Category: Keynotes

Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain, 43, is a filmmaker, public speaker, writer, founder of The Webby Awards, and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. She has been invited to advise former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the U.S.

Director Jason DaSilva has been a prolific filmmaker for the past 10 years. Many of his films have won awards; and each one of these works advanced Jason’s objective to give voice to those on the periphery of society. He recently produced and directed an Op-Doc (opinion documentary) for the New York Times called The Long Wait, published in January 2013.

When Graef Allen, manager of content services at Dolby Laboratories in Burbank California, took the floor at the first-ever #ArtistServices San Francisco Workshop last month, she addressed the room of attendees with a raw disclaimer.

Allen conceded that her presentation was not for the faint of heart, despite its euphemistical title, “Digital Cinema Mastering 101 for Indies.” Rather, this would be an arduous crash course in the teachings of digital cinema mastering and distribution, navigating the shallow ends of the technical terrain inherent in post-production.

Elisabeth Holm is a Brooklyn-based producer and Film Program Director at Kickstarter. She most recently produced Keith Miller’s 2012 Slamdance Grand Jury Prize-winning Welcome to Pine Hill, making its NY premiere at BAMcinemaFest next month, and is currently producing Gillian Robespierre’s feature comedy Obvious Child, starring Jenny Slate.Three weeks ago independent producer Braxton Pope (Shrink, The Take) took one small step for film and one giant leap for independent filmmaking when he launched a Kickstarter campaign for The Canyons, a new narrative feature written by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, Less Than Zero, .

David Larkin is a serial entrepreneur who, after realizing there was no good way to keep track of all the movies he wanted to see, launched Watch It in 2011. He has worked throughout the film industry, from location scout to production manager. He splits time between New York City and Los Angeles.

Devon Smith is director of social media for Threespot, a digital engagement agency in DC primarily serving nonprofit and governmental organizations. She holds an MBA from Yale School of Management, an MFA in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama, a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington. She’s worked for nonprofit organizations across the country, primarily in the arts & culture sector, often having to do with digital strategy.

Stephanie Allen recently retired from her co-executive VP of marketing job at Fox Searchlight to focus on an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. Allen spent 10 years at Searchlight conceptualizing and producing award-winning ad campaigns for films such as Slumdog Millionaire, Little Miss Sunshine, and Sideways. Her eclectic career path has included gigs at Rolling Stone, TriStar Pictures and Orion Pictures.

Bob has dedicated his career to removing obstacles between artists and fans. He’s managed bands and events and created artist web sites. In 1996, he created one of the web’s first licensed streaming music sites.

Josh is cofounder and CEO of Gowalla. Prior to Gowalla, he was co-founder and CEO of Blinksale, an online invoicing service, as well as Firewheel Design, an award-winning digital and mobile design consultancy.  An avid skier and snowboarder, he lives in Austin, TX with his wife and two young daughters where he enjoys live music and breakfast tacos.

Strand Releasing was formed in 1989, and its goal has been to fuse quality art films with commercial product. They have produced ten feature films including Gregg Araki’s The Living End, Grief, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, Psycho Beach Party, and more. They have distributed the works of such renowned international artists, and they have a vibrant home media library with over 300 titles from their 22 years in business.

Yancey Strickler is the cofounder of Kickstarter, the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. His writing has appeared in New York Magazine, Pitchfork, Spin, and the Village Voice, among other publications. He lives in New York City and has personally backed more than 400 Kickstarter projects.