The BRIC Pitch Series: Perfect Your Pitch

Perfect Your Pitch Panel 2022

Do you have an interesting film or television idea but are having difficulty coming up with a way to sell it? In this panel discussion, four industry experts will share valuable techniques and strategies for preparing and perfecting your pitch. These include coming up with a hook, considering the audience, creating dynamic pitch materials, as well as common mistakes and pitfalls. Come to the session with an open mind and questions for the panel!

MODERATOR

Kecia Élan Cole 
She/her | @keciaelan

Kecia Élan Cole is a 5 time NY Emmy-nominated executive producer, series producer, series creator, supervising producer, content creator, showrunner, director, video editor, writer and  development team member. She currently serves as the Director of Fiction at BRIC TV where she executive produces several docu-series including: Brooklyn Made,  Neighborhood Beat, B-Side, Touré Show, Brooklyn Is Masquerading As The World and Waxing Cinematic. She is an Executive Producer on several original scripted series/films that have premiered at noteworthy film festivals such as TriBeca, SeriesFest and UrbanWorld and ABFF including: They Charge for The Sun, Sole Kings, All Hail Beth, The Future Is Then,  Sauce, Eighty-Sixed, The United Space of America (animated), The Memories Trilogy and the forthcoming Inspector Ike (feature film), along with several other scripted series currently in production. She curates and moderates numerous panels on topics ranging from pitching for TV to Afrofuturism. Kecia is pro-active, creative and curious about the world.

PANELISTS

Tony Gerber
He/him | @marketroadfilms

Tony Gerber is an Emmy and PGA award-winning writer, producer and filmmaker.  He has written and directed over a dozen documentaries for National Geographic, shot in some of the most remote and dangerous regions of the world.  Most recently he directed and executive produced Kingdom of the White Wolf, a 3-part natural history series for National Geographic, filmed on location on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic.   He is a producer of the critically acclaimed, PGA award-winning film Jane about the life and work of Dr. Jane Goodall.  His documentary Explorer: Battle for Virunga, about the fight to protect mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (National Geographic Channel) was a 2017 recipient of a Genesis Award, the Humane Society’s top honor for bringing critical animal protection issues to the public.  For CNN Films he directed, and co-wrote with Meryl Streep, We Will Rise chronicling former First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to Africa to raise awareness of the importance of girl’s education, featuring Meryl Streep, Isha Sesay and Freida Pinto.  The film was a  recipient of an American Television Academy Honor and a Cine Golden Eagle.  His independent films include Full Battle Rattle (Berlinale premiere and SXSW Special Jury Prize) and The Notorious Mr. Bout (Sundance, 2014). In 2005, Gerber co-founded NY-based production company, Market Road Films, with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.  Gerber produced Emma Francis Snyder’s Oscar short-listed documentary Takeover about the Young Lords 1970 take-over of the failing Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, which made affordable healthcare a topic of national debate. The film is a recipient of support from Ford Just Films and Open Society Foundation. Gerber and Nottage Executive Produced Deep South, a 10-part podcast for Stitcher investigating an unsolved 1950s lynching and the conspiracy of silence in a small southern town. Gerber is an professor at the Fierstein Graduate School of Cinema at Steiner Studios in New York City.

Kristine McPherson
she/her | IG: @seenaskristine
Kristine McPherson has been working for over a decade in the marketing and advertising industry. She began her work in advertising agencies and with brands developing digital strategies for media campaigns. She then began to lean into audience strategy, understanding specific behaviors across media channels and researching signals to identify targets for effective marketing. She has also worked with individuals and start up businesses lending to a well rounded breadth of experience. Some of the brands she has worked on include HBO Max, Juvia’s Place, Universal Pictures, USA Network, Jet Blue, Burlington Stores, Enterprise Rental Cars, Staples, and more as well as individual brand marketing for former NBA player and CBA Champion Sonny Weems. In addition to leading workshops around audience strategy and planning, Kristine has been a featured speaker at several events including Girls, Inc. Women In Media Conference in Philadelphia, American Advertising Foundation’s RAD Women, and the upcoming Women In Tech Conference in October 2022.

Matt Grady
he/him | IG/TW @factory25, FB @factorytwentyfive

Matt Grady is the founder of Factory 25, an independent film production and distribution company launched in 2009. Factory 25 is a home for conceptually provocative narratives and documentaries. Grady was recently named “One of the Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture,” and has been called “One of the most important curatorial voices of new, independent American films.” His mission is to expose the world to under-the-radar films, music, and other curiosities theatrically and digitally, as well as on TV, VOD, VHS, and limited edition discs with vinyl LPs and books. Factory 25 titles include Other Music, Christmas, Again, All This Panic, MA, Sylvio, August at Akiko’s, Uncle Kent 2, Stinking Heaven, Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel, Sophia Takal’s Green, All the Light in the Sky, Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, the Zellner Brothers’ Kid Thing and the restored Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning film In the Soup by Alexandre Rockwell. Grady also produced Nathan Silver’s The Great Pretender, Onur Tukel’s Applesauce and Summer of Blood, Theodore Collatos & Carolina Monnerat’s Queen of Lapa along with the upcoming films You Mean Everything to Me by Bryan Wizemann, All the Old Bells by Brent Green and Inspector Ike by Graham Mason.Factory 25’s headquarters are located in Brooklyn, New York.

Misha Calverty
she/her | @mishacalvert
Misha is an award-winning filmmaker and showrunner based in New York. She has created and sold two original series: STRUT (Revry) which she wrote and starred in, and ALL HAIL BETH (BRIC TV), which she wrote and directed. She is currently in pre-production on her debut feature RAGER as writer-director, which is being produced and financed by Good Question Media and is scheduled to film in 2023. Her next film, PINK FLAGS, is a comedy thriller starring real-life married couple Raye and Sawyer Spielberg opposite each other.  Misha began her film career collaborating with director Jonathan Levine (NINE PERFECT STRANGERS) on a short film called LOVE BYTES. 2022 writer-director work includes her original pilot ALPHA/BETA starring Leven Rambin (THE HUNGER GAMES), YES, MOTHER!, a short dark comedy about two women fighting for the love of their cult leader, MISTER DHARMA, a short dark comedy about an occult furniture store, and NEW BOO, a short film about a woman dating a stuffed animal which Misha wrote and stars in. As an actor, Misha played a recurring role on the Emmy Award-winning show A CRIME TO REMEMBER. Misha is the founder of Vermilion, a coaching company that provides support, mentorship, and education for actors, artists and multi-hyphenates. More info at clubvermilion.com

SEE ALL EVENTS IN THE BRIC PITCH SERIES