AFM Unveils Lineup of Seminars & Conferences

LOS ANGELES: The 2010 American Film Market (AFM) will feature panels on film financing, social media, piracy, distribution and marketing, while sessions include talks from prominent filmmakers, financiers and industry execs.

Held November 3 to 10, AFM will feature a broad cross-section of Hollywood and global players. Panelists for AFM’s finance conference include Nick Meyer, the president and CEO of Sierra Pictures; Danny Perkins, the CEO of Optimum Releasing; Steve Ransohoff, the president of Film Finances; Trevor Short, the chief financial officer at Nu Image; Graham Taylor, the head of global finance and distribution group at WME; Stewart Till, the chief executive at The Icon Group; and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman at The Weinstein Company. The PGA’s panel, New Strategies on How to Package and Finance Your Independent Project Overseas, will include Richard Gladstein, the president of FilmColony, and Cathy Schulman, the president of Mandalay Pictures.

A Studio Finance and Distribution seminar will focus on how independent producers can make their films more attractive for studio acquisition. Panelists include Chris Aronson, the senior VP of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox; Steve Bersch, the president of Sony Pictures’ worldwide acquisitions group; Ron Hohauser, the CFO of Summit Entertainment; and Jeff Small, the president and COO of DreamWorks.

Other panels at AFM include Piracy: The Real Cost of Free and Film Marketing & New Social Media: Maximizing Exposure in the Internet Era. Highlights also include Women in Film’s president, Jane Fleming, moderating The Chick Flick, a seminar on Hollywood embracing the growing powers of the female demographic.