high-level conference, TheGrill, to the AFCI Locations Show.  A full day of on-stage interviews of the most relevant leaders on the film financing landscape, the program will explore the rapid change in China, the film industry's most critical new market, and new sources of financing and incentives around the world.

TheGrill is pleased to announce keynotes and panelists for the June 28^th conference:

* Non-stop intelligence that will keep you on the cutting edge of the shifting trends in film financing and production

* Special presentation of new technology and exclusive market research

* Closing cocktail party where you can network with the industry elite

TheGrill @ Locations Show Schedule: Friday, June 28th, 9am-6:30pm

The Road to China: Global Finance and the Changing Film Landscape

Register for TheGrill Conference Now!

Special thanks to our premiere sponsor:

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Speakers and Moderators:

SPEAKER: Linsdsay Conner, Partner & Co-Chair, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

LINDSAY CONNER is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Entertainment and Media Practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP in Los Angeles. Mr. Conner focuses on finance, production, distribution and M&A deals in the entertainment and media industries, and was honored in Variety’s “2012 Dealmakers Impact Report” as well as Variety’s “2012 Legal Impact Report: 50 Game-Changing Attorneys.” He advises film studios and television networks, production and distribution companies, financial institutions, private equity groups and other investors, on a wide variety of entertainment transactions, including the finance and acquisition of entertainment companies and assets, and domestic and international finance and distribution of film slates, television series, and individual film and television projects. Mr. Conner received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and his B.A., summa cum laude, from UCLA, where he was Student Body President.

SPEAKER: Mark Driscoll, President & Founder, LOOK

MARK DRISCOLL, President, Executive Producer and Co-founder of the visual effects house LOOK, is responsible for management and long-term strategic planning, as well as serving as Executive Producer for all of the company’s key projects. These projects include current feature film, special venue and episodic television projects for Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney and Sony Pictures. Recent film and television projects include , Warm Bodies, Life of Pi, Moonrise Kingdom, Underworld Awakening, The Muppets, Limitless, Black Swan, “Bones”, “Nashville”, and “Game of Thrones.” Driscoll is a graduate of MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering and architecture. He worked in the technology and financial industries in Boston until he moved to LA to start his career in film, a dream of his since working in theater for the Hasty Pudding in Boston. At Digital Domain Driscoll produced live-action projects and digital postproduction. He also served as digital effects production manager at Blue Sky/VIFX before launching LOOK in 1997. His original vision was to start a full-service visual effects company that focused on high-quality computer graphics for independent films and small productions. While the company has grown and the vision has expanded, the focus on working collaboratively with directors and artists still drives Mark’s working philosophy. Mark, lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son and, in his spare time, enjoys following the latest political banter.

SPEAKER: Chris Fenton, President, DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group

CHRIS FENTON is the President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group and General Manager of DMG North America. He worked as a motion picture agent at the William Morris Agency from 1994 to 2002. Since then, he has been the chief architect in creating new business opportunities for DMG with North American based partners, and, most recently, has concentrated his efforts in forming partnerships with various Hollywood studios for the development, production, marketing, and distribution of various forms of international content in China.

SPEAKER:  Stuart Ford, Founder & CEO, IM Global

STUART FORD oversees IM Global’s day to day production, financing, foreign sales, acquisitions, marketing, publicity, financial and legal operations as well as being the Company’s senior strategic decision maker. In addition to becoming one of the most prolific and high profile independent film financing, production and international sales and distribution companies in Hollywood, IM Global has, under Ford’s stewardship with a library of more than 100 titles, consolidated output deals in 130 countries worldwide.  Ford began his career in the early nineties as an entertainment attorney in London before moving to New York in 1997 to join Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s Miramax Films where he filled a variety of senior roles including Co-Head of the company’s Acquisitions division and Co-Head of the company’s international sales and distribution operation Miramax International.  In late 2010 the UK’s Guardian newspaper listed Ford as one of the 50 most influential individuals in global cinema.

SPEAKER: Kattie Kotok, EVP of US Production, British Film Commission

KATTIE KOTOK is Executive Vice President of US Production for the British Film Commission (BFC).  In this role, Kattie is leading the effort in the US to build upon the excellent levels of international productions coming into the UK and ensure the US film industry continues to utilize the UK's world-class production infrastructure and talent base.  Kattie works with studios, producers, agencies and executives to identify projects best suited for the UK and fully support them throughout their time in Britain.  The BFC has recently commenced work in the television business alongside the introduction of a new UK TV tax incentive.  Kattie has been instrumental in introducing the UK to the US television sector and developing a strong TV client base.  Prior to her work at the BFC, Kattie spent nine years working with National Geographic Films (NGF).  Kattie was Vice President of Acquisitions and Production and was instrumental in NGF's acquiring and releasing the award-winning hit MARCH OF THE PENGUINS with Warner Independent Pictures, the Oscar nominated film THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL and other titles including RESTREPO, AMREEKA and LIFE IN A DAY. 

SPEAKER: Amy Lemisch, Executive Director, California Film Commission

AMY LEMISCH oversees all of the state's efforts to facilitate motion picture, television and commercial production. She was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in May 2004, and continues to serve for Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Under her leadership, the Commission coordinates with all levels of state and local government to promote California as a production locale. In addition to overseeing the Commission's wide range of support services, Ms. Lemisch also serves as the state's leading advocate for educating legislators, production industry decision makers and the public at large about the value of filming in California. Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Lemisch was instrumental in the creation, passage and implementation of the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program, which was enacted in 2009 to help curb runaway production. Prior to her appointment at the Commission, Ms. Lemisch served for more than 15 years as a producer for Penny Marshall’s company - Parkway Productions. Her credits include: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS, THE PREACHER’S WIFE, RENAISSANCE MAN,  AWAKENINGS, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN and CALENDAR GIRL. Ms. Lemisch is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America. 

MODERATOR:  Brent Lang, Senior Writer, The Wrap News Inc.

BRENT LANG is a Senior Reporter at TheWrap.com, where he covers film, home entertainment, new media, and other offshoots of the entertainment business. Recently, he has reported on the impact of digital conversion on independent movie theaters, the dominance of television profits at major media companies, and the rapid growth of the foreign box office. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia University's Journalism School, Lang previously covered business and politics for CBSNews.com, Forbes, and The Patriot Ledger, among others. He joined TheWrap in October 2009.

SPEAKER: Namit Malhotra, CEO, Chairman and Founder, Prome Focus World

NAMIT MALHOTRA is responsible for all decision-making with respect to business, people and technology. Born into a family of three generations of working Bollywood professionals, Malhotra has been immersed in the movie business his entire life. Starting in the late 1990s, he helped build Prime Focus from a one-room editing suite to become one of the world’s foremost providers of creative and technology services for the entertainment industry. The visionary force behind Prime Focus’ success, Malhotra’s tech-savvy, hands-on approach has paid huge benefits for his company and its clients

SPEAKER: Franklin Leonard, Founder, The Black List

FRANKLIN LEONARD is the founder of the Black List, the yearly publication highlighting Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays and the startup birthed to continue its mission.  Over 250 Black List scripts have been produced as feature films earning more than 140 Academy Award nominations including three of the last five Best Pictures and seven of the last twelve screenwriting Oscars. Franklin has worked in development at Universal Pictures and the production companies of Will Smith, Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Goldwyn. Before Los Angeles and all things film related, Franklin was - at different times - a business analyst at McKinsey & Co., a weekly columnist for the Trinidad Guardian in Port-au-Spain, Trinidad, and the communications director for John Cranley's 2000 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio's first district.  Since 2010, he has been named one of Hollywood Reporter’s 30 Under 30, Black Enterprise magazine’s “40 Emerging Leaders for Our Future,” AOL Black Voices “30 Black Hollywood Game Changers” and Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.”

SPEAKER: Matt Mazzeo, Partner, Lowercase Capital

MATT MAZZEO, a partner at Lowercase Capital, advises and invests into early stage companies at the junction of media and technology. Prior to Lowercase Capital, Matt spearheaded many of the digital and venture efforts at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the world’s leading entertainment and sports agency. Matt shaped the agency's seed stage investment strategy and also fostered the founding of CAA’s own start-up companies, including Funny or Die, WhoSay, and Moonshark. Along the way, Matt recruited top talent, built out operating models, and helped raise over $90M from top institutional partners including Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, Amazon, Qualcomm, Comcast Ventures, and Tencent. Throughout his career, Matt has represented and advised top talent in television, film, fashion, music, and sports on their content deals in digital, social media, and mobile distribution. Matt received his A.B. degree from Harvard University.

SPEAKER:  Larry Namer, President / CEO / Co-Founder, Metan Development Group

LARRY NAMER is 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 Development 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. 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, available on over 40 television stations in China and six in North America reaching over one billion Mandarin speaking viewers. 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. 

SPEAKER:  Jon Niermann, Founder, West Meets East Productions

JON NIERMANN built his corporate entertainment career of over 20 years with The Walt Disney Company where he was President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific, and as President of Asia for Electronic Arts, one of the world’s leading interactive game developer and publishers.  In 2008, Niermann founded West Meets East Productions HK Ltd, a multi-platform (television, film, music, live, animation, sports, digital) content production company which focuses on bringing Asia-inspired content to the West in addition to Western formats to the East.  In April, 2010, WMEP became majority shareholder and founder of FarWest Entertainment launching  “Project Lotus” and culminating in the formation of the world’s first Pan-Asian girl group, “Blush,” which has performed and toured with Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, Jessie J, The Wanted, Diana Ross, and others.  In 2012, FarWest helped broker the deal to bring PSY and his “Gangnam Style” fame over to the US.  The company has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Altos, CA and partnerships with various companies such as Quincy Jones Productions, ROAR and CAA.

SPEAKER: Jeff Okun, SVP, Prana Studios

JEFFREY A. OKUN, Senior V.P., Visual Effects for Prana Studios, recently completed work on 20^th Century Fox’s Oscar nominated feature film, HITCHCOCK and THE WATCH as well as Disney’s JOHN CARTER OF MARS and several other high profile projects. Okun, known for creating ‘organic’ and invisible effects, as well as spectacular ‘tent-pole’ visual effects that blend seamlessly into the storytelling aspect of the project, has won the VES AWARD for OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS for his work on THE LAST SAMURAI.  He has been nominated for 2 other VES Awards as well as numerous other awards. Jeff has also delivered wide-ranging effects in award winning films such as BLOOD DIAMOND, STARGATE, SPHERE, RED PLANET, DEEP BLUE SEA, LOLITA, and THE LAST STARFIGHTER. Additionally he oversaw the rush 3D conversion of CLASH OF THE TITIANs for Warner. (For a full list of credits please refer to his CV.) Okun is Chair of the Visual Effects Society for his 6^th year. He also created the visual effects tracking and bidding software that is in wide use within the industry today, as well as the revolutionary visual effects techniques dubbed the "PeriWinkle Effect" and the "Pencil Effect”. 

SPEAKER: Franck Priot, COO, French Film Commission

FRANCK PRIOT is the Chief Operating Officer of Film France, the French Film Commission. His areas of responsibility include relationships with foreign producers, and overseeing the Tax Rebate for International Productions, which has been implemented by the French State in 2009. Priot is currently spearheading Film France’s efforts to increase relationships with China, having already worked with numerous Chinese films and television series. He has overseen Film France efforts to support visiting productions such as Inception, Midnight in Paris, Marie Antoinette, Smurfs 2, Mr. Bean Holydays, Hereafter, Despicable Me, Dr Seuss The Lorax…. Priot is the key writer of the yearly guide, France : The Incentives Guide, and he is considered as an expert on the movie financing landscape, frequently quoted in French media. Prior to this, Priot worked for the French weekly trade paper Ecran Total, covering French movie production and the international markets, after several years as a film critic, producing and hosting a weekly TV show about movies. 

SPEAKER: Ricardo Costa Reis, RCR Media Group

RICARDO COSTA REIS was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, studied in Angola, and has lived in South Africa, France, Spain, to Brazil, and Los Angeles. Ricardo has been working for his father’s company RCR Media Group for the past two years. During that time he founded RCR Connect and is now CEO of the company. The RCR Connect platform (app and website) is a game-changer in the casting industry and will level the playing field  so that everyone has an equal opportunity to make their dreams come true. Ricardo speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian.  He spends one month per year in Beijing learning Mandarin, and immersing himself in the Chinese culture and movie industry. 

SPEAKER: Rich Raddon, Co-Founder, ZEFR

RICHARD RADDON is co-founder of ZEFR In this role, he is responsible for leading ZEFR’s overall strategy and operations, as well as overseeing the content and distribution strategy and partnerships with Hollywood studios. Prior to ZEFR, Rich served as the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival from 2000 to 2009. During his tenure, the LA Film Festival grew into a nationally recognized top tier film industry event. Before joining the Festival, Rich worked as an independent producer. Rich’s producing credits includ A Slipping Down Life, starring Guy Pearce and Lily Taylor, which premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Lions Gate Entertainment; Shooting Lily, which garnered the Grand Prize at the 1997 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin Texas; …And God Spoke, which was released theatrically by Live Entertainment in 1994. Other producing credits include music videos for Sony Music’s The Work Group; as well as numerous short films.  

SPEAKER: Marc Schipper, COO, Exclusive Media

MARC SCHIPPER is Exclusive Media’s Chief Operating Officer.  Together with Simon Oakes, he led the acquisition and recapitalization of Hammer in 2007.  In 2008, he led Hammer’s merger with Spitfire Pictures to form Exclusive Media.  Since then he has been at the forefront of the strategic and operational development of Exclusive Media, including leading the acquisition of Newmarket Films in 2009, several financing rounds, and the shaping of its senior management team and processes. Prior to his role at Hammer, Mr. Schipper held a variety of corporate development and strategy roles at Liberty Global, Inc. starting in 1999 and rising to head of corporate development for Liberty's Chellomedia division in 2003. From 1997 to 1999 Mr. Schipper worked for Merrill Lynch’s European investment banking team with a focus on Energy & Power M&A. Mr. Schipper holds a masters degree in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

MODERATOR: Lucas Shaw, Film Reporter, The Wrap News Inc.

LUCAS SHAW is a reporter who covers both the film business and the growing overlap between entertainment and technology. He has written stories about all of the major Hollywood studios and agencies, from Warner Bros.’ future plans for Superman to the reason for recent departures at CAA. He has also reported on how tech companies like Netflix and Google are changing the industry and the burgeoning crop of new entertainment companies such as Maker Studios and Fullscreen. A Los Angeles native, he wrote for the Los Angeles Times, Variety and GQ.com before joining TheWrap.

SPEAKER: Mimi Steinbauer, President & CEO, Radian Films International

MIMI STEINBAUER launched Radiant Films International, a full service international sales company, in January 2012. She is President and CEO of the company. Her current slate includes the music drama RUDDERLESS, the teen thriller TAKE DOWN to be directed by Jim Gillespie (I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER), AS COOL AS I AM, LULLABY starring four-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams, TRUST ME written/directed by and starring Clark Gregg with Sam Rockwell and Amanda Peet, DECODING ANNE PARKER featuring Samantha Morton and Academy Award winning actress Helen Hunt, and MADAME BOVARY with Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti. Prior to Radiant Films, Steinbauer held the position of President at Hyde Park International, handling the licensing and distribution operations for the company’s in-house productions, third party sales acquisitions and a small motion picture library.   She completed a Masters Degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution and International Peacekeeping at Pepperdine University, School of Law.   As a sales consultant, she licensed international rights for such high-profile films as Kathryn Bigelow’s THE HURT LOCKER and the Ashton Kutscher starrer, SPREAD.

MODERATOR:  Sharon Waxman, CEO & Founder, The Wrap News Inc.

SHARON WAXMAN is an award-winning journalist, author and founder of TheWrap.com, Sharon Waxman represents one of the most influential voices in news media and popular culture. Since Waxman's launch of TheWrap.com in 2009, the premiere news organization covering the business of entertainment and media, she has successfully guided the daily news site to phenomenal growth as it today reaches over 2 million unique visitors per month. Prior to her launch of TheWrap.com, Waxman is best known for her work as the Hollywood correspondent for The New York Times, covering every facet of the industry's evolution during the 1990's and into the early 2000's. Leading up to her work at the Times, Waxman spent over a decade at The Washington Post, serving as both a correspondent for the Style section and foreign correspondent in Europe and the Middle East.

SPEAKER: Freddie Wong, YouTube Filmmaker

FREDDIE WONG is one of the pioneers in online video, bringing professional premium content to the YouTube platform with his channel, FreddieW. His uniquely crafted, mind bending viral videos have spread across the global web making Freddie the #1 most subscribed director on YouTube with over 847 million views since the channel’s inception in April 2010. Video Game High School, his flagship web series, has over 50 million views with the premiere of Video Game High School 2 slated for release in July 2013. www.youtube.com/freddiew

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