Ally Polly

An all day symposium preceded the evening showcase. Allison Polly Filmaka’s Head of Strategy/Brand Partnerships was on the opening panel. She spoke about the Filmaka community as a vast pool of talent ready to work with brands to create films. I was happy to hear that she is working hard to bring up the budgets and is determined to do so as our community of writer/directors becomes more appreciated and valued by brands and advertising agencies. Ally screened Filmaka’s Brett Wagner’s Direct TV winning entry “Crystal”. It looked great screened on the big screen and was well received.

The day continued to unfold with a series of panels ranging from discussions about the latest digital camera technologies, agency expectations of new directors and the musings of the incredible cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. I loved the way Caleb spoke of his work as an “art form”. He clearly treasures the nuances of filmmaking. He mused over the richness of shadows and hits of light. He recollected the talents of actors he worked with, and was so appreciative of his mentors. He was breathlessly inspiring.

New Directors Showcase Directors Ian Allen Lim, Oliver Power, Bill Bruce, Alex Beh, Varda Hardy and Lora Schulson, co-executive director of content production for Y & R New York

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I noticed Filmaka’s Jason Haikara’s Facebook Posting announcing Shoot Magazine’s “New Director’s Showcase”. Filmaka member, Jonathan Newman had been selected to be showcased last year and good things came to him from this honor, so I paid attention to Jason’s posting. I submitted two of my projects “Race to the Sky” and “What Kind Of Planet Are We On?” just making SHOOTS’s deadline by the skin of my teeth.

Two weeks later, when checking my e-mail, I discovered a note from Roberta Griefer, publisher of SHOOT Magazine. When I read it, I actually gasped. Roberta was congratulating me on being selected for SHOOT’s New Director’s 8th Annual Showcase. Wow! “SHOOT” is a highly respected advertising/commercial production industry magazine and since I very much want to make commercials, I found this honor especially exciting!

I flew to New York for this event and was accompanied by LiveTribe Productions Executive Producer Karen Lavender and Producer Jamie Bullock both of whom play key roles in many of my projects including “What Kind Of Planet Are We On?” which was screened as part of this event. Kate Salvino representing Current Content Creation (whom I’ve recently signed with) also flew in from L.A.. Between the three of them, I was surrounded by smart & beautiful company.

…Stay Tuned for Part 2!

Jonathan Newman and Deepak Nayar

Cannes 2010 marks a historic achievement for Filmaka as our first film SWINGING WITH THE FINKELS will be screened twice for potential distributors. FINKELS, based on a short film submitted to our FX Comedy Competition, is written and directed by award-winning (Ford Mustang Stories) Filmaka member Jonathan Newman and produced by Filmaka co-founder Deepak Nayar (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM). The romantic comedy stars Martin Freeman (UK’s THE OFFICE), Mandy Moore, Jonathan Silverman, Melissa George and comedy legend Jerry Stiller.

Immediately after FINKELS, Jonathan and Deepak reteemed on the just-wrapped feature FOSTER, also based on one of Jonathan’s short films (pre-Filmaka). FOSTER has an amazing cast: Emmy-award winner Toni Collette (THE UNITED STATES OF TARA), Ioan Grufudd (AMAZING GRACE, FANTASTIC FOUR), Richard E. Grant (GOSFORD PARK) and Oscar-winner Hayley Mills.

Both FINKELS and FOSTERS are repped by Simon Crowe and SC Films International. For Simon’s contact info and everything you need to know about FINKELS, check out SwingingWithTheFinkels.com

Congratulations, Jonathan! We are very proud of you!

Brett Wagner

The other winners are Azhur Saleem, Brenden Clark (for two different pitches) and Bragi Schut – their films will be entering production in the coming weeks. Congrats to all the winners and runners-up!

Also heading to Cannes are Filmaka award winners Brett Wagner, Rudolf Buitendach, Luca Immesi and Giulia Brazzale.  We’ll have more details about their trip in the coming days as well as Cannes-related announcements about some of our other members.

If you are attending Cannes or have films screening or in competition, shoot us an e-mail at info@filmaka.com - We’d like to share your news with the Filmaka community.

What would you do with a million dollars? Probably make a film right? Well hold your horses! Filmaka has teamed up with Discover for a brand new branded competition.  Pitch us your ideas for a 2-3 minute film that depicts how winning one million dollars would change someone’s life for the better, and you could win $ 15,000 USD. The finished films will be used to support Discover Card’s Everyday Giveaway where one lucky card user wins a $ 1,000,000 USD grand prize. That means that winning films will be seen by millions of people across a host of mass media outlets - online banners, pre-roll, in-store, and on TV.

All pitches must be received by Sunday, May 2nd at MIDNIGHT PST.

Check out the film here:

Go to Filmaka.com to find out how to enter!

Varda Hardy has done it again. “What Kind Of Planet Are We On?” is her new film created for Rock for Equality Campaign. It has been selected by YOUTUBE & Honorable Judges as one of the top 16 finalists (out of 750) for best and most innovative non-profit videos on YOUTUBE!

For the next 7 days, the public is invited to vote on the top four videos which will then be posted on the youtube home page!

Please VOTE HERE and encourage others to vote for “What Kind Of Planet Are We On?”

Support Your fellow Filmaka!!!

Filmaka is teaming up with Ford again to promote their new car the Ford Fiesta. Ford and their agency Team Detroit are in the process of bringing the Ford Fiesta stateside.  As part of the successful social and viral campaign, The Fiesta Movement, “agents” have been selected in 16 US markets to bring the new Fiesta into their lives, complete several missions, engage their local community and share their experiences, both online and offline, with all of us.

These Agents are looking for Filmaka members to help them bring their short film to life! It is up to you and the agents to create a short film about the ford fiesta in your city.

Every filmmaker that is chosen to participate will be provided a production budget of $5,000. Filming begins May 1st and the finished movie will be screened on or around May 25th. All of the finished movies will premiere in the same city which the film was shot starting on or around May 25th. This film premiere will be the cornerstone of a customized local event that launches the Ford Fiesta in the United States. You will also have the chance to go to a Hollywood premiere if your team’s film wins the grand prize.

I started hearing all these stories about these guys who had done these sorts of outlandish things to get money to make movies. You know, Robert Townsend with his credit cards, and Kevin Smith, who was working in the convenience store at night; and Robert Rodriguez doing some kind of chemical testing on himself, you know, medical experiments, and some other guy taking his money and putting it on red in Atlantic City — crazy ways that they raised 25,000 bucks.

The reason I’m that here today is complete stupidity, which was that I believed wholeheartedly those stories.

Read the whole article HERE at thewrap.com

Varda on set

The Rock For Equality Campaign

Craig Miller CEO and Founder of MZA Events (and founder of the AIDS WALK) came up with the idea of holding a national event addressing the issue of the Social Security System’s discrimination against elder Gay & Lesbian Americans. Most Americans receive the social security benefits of the higher earner when their life partner dies, but Gay & Lesbian Americans are denied these benefits (even though they must pay into the system just like everybody else!).

The Rock For Equality event to be held in the spring of 2010 here in Los Angeles and in Washington DC, will both inform the public of this unfair Social Security policy and raise funds to change the law.

MZA Events hired me to create a suite of videos that would bring life & poignancy to what may be perceived as a rather “dull” issue: social security. Once I came on board, they informed me that the decision to move forward with the event hinged on the success of the videos. (That’s when I started grinding my teeth at night–just kidding!)

Craig and his team wanted a “viral” video, a compelling “elevator pitch” video, and the third video that would give the public a sense of the suffering that elder Gay & Lesbian Americans experience when their life partner dies and they are denied benefits which they paid into. I addition, I suggested they needed a fourth video, an animation that would give potential participants a “visual” of the Rock For Equality event which is very original and new to the public.

For the viral, I came up with the sci-fi idea which at the time felt so “out of the box” that I was nervous to pitch it. Luckily, the MZA Events team really got it. Karen Lavender and Jamie Bullock of LiveTribe Productions came on board to produce the videos. My friend, Taylor Negron co-write the sci-fi script with me. Jimmy Ahlander (also a director at LiveTribe Productions) created the animation, and a team of truly creative crew members including DP: Daron Keet, Art Director: Robert Fox & Make-up Artists: Maya Murakami & Dan Kaplan and editor John Irwin joined forces with me to create what emerged as “From Another Planet” and three other videos.

The “elevator video” and long form inspirational video feature real people who have suffered the inequities of social security discrimination. I wanted to give these videos a “heightened” but uncluttered visual quality so that no elements in the frame could distract from the subjects and their compelling stories and at the same time, I wanted to make them visually compelling to engage the viewer.

I hope you can check out the videos and let me know what you think. AND go to www.rockforequality.org to support equal rights for Gay & Lesbian Americans.

Thanks much,

Varda