[The Conversation: At the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, CA, October 17-18, 2009]

The Conversation begins the morning of Friday, October 17th and continues through the late afternoon of the 18th. All sessions except for the after-lunch workshops on Saturday take place at the Pacific Film Archive theater. On Saturday afternoon, we move to Barrows Hall, a classroom building nearby.

A big "thank-you" to the generous sponsors who'd made the event possible: Akamai, the Berkeley Center for New Media, ITVS, permissionTV, Spout, and Variety.

Friday, 10.17

At the Pacific Film Archive theater

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM
Welcome / Schedule Overview / Goals for The Conversation

  • Ken Goldberg, Director, Berkeley Center for New Media
  • Scott Kirsner, Editor, CinemaTech
  • Tiffany Shlain, Filmmaker & Founder, The Webby Awards
  • Lance Weiler, Filmmaker & Editor, The Workbook Project

    9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
    John Batter on the Future of Animation, 3-D Cinema, and Games

  • John Batter, Co-President of Production, DreamWorks Animation SKG; former Group Studio General Manager, Electronic Arts
  • Scott Kirsner, Editor, CinemaTech (Moderator)

    10:00 AM - 10:45 AM
    The Future of Visual Effects and Pre-Visualization

  • John Gaeta, Visual Effects Designer, Speed Racer and the Matrix trilogy
  • Euisung Lee, Halon Entertainment
  • John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic
  • Phil Tippett, Founder, Tippett Studio
  • Barbara Robertson, Journalist, CGSociety, Computer Graphics World, Digital Production (Moderator)

    11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
    New Forms of Storytelling

  • Michael Ferris Gibson, Director, 24 Hours on Craigslist & Producer, Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story
  • Gregg Spiridellis, CEO Guy, JibJab Media
  • Evan Spiridellis, Head Art Guy, JibJab Media
  • Ken Goldberg, Director, Berkeley Center for New Media (Moderator)

    11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
    New Forms of Delivery

  • KC Blake, Anywhere/Anytime Content Lab, Entertainment Technology Center@USC
  • Jonathan Marlow, Executive Director, San Francisco Cinematheque; formerly at Vudu and GreenCine
  • Ken Goldberg, Director, Berkeley Center for New Media (Moderator)

    12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Box Lunch Out on the Lawn
    ...Courtesy of the Berkeley Center for New Media

    1:00 PM - 1:45 PM
    Fireside Chat: Reed Hastings on the Future of Movies

  • Reed Hastings, CEO & Founder, Netflix
  • Tiffany Shlain, Filmmaker, The Tribe and Connected (Moderator)

    2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
    The New Rules of Finance & Funding
    ... Presented by Independent Television Service (ITVS)

  • Woody Benson, Managing Partner, Prism VentureWorks
  • Diana Barrett, Founder, The Fledgling Fund
  • Michealene Cristini Risley, Independent filmmaker, Tapestries of Hope
  • Jim Sommers, Senior Vice President, ITVS
  • Graham Leggat, Executive Director, San Francisco Film Society (Moderator)

    3:00 PM - 3:45 PM
    Idea Jam: Invited Speakers & Conversation Participants Present "One Big Idea" for the Future of Cinema, Games, and Online Video

  • Gail De Kosnik on "Gears of War" and "Gears of War 2": Two of the Most Important Short Films of the Last Decade
  • Robert Bahar on A Sustainable Business Model for Community Screenings
  • Adam Chapnick on Successful Partnering Campaigns for Filmmakers
  • Chris Thilk on What Works in Online Movie Marketing (and What Doesn't)
  • Sean Uyehara on Immersion & Ubiquity
  • Tom Hicks on The Overlooked Dilemma of Distributing Films Online
  • John Gaeta on How Passive and Interactive Content Can Be Bridged by "Portals"

    4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    Building an Audience for Your Work

  • Nick Braccia, Creative Director, Deep Focus
  • Jason Harris, President, Mekanism
  • Hunter Weeks, Director, 10 Yards and 10 MPH
  • Lance Weiler, Filmmaker, Head Trauma and Publisher, WorkbookProject.com (Moderator)

    At the Bancroft Hotel

    5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
    Opening Reception

    5:45 PM - 6:15 PM
    Roundtable Discussion on Next-Generation Movie Viewing Experiences
    ...Presented by Akamai

  • KC Blake, Anywhere/Anytime Content Lab, Entertainment Technology Center@USC
  • Edward Lichty, Exec. VP of Strategy & Corporate Development, VUDU
  • Tim Napoleon, Chief Strategist for Digital Media, Akamai
  • Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo (Moderator)

    Saturday, 10.18

    At the Pacific Film Archive theater

    8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
    Continental Breakfast

    9:00 AM - 9:45 AM
    Fireside Chat: Where Are Indie Film, TV, and Online Video Heading?

  • Ted Hope, Co-Founder, This is That; Producer, The Savages, A Dirty Shame, 21 Grams, The Ice Storm, The Brothers McMullen, What Happened Was...
  • Dean Valentine, CEO, Comedy.com and Founder, Symbolic Action; former CEO of UPN and President of Walt Disney Television
  • Scott Kirsner, Editor, CinemaTech (Moderator)

    10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    Games & Cinema Collide: New Experiences, New Opportunities

  • Ken Eklund, Writer & Creative Director, "World Without Oil"
  • Richard Kerris, CTO, Lucasfilm Ltd.
  • Cliff Plumer, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Domain
  • Peggy Weil, Artist & Game Developer, "Gone Gitmo" and "The Redistricting Game"
  • Lance Weiler, Filmmaker, Head Trauma and Game Developer, "Hope is Missing"
  • Wendy Levy, Director of Creative Programming, Bay Area Video Coalition (Moderator)

    11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
    The Changing Distribution Landscape: Big Potential, Big Challenges
    ...Presented by permissionTV

  • Alex Afterman, Founder, Heretic Films
  • Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, Co-founder, CreateSpace (formerly CustomFlix)
  • George Strompolos, Content Partnerships Manager, YouTube
  • Mike Shiley, Director, Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories & Dark Water Rising
  • Tiffany Shlain, Director, The Tribe & Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence
  • Peter Broderick, President, Paradigm Consulting (Moderator)

    12:15 PM - 12:25 PM
    Overview of Afternoon Workshops

    12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
    Lunch Break

    At Barrows Hall

    1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

    > Broderick on Distribution: The Old World vs. The New World
    (174 Barrows)
    ...Presented by Spout

  • Peter Broderick, President, Paradigm Consulting
  • Chris Thilk, Director of Marketing, Spout LLC (Host)

    > Digital Production (and Post): Insights from the Front Lines
    (151 Barrows)

  • Jeremiah Birnbaum, CEO, SF School of Digital Filmmaking
  • Mike Curtis, HD for Indies
  • James LeBrecht, Berkeley Sound Artists
  • Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo (Host)

    > Demo Session: New Technologies
    (175 Barrows)

  • A New Approach to "Green Screen" Shoots / Eliot Mack, Lightcraft Technology
  • Video Puppetry / Maneesh Agrawala, UC/Berkeley
  • From Motion Capture to Reality Capture / Robin Fontaine, Mova
  • A New Autostereoscopic Display (3-D Without Glasses) / Paul Norman, Agenda Media
  • Sean Uyehara, Programming Associate, San Francisco Film Society (Host)

    > Open Idea Forum
    (136 Barrows)

  • Understanding the Digital Media Consumer / KC Blake, Anywhere/Anytime Content Lab, Entertainment Technology Center@USC
  • Creating the Most Useful & Dynamic Online Filmmaking Destination / Jacques Thelemaque, Filmmakers Alliance
  • Big Budget Action Movies on Smaller Budgets / Guy Manos
  • Visions of the Perfect Workflow / MD Weis, Confidence Bay
  • One Destination for Filmmakers and Audiences / Javier Prato, MyFilm.net
  • Media Shifts from PUSH to PULL, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Facebook / Efe Cakarel, The Auteurs
  • New Relationships Between Graphic Novels and Movies / Christopher Allen
  • Scott Kirsner, Editor, CinemaTech (Host)

    > The Film Project Brainstorming Room (155 Barrows)

    3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    > Producing High-End Content for the Web
    (151 Barrows)

  • Alex Lindsay, Founder, Pixel Corps
  • Rich Bradway, Associate Dir. of E-Commerce & New Media, Boston Symphony Orchestra
  • Peter Broderick, President, Paradigm Consulting (Host)

    > What We've Learned: Filmmakers on Distribution
    (174 Barrows)

  • Mike Shiley, Director, Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories & Dark Water Rising
  • Hunter Weeks, Director, 10 Yards and 10 MPH
  • Scilla Andreen, CEO, IndieFlix (Host)

    > Understanding the Digital Cinema Ecosystem
    (175 Barrows)

  • Pete Ludé, SVP, Sony Electronics
  • Arin Crumley, Director, As the Dust Settles and Four Eyed Monsters
  • Lance Weiler, Filmmaker, Head Trauma and The Last Broadcast (Host)

    > How to Do Pre-Visualization for Your Feature
    (136 Barrows)

  • Dan Gregoire, Founder, Halon Entertainment
  • Slava Rubin, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo (Host)

    > Open Idea Forum II: Post Your Idea Here (155 Barrows)

  • Redefining Digital Content Distribution, or, Why Apple is About to Get Its Ass Kicked / Ross Pruden
  • When Your Audience Becomes an Active Partcipant in Your Fundraising Goal / Mabel Valdeviezo
  • The Assistant Editor / Phillip Hodgetts

    After the final workshops on Friday, please join us at Beckett's (2271 Shattuck Avenue) for drinks, organized by Danae Ringelmann of IndieGoGo.