Hey, Stage 32 Community!

It’s been an incredible week here at Stage 32 and it’s only Wednesday!

In celebration of our new Stage 32 Certification Program, please join us TOMORROW, October 19th for our Global Film & TV Production Summit!

You still have time to register HERE!

During this exclusive virtual summit, top executives from the entertainment industry will converge to explore the ever-evolving landscape of global film and television production. Discover insights, trends, and strategies that are shaping the future of entertainment.

About The Summit

Date: October 19, 2023

Time: 9:00am PT - 1:30pm PT

Location: Virtual, exclusively through Stage 32!

This summit is your opportunity to:

• Gain Industry Insights: Hear from industry leaders who are at the forefront of global film and television production. Learn about the latest trends, challenges, and innovations shaping the entertainment landscape.
• Network with Experts: Connect with executives, producers, and creative minds from around the world. Build valuable relationships that could lead to exciting collaborations.
• Discover New Opportunities: Explore opportunities for investment, co-production, and distribution in the global entertainment market.
• Stay Informed: Stay updated on the latest technologies and strategies that are transforming the way content is created, distributed, and consumed.

Featured Panels:

Keynote: Cassian Elwes - The Brave New World of Producing

Time: 9:00am - 9:45am PT

Producer Cassian Elwes has worked on over 150 films and television projects (including MUDBOUND, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, THE BUTLER) and has filmed all over the world on small to large productions. As our industry shifts to more globalization than ever, Cassian will discuss the state of producing and do a Q&A.

• Speaker: Cassian Elwes

Introduction: Why the Global Production Summit?

Time: 9:45am - 10:00am PT

Following Cassian Elwes' keynote, Richard "RB" Botto, Stage 32 CEO, writer, and producer, along with Sam Sokolow, Head of Education and Emmy-nominated producer on Disney+/NatGeo’s GENIUS, will shed light on the significance of the Global Film Production Summit in today's entertainment landscape. Discover the reasons behind the growing importance of global film production and Stage 32's commitment to help support the industry.

Speakers:

• Richard Botto, Stage 32 CEO, writer, producer
• Sam Sokolow, Director of Education and Emmy-nominated producer on Disney+/NatGeo’s GENIUS

Panel 1: Global Film Production - Producer Perspective

Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm PT

Producing in 2023 presents unique challenges, from the increasing globalization of production to meeting the ever-growing demand for content. This panel gathers industry experts who will share their insights on navigating today's landscape, the lessons they've learned, and how they are adapting to these new realities.

Moderator:

• Amanda Toney, Managing Director, Stage 32

Speakers:

• Krutin Patel, Manager of Production for HBO/MAX
• David Woods, Co-Producer of Emmy-nominated THE BEAR
• Mark Penell, President, Catalyst Studios
• Elsa Ramo, Attorney, Ramo Law

Panel 2: Global Film Production - Film Commission Perspective

Time: 12:15pm - 1:45pm PT

In this session, we'll bring in international production executives to discuss the advantages and hurdles of filming on a global scale. Gain valuable insights into the world of film commissions and how they play a pivotal role in facilitating international productions.

Moderator:

• Sam Sokolow, Director of Education, Stage 32, and Emmy-nominated producer on Disney+/NatGeo’s GENIUS

Speakers:

• John Rakich, Location Managers Guild International
• Steven Davenport, Head of US Production & Partnerships, Screen Ireland
• Jose Castro, Film Commissioner, Costa Rica Film Commission
• Katie Pryor, Co-Founder, FilmUSA, Executive Director Baton Rouge, LA Film Commission

Special Guests Include:

Richard Botto, Founder & CEO, Stage 32, Screenwriter & Producer

Richard "RB" Botto has created the online platform and marketplace designed to democratize the entertainment industry, Stage 32. By leveling the playing field for all film, television, and digital content creators and professionals worldwide, Stage 32 provides networking and training opportunities as well as direct access beyond the gatekeepers. Launched in 2011, the Stage 32 community has grown to over 1 million entertainment creatives and professionals worldwide. In addition, Stage 32 has curated the world's largest educational library with over 3,000 hours of webinars and classes designed to help all film, television, and digital content creators and professionals hone their craft and navigate the industry.

RB is also a producer whose films have played at dozens of festivals around the world including the Sundance-award-winning feature "Another Happy Day", written and directed by Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. He was on the producing team of "What Lies Ahead" starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont and Rain Beau’s End starring Ed Asner and Sean Young. He is the Executive Producer on projects with Gidden Media and National Lampoon. Through Stage 32 he has helped incubate "Chick Fight", starring Malin Akerman and Alec Baldwin, produced by Yale Productions and Ramo Law, and 10-31, produced by Eli Roth and Orion Pictures and Crushed on Tubi.

As a working writer, RB sold his original television series to a mini-major studio and attached an A-list showrunner from Apple at the helm. He works on active writing assignments and has sold two feature film scripts. As an actor, he began his career as a theater actor in New York and his latest film "On the Corner of Ego and Desire" premiered at the Raindance Film Festival. Additionally, RB's #1 best-selling book "Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd", was published by Routledge under the American Film Market Presents banner, and is available on Amazon and Audible, where it has garnered over 100 5-star reviews.

RB has been a keynote speaker and panelist all over the world at such festivals and conferences as the Cannes Film Festival (France), American Film Market (US), Tribeca Film Festival (US), Austin Film Festival (US), SXSW (US), Cinequest (US), Winston Baker (US), Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Fest Festival (Portugal), Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.

Cassian Elwes, Producer

Cassian Elwes is one of the most important figures in independent cinema and an expert in the field of arranging financing and distribution for independent films, having done so for 283 films during his tenure at William Morris Independent.

Elwes began his producing career with 1983’s “Oxford Blues” starring Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy and quickly went on to make another 29 films, including “Men At Work,” with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, and “The Chase” with Sheen.

In 1994, Elwes joined William Morris and headed William Morris Independent for 15 years. He financed such indie hits as “Slingblade” and “The Apostle,” both of which were nominated for multiple Oscars. “Monster’s Ball” was their follow-up, which won the “Best Actress” Oscar for Halle Berry, the first African American woman to do so.

Since leaving William Morris Independent 5 years ago, Elwes has either produced or executive produced 40 films including John Hillcoat’s “Lawless,” Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy,” and David Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, which was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award for “Best Feature.”

Elwes produced the hit period drama “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”, which featured an all-star cast headed by Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. He also executive produced J.C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford and executive produced and arranged financing for the Oscar-winning hit “Dallas Buyers Club” directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, and Jennifer Garner.

Elwes executive produced the Kevin Costner release “Black and White”, directed by Mike Binder, and has produced both Werner Herzog’s “Queen of the Desert” and Eli Roth’s “Knock Knock”. His most current release was “Elvis & Nixon” starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey. Cassian is in post on the 1980’s Los Angeles-set thriller “The Billionaire Boy’s Club”, starring Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, and Kevin Spacey.

Elwes also finished “Mudbound”, which was directed by Dee Rees, starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, and Garrett Hedlund which was nominated for 4 Oscars.

Krutin Patel, Manager of Production at HBO/MAX

Krutin Patel is the Manager of Production at HBO/MAX and manages multiple and simultaneous in-house, co-productions and licensed Dramas, Comedies, Unscripted, Features, Animation, Specials and Kids & Family productions beginning with Prep, Shoot, and Wrap. He works closely with Studio partners including WBTV, Paramount TV, Fifth Season, Universal TV, Lionsgate, Sesame Workshop, WB/Sony/CN Animation, ITV, JAX, All3Media, A24, and B17.

David Woods, Co-Producer on Emmy-nominated THE BEAR (Hulu)

David Woods is a Producer/Director/Writer, who lives and works in New York. Currently, David is Co-Producer on "The Bear", Producer on "American Sports Story: Gladiator", and developing projects as Independent Producer with an interest in helping to realize original, authentic, character-driven content that speaks to the challenges and the possibilities of our divided world.

David has served as a Producer, working closely with the Showrunners to help bring to life over two hundred episodes of television across a wide range of storytelling worlds, including: the Emmy-nominated Comedy series "The Bear", the Emmy-nominated, Peabody and Golden Globe Award-winning Drama series "The Americans", the Golden Globe-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning Comedy series "Everybody Hates Chris", the NAACP Image Award-winning Drama series "P-Valley" as well as "Red Oaks", "Sweetbitter", "Genius: Aretha", "The Girlfriend Experience”, and "Up Here". He has also served as Post Production Supervisor on various projects, including Steven King’s Emmy Award-winning Mini-Series "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King" for TNT, "The Good Wife" for CBS, "Big Love" for HBO, and the Jon Reiss feature documentary BOMB IT, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

He's worked with industry notables such as Ryan Murphy, Stuart Zicherman, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Steven Levenson, Thomas Kail, Steven Soderbergh, David Gordon Green, and Josh Senior.

Katie Pryor, Co-Founder of Film USA and Executive Director of Baton Rouge Louisiana Film Commission

Katie Pryor is the Co-Founder of FilmUSA, a nonprofit trade organization representing film commissions across the United States. In addition, she is the Executive Director of the Baton Rouge Louisiana Film Commission.

Sam Sokolow, Emmy-Award Nominated Producer, GENIUS (Disney+, NatGeo)

Sam Sokolow is a highly respected television executive and 2-time Emmy nominated Executive Producer with deep experience in developing and producing television series.

Sam is currently Executive Producer of "GENIUS", a scripted series for Disney+/National Geographic Network, which he developed from book to series. The first season of "GENIUS" depicted the life of Albert Einstein with Geoffrey Rush starring as Einstein and Ron Howard directing the pilot. "GENIUS: EINSTEIN" garnered ten Emmy nominations including a Best Limited Series nomination for Sam. The second season of "GENIUS" - "GENIUS: PICASSO" - depicted the life of Pablo Picasso with Antonio Banderas starring as Picasso and garnered seven 2018 Emmy nominations including a Best Limited Series nomination for Sam. The third season of "GENIUS" – "GENIUS: ARETHA" - depicts the life of “The Queen Of Soul” Aretha Franklin, with Cynthia Erivo portraying Aretha and Suzan-Lori Parks showrunning. Season 4 of "GENIUS" – "GENIUS: MARTIN LUTHER KING" will premiere on Disney+.

Prior, Sam served as a founder of Nice Media Studios, an independent studio based in Los Angeles and Toronto and the President of EUE/Sokolow, an independent television studio based in Los Angeles and New York and before that Sam was a founding partner of SokoLobl Entertainment, an independent television production company based in Los Angeles. While leading these companies, Sam executive produced 18 original TV series and set up dozens of television and film projects at every major studio and distributor in Hollywood.

Sam served as Co-President of Homemade Entertainment, a venture capital-backed television and media content website. Sam co-wrote, produced and directed the award-winning independent feature film The Definite Maybe, starring Josh Lucas, Roy Scheider and Bob Balaban. Sam became the first filmmaker to self-distribute his own feature film via the Internet, a groundbreaking digital distribution initiative that landed him on Good Morning America and in Time Magazine. Previously, Sam created and produced world-class advertising and marketing campaigns for agencies such as Wells Rich Green, Moss/Dragoti and Partners & Shevack. Sam also spent a year as a Metro & crime reporter for the New York Daily News.

Amanda Toney, Managing Director, Stage 32, Producer

As Managing Director for Stage 32, Amanda oversees operations and partnerships for the global business. She has produced over 2,000 hours of online education created exclusively for Stage 32, and works with hundreds of entertainment industry executives from around the world to serve as educators and mentors. She has spearheaded partnerships with such prestigious organizations as Netflix, the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film, American Film Market, Canon, SXSW, Austin Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, PGA, WGA and DGA, as well as brands such as AT&T, Peerspace, Pond5, Mandy, Bondit Media Capital and her personal favorite partnership, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is the official vodka of Stage 32.As a television producer she recently sold a scripted series to a mini-major studio, which she attached an A-list showrunner from an Apple, as well as a premium unscripted show to a major US network that went to pilot. As a film producer, Amanda has worked on the psychological thriller “What Lies Ahead” starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont, “Metaphorms”, a Hungarian film, which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival and “Dolphin Girl” which premiered at the Oscar qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival. She has also helped incubate “Chick Fight”, starring Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin and Bella Thorne and 10-31 which is being produced by Eli Roth and Orion Pictures. She is an Executive Producer on “Vagic” with Amy Baer at Gidden Media, as well as “My Clone's an A*Hole” with National Lampoon.Amanda has spoken all over the world at the Cannes Film Festival (France), American Film Market (US), Venice Film Festival (Italy) Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Fest Festival (Portugal), Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.

Steven Davenport, Head of US Production & Partnerships, Screen Ireland

With over 25 years’ experience in the Screen Industry, Steven worked as a nationally and internationally recognised line producer, production manager and location manager in the Irish Film, Television and Commercial Industry.

Currently the Head of US Production and Partnerships at Screen Ireland and based in Los Angeles, Steven sits on the board of AFCI and is the current treasurer. Prior to moving to the US, he served as the inward production manager with Screen Ireland for the previous 5 years. Responsibilities include promoting Ireland for inward investment, assisting international producers and studios to locate production in Ireland and the promotion of Irish talent internationally.

Mark Pennell, President, Catalyst Studios

Mark is a creative, strategic, and performance-focused executive with 25+ years of innovative, energetic leadership in Australia, the US, and Europe. Mark is an expert in developing products, sourcing and securing financing, leveraging relationships, and presenting complex, large-scale productions. A motivational leader who is known for calm and clear delivery of mission objectives, aligning people and resources, and delivering results that exceed expectations. Mark has written several screenplays and successfully secured funding for numerous large-scale stage shows and feature films. He also delivered the operations for the $35m Australian Pavilion at the world expo (Japan) and turned a significant operating profit for the commercial stakeholders. For the past 12 years, Mark has been at the helm of Beacon Pictures, one of Hollywood’s most successful independent film and television companies.

Elsa Ramo, Founder, Ramo Law, Attorney & Producer

Recently named to Variety’s “2020 Legal Impact Report” and 2019 “Dealmakers List,” Elsa Ramo has represented over 100 films and 50 television scripted and unscripted series in 2019 alone, including Emmy award-winning shows and films which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Elsa provides comprehensive legal services to producers, financiers, creators, and owners of film, television, and digital content and projects across a range of budgets and production levels. She established her own law firm to enable up-and-coming filmmakers and producers to bring their stories to life. Her clients include Imagine Entertainment, Fox, Balboa Productions (Sylvester Stallone’s production company), Scout Productions (creators and EPs of “Queer Eye”), Boardwalk Pictures (EPs for “Chefs Table”) and Skydance.

Elsa’s leadership within the legal and entertainment communities extends beyond her successful Beverly Hills firm. She dedicates substantial time to mentoring women through various organizations. Additionally, Elsa is a go-to commentator and instructor on legal issues related to film financing and the entertainment market.

Elsa Ramo founded the firm in 2005 on the Universal Studios backlot after several clients approached her to handle their independent productions. Now as managing partner to the firm, she handles client matters as well as manages the firm’s attorneys and packaging and sales department.

Jose Castro, Costa Rica Film Commissioner

From the Costa Rica Film Commission, we develop the country strategy to promote exporting of intellectual property such as feature films and series, the locations of Costa Rica, and the professional and technical capacity of our audiovisual industry to attract international films to be shoot in our country, and companies and their content conceptualization services and the realization of them, which are not intellectual property, such as commercials, music videos, educational videos, corporate videos, etc.

John Rakich, President, LMGI Location Managers Guild International

John Rakich DGCO/ATAS/LMGI is a Supervising Location Manager and Location Scout with over 24 years of experience working on long and short-format features and numerous television series for studios and streaming services.

He is the current President of the Location Managers Guild International as well as a board member of the Directors Guild of Canada Ontario and sits on many filming advisory boards. He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and has been a jurist for the Location Guide’s Makers & Shakers Awards and the EUFCN Awards.

A frequent speaker at college campuses, international industry symposiums, podcasts, and a contributor of articles about production sustainability, labor workforce development, education, training, and the economic benefits of location-based filming.

For more information on how to watch the summit live or catch it on demand, click HERE!

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