Description
Join the hosts of the popular filmmaking podcast Making Movies is HARD!!! for a discussion with award-winning local filmmaker Marc Smolowitz about the nitty gritty of making your first feature - from fundraising and securing your team to getting the movie out into the world once it's finished.
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Bios
Alrik Bursell (Co-host)
Alrik Bursell is a writer/director/producer who works on feature films, commercials and corporate videos and is currently working as a post producer at Glass and Marker in Oakland. He has directed five short films including Strange Thing, which played at film festivals around the world and has over 250k views online. Alrik has worked with brands such as the NFL, Comcast Xfinity and HBO. Alrik's first feature film as a writer/director The Alternate played at over two dozen film festivals around the world, garning fifteen awards and worldwide distribution. The film comes out to the masses in the US on 9/13. Lastly, Alrik is also the co-host of Making Movies is HARD!!! a weekly filmmaking podcast about the struggles of being an independent filmmaker.
Liz Manashil (Co-Host) Bio:
Post-graduation from USC Film School, Liz spent several years directing for the PBS/Hulu series "Just Seen It." In 2015, her debut feature (which she wrote, directed, produced and cast), Bread and Butter, was released by The Orchard. It played on Hulu and airlines across the globe in addition to VOD platforms. Her second feature (which she wrote, directed, produced and cast), Speed of Life, was called "delightful in just about every way" by noted film critic Tim Cogshell (of NPR's "FilmWeek") and is airing on Showtime. Recent shorts: Liz directed Lina, starring Laura San Giacomo and Sandra Seacat and just wrapped Witchy, starring John Ross Bowie and EP'd by The Pierce Brothers and Emily Hagins. She is also the co-host of hit podcast Making Movies Is Hard!!! Liz specializes in feminist content with a whimsical twist and makes her bread and butter by doing indie film development and distribution consulting as well as sales.
Marc Smolowitz (Guest)
Marc Smolowitz is a multi-award-winning director, producer, executive producer, and consulting producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. With over three decades in the entertainment business, the combined footprint of his works has touched 250+ film festivals & markets on 5 continents, yielding substantial worldwide sales to theatrical, television, and VOD outlets, notable box office receipts, and numerous awards and nominations. His credits include films that have screened at top-tier festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Tribeca, Locarno, Chicago, Palm Springs, SF FILM, AFI Docs, IDFA, DOC NYC, CPH: DOX, Tokyo, Melbourne, Viennale, Jerusalem, among others. In 2009, Marc founded 13th Gen, a San Francisco-based company that works with a dynamic range of independent film partners globally to oversee the financing, production, post-production, marketing, sales, and distribution efforts of a vibrant portfolio of films and filmmakers. The company has successfully advanced Marc's career-long focus on powerful social issue filmmaking across all genres. In 2016, he received one of the prestigious Gotham Fellowships to attend the Cannes Film Festival's Producers Network marking him as one of the USA's most influential independent film producers. Learn more at http://13thgenfilm.com | Marc's IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm081062