2023 Perfect Your Pitch Panel Discussion

2023 Perfect Your Pitch Panel Discussion

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 three months in front of industry heavy hitters, and a live audience. You will learn valuable techniques from industry insiders on how to prepare a TV/film pitch including: developing a hook, considering your audience, and coming up with a pitch deck and sizzle reel.

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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, Inspector Ike (feature film), and the forthcoming The Woods Are Real (feature film), Growing Community, Problematic, Ghosted, Dolla Van and Girls Aren’t Funny. 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

Caralene Robinson
She / her | @itscaralene

Caralene Robinson is a director, writer, and producer with a focus on stories featuring women and the underrepresented. Digital series “King Ester”, starring Rowin Amone, Janet Hubert and Angelica Ross was nominated for four 2020 Daytime Emmys. Pandemic inspired short film “Reopening” won the 2021 Richard and Ellen Sandor Best Short at the Black Harvest Film Festival. Digital series “The Table” won 2023 Best Indie Episodic at the Essence Film Festival. Workplace digital series “Ms/Manage”, screened at American Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Newfest, and more. Caralene’s additional directing projects include an episode of BRIC TV series “Sauce”, “The Hotline” a BETHer short on the subject of domestic violence starring Keri Hilson and Raheem Devaughn, the State of the City Address video for Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, and short films “The Bill” and “Disordher”. She’s also produced and directed brand campaigns for clients such as AARP, Dove, Compass, and Shea Moisture. Caralene is a 2023 Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Director and 2022 Blackhouse Fellow. Her professional experience includes roles at Viacom and Global Citizen. Caralene is a graduate of Howard University and NYU.

Patrick Coker
He / him | @epatric

Patrick Coker is a Producer / writer best known as the Executive Producer and Showrunner for TALES ON BET, and most recently as Supervising Producer on the hit cop drama, East New York on CBS. Patrick has been involved in the Theater, Film and TV industry since the mid-90’s, as an actor, director and content provider. A graduate of the LIU Media Arts Program with an M.F.A. in Directing, he has been the creative mind behind many indie music videos, short films and the feature film Shankman’s Deli. Some of his other projects include Balance, Judy’s Child, White Pickett Fence, SHHHH, Heroin(e) and Moves We Make, all on the festival circuit. Patrick serves on the Board of Directors for the Queen City film Festival (NJ). Patrick is from Brooklyn and a proud member of Writers Guild of America WGA East and the Directors Guild of America.

Yoruba Richen
She / her | @redrubes14

Yoruba Richen is an award winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on multiple outlets, including Netflix, MSNBC, FX/Hulu, HBO and PBS.   Her most recent film The Rebellious Life of Mrs Rosa Parks premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and won a Peabody Award.  It is currently streaming on Peacock.  Other recent work include the Emmy-nominated films  American Reckoning (Frontline),  How It Feels to Be Free (American Masters), The Sit In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show (Peacock) and Green Book: Guide to Freedom (Smithsonian Channel).  She directed an episode of the award-winning series Black and Missing for HBO and High on the Hog for Netflix. Her film, The Killing of Breonna Taylor won an NAACP Image Award and is streaming on HULU. Her previous films, The New Black and Promised Land won multiple festival awards before airing on PBS’s Independent Lens and P.O.V.  Yoruba is a past Guggenheim and Fulbright fellow and she won the Creative Promise Award at Tribeca All Access.  She was a Sundance Producers Fellow and Women’s Fellow and is a recipient of the Chicken & Egg Breakthrough Filmmaker’s Award.  Yoruba is the Founding Director of the Documentary Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

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.

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Preparing You For Success!

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!

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!