Pictured are our dynamic panelists (clockwise top left to right): Kuye Youngblood, Head of Development & Production, BRIC TV; Anthony Riddle, Vice President, BRIC Community Media; Kecia Élan Cole, Senior Producer, BRIC TV; Tony Gerber, Emmy award-winning writer, producer and filmmaker; Skye MacLeod, Director, BRIC Media Education.
BRIC Community Media's TV & Film Pitch Series
Part III
BRIC's two Community Media TV Networks—Brooklyn Free Speech and BRIC TV—come together to bring you a unique opportunity; the BRIC Community Media TV & Film Pitch Series. Now in its third year, the series was created with one goal in mind— to turn media dreamers into media makers.
We'll be helping you perfect in October, we will encourage you to practice in November, and now it's time to pitch your very well-formed idea to BRIC TV. You will have five minutes to introduce your idea and then the C-Suite of BRIC TV and Brooklyn Free Speech will give you five minutes of feedback. Don't be nervous. We believe in you!
MEET THE PANELISTS
Anthony Riddle is vice-president of community media at BRIC. Riddle has served in a variety of national leadership roles prior to joining the staff at BRIC in February 2013, including a long and celebrated association with Public Access television. He has served as executive director for three major market Public Access organizations— Atlanta’s People TV, Minneapolis Telecommunications Network, and Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Riddle represented the field in Washington, DC as the executive director of the Alliance for Community Media and later served as general manager for WBAI FM in New York. Riddle also served on a panel set up by President Carter to assist the former Soviet states in establishing democratic media.
Tony Gerber is an Emmy 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 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. In 2005, Gerber co-founded NY-based production company, Market Road Films, with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Nottage and Gerber are currently developing a feature film, Everlasting Yea! for Amazon Studios. Gerber is an adjunct professor at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Steiner Studios.
Kuye Youngblood is an Emmy award-winning producer who has worked in both independent and corporate media. She is currently the head of development & production at BRIC TV. Her responsibilities include creative development of new series including The Great Pretender with filmmaker Nathan Silver (Tribeca) and collaborating with teams of dynamic media makers. She oversees scripted series, was the Executive Producer for the Miami Web Fest nominated Brooklynification and part of the management team for The Show About The Show (Tribeca). She was also Series Producer for Neighborhood Beat, a show about Brooklyn’s amazing neighborhoods. Prior to BRIC, she worked in the corporate sector, producing content for television networks including BMW and MINI USA. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Kuye still lives, works, and occasionally whips-up gluten-free treats there!
Skye MacLeod is an educator, filmmaker, and team leader with over 15 years of experience working in New York City and abroad. MacLeod is successful managing production teams, piloting and leading complex educational projects, and forging partnerships. He has extensive experience training teachers to integrate digital media in a wide array of educational contexts. MacLeod is a graduate of Skidmore College (B.A. Music, 1999) and Teachers College of Columbia University (Ed. M, Instructional Technology, 2009). MacLeod is passionate about helping others tell their stories through civic engagement, education, and collaboration.
Kecia Élan Cole is an Emmy-nominated, and New York Press Club Award-winning TV Producer and Editor. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Kent State University, where she founded and edited an on-campus magazine. Kecia’s editing work has been featured in music videos by Talib Kweli and Fat Man Scoop, and a short film by noted filmmakers Malik Sayeed and Arthur Jafa. She has also freelanced with ABC's Good Morning America Now and BET. She is currently a Senior Producer and Editor for BRIC TV where she is a series producer on: B-Side, Brooklyn Made, and Brooklyn Is Masquerading As The World with Terence Nance, and is an executive producer on two scripted series: BK3K and Sole Kings with Michael "Boogie" Pinckney— a series all about sneaker culture.
PREPARING YOU FOR SUCCESS
We're here to help you learn, create, and elevate your film and TV game. We want you to succeed and we know that you want to succeed but great success comes with great preparation. Here are some great resources to ensure that you walk into your next pitch prepared and ready for success.
PRACTICE WITH OUR STUDY GUIDE!
ABOUT THE BRIC COMMUNITY MEDIA TV & FILM PITCH SERIES
So you have an idea for a TV show or film— now what? The ability to express an idea is almost as important as the idea itself and we are eager to help you with that. The BRIC Community Media TV & Film Pitch Series gives you the opportunity to practice and perfect your pitch skills over the course of six months in front of industry heavy hitters, and a live audience.
The four-part series will culminate in November with you having a shot to pitch your TV show or film to BRIC TV, an Emmy, Ippy, and Telly-award winning TV channel and digital network, whose work has been screened at prominent festivals such as the Tribeca Film Festival and Sundance.
Contact Information:
BFreeBK@BRICartsmedia.org / 718.683.9338
