Daniel Benge
Partner, Entertainment and Sports
Business of Documentary (Nov. 15)
Explore how to navigate the intricate business landscape of documentary filmmaking including inspirational examples of creative funding sources.
In the Festival Lounge, the day starts with Breakfast (9-10AM) and ends with a Happy Hour (4:30-5:30PM) co-presented by Frankfurt Kurnit.
10-11:15AM
Access Agreements and Studio Partnerships in Documentary Filmmaking
Join Fox Rothschild LLP entertainment attorneys Daniel Benge, Daniel Spencer, Marc Simon, and producer Scott Kaplan as they discuss the pivotal role of attachment agreements in securing access to subjects and materials. Gain insights into their role in financing and distribution commitments from studios and networks. Our legal experts and producer will detail the role of these agreements in financing and distribution and offer an overview of studio-network structures.
Daniel Benge
Partner, Entertainment and Sports
Daniel Benge is a Partner in Fox Rothschild’s Entertainment & Sports Department who works advises clients in the documentary space and the live performance and digital media industries. He has experience counseling writers, producers, agents and corporate clients on a broad range of media projects, including acquisition and entertainment financing, production and distribution.
Daniel Spencer
Associate, Entertainment and Sports
Daniel Spencer
Associate, Entertainment and Sports
Daniel Spencer is an Associate, Entertainment and Sports, at Fox Rothschild’s Entertainment and Sports Department who advises clients in traditional and emerging media, including narrative, unscripted and documentary films, episodic series, podcasts, literary publishing, advertising and other digital media content. In the film and television sectors, Daniel counsels clients in all stages of project development, rights acquisition, financing, production and distribution. Daniel represents production companies, producers, financiers, on-camera talent, directors, writers, and other content creators, as well as businesses in the digital, gaming and new media industries. With experience on both the business and creative sides of the entertainment industry, Daniel provides clients a collaborative approach while obtaining favorable terms at the bargaining table. He is passionate about connecting key players with creatives to help bring projects to life.
Scott Kaplan
Producer
Scott Kaplan
Producer
Scott Kaplan is the CEO of CoverStory, a non-fiction production company. A producer with 20 years of film and series sales and distribution under his belt with 1000+ projects sold to streaming platforms and TV networks around the world. In the past 2 years since shifting to producing, he and his partner Emmet McDermott have produced White Hot the Abercrombie doc (the #1 most watched film on Netflix in April of 2022), Queenmaker (Hulu/MRC) and an unannounced project for Amazon Sports. He founded Domino Content, representing international sales for Showtime’s slate including The Reagans, Love Fraud, Couples Therapy, Red Penguins, Abducted In Plain Sight, and Exit Through The Gift Shop. Before Domino, he held leadership roles at Gunpowder & Sky, Gravitas Ventures and got his start at ICM LA. He holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management and a BA from University of Pennsylvania.
Co-presented by Fox Rothschild LLP
11:30-12:45PM
Navigating the Tension of AI’s Ethical and Business Landscape
Step into the dynamic crossroads of documentary filmmaking, AI, and its business impact, where creators wrestle with ethical dilemmas amidst relentless innovation. Eva Kozanecka (Google), Will Tyner (Google), Tess Thorsen (independent AI researcher), and Professor Meredith Broussard (NYU) reflect on how AI might transform artistic approaches to connection and access, power and positionality, agency, and community care with moderator Sian Pierre-Regis. Guided by industry leaders, this discussion will reflect on the entire filmmaking process, with a focus on research and development. Come contribute to shaping a future where innovation, ethics, and business coalesce.
Co-hosted by Firelight Media as part of its Beyond Resilience series
Tess Thorsen
Independent AI Researcher
Tess Thorsen
Independent AI Researcher
Tess Skadegård Thorsen, PhD (she/her/hers), is a researcher, educator, and consultant, specialized in representation and ethics in tech, media, and film practices. A former managing editor of the Danish journal for gender research, Tess was awarded the 2022 Kraka Award for gender research. Her research has been published internationally including in ‘Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice & Power’ and ‘Black Film British Cinema II’. With a BA and MA in film and media studies from Copenhagen University, and a PhD from Aalborg University, Tess decided to expand her knowledge in the AI/ML space, by joining the 2021 cohort of NYU’s Institute for Public Interest Technology. Having specialized in questions around anti-discrimination and bias identification in tech, particularly AI, in the past years, Tess currently works in the media and tech industry and serves on multiple boards, including on the board of the Danish Pioneer Centre for AI.
William Tyner
Director and Researcher
William Tyner
Director and Researcher
William Tyner (he/him) is a director, producer, and founder of DELU Productions. He is also a Researcher at Google where he works across questions of justice, equity, and product inclusion. His latest film is The People’s Way, a feature length documentary that follows Jeanelle Austin, Robin Wonsley, and Toshira Garraway, three Black women in Minneapolis who embark on interweaving journeys to care for their communities and find inner healing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. William is currently a Firelight Media Documentary Lab Fellow and the recipient of the 2018-2019 Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, Code for America Fellowship, and San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation Fellow. He studied Anthropology at Wesleyan University.
Professor Meredith Broussard
Author of "Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World."
Professor Meredith Broussard
Author of "Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World."
Meredith Broussard is an associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University and the research director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology. She is the author of an upcoming book, More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech (MIT Press, 2023), as well as the award-winning 2018 book Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence in investigative reporting, with particular interests in AI ethics and using data analysis for social good. She appears in the Emmy- nominated documentary Coded Bias, now streaming on Netflix. Her work has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute of Museum & Library Services, and the Tow Center at Columbia Journalism School. A former features editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, she has also worked as a software developer at AT&T Bell Labs and the MIT Media Lab. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, Vox, and other outlets. Follow her on Twitter @merbroussard or contact her via meredithbroussard.com.
Sian-Pierre Regis
Director
Sian-Pierre Regis
Director
Sian- Pierre Regis is a filmmaker who directed, produced and self-distributed his debut feature documentary DUTY FREE. Called a “tender love poem from son to mother” by CBS News, the film was released in 30 theaters over Mother’s Day 2021 and fast-became a press magnet garnering coverage from CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, MSNBC, The Tamron Hall Show, AARP; the film was also a #1 Apple News story through the weekend. It will have its debut broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens on November 22 at 10pET.
Prior to filmmaking, Regis was a journalist and on-camera contributor to CNN, HLN, and MTV and founded Swagger, an online lifestyle magazine for millennials with over 1.5 million fans. He is a Firelight Media fellow and Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow.
1:45-3PM
Fair Use Post-Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith
Delve into a panel dissecting fair use in documentary filmmaking in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in the Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith case. Frankfurt Kurnit attorneys Caren Decter and Melissa Georges, filmmakers Byron Hurt (Hazing) and Melanie Vi Levy (Nathan-ism) detail how this landmark case has reshaped artistic expression and copyright, analyzing implications for documentary creation and distribution. Gain insights into fair use boundaries, opportunities, and responsible navigation strategies. This panel will be moderated by filmmaker and producer Tracie Holder (Means of Productions Films).
Caren Decter
Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit
Caren Decter
Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit
Caren Decter is a partner in the Litigation Group at Frankfurt Kurnit, focusing on commercial and intellectual property litigation, and white collar defense. Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 2019 and 2021 40 & Under Hot List and listed as a 2022 Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers magazine, Ms. Decter represents clients in civil and criminal matters pending in state and federal courts around the country. In addition, she advises clients in the finance, legal, consumer goods, advertising, art, and media and entertainment industries — on “business divorces”, contract, fraud, copyright, trademark, false advertising, ADA compliance and other matters.
Melissa Georges
Chair, Content and Clearance Group, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Melissa Georges
Chair, Content and Clearance Group, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Melissa Georges is Chair of the Content and Clearance group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. She advises award-winning film, television and documentary producers, directors, writers, podcasters, comedians and animators on complex legal issues, such as defamation, fair use, copyrights and trademarks, rights of publicity and privacy, and parody and satire, in order to get their projects cleared and distributed. She also assists in helping her clients obtain Errors and Omissions insurance (E&O).
Tracie Holder
Filmmaker
Tracie Holder
Filmmaker
Tracie Holder is a filmmaker, consultant, producer and film funding specialist. A 2016 Sundance Creative Producers Fellow, Holder leads workshops, tutors and serves on juries at international pitching and training sessions, and is a grant panelist for national and local funders. She is widely regarded as a “go-to” person and all-round resource for artists seeking U.S. funding, having raised more than $3 million in grant funding for her own projects. She was a longtime consultant to Women Make Movies, Development/Funding Strategist for Abby Disney’s Fork Films and former board member of NY Women in Film. Producing credits include Grit, (Hot Docs/POV), Small Town Universe, and Give It a Shot?, currently in production.
Byron Hurt
Director
Byron Hurt
Director
Byron Hurt is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and adjunct professor at Columbia University. Hurt is the former host of the Emmy-nominated series, Reel Works With Byron Hurt.
Byron Hurt’s acclaimed documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, and broadcast on PBS’ Emmy-award winning series Independent Lens in 2007.
Byron’s film Soul Food Junkies aired on Independent Lens in 2013, and in 2017 the cable news station TVOne.
Byron’s film, Hazing, premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, and aired on Independent Lens in 2022. His upcoming documentary, Lee and Liza’s Family Tree, airs on PBS NOVA on November 22, 2023.
Co-presented by Frankfurt Kurnit
3:15-4:30pm
Balancing Storytelling and Financial Stability
This panel explores the art of balancing creative storytelling and financial stability in today’s challenging times. Filmmakers Yael Melamede (Pay or Die), Zara Serabian-Arthur (Meerkat Media), former founding director of If/Then Shorts and producer Mridu Chandra (Becoming Cousteau), director Milisuthando Bongela (Milisuthando) and moderator Dan Cogan (Story Syndicate) delve into unique models of revenue generation that can help filmmakers weather financial storms. An innovative model of cooperative production company ownership that succeeded in supporting filmmakers during recent economic hardship will be presented.
Yael Melamede
Director (Why We Hate)
Yael Melamede
Director (Why We Hate)
Yael Melamede – Filmmaker. Yael Melamede is the co-founder of SALTY Features – an independent production company based in New York City whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s documentary credits include the Jigsaw Productions/Amblin Entertainment six-part series WHY WE HATE (2019), STRAIGHT/CURVE (2017), WHEN I WALK (News & Doc Emmy Award Winner, 2015), (DIS)HONESTY – THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES (2015), DESERT RUNNERS (2015), INOCENTE (Academy Award Winner, Best Doc Short, 2013), and MY ARCHITECT (Academy Award Nominee, 2004). Yael was an architect before becoming a filmmaker and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Zara Serabian-Arthur
Meerkat Media
Zara Serabian-Arthur
Meerkat Media
Zara Serabian-Arthur is a co-founder of Meerkat Media, an award-winning production company cooperative based in Brooklyn, NY. As a documentary film editor, producer and director, her work has been featured on Hulu (Stolen Youth, series editor), PBS (Public Money, producer), National Geographic (Visual Human, editor), The New York Times (A Long Separation, editor) and The New Yorker (Still She Rises, director and editor), premiered at Sundance (Justice, editor), and distributed theatrically (Dark Money, associate producer and additional editor). Zara is also actively involved in the cooperative and solidarity economy movements in NYC. She has worked on mapping, organizing, and community-based research projects with SolidarityNYC, is a former Board Member of New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, and a founding member and peer educator with the Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City.
Dan Cogan
Story Syndicate
Dan Cogan
Story Syndicate
Dan Cogan is one of the most prominent non-fiction producers working today. Both an Academy Award®- and Emmy Award®-winner, Dan founded Story Syndicate with Liz Garbus in 2019. Previously, Dan was the founding Executive Director of Impact Partners. He has produced more than 100 films and series, including Icarus, which won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which won the 2019 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary; The Cove, which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; and The Apollo, which won the 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Documentary.
Mridu Chandra
Filmmaker
Mridu Chandra
Filmmaker
Mridu Chandra is BAFTA and Emmy nominated producer of award-winning documentaries and fiction films that cover topics of civil rights, environmental and racial justice, and gender equality. These films have premiered at Sundance, Telluride, and SXSW; aired on PBS, Disney+, HBO and Netflix; and screened for members of the U.S. Congress and the United Nations.
Recent credits include producing Becoming Cousteau (Disney+) for two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus and co-producing Cured (PBS, Independent Lens). Her expertise as an archival media researcher and clearance specialist has additionally served numerous films and Broadway productions. She has funded and supported filmmakers worldwide as the founding director of IF/Then Shorts at Tribeca Film Institute, a program now at Field of Vision. She is currently in development to direct Saund Vs Cochran, a documentary about our first Asian Congressman in U.S. history— Dalip Singh Saund. www.mriduchandra.com
Milisuthando Bongela
Filmmaker
Milisuthando Bongela
Filmmaker
Milisuthando Bongela (b.1985, South Africa) is an award-winning writer, editor, cultural worker and artist. Her career began in the fashion industry but the last 15 years has seen her traverse the worlds of music, art, media and film – continually turning towards indigenous knowledge. For 3 years she was Arts Editor for the Mail & Guardian’s Friday section and was host and co-producer of the podcast Umoya: On African Spirituality with Athambile Masola. After 8 years, she has recently completed her first film, a personal essay documentary titled Milisuthando which had its world premier at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. She is an inaugural fellow of the 2020 Adobe Women at Sundance Fellowship.
Co-presented by Frankfurt Kurnit
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DOC NYC PRO is co-presented by:
