Tuesday, May 21st, 2019

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Track III: Finance - Film-TV-Production Track, Herscher, Guerin A, Webcast

The TV/Film/Video - Platforms and Partnerships - Developing Hollywood Content as Brand and Distribution Package

Ed Rivero, Executive Producer, Havoc Content/ The Cortez Brothers

Folayo Lasaki, Head of Marketing, SoulPancake, div. of Participant Media

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group

Rachel Meskin, director of editorial video and social, Gamma Ray

Jessica Lacy, Partner/Head of International and Independent Film Finance, ICM Partners

Stuart McLean, founder and president, Content & Co.

Moderator - Kimberly King-Burns, Partner, convergenz/solutions

Jessica Lacy is a partner and head of the international and independent film department at ICM Partners.  She leads her department in structuring and arranging financing, packaging and securing distribution for independent films.  She has brokered distribution deals for many of the most acclaimed films of the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and SXSW.  Among the recent titles that she has represented are Woody Allen’s CAFÉ SOCIETY, which opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jim Jarmusch’s PATERSON, Raoul Peck’s I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, The Daniels’ SWISS ARMY

MAN, Eleanor Coppola’s PARIS CAN WAIT, Jim Jarmusch’s GIMME DANGER and Joseph Cedar’s NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER. Jessica takes pride in the strong work she does in supporting female filmmakers, structuring financing and distribution for their films, in addition to attaching strong female actors in leading roles. Jessica put together and sold films for over 20 female directors in the last year alone including Sian Heder, Maya Forbes, Karyn Kusama, Sally Potter, Katie Holmes, Clea Duvall, Noel Wells, Olivia Milch, Hannah Fidell, Julia Hart, Sara Driver, Theresa Rebeck, Meredith Danluck, Deb Shoval and Miranda Bailey, amongst others. Jessica, along with her team, represented 13 films at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, half of which were comprised of films directed by, produced by and starring women – Eleanor Coppola’s PARIS CAN WAIT starring Diane Lane, Katherine Diekmann’s STRANGE WEATHER starring Holly Hunter, triple threat Alice Lowe’s film PREVENGE, Susan Johnson’s CARRIE PILBY starring Bel Powley and Rachel Lambert’s IN THE RADIANT CITY. Additionally, Jessica works with iconic filmmakers like Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Brian DePalma, Peter Weir, Jim Jarmusch, Barry Levinson, John Turturro and David Mamet and lauded independent artists such as Sean Baker, the Zellner brothers, Nash Edgerton, Charlie MacDowell and the Duplass Brothers, for whom Jessica negotiated their overall deals at Netflix.

Folayo Lasaki is a marketing executive, creative, and content marketer who specializes in creating innovative campaigns for digital and traditional media. Currently Folayo is Head of Marketing at SoulPancake, the award-winning digital media and production company founded by actor Rainn Wilson, now a division of Participant Media. At SoulPancake Folayo oversees brand, content, and social media marketing as well as communications, distribution, and strategic partnerships. A 15-year entertainment industry veteran, Folayo has held marketing positions for companies including Variety, Landmark Theatres, Hollywire TV, Film Independent, IFP, and FILMMAKER Magazine. Folayo is also Principal + Founder of entertainment marketing and communications firm, Striped Elephant. Folayo is a graduate of Pepperdine University and UCLA, and resides in Los Angeles. She can often be found making a mess in the kitchen, or waxing poetically about women and diversity in media.

Ed Rivero is an Executive Producer with deep experience working in the advertising and marketing industries, as well as feature films, television and branded content. His specialty is in full-service broadcast production, bringing creative concepts to life via live-action shoots that encompass multiple formats at once: TV commercials, digital content for the internet, animated .gifs and social media, and still photography, often distributed simultaneously. He got his start as a rep for A Band Apart (Quentin Tarantino’s production company) before founding La Division at RSA (the production company of directors Ridley and Tony Scott). Today, he oversees physical productions, international sales, crew management and a full roster of directors at CortezBrothers.com in Marina del Rey, California.

Miriam Mintz is the Director of Development for JASH/GroupNine Studios. She has worked at IFC in development in both their linear and digital space, having worked on Comedy Bang! Bang!, Portlandia and Documentary Now!. Previously she worked at Comedy Central producing stand-up specials with Tracy Morgan, Bridget Everett and Artie Lange as well as special events and series like Adam Devine's House Party and a Super Bowl Special with Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch.

Larry Namer, President/CEO, Metan Global Entertainment Group: An entertainment industry veteran with over 45 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan Global Entertainment Group (MGEG), a venture created to develop and distribute entertainment content and media specifically for Chinese speaking audiences in China and abroad. MGEG recently launched the inspirational competition series The Bruce Lee Project in China. In 2018, the company launched the MGEG Film Fund I and serves as managing partner.  He is also the executive producer on the recently announced feature film “EMPRESS.”  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.  His vision and direction garnered VCTV several Emmy and Cable ACE award nominations, as well as recognition by Forbes magazine as the national model for local cable television programming.

Rachel Meskin is the Director of Editorial Video and Social at GammaRay, a new video content brand focused on pop culture and genre content. At GammaRay  she is responsible for overseeing creative content, marketing strategy, and audience development for consumer-facing social platforms. Prior to joining GammaRay, Rachel served as the Fan Engagement Director at Nickelodeon, where she cultivated audiences around franchise properties such as SpongeBob Squarepants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Nick Jr. Her past experience includes interactive educational narratives and environmental education. She holds a B.A. in Media from the Macaulay Honors College, and an M.A. from the University of London in Children’s Media Culture.

Stuart McLean, President, Content & Co.: A serial innovator who has made a career out of anticipating marketing industry trends and then building successful businesses that provide value to brands looking to reach customers amidst changing times, Stuart McLean is President for Content & Co. From a career start on Madison Avenue that racked up numerous industry honors, to becoming a multi-award-winning brand studio founder and advertising technology entrepreneur, McLean has built and led companies with one goal in mind: using content to connect brand messaging to consumers in the most impactful ways possible, always with a focus on delivering enterprise value and measurable ROI. McLean founded Content & Co. in 2008 as a creative-led brand studio staffed with best-in-class showrunners, writers, artists, planners and strategic thinkers. Content & Co. has been named Subway’s Agency of The Year, created Ad Age’s “Small Agency Campaign of the Year” in 2014, and was honored as one of the Effies’ “Top 10 Most Effective Independent Agencies.” Prior to founding Content & Co., McLean worked at JWT where he launched and served as President of its studio division JWTwo after beginning his career on Madison Avenue at Young & Rubicam. Over the course of his career, McLean has executed successful campaigns for elite brands such as FCA, Unilever, Kellogg’s, Ford, AB InBev, Schick, Subway, and Pepsi, among others. He currently sits on the board of Think LA, which was founded to promote Los Angeles as a network of creativity and innovation in media, marketing, and advertising. McLean also holds three patents for modular cloud-based systems that enable centralized OTT advertising delivery and monetization. As an investor and board member, he has backed several ad tech startups including Sniffercat, which provides a single source solution for analytics, ad sales, and vendor management.

Kimberly King-Burns, Partner, convergenz/solutions, Moderator: King-Burns is a managing partner with NetworkBahamas, EnergyCaribe and EnergyBahamas, technology collaborative advisories to the public/private sector throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean; serves as EB-5 business development strategist on a variety of projects around the USA with active investor networks in South America, China and the Middle East; assists major companies and government relations team with their targeted ethnic social media outreach to the African-American, Caribbean, Spanish and Asian markets; worked as chief operating officer and president of Greenbridge Capital's digital media, alternative energy/green technology consulting groups in Los Angeles; was active on the community advisory board of KCET Channel 28 Los Angeles (PBS); and founded The Briland Modem Fund, a community development foundation serving the Out Islands of the Bahamas. King-Burns was raised on Harbour Island, Bahamas, and studied English literature at Salem College in Winston-Salem NC.  Kimberly was recently selected to serve on the 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild awards nominating committee, one of 1,200 members nationwide.