WESTDOC Back for Second Event

LOS ANGELES: WESTDOC, The West Coast Reality and Documentary Conference, returns to Santa Monica from September 13 to 15.

More than 100 industry speakers are expected to participate in the three-day conference, which features panels, case studies and exclusive networking sessions. The event also includes an all-day PitchFest, where new projects are pitched directly to network and development executives in front of a live audience for potential acquisition or co-production funding.

The event will be held at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Santa Monica for the second year. Among the companies slated to attend are Discovery Channel, TLC, National Geographic Channel, Syfy, HISTORY, The Style Network, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, the BBC and Lonely Planet.

“We plan the conference so that it is rich with real world information and as many strategic business contacts as possible,” said Richard Propper, distribution executive and past-president of IDA and managing partner of the event. Co-founder and Academy Award-nominated producer/director Chuck Braverman added, “WESTDOC provides a forum where producers can actually meet and interface with those networks that do the financing and buying of projects. In our first year, the turn-out was amazing—people in L.A. need an event where deals can be cut in the hallways.”