Finance II – How They Did It: Strategies That Brought Projects to Life

Speakers

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  Jeremy Kay Americas Editor, Screen International
  

  Jeremy Kay

  Americas Editor, Screen International

  Jeremy Kay is Americas editor of the international trade publication Screendaily. From his Los Angeles hub he regularly travels to the major markets and festivals on the calendar to report on market news and interview talent and executives.

  Besides focusing on the independent business, festivals and markets, Kay reports on production and financing, streamer and studio activity, the Canadian and Latin American film industries, and awards season.

  He has moderated panels at TIFF, Cannes, AFM, Ventana Sur and other top tier events on the circuit.

  As a freelancer Kay has written on film for The Guardian and The Telegraph, and has written more broadly on news and sport for Time Out, The Independent On Sunday, The Express, and The Sunday Irish Tribune.

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  Laura Lewis CEO/Producer, Rebelle Media
  

  Laura Lewis

  CEO/Producer, Rebelle Media

  Laura is the CEO and Founder of Rebelle Media. Laura has over twenty years of experience in film and television development, production, strategy, sales and financing. She produced Mr. Malcolm’s List for Bleecker Street Media and Universal Pictures and is an Executive Producer on Hulu’s hit television series Tell Me Lies. Previous credits include Long Weekend, An Acceptable Loss, All About Nina, and Little Woods. In theater, she co-produced Once Upon a Mattress and Redwood. Upcoming is The Sweet Spot at Amazon amongst many others across film and television. Prior to founding Rebelle, Lewis was a film finance agent at CAA, where she worked on films such as The Imitation Game, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Begin Again, Mud, Dallas Buyers Club, Bachelorette and more, and a creative executive at Twentieth Century Fox and for Academy-Award winning director Edward Saxon. She is a proud member of the Producer Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, the Television Academy, and a founding member of Producers United. She was named by Variety as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders and as a Woman of Impact. She mentors and volunteers for Sundance and Women in Film.

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  Jeffrey Greenstein Founder & CEO, A Higher Standard
  

  Jeffrey Greenstein

  Founder & CEO, A Higher Standard

  A Higher Standard was founded by Jeffrey Greenstein, who rose through the ranks at Millennium Media becoming President of the indie studio and President of International Sales & Distribution prior, in April 2015, during his near 15 year tenure.

  Overseeing sales and distribution of all the company’s productions he’s handled over 70 films that have grossed upwards of $2 Billion in worldwide box office, including the Expendables franchise, the ‘Has Fallen’ franchise, the Mechanic franchise and the recent #1 box office hit, The Hitman’s Bodyguard.

  Greenstein is a graduate of the University of Central Florida – College of Business Administration, where he majored marketing with a concentration in sales.

  Prior to entering the film business, he worked as an Assistant Trainer for the Anthony Robbins Foundation, owned and published a professional development magazine for young professionals, and owned and operated a commercial carpet cleaning company he started at the age of 19.

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  Mark Fasano Partner and the CEO, Nickel City Pictures
  

  Mark Fasano

  Partner and the CEO, Nickel City Pictures

  Mark Fasano is a Partner and the CEO of Nickel City Pictures. Mark has developed and produced over a two dozen films and recently was a Producer on Land of Bad, starring Liam Hemsworth & Russell Crowe; Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson; Boys of Summer, starring Mel Gibson; and Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s Haunt. Mark previously was president of production and PalmStar Media, where he developed and produced Netflix’s True Memoirs of an International Assassin, starring Kevin James; Collateral Beauty, starring Will Smith; American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Steward and John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves. Prior to 2012, Mark worked with acclaimed writer/producers such as David E. Kelly, Gary Scott Thompson, and Doug Liman at both Universal and Warner Bros. Mark subsequently worked directly with John Herzfeld at New Redemption Pictures where he helped develop and produce two feature films as well as two television series which were sold to the Starz network and HBO in just over a year. Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television from The University of California, Los Angeles.

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  Allison Hironaka Head of Film & TV LA, Caviar
  

  Allison Hironaka

  Head of Film & TV LA, Caviar

  Allison Hironaka is an entertainment executive with over a decade of experience across film and television. She currently manages the Film & TV arm of Caviar LA, an Academy Award-winning production company known for successful projects like Sound of Metal, War Pony, and Bad Sisters. Committed to supporting the vision of artists and nurturing talent creating projects from 60 seconds to six hours, Caviar began in 2005 as a commercials outfit and has evolved into producing boundary-pushing scripted and unscripted film & TV projects, as well as world-class commercials.

  Allison is currently producing several upcoming projects for Caviar, including Love Language from writer-director Joey Power, and Zach Woods’ The Accompanist, starring Susan Sarandon, Everly Carganilla, and Aubrey Plaza. She is also an executive producer for Jody Hill’s thriller Famous.

  Allison began her entertainment career in the mailroom at Paradigm Talent Agency, where she became an agent trainee in the Motion Picture Talent group. She joined Creative Artists Agency in 2014 and spent nine years in the Media Finance group focused on film financing and sales, client company creation, and operations. During her tenure, Allison worked on precedent-setting deals for films with budgets ranging from <500k to over $100M.