Women In Film and
Television International
&
Women In Film and
Media Pittsburgh
Host
WIFTI 2014 Summit
May 16, 17 & 18, 2014
Westin Hotel &
Conference Center
Thursday – May 15, 2014
Tours of the City of Pittsburgh, which will include the Andy Warhol Museum, Mt. Washington spectacular views,
and……………….
Engage
6:00 PM – Welcome reception for all attendees. Meet the WIFTI Board of Directors, and other Women In Film
chapter representatives for a casual gathering before the opening of the Summit. Hors d’oeuvres provided.
Friday – May 16, 2014
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM - Registration and plenary breakfast. Kick-off of the Summit and welcome by the WIFTI Board of
Directors, Mayor of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Richard Fitzgerald. All attending chapters
will have the opportunity to introduce themselves and their chapters to all attendees. A review and update of Summit
panels and events will be presented. Do not miss this opening session as Pittsburgh welcomes you !
Friday Panels
Film Preservation
You spend thousands of dollars to make your film, market your film and then where does it go? Do you archive your film? Or do you
use a file cabinet? A safe? A desk drawer or bookshelf? Learn the importance of preserving your film, how to do it and the
advantages of doing so. Also included will be a discussion about the NYWIFT Film Preservation Fund.
Speakers:
Diana Little – Head of Film Department at the Media Preserve
Kara Van Malssen – Senior Consultant for digital archiving - NYC
Entertainment Law
How to make a movie and not get sued. Working on a film can have many pitfalls, getting sued is one of them. How do you avoid
someone suing you because of your film theme, music, actors, accidents, etc. This seminar will address how you can protect yourself
when contracting with others.
Speakers:
Stephanie Dangel - Attorney
The International Film Market
Growth in international cinema markets is driving up the importance of non-U.S. releases to film studios, and new screen growth in
territories like China, Brazil, Russia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East has fundamentally altered the dynamics of a film’s release.
Speaker:
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TBD – possibly John Dallaverson
Luncheon Speaker – Kim Moses, Producer, Director and Writer
Kim will discuss the rise of new media and how it has increased communication between people all over the world and the
Internet. It has allowed people to express themselves through blogs, websites, pictures, and other user-generated media. We are
at the crossroads of this innovation and women need to position themselves as the gatekeepers and decision makers.
Friday Panels
WIFTI Board
The WIFTI Board will discuss what the International does, how the showcase works and why it is important to participate. They will
field questions on how to participate more with the International and what the chapters can do to support
them.
Women In Technology
Empower
The concept of bringing technologists and filmmakers to work together on projects that will produce projects
that are designed to entertain, inform, inspire or influence another person. New technologies are coming
together to bring new concepts to the forefront. Interactive storytelling is a wide-open field, but what makes it
so difficult to penetrate?
What kind of problems does gaming cause when created by the male perspective?
Speakers:
Kathy Dziubeck
Creative Disruption – Traditional Distribution
A look at creative disruption--the removal of traditional gatekeepers and mediators in the arts and media industries. The creative
disruptions of Internet and wireless technologies have opened new distribution channels for film, music, gaming, publishing, and
advertising.
Speakers:
Elise D’Haene
Deb Acklin – WQED – CEO
Reality of Reality Television
Speaker – TBA
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Leadership Skills
If we truly want America to excel, we must ignite the enormous potential for more women to excel. That will
mean encouraging all women, starting with young women, to discover their strengths and gifts, and to be
brave and venture forth toward their hopes and dreams, always aiming high. Making women leaders.
Speaker:
Christy Uffelman, MHCS, BCC – Executive Coach
#6 – input for last session ?
Friday Screening
GIDEON’S ARMY follows the personal stories of Travis Williams, Brandy Alexander and June Hardwick, three young public defenders
who are part of a small group of idealistic lawyers in the Deep South challenging the assumptions that drive a criminal justice
system strained to the breaking point. Backed by mentor Jonathan “Rap” Rapping, a charismatic leader who heads the Southern
Public Defender Training Center (now known as Gideon’s Promise) they struggle against long hours, low pay and staggering
caseloads so common that even the most committed often give up in their first year. Nearly 50 years since the landmark Supreme
Court ruling Gideon vs. Wainwright that established the right to counsel, can these courageous lawyers revolutionize the way
America thinks about indigent defense and make “justice for all” a reality?
An official selection in the prestigious U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, GIDEON’S ARMY was
awarded the editing prize at the festival. The film will premiere on HBO summer 2013.
Saturday Panels
Breakfast – on your own either in the hotel or the food court locations on the first level walkway between the hotel and office
complex.
Gender Disparity in the Media
Addressing the span between genders in the film industry not only in Hollywood but also in the independent film market will be the
focus in this panel discussion. Although more women are involved in independent films, there still continues to be a wide margin
when compared to men. How do we get more involved; where are the best opportunities and what does the future hold.
Speaker:
Need input
War Reporting
Documentary filmmaking in war zones is an extremely dangerous mission and requires special skills, information and education.
The expansion of women filming women who are disadvantaged, suffering in war zones or who are victims in war-torn countries is
on the increase. Discussion with women who have experience in these areas will take place.
Speakers:
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Kalpana Biswas – WIFM Board Chair & Documentary Filmmaker
Lynn Johnson –
Lynda Schuster – Foreign Correspondent
Steeltown Entertainment Film Factory (Mobile Event)
This local competition brings together experts from Hollywood and New York with local filmmakers who enter a competition with a
12-page script to compete to win $30,000 to make their film. This is a mobile event held at Point Park University located several
blocks from the hotel that will run from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm Transportation will be provided, or if you prefer, you can take the 15
minute walk approximately eight blocks from the hotel.
Panelists TBA
Pittsburgh Shorts Screening
Screening of short films created by local Pittsburgh women filmmakers will screen from 8:30 am through 1:00 pm. Stop in and view
the shorts that have been created and produced here in Pittsburgh. The films will loop twice in the event you miss the first loop.
Film names and descriptions will be posted shortly before the Summit begins.
Lunch Truck Lunch
Grab a quick lunch from the lunch trucks parked outside the hotel. You will receive a voucher to present
to the lunch truck owners who work on local Pittsburgh films. Enjoy your lunch outside in various locations
throughout the city or watch the Shorts Screening in the hotel. If you decide you would like to join a
WIFTI conversation about your chapter, the WIFTI Board of Directors will be available from
noon to 1:00 pm to answer your questions.
Educate
Trends in Children’s Television
Kids consume media in many different ways - frequently on multiple screens simultaneously. We’ll address the fast-changing trends
in children’s television, web series, online games, mobile, e-books, and other platforms.
Speakers:
Bill Isler – President of Fred Rogers Co. - tentative
Maggie Butler – tentative
How to Negotiate For Anything You Want
Learn basic techniques about how to negotiate anything. The Heinz Negotiation Academy for Women, the only one in the
country will address the issues of why women need this skill more than any other.
Speaker:
Heinz Negotiation Academy for Women
International Tax & Film Credit Incentives
Speaker: Entertainment Partners (tentative)
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Last three sessions of the day set aside for Steeltown Entertainment panelists
Inspire
*Opal Awards
The Opal Awards will be held to honor local women for their work in the film and television industry. The evening will also
present three scholarships to local women enrolled in colleges and universities with over $4,000 in funds for their education
in a film or television curriculum. The Women In Film and Television International Board of Directors will present an award to
a deserving woman in the film or television industry. * There is a separate fee to attend the Opals.
Sunday Panels
Breakfast – on your own.
Women In the Directors Chair
Directors who have made it to this level will discuss their views on the obstacles they’ve faced, what needs to be done to
open the field to others and how to hurdle the obstacles that stand in our way.
Speakers:
Melissa Martin – Director of The Bread My Sweet
Others – Need input
Storytelling – Creation of your story for film
This session led by Steve Cuden, will concentrate on storytelling from the basics through advanced details of how to create,
develop and pitch your script.
Speaker:
Steve Cuden
SAG/AFTRA
Dealing with the new contracts, the changes to the organization
Special Effects
The growing trend in special effects, after effects for films even with the smallest budgets continues. Discussion will include: Creating
two-dimensional and three-dimensional images depicting objects in motion or illustrating a process, using computer animation or
modeling programs. Special effects makeup, mold making and casting for life casting and animatronics will be illustrated.
Speakers:
Tom Savini (scheduled) – Special Effects Artist
Jerry Gergley – Special Effects Artist
Successfully Funding Your Independent Film
Crowdfunding? Indigogo? Your personal checkbook and credit card or going to friends and family for the cash to fund your
independent film. Attend a lively discussion of how two filmmakers made it at Sundance and beyond with their documentary.
Speakers:
Danny Yourd & Steve Hoover – Blood Brothers producers.
Selling Your Script
You wrote the script – now what? Discussion on managers, agents, self-production or ?????
Speakers: Bob Tinnell
Steve Cuden
Keynote Lunch Speaker
After Keynote
Documentary Filmmaking
Pittsburgh As a Film Location
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Women In Film and Television International
Summit Bios
Deb Acklin – CEO of WQED Pittsburgh
Deborah Acklin is president and chief executive officer of WQED Multimedia, the nation's first community-owned
public media company, also known worldwide as "Mister Rogers' station".
At WQED Multimedia, she manages the operations, strategies, and fundraising to create original multi-platform
content distributed across three television channels, three radio signals, an interactive Web-based learning
channel, an interactive global media distribution portal, an education department, a publishing division, and PBS,
NPR and their member stations.
Ms. Acklin's own work has been honored with many awards including: a national Emmy award nomination for a
documentary about the legendary Mister Rogers; seven Emmy awards (Mid-Atlantic); a CINE Golden Eagle; The
Gabriel Award from the Catholic Communicators Conference; the Pearl Award from the descendants of the
Warner Brothers; a film award from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR); Associated Press honors for
Best Newscast; the YWCA Tribute to Women Award in Arts and Culture; and an Outstanding Women in Science
Award from the Women & Girls' Foundation.
Ms. Acklin is a sought-after speaker and frequent guest on radio and television programs, including Charlie Rose.
Kalpana Biswas
Kalpana Biswas is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Pittsburgh, Her films focus on the uncommon
strength and resilience of women who overcome extreme life challenges to get back on their feet and make a
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difference. She has recently returned from Afghanistan where she interviewed and filmed women of all levels and
circumstances
Steve Cuden – Writer-Director-Producer
Steve co-created the hit Broadway and international musical, Jekyll & Hyde, writing the show’s original Book and
Lyrics with noted composer, Frank Wildhorn. Steve has written nearly ninety teleplays for familiar animated TV
shows such as: X-Men, The Batman, Iron Man, Xiaolin Showdown, Loonatics Unleashed, The Mask, Goof Troop,
Bonkers, Quack Pack, Gargoyles, Beetlejuice, Savage Dragon, Pink Panther, RoboCop, Extreme Ghostbusters,
and numerous others.
Cara Dellaverson
Lionsgate, VP Television Development and Current Programming
After a stint in the unscripted world, Dellaverson, 34, joined Lionsgate, where she has been integral to the launch
of ABC’s critical darling Nashville as well as Jenji Kohan’s Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. The Los Angelesreared University of Pennsylvania graduate has been hands-on with other Lionsgate series including Mad Men
and Nurse Jackie as well.
Stephanie Dangel – Attorney
Stephanie Dangel Reiter is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law
School, a former Rhodes Scholar, law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, and attorney. Stephanie
produced and co-wrote "My Tale of Two Cities" (MTOTC), a funny and heartfelt documentary that proves it's never
too late to come back. She is also the Executive Producer of “The Shot Felt ‘Round The World”, the story of Jonas
Salk.
Elise D’Haene - Writer
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Elise is a screenwriter, published author, and editor. Among her many screenwriting credits she worked on THE
LITTLE MERMAID II (Disney), wrote several episodes of the Showtime series RED SHOE DIARIES and CHROMIUM BLUE,
and was the story editor for the NBC series WIND ON WATER. Her first novel, LICKING OUR WOUNDS, won the Small
Press Book Award at Book Expo in Chicago. She won the Hemingway Award for her short story MARRIED. She has
published several additional short stories and, in 2005-06, she co-wrote a four-book series of erotica based on RED
SHOE DIARIES for the Penguin Group.
Jerry Gergely - Technical Director
Jerry is the Technical Director of Tom Savini's Special Make-Up Effects Program at Douglas Education School in
Monessen, PA. He is the recipient of the Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators "Instructor of
the Year Award" 2002-2003 and has a background in special effects, animation and special effects make-up.
Steve Hoover
Steve Hoover is an editor and director, known for Blood Brother (2013), Gennadiy and Seven Days (2013).
Diana Little – Production Manger
Diana Little is Production Manager and Head of the film department at The MediaPreserve, an audiovisual
reformatting laboratory whose clients include university libraries, art museums, broadcast entities, archives and
government agencies. She previously served as Preservation Specialist at Cineric, Inc., and is a graduate of the
Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman House. Diana has served on the steering committee of
the NYWiFT Women’s Film Preservation Fund and is an active member of the Association of Moving Image
Archivists.
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Kara Van Malssen – Senior Consultant
Kara Van Malssen is Senior Consultant for digital archiving and preservation projects at AudioVisual Preservation
Solutions. She focuses on helping clients develop effective lifecycle management practices for audiovisual
material, from production to preservation, and works to implement the policies and tools that will enable those
practices to be realized. Some of her recent clients include the Museum of Modern Art, Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, Carnegie Hall, and HBO. Kara is also Adjunct Professor at New York University, where she teaches
Digital Preservation for the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program, from which she is also a
graduate.
Melissa Martin – Director / Producer
Melissa Martin is an award winning producer/writer/director working in independent film, and theatre. She is the
Producer/Writer/Director of The Bread, My Sweet, a critically acclaimed, award-winning, commercially successful
independent film. An award winner on the film festival scene, The Bread, My Sweet screened at more than twenty
festivals, was a featured film in Chris Gore's Film Festival Survival Guide, and was released theatrically nation-wide.
It was distributed world-wide by Fox International, on DVD by Universal/Screen Media, and on ShowTime, Starz,
The Sundance Channel, and network television.
Martin is also a creator and director of The Honorable (in post-production), a series pilot featuring David Conrad
(Star of Ghost Whisperer). She has directed multiple commercials and short films. For the stage, she directed
Glengarry Glenn Ross, Frozen (with Barebones Productions), and Amy Hartman's play Mercy and The Firefly at the
Playhouse Rep.
Martin teaches graduate screenwriting in The Drama School at Carnegie Mellon University. She also teaches
Acting for Management in The Heinz School at CMU.
Tom Savini – Special Effects (tentatively scheduled)
Savini is primarily known for his groundbreaking work in the field of special makeup effects. His signature realism
livens otherwise plodding genre films. Early in Savini's career, Dick Smith became an inspiration and a guide, later
becoming an associate at Savini's Special Make-up Effects Program. Among other projects, Smith is known for his
groundbreaking work in The Exorcist.
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Lynda Schuster – Foreign Correspondent
Lynda Schuster was a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, who covered Central and South America,
Mexico and the Middle East. She later became the South Africa Bureau Chief for the Christian Science Monitor.
Her writing has appeared in Granta, Utne Reader, and The Atlantic, among others. She is the author of “A Burning
Hunger: One Family’s Struggle Against Apartheid.”
Lisa Smith-Reed – Producer
Lisa Smith-Reed, a native of Pittsburgh, received her B.A. in Theater from Gannon University. She has spent over
ten years working in film and documentary television including the Emmy nominated "Project Greenlight" for HBO;
the feature film," Abduction," directed by John Singleton; and "The People Speak," directed by Chris Moore and
featuring Howard Zinn, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and Bob Dylan. She was the line producer for the Pollie Award
winning First Tuesday Media and also produced several Discovery Channel series. Lisa is also the Producer of the
Steeltown Film Factory's filmmaking competition and COO of Steeltown Entertainment.
Robert Tinnel – Director / Writer
Tinnell’s accomplishments include writing and directing four motion pictures, writing and marketing ten graphic
novels/comics (including “Feast of the Seven Fishes,”) producer and production manager on a range of feature
films and music videos (including Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up”), and lecturing for organizations such as West
Virginia State University, Queens College, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and Wizard ComicCon
Philadelphia.
Danny Yourd - Danny Yourd is a producer and editor, known for The Quiet Resolution (2004), Blood Brother (2013)
and Gennadiy.
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