The Story
We’re the most unlikely group of filmmakers, the lot of us. We started Seed&Spark because we want to make films but we wanted a healthier environment in which to make them. We believe that the art of storytelling is about expanding imagination, shining a light on the world inside and deepening empathy for the world outside. In the current political and economic climate where many consider the arts a luxury, we believe artists are responsible for teaching their audiences why they are essential. Films are not just art, they are business ventures. They require the seed of an idea and the sparks of human and capital investments to bring them to life. Yet the film business has grown removed from what it really is: playing make believe. That’s something we all know how to do. And that make believe we played as children was essential to our development: brains are firing on the most cylinders when the imagination is stimulated. It’s often how we first learn to play with others. It’s creative, inclusive, expansive, and playful. We want Seed&Spark to be a platform that reflects this spirit, expanding the space for more, different kinds of stories to be told. With an audience’s early support, a storyteller is emboldened to take greater risks. With the storyteller’s passion, the audience is enticed to become included in the process. Together, they create an independent ecosystem for truly independent film!
The Team
Emily founded Seed&Spark to make a contribution to the truly independent community in which she would like to make moving pictures. In 2011, she had the great fortune of producing her first feature with a remarkable group of women. The spirit, the community and the challenges of that project, Like the Water, inspired Seed&Spark. Before producing Like the Water, Emily produced theater, worked as a vision and values strategy consultant for Best Partners, ran restaurants, studied jazz singing at the Taller de Musics, tour guided and cooked in Barcelona, and before that, was a student of Cultural Anthropology and American Studies at Haverford College.
Liam is a filmmaker by vocation who came to Seed&Spark to help build a revolutionary new tool for independent artists and storytellers working in motion pictures. It's possible he fell in love with cinema when his favorite toy was his cousins' video camera. Who else remembers editing with the 'play' and 'record' buttons on two VCRs? Or maybe it was after discovering an old super-8 camera and a box of unexposed Kodachrome in the attic. Splicing a work print and running it through the projector for the first time was an experience he will never forget. Before attending the graduate film program at Tisch/NYU, Liam worked as a carpenter, an energy consultant and a project manager in the construction field. He graduated from Stanford University with degrees in English and creative writing.
Erica is an actress and producer in the film and commercial advertising worlds. She is thrilled to be in the development phase of Seed&Spark to bring an easier and more inspiring avenue for independent filmmakers and audiences alike. Erica hails from colorful Colorado and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with BA in Theatre. Erica's deep commitment to her family, the arts, and her community has lead her to assist in the start-up of a "'Mom and Pop" bakery business. Through her guidance as the Development and Marketing Director, My Mom's Pie is evolving into a national Pie enterprise.
For the last decade Jason has been working in the Silicon Valley for companies ranging from KLA-Tencor in the semiconductor industry to the social networking giant, Facebook. He is excited to help Seed&Spark build up a platform on which independent films can thrive. Jason earned his degree in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley and enjoys photography in his free time.
Eve loves cameras and gear and photography. She works as a cinematographer in the film/TV world; however, she has also produced, directed and edited her own documentaries -- truly independent. She is thrilled to help develop Seed&Spark as a creative community for other independent filmmakers. Eve graduated from UCLA/School of Arts and Architecture with a BFA in Photography and later received an MFA in Cinematography from UCLA/School of Theater Film and Television. She has also taught small boat sailing on both the east and west coasts. When asked if she'd rather be in the ocean, the answer is most always, yes.
Amanda brings her film development, programming strategy, writing, and festival experience to Seed&Spark as Director of Content. After growing up on a lot of John Cleese, Amanda graduated from Binghamton University and studied in Spain where a cinema course nurtured her love of foreign film. Since earning an MBA in Media & Entertainment, she has worked at Film Society of Lincoln Center, HBO, and with independent producer Frida Torresblanco. Amanda is also a screener for Hamptons Film Festival, and once played doubles ping-pong with Parker Posey, Josh Hamilton, and some other guy. If given two free hours, she is likely sobbing in front of a documentary.
Dori is an aspiring documentary filmmaker and co-founder of "Framing the Cause Pictures", a production company that specializes in making short form videos for non-profit organizations. She is also an editor and camera operator, and is working on a documentary project of her own. She is a recent graduate of The New School with an M.A in International Affairs and Media. www.framingthecause.com
Advisors
Nancy Schafer is currently a consultant who works in independent film. Until July 2012 she was Executive Director of Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) and Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises (TE). In her current role as consultant Schafer continues to work with Tribeca as well as the Film Society of Lincoln Center, filmmakers, and a handful of other startups across the film industry. Schafer became co-executive director of TFF in 2007 and executive director in 2008. She joined the festival staff for the first Festival in 2002 as a programmer and has held positions as programmer and managing director. As Executive Vice President, Schafer leads the artistic curation and business development for Tribeca’s business expansion, specifically with Tribeca Film, the distribution label which launched in 2010. As Executive Director, she oversaw all budgeting and operations for the Festival as well as working closely with the sponsorship team to raise funding. She has lead programming for the Festival since 2007, sharing the responsibilities with Geoff Gilmore and Frederic Boyer this past year. She also worked on Tribeca’s year round events and was involved in the launch of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.
Prior to joining Tribeca, she created and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW Film) in Austin, Texas for eight years. Along with her festival experience, Schafer has worked on several films including two from director John Sayles (Sunshine State, Limbo); two from director Robert Byington (Olympia, Shameless) and began her film production career on The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Virginia and currently resides in Manhattan.
Lisa Kleiner Chanoff is co-founder of Catapult Film Fund. Lisa founded Catapult, along with filmmaker Bonni Cohen, in order to fill a gap in the documentary funding landscape for development support and to enable important and moving documentary films to get off the ground.
An investor and philanthropist with a long history of involvement in education and the arts, as well as health and poverty issues, Lisa’s passion for early venture support has led to crucial first funding of projects, from San Francisco area education and poverty alleviation work to providing the initial funding for a school for girls and community center in the Kibera slum of Nairobi.
Lisa has a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and practiced law in San Francisco and with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C. After leaving law practice, Lisa received a master’s degree in Museum Studies and worked with museums in the San Francisco bay area designing exhibitions and education programs. Lisa assists several non-profits in an advisory capacity, and serves on the board of Working Films.
Lisa has three children and lives in San Francisco with her husband Matt.
Darren Goldberg is a producer and co-founding partner of Atlantic Pictures, a full service production company that develops, finances, and produces original material and functions as a US co-producer for international producers that are developing projects to shoot in the United States. Atlantic’s most recent production, The Brass Teapot, stars Juno Temple and Michael Angarano, and premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and sold to Magnolia Pictures. Previously, Darren produced The Art Of Getting By, starring Emma Roberts, Freddie Highmore, Rita Wilson, Alicia Silverstone and Blair Underwood. The Art of Getting By debuted at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and sold to Fox Searchlight. Additional credits include: Brant Sersen’s Splinterheads, starring Rachael Taylor and Thomas Middleditch, Tom O’Brien’s Fairhaven, starring Chris Messina, Sarah Paulson and Rich Sommer and Lex Sidon’s Grand Street starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Byam Shaw. Prior to starting Atlantic Pictures, Darren produced numerous independent films including Manito (Sundance 2002), Cry Funny Happy (Sundance 2003), Room (Sundance 2005, Cannes 2005), Gardener of Eden (Tribeca 2007) and The Cake Eaters (Tribeca 2007). He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his work on ROOM.
Chris Marsh co-founded Atlantic Pictures with Darren Goldberg in 2007. His producing credits include writer/director Peter Glanz’s “The Longest Week”, starring Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde and Billy Crudup, Brant Sersen’s Splinterheads, starring Rachael Taylor and Thomas Middleditch, Tom O’Brien’s Fairhaven, starring Chris Messina, Sarah Paulson and Rich Sommer and Lex Sidon’s Grand Street starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Byam Shaw. In 2010 he made his first foray into writing and directing for brands with Chief Household Officer, a branded entertainment web series, which Atlantic produced in partnership with Howcast for Hewlett Packard and Youtube. Prior to starting Atlantic, he spent the first decade of his career working freelance as a line producer, location manager, production manager and in other capacities on dozens of feature films, television shows, commercials and new media projects.
ANTHONY BATT has turned generating online buzz into a science. As the founder and chief creative officer of the Web-publishing juggernaut Buzzmedia, he turned culture blogs like Idolator and Stereogum into must-reads for today’s influencers. He was CEO until 2008 and CCO until 2010. He then joined Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg at their founding company Katalyst as President and Head of Digital where he consults for heavyweight brands such as Virgin Media, Intel, and GE on how to design their digital presence and the most effective ways to expand their reach online. Previously, he was co-founder of Metapa (now Greenplum) a technology company specializing in data warehousing, which sold in July 2010 for $350 million. Batt, together with Craig Newmark, co-founded Troon, an early San Francisco based web agency and award-winning pioneer of brand published entertainment for the Internet. It was at Troon that Newmark started a side project, which Batt helped take from its original format “an email list to acquaintances” to the eponymous online global destination, Craigslist.
PETER SAMUELSON has thirty years experience at the intersection of media and social change and has been described as a “serial pro-social entrepreneur”. Peter is a graduate of Cambridge University with a Masters in English Literature and the fourth of five family generations employed in the film industry. A member of the initial board of Participant Media, Jeff Skoll's pro-social media company, Samuelson has produced and executive produced 25 motion pictures including Wilde, Arlington Road, Revenge of the Nerds, and Tom & Viv, as well as television and interactive media. In 1982, Samuelson founded the Starlight Children's Foundation www.starlight.org, a leading multi-national charity now serving 4.6 million seriously ill children and their families each year. In 1995, Samuelson and Steven Spielberg co-founded Starbright World, the first fully interactive multi-media, online social network, a virtual playground for ill children that still operates internationally, 24 hours a day. In 1999 Peter co-founded www.firststar.org, a national advocacy non-profit representing abused and neglected children and, in 2006, he launched www.edar.org, a non-profit that provides single-user portable housing to our nation's urban homeless. Peter has lectured extensively on philanthropic entrepreneurship and pro-social media. He served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Panavision, Inc. and serves on the Committee that selects the winners of the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting of the Academy of Motion Picture. Mr. Samuelson is founding Managing Director of the Media Institute for Social Change in the School of Cinematic Arts at USC.
JAY FAIRES is creating a tv production entity, JFE, designed to take advantage of the industry's healthy macro economics while positioning it to leverage the opportunities provided by the intersection and disruption afforded in sponsorship, digital and shoppable tv. Epix premiers the Coldplay event concert in November with an aggressive marketing strategy. The developing slate centers around music, bright minds and lifestyle all with an eye toward driving multiple downstream revenues tv can now provide. He is an investor and now on the board of MindBodyGreen, the leading platform in digital media for wellness. In addition to Seed&Spark, Faires is on the Advisory Board for Women at the Frontier created by Susan Fonseca (Singularity U ), the Advisory Board for Invisible Children and the board of My Friend's Place for at risk homeless youth in LA. He is an investor in the Renaissance Fund designed to build digital companies around the GIG; 200x faster than avg wifi speed in North America. He is a weekend surfer and yogi whose enjoyment of both far exceeds his abilities. Previous companies included BNY Music, a publishing company which he quickly flipped to Lionsgate. During his work there, he worked closely with artists such as Mary J Blige and U2 while overseeing the music for Emmy & Oscar winning hits such as Mad Men, Weeds, Precious & Crash while overseeing as President of Music the doubling in value of their music assets. Before that he created and built Mammoth Records which sold for 65x its initial investment, placing numerous acts in the top reaches of MTV’s charts while being the first independent label to have 2 platinum acts. The Squirrel Nut Zippers enjoyed platinum and gold success off their #1 hit "Hell" and prior to that Seven Mary Three had the #1 hit "Cumbersome" from their platinum selling release. He has extensive public media company experience having gone inside the companies he has sold his businesses to including Lionsgate, Disney and Warners. He received a BA with Honors from The University of the South where he has served on the Board of Trustees and an MBA from Duke where he has repeatedly guest lectured. Jay has been featured in the New York Times and in the Hollywood Reporter's “40 under 40."
SCOTT OSMAN brings the spirit of imagination, discovery and new thinking to everything he does. In 2005, Osman created the Chrysler Film Project, a yearlong marketing initiative of the Chrysler Corporation. The project awarded $1 million to a first time filmmaker to make a feature film. The winning script, Blue Valentine, was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, and was picked up by The Weinstein Company. The film was also accepted into the 2010 Cannes film festival, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Michelle Williams. He is currently the Global Director for the Brand Purpose Group, an initiative he established for Landor Associates. He also recently created the STAR EMBA program at the George Washington School of Business. The first of its kind, this customized, fully accredited, degree-granting business school gives professional athletes, celebrities and other individuals with personal brands an opportunity to achieve their MBA degree during the off-season. In 1999, Mr. Osman founded DoubleSpace, raising a capital fund to make seed stage investments in companies in publishing, media and entertainment, online, and consumer products. He is a founding board member of the Food Allergy Initiative, sits on the board of the Paris-based international arts charity Signature International, as well as FriendFactor in New York and the Lifeline Center for Child Development.
STEVEN BEER is an attorney with the firm Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo, P.C. and concentrates his practice on film, television and music matters. He represents industry-leading film production, film finance and film distribution companies and has acted as counsel to numerous award-winning writers, directors, producers, and multi-platinum musical artists. Steven has been listed annually as a "Super Lawyer," in the field of Entertainment and Sports, since the 2006 edition of New York Super Lawyers/ Manhattan, ranking among the top 5% of Manhattan attorneys. According to the magazine, this selection was based on an independent survey of 59,000 lawyers and an evaluation by a "blue ribbon panel of preeminent peers" in each area of practice. Also, Research and Markets listed him as one of the top lawyers in Entertainment Law, Settlements and Negotiations, and he was cited in The Wrap online magazine as one of "21 Great Thinkers of Indie Film." Steven frequently writes and lectures about issues related to film finance production and distribution. In 2012, his article "The New Renaissance Paradigm - A Break-through Time For Artists" was published in the inaugural edition of the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment and Sports Law and his article "Life After Sundance: Distribution and Marketing for the 99 Percent" was published in Indiewire. Each January at the Sundance Film Festival, in conjunction with the New York State Film Office, Steven programs and moderates panels for filmmakers, producers and financiers. Before joining FWRV, Steven practiced as a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig, LLP from 2003-2012, and was a founding partner of Rudolph & Beer. LLP where he practiced from 1993-2003. Steven received his B.A. with Honors from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981. After working as a Legislative Assistant to United States Senator Arlen Specter from 1981-1983, Steven received his J.D. from The Villanova University School of Law, in 1986 where he was named to the Villanova Law Review.
CHRIS WADSWORTH is co-Founder and Managing Director of Manitou Ventures and Manitou Media. Manitou Ventures makes early stage investments in a variety of sectors and industries. Manitou Media primarily supports the Freshgrass brand and festival, which is a bluegrass event held annually, as well as other creative projects. Prior to this, Chris was co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Ceyuan Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Beijing China, which now manages $600 million in commitments. Before Ceyuan, Chris held a variety of financial and business positions at AtomShockwave, Macromedia, Montgomery Securities and Fleet Bank. Chris was a founding member of the Golden Elixir Bluegrass Band and was accepted into New England Conservatory for a Masters degree in Composition (did not complete). Chris received a MBA from the University of Chicago in 1996 and a BA from Williams College in 1991, with a major in music composition.
AJAY RAMACHANDRAN has launched successful digital, mobile and social media agencies and several tech start-ups. Ajay serves as the Chairman of SourceN, a successful silicon valley based mobile and social web agency that he co-founded that provides innovative strategy, creative and technology solutions for brands such as Apple, Disney, MTV, SAP, Dell, UBM, Conde Nast, etc. Ajay Ramachandran is also the Chief Marketing & Product Officer at Dynamic Signal - a venture backed start-up that has raised $21M from Trinity, Time Warner, Venrock, etc. Prior to Dynamic Signal & SourceN, Ajay served as CTO and GM for TigerLogic Corp (TIGR), and was a senior executive at Electron Economy (acquired by Viewlocity) and USWeb (IPO) where he ran a $150M eCommerce business. Ajay has also co-founded and advised several start-ups guiding them to successful exists including Cybersage Software (acquired by Macromedia), Utopia (acquired by USWeb), eScene Networks (acquired by Inktomi), RichFX (acquired by Channel Advisors), etc. Ajay works closely with brands to help them align their strategy and marketing objectives with the rapidly growing opportunity of mobile & social media and to help them establish brand communities that reach large and targeted audiences. Ajay is an expert on mobile and social media ROI, earned media impressions and value, and can help a brand calibrate their investment in mobile & social media. Ajay resides in the Silicon Valley, is a movie buff, loves juice cleanses and is married with two adorable daughters.