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"COOPERATION WITH HOLLYWOOD" PANEL 2012

Grandhotel Pupp, Chopin lounge, Sunday, July 1, 2012 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM

For the fifth time the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will organize the highly regarded “Cooperation with Hollywood” panel. The goal of the event is to bridge the gap between Hollywood and Europe and bring together the skills, experience and talent from both sides of the Atlantic. Last year, several European filmmakers not only gained new knowledge from the panel, but also found a representation or gained direct access to the panelist for their projects. This year, prominent representatives of the American film industry will again offer their European counterparts useful insight into the workings of the Hollywood production machine during the discussion and face-to-face meetings.

This year’s panel will present a prominent casting director Avy Kaufman, whose projects include films by Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Lars von Trier or Paul Greengrass and Milan Popelka, COO of independent American distribution and production company FilmNation Entertainment that participated in the production of Cannes competitor Mud and is responsible for the international sale of films including King’s Speech, Magic Mike or the new John Hillcoat film Lawless that will be screened at this year’s KVIFF.

The panel will also welcome Richard Brown, the founder of production company Passenger that is currently producing Barça, a documentary by Paul Paula Greengrass, and TV film True Detective with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson directed by Cary Fukunaga. The work of talent agents will be presented by agents Ilene Feldman of IFA Talent Agency, whose clients include Ryan Gosling or Angelina Jolie, and Brent Morley of WME that represents this year’s Oscar® winner Jean Dujardin and the Oscar® nominee Rooney Mara. The panel would not be complete without its main initiator and president of talent and production company Conspiracy Melinda Jason.

This year’s subject will be the same as last year, however, because of the occupations of this year’s panelists, the angle of the invaluable insight into Hollywood reality will be a little different.

WHAT DOES IT REALLY TAKE TO MAKE FILMS (OR TV SHOWS) IN HOLLYWOOD?
What does a director, writer, actor or producer have to do to make it in Hollywood? How does one get access to, and attention from, the powers that be? How do you get your material read? What do agents do and how do you get one to represent you? What does a director or producer needs to show Hollywood in order to be given money and a green light to make their movie? How do you convince stars to read your work? And if you manage to get your movie made, how do you make sure it's distributed? How can festivals help you make and sell films?

The panelists:

MILAN POPELKA, COO, FilmNation Entertainment
He is the Chief Operating Officer at FilmNation Entertainment, a leading independent entertainment company focused on the sales representation of international film & television rights as well as the internal development, production, and financing of feature films. Popelka’s responsibilities include overseeing all day-to-day operations and finance for the company. In its short history, FilmNation has secured an industry-leading slate of diverse, high profile titles, both for international sales representation (including among others Best Picture Academy Award Winner The King’s Speech; Cannes competition title Lawless starring Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf; Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey; sci-fi thriller Looper starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt; and the next three films by Terrence Malick) as well as for production (including Jeff Nichols' Cannes competition title Mud starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon; the Oren Peli-produced Chernobyl Diaries; and The House at the End of the Street starring Jennifer Lawrence). Prior to joining FilmNation, Popelka oversaw creative/finance at Samuels Media (Michael Clayton), worked in the Independent Finance Group at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and served as a consultant in the entertainment practice of McKinsey & Company.

RICHARD BROWN, producer, Passenger
Founder and principal of the production company Passenger, which has a 3 year first look / overhead deal with the company Anonymous Content. Besides the Barça and True Detective projects, his next projects include Snakehead and Blink with writer / director Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana) and Which Brings Me to You with director Matthew Warchus. Richard Brown previously served as head of production at Palm Pictures and vice president at Industry Entertainment. Brown created and produced the directors label dvd series with filmmakers Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham. Additional producer credits include I’ve Been 12 Forever by Michel Gondry, Sundance & IFC award winning documentary Dark Days, Notna by Anton Corbijn and Six Days, a short film project by Wong Kar-wai.

ILENE FELDMAN, agent, IFA Talent Agency
Started in the agency business in 1981 in Herb Tobias & Associates, her first clients included Nicolas Cage, Jonny Depp and Christopher Penn, all at the beginning of their careers. After work for large companies Triad Artists, Leading Artists and UTA. In 1995, along with two colleagues from UTA, she opened her own boutique agency, IFA Talent Agency. IFA is well respected and recognized for the ability to truly build and sustain careers. Some of IFA’s clients include Ryan Gosling, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hartnett and Angelina Jolie.

MELINDA JASON, president of Conspiracy production company
Melinda Jason is a manager and producer responsible for the discovery of many talented filmmakers with successful careers in the film industry. Her company represents writers, directors and producers of TV and Internet programs and films and helps launch the careers of many filmmakers around the world.

AVY KAUFMAN, casting director
Since 1987, she has worked in casting more than 150 film and television productions. Her casting credits include films Prometheus, Shame, Life f Pi, The Conspirator, Salt, Jack Goes Boating, Public Enemies, Mammoth, The Lovely Bones, The Bourne Ultimatum, American Gangster, Capote, King Kong, Manderlay, Dear Wendy, A.I., Blow, Brokeback Mountain or The Sixth Sense. Kaufman received the 2005 Hollywood Casting Director of the Year award given by the Hollywood Film Festival, an Emmy Award for her work on the drama television series Damages and an Emmy nomination for television miniseries Empire Falls. Kaufman has been nominated for eighteen Artios Awards presented by Casting Society of America, and has won three.

BRENT MORLEY, agent, WME
Brent Morley has been a talent agent, first at endeavor, and now at WME, for the past 7 years. Prior to that he worked in development for director Alfonso Cuaron and was an assistant at CAA. This past spring, Brent's clients included Academy Award winner Jean DUJARDIN and nominee Rooney Mara.

The panel will be moderated by producer, screenwriter and film columnist Tomáš Baldýnský.

The event will be open to film professionals, journalists and the public.

Please confirm you participation and reserve a seat at michailidis@kviff.com till June 29.