Join us for a virtual adventure into the exciting all-important world of film festivals with our filmmaking guides, Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis.
Learn TIPs on creating a festival strategy by learning from the mistakes of other filmmakers. Here’s what will be discussed in this informative seminar:
- Branding Yourself, Your Film and Future Films
- Film Festivals, Markets & Distribution
- Creating a Festival Target Strategy & Financial Budget
- Creating an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
- Connecting the dots between social media and traditional media
- How to get Publicity
- Creating a homebase for your film, slate of films and the filmmaker
- Contacts-Contacts-Contacts – Don’t let your new contacts fall through the cracks!
Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn NEW and EXCITING ways to make the most of your next film festival SUBMISSION!
A graduate of California Institute of the Arts, RONA EDWARDS, became Vice President of Creative Affairs for multiple Emmy-winner John Larroquette (Night Court), Academy-Award winner Michael Phillips (The Sting, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Taxi Driver) and Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated producer Fern Field (Monk, Heartsounds). As a producer, she co- produced and/or executive produced One Special Victory (NBC), The Companion (USA/SyFi CHANNEL), I Know What You Did (ABC), and Out Of Sync (VH1). She produced the TV movie, Blind Trust, for Lifetime Television, and produced a series of movies based upon a book series she optioned, subtitled “Crimes of Fashion,” by Ellen Byerrum.
Ms. Edwards is also working on a number of documentaries including a series about Military Nurses. She produced the documentaries, Unforgettable, written and directed by Eric Williams (Mad City, Out Of Sync), and Selling Sex In Heaven aka Hope in Heaven. Edwards has had projects made and/or in development with many other major networks and studios including ABC, CBS, ABC, Hearst Entertainment, HBO, Phoenix Pictures, Edward R. Pressman, Revelation, Lifetime, Motor City Films, Warner Bros., Alan Landsberg Productions, The David Wolper Organization, Incendo Media, Wilshire Court and All Girl Productions, to name a few.
Rona has served as a film and TV consultant and story editor for numerous film commissions and production companies worldwide including the Victoria Film Festival, Screen Queensland, Stewart-Hall Productions, Enjoy Entertainment in Australia and Pilgrim Pictures in Singapore.
MONIKA SKERBELIS is the programming director for the American Pavilion's Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival (since 2009) and was the artistic & programming director for the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival for fourteen years. As Vice President of Creative and Executive Story Editor for Universal Pictures story department, she spent ten years overseeing the story department and developing a number of screenplays including Black Dog starring Patrick Swayze. Prior to Universal, she was story editor for 20th Century Fox and began her career as an assistant in the Story Department for Paramount Pictures.
Ms. Skerbelis was Associate Producer on two movies: Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover, based on the “Crimes of Fashion” novels by Ellen Byerrum for the Lifetime Movie Network.
With Rona Edwards, Monika teaches online for Riverside City College and teaches film development at UCLA Extension.
