SESSION 19. MAKING CONTENT FOR WEB AND TV

This question and answer workshop will cover issues surrounding television distribution for filmmakers. How does television fit in to the new content distribution models? How do web platforms and television platforms interact? What sort of content are television stations looking for, and how can filmmakers access them?

SASKIA WILSON-BROWN, Outreach Manager, Current TV

Saskia was raised with a strong international focus, traveling between California, France the UK and Cuba. After obtaining her Baccalauréat in French Literature and Philosophy, she went on to obtain her Bachelor’s at UC Berkeley, and her Masters in Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s College in London.

Moving back to California, Saskia went to Los Angeles to work in art departments for music videos and commercials – working with such luminaries as Dayton & Faris, Madonna, Marilyn Manson – where she quickly moved into art direction and production design for the likes of hip-hop don Master P, among others.

Saskia’s introduction to the DIY Film movement came during her time at Withoutabox, where she worked in marketing. Moving on to become co-director of Los Angeles’ fiercely independent Silver Lake Film Festival, she shifted the festival’s focus away from Hollywood by implementing a multi-arts, community-driven approach, placing a strong programming emphasis on local, documentary, and music films. She also was responsible for bringing in cutting-edge content in newer formats such as machinima and experimental cross-platform works by conceiving of and adding a new media arm to the festival (MP4Fest).

Since leaving SLFF, Saskia has maintained her ties to the film festival world, serving as programmer, film juror, board member, advisor and/or panelist for festivals and film organizations such as Slamdance, Gen Art, NewFest and IFP.

Saskia currently works at Emmy-Award winning Current TV as the head of filmmaker outreach and development for the participatory programming initiatives, where she spearheads projects designed to gain new short format documentary content for the network from international filmmakers, while initiating content partnerships on a global scale. She also maintains strong ties to the DIY film movement by supporting new initiatives such as From Here to Awesome, DIY Days, and others… By any means necessary.

In addition to her work at Current, Saskia makes documentary short videos, and is currently working on an international viral fundraising and marketing campaign for a Cambodia-based NGO called the Cambodian Children’s Painting Project. She also sits on the board of the Consejo Fronterizo de Arte y Cultura (COFAC), an arts non-profit dedicated to bridging the cultural divide between artists and culture organizations working together across the US-Mexican border, as well as on the board of the Downtown LA Film Festival in Los Angeles.

EMILY RENSHAW-SMITH, Director of Viewer Created Content (UK), Current TV

Emily Renshaw-Smith joined Current TV in January 2007 as Director of VC2 (Viewer Created Content) in the UK. 30% of Current’s programming is made by its audience and Emily heads up the team that commissions short documentaries for the channel.

Emily came to Current TV from FourDocs, Channel 4’s online documentary channel where she was responsible for growing an international community of filmmakers and creating an environment where they could showcase their work. Before FourDocs, Emily worked for five years as Editorial Administrator for Channel 4 Documentaries.