Description:  We’re joined by Bri Castellini, one of the top crowdfunding experts in the indie film world. While at Seed&Spark, Bri helped filmmakers raise over $25 million—achieving an incredible 85% success rate. Bri is an independent film and screenwriting consultant and a subject matter expert in arts crowdfunding, indie filmmaking, film festivals, podcasting, romance novels, and the USA television show Burn Notice. As a filmmaker herself she's known for her short film Ace and Anxious (writer/director, 160k+ views on YouTube) and for her podcast Breaking Out of Breaking In. She personally helped launch over $25 million dollars in crowdfunding campaigns with an 85% success rate while she was the Manager of Creator Success at the artist crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark, and she’s spoken at over 200 events and festivals virtually and in person on the subjects previously mentioned. Her full work history can be found on her website BriCastellini.com. And find her at https://www.instagram.com/castellinifilmschool/.

In this powerful conversation, Bri reveals what most filmmakers get wrong about crowdfunding, why going viral is not the goal, and how to fund your film by simply telling your story with heart.

A master storyteller shares decades of lessons and his newest book.

Description - : Paul Chitlik has written for all the major networks and studios in English and in Spanish.  He was story editor for MGM/UA'S "The New Twilight Zone," and staff writer for Showtime's sitcom "Brothers."  He directed episodes and was coordinating producer for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol” and “U.S. Customs Classified.”  He wrote and produced “Alien Abduction” for UPN.  He wrote, produced, and directed “Ringling Brothers Revealed” a special for The Travel Channel.  (He had been a roustabout for Circus Vargas years earlier.)  He wrote, produced and directed “The Wedding Dress,” for Amazon Prime.  He received a Writers Guild of America award nomination for "The Twilight Zone" and a GLAAD Media Award nomination for "Los Beltrán,” for Telemundo.  He won a Genesis Award for a Showtime Family movie. 

He taught in the MFA programs of UCLA, and many prestigious universities around the world.  His book, “Rewrite,” is available in English, Chinese, and Korean.  His latest novel is “Lies, All Lies.”  His latest screenwriting book is “The Screenwriting Sensei.” And we will cover that book today.

Our special guest this week is the award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeremy Workman, whose work has been Emmy Nominated and Oscar short-listed. His films include LILY TOPPLES THE WORLD (Discovery), DECIDING VOTE (The New Yorker), THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET (Greenwich Entertainment / Kino Lorber), MAGICAL UNIVERSE (IFC Films), and most recently SECRET MALL APARTMENT. Secret Mall Apartment premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival and went on to win 9 major film festival awards. It was released theatrically in over 250 cities in March 2025, becoming the fourth-highest grossing documentary since 2020 (excluding music concert films). Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Secret Mall Apartment was even parodied on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Executive Produced by actor Jesse Eisenberg, the film is now being developed as both a stage play and a scripted movie. Today we’ll discuss the film and Jeremy’s success making movies that take us deep inside extraordinary worlds.

Today our special guests are Elliot Kirschner and Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse. Elliot Kirschner is a New York Times best-selling author and an Emmy Award-winning news and documentary producer. Elliot began his career at CBS News, reporting and producing for 60 Minutes, Sunday Morning, and The Evening News. Elliot now authors the Through the Fog newsletter. Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse is the Executive Director of Inequality Media and Inequality Media Civic Action and the founder of CoffeeKlatch Productions. She is also the co-host of “The Coffee Klatch,” a conversational podcast about the news of the week, with her longtime collaborator Robert Reich. Today we’ll discuss The Last Class, a documentary feature produced by Heather and directed by Elliot about Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.

Carole Dean is Founder and President of From the Heart Productions Inc, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit. From the Heart’s mission is to help indie filmmakers and creatives, with unique projects that contribute to society, get funding.  From the Heart accomplishes this through five Roy W. Dean Film Grants a year, fiscal sponsorship, education, mentorship, and free resources.  Since 1993, From the Heart has assisted thousands of documentaries, features, short films, and web series in getting their films funded. From the Heart has helped filmmakers raise over $70,000,000 for their films.

Mark is currently directing The Baristas vs The Billionaire and Executive Producing, Exiled From Hollywood, Orson Welles’ Lost Masterpiece. His first film, Building Bombs, was an Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Feature some of his other notable projects include: Kent State, The Day the War Came Home, Emmy Award, News and Current Affairs; Blood Ties the Life and Work of Sally Mann, Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Short Film; The Fire This Time, Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nominee and Writers Guild of America TV Currents Affairs Award nomination.

“Inside Ukraine’s war zone, a filmmaker captures courage, chaos, and the cost of truth.”

Xackery is a New York–based director and producer, drawn to stories that unfold in times of crisis, where resilience and identity intersect. His debut documentary, American Chain Gang, exposed controversial forced-labor prison programs in the U.S. His follow-up, Nothing Without You, explored memory, loss, and obsession.

And now, with his latest film, Brace for Oblivion, he brings us an immersive chronicle from the Ukrainian frontlines, filmed over three years, following seven citizen-soldiers through the cycles of combat and rare moments of homecoming.

Beyond his films, Xackery co-chairs the Producers Guild of America’s Employment Committee and actively supports the international indie film community.

In our conversation, we’ll cover the power of pivoting as a producer, trusting your storytelling instincts, navigating today’s marketplace, and building strong creative teams. And of course, we’ll dive into the craft of writing, shooting, and editing documentaries under extraordinary circumstances.

Our special guest today is documentary filmmaker Jonathan Berman, who began his career as a stock footage researcher and assistant editor. He is director and producer of The Shvitz, a film about the last traditional steambaths in New York. His film My Friend Paul, about his relationship to his bipolar best friend, was produced for public television. Calling All Earthlings is an exploration of Joshua Tree and the area’s UFO-inspired dome, The Integratron. Berman co-wrote the story for On The Run, featuring Michael Imperioli and John Ventimiglia, and produced the NYC music documentary Sabbath in Paradise, which featured Harvey Pekar and John Zorn. Today we’ll discuss his film Commune, which is being rereleased 20 years after it was made.

Our special guest this week is Lisa D’Apolito, an Emmy nominated producer and director who is also a dual citizen of the United States and Italy. She started as an actress in film, theater and television, and her roles included a part in “Goodfellas.”  She went on to producing and directing in advertising. Lisa’s documentary, “Love, Gilda,” was nominated for 2 creative Emmys. Lisa was named one of Variety’s 10 Documentarians to Watch in 2018 and SHOOT Magazines New Directors’ Showcase 2019.  Her recent films include Albert Pyun: King of Cult Movies which premiered at Comic Con and Shari and Lamb Chop, which is being theatrically released in 2025. Curently, she is working on a documentary about singer/songwriter Laura Nyro. 

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through an enterprise SaaS platform Film Forward. 

In 2023, CNBC named Seed&Spark one of the top 200 fintech companies in the world.  She serves on the Advisory Board for a variety of early stages startups and the Board of Film Impact Georgia. In 2024, alongside Christie Marchese at Kinema, Emily spearheaded an effort to launch The Distribution Playbook, a free and open- sourced field guide for independent filmmakers to succeed in distribution. 

She has produced films, VR, shorts and series that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca and more. She is currently touring with a feature documentary she produced called RATIFIED about the 100+ year struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Jeff Annison is the co-founder and President of Legion M, the world's first fan-owned media company that is using new equity crowdfunding laws enabled by the JOBS Act to create a film and television company built from the ground up to be owned by fans.

He was also the co-founder and CEO of Underground Labs, a product development studio that built mobile apps, websites, and enterprise products for clients including AT&T, Sprint, NFL, SEC, ACC, Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony Music, Diet Coke, Paramount Pictures, and more. Underground Labs also created the New York Rock Exchange, a first-of-its-kind marketplace that allowed fans to own a piece of a song.

Prior to Legion M, Jeff was a cofounder of MobiTV, one of the world’s first live mobile television services. Jeff led engineering and product development as the company scaled from 3 co-founders to over 300 employees, won an Emmy Award for Innovation in Television, and grew to over 25MM paying subscribers. 

Jeff started his career designing toys for Hasbro and theme park ride effects for Universal Studios. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. To connect with Jeff visit

 www.LegionM.com.

Our special guest today is the award-winning documentary filmmaker, Philip Shane. A few of his career highlights include co-directing, writing, and editing BEING ELMO, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. For his editing work on DANCING IN JAFFA, which had its World Premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival, Shane won the Best Editing Award at Israel's DocAviv Film Festival. He worked at ABC News for nearly a decade and edited many distinguished long form programs including Ted Kopple's Iraq War documentary, TIP OF THE SPEAR, which won the DuPont Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism and MARTIN LUTHER KING: Searching For The Promised Land, which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program. Beyond filmmaking, Shane also produces and hosts the long-running podcast, WHAT THE IF. Each week he invites scientists, science historians, and journalists to show us how they would use real science to explore extraordinary imaginary scenarios. Shane has also become a regular speaker and consultant on the use of Artificial Intelligence in documentary filmmaking and beyond. Currently he is directing and producing a feature documentary, THE WORLD I WANT TO LIVE IN, about Myst, a video game currently in The Museum of Modern of Art in New York. Recently he directed and produced JADE DOSKOW: PHOTOGRAPHER OF LOST UTOPIAS, which we’ll discuss today.

Jilann Spitzmiller is a veteran filmmaker with over 20 awards for her documentary and multi-media work. For more than three decades, she has honed a mastery in long-range, character-driven, cinema verité storytelling, supported multiple times by funders such as Sundance Institute, ITVS and George Soros’ Open Society Institute. 

 She has been a Sundance Documentary fellow and was selected for the Stowe Narrative Lab in 2024. Jilann’s most notable films include MEOW WOLF: ORIGIN STORY, which premiered at SXSW and played in over 600 theaters and is now on AppleTV, Amazon and other platforms. She produced the cult favorite, SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS which premiered at Sundance and won 11 awards and went onto US theatrical and worldwide television distribution. She directed the award-winning features STILL DREAMING and HOMELAND which both aired nationally on PBS. Spitzmiller directed and wrote episodic documentary for Discovery’s MEDICAL DIARY and NBC’s LIFE MOMENTS,

Jilann also has many cinematography credits, shooting on nonfiction episodic for NETFLIX, CNN, PBS, DISCOVERY, NBC, and Bravo. Jilann is currently teaching film funding in her Doc Funding Hub

https://courses.desktop-documentaries.com/memberships/doc-funding-hub

Today’s episode is especially important because I’m sharing the opening chapters of my new book, Creating your Future: The Difference between normal and genius is your connection to the field. I’ve written to empower filmmakers—not just with funding tools—but with access to the quantum field. I want to hear what resonates with you. Your feedback will help shape the rest of this book. So please email me at Info@fromtheheartproductions.com with your thoughts, ideas, or stories of how you connect to the field.”

A talented filmmaker, photographer, and producer, Carole Joyce is Vice-President and Director of the 501(c)3 non-profit From the Heart Productions and the Roy W. Dean Grant, which she has been an integral part of for 30 years. From the Heart Productions has provided Fiscal Sponsorship for thousands of films, including the Emmy Award winning documentaries "I Am Evidence" and "Belly of the Beast," the renowned Central American film "Cadejo Blanco," and the 2022 HBO documentary "A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting."

A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Carole is an award-winning filmmaker for her documentary, "Survivors." She produced the TV series "Heathstyles" as well as "Filmmakers", which is now in the national archives. While with Garamella/Fitzgerald Advertising Agency, Carole developed projects for young filmmakers David Fincher, Jessie Dylan and Mark Romanek. Recently, she served as Executive Producer for the award-winning short film "Stairway to the Stars" starring Sean Young and as LA Line Producer for "Wheels of Heaven" with Mickey Rourke.

Carole is the CEO of Authentic Vision Consulting, Inc., a management consulting firm for start-ups and early-stage companies. Carole's professional team assists CEOs and their companies with strategic planning and sustained financial progress.

Chance McClain is a creative powerhouse, blending a rich background in filmmaking, radio, and theater with a passion for storytelling. As the founder of Heritage Films, Chance has created more than 800 feature-length documentaries, celebrating family stories and life legacies. His work has connected generations, preserving the essence of individuals and families through visually stunning films.

A proud Army veteran and a pioneer in narrative innovation, Chance’s career spans sports radio, Broadway musicals, and entrepreneurial filmmaking. From directing a Streamy-nominated film to writing and producing an off-Broadway musical while running a sports station, his versatility and dedication shine through.

Today, Chance leads his team at Heritage Films with a heartfelt commitment to authenticity, merging technical expertise with an artistic touch. Whether inspiring others to embrace their past or discussing the art of storytelling, he captivates audiences and helps them see the value in preserving their own legacies.

Our special guests today are the award-winning filmmakers Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum. Sabine and Zeva co-directed the NEH supported documentary Letters from Baghdad, which was edited by Sabine and produced by Zeva. Letters from Baghdad screened in the US in over 70 venues and was broadcast on PBS, ARTE and the BBC. Sabine’s numerous editing credits also include the Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominated My Architect, for which she received an American Cinema Editor’s Eddie Award nomination and the Emmy-winning The Hunt for Planet B. In addition to producing Letters from Bagdad, Zeva also produced Ahead of Time, a feature length documentary about journalist Ruth Gruber, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before garnering six Best Documentary awards. She comes to film from a career in still photography and her work has been published in periodicals such as The New York Times Magazine. Her photographs are also in collections such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Brooklyn Museum. Today we will discuss Obsessed with Light, a documentary about Loïe Fuller, co-directed and co-produced by Sabine and Zeva.

With Guest Erik Gordon from FilmHedge

FILM & TV FINANCING, DONE BETTER

Streamlined financing platform that provides filmmakers with the funds they need to bring their creative visions to life—quickly and reliably.

At FilmHedge, we're revolutionizing the way stories are brought to life by reshaping the film and television financing landscape. As a trusted partner, we provide senior debt financing for productions with budgets ranging from $3 million to $50 million. Our proprietary database, the largest of its kind, offers unparalleled insights into production financial data and credit history, empowering smarter decisions for all stakeholders.’

Our special guest today is Nicholas Tabarrok. Nicholas is a prolific film and television producer whose company, Darius Films, has offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. His company has produced over 40 feature films which have premiered at the top film festivals and sold around the world. Nicholas is also active in television and has sold his productions to companies such as ABC, BBC America, and Hulu. He has worked with many notable actors such as Ethan Hawke, Kurt Russell, Snoop Dogg, Susan Sarandon, Sandra Oh. His company has a diverse and exciting slate of projects in development for both the large and small screen. In addition to his producing work, Nicholas was hired by the Shanghai University to build and teach a course on film producing. He is a proud member of the Producer’s Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the Atelier du Cinema European. Today we’ll discuss his career and some of his films including: THE RETIREMENT PLAN, starring Nicolas Cage; THE DEFENDOR, starring Woody Harrelson, and IRENA’S VOW, starring Sophie Nélisse.

Marc Iserlis is the Head of Film at Republic, an investment platform that lets everyone –both accredited and non-accredited investors–invest in private market opportunities like startups, films, sports, gaming, real estate, and beyond, and share in the financial upside. Republic boasts a community of nearly 3 million members, and has deployed over $2.6 billion through its investment platforms, funds, and firms. 

Marc leads Republic's newly-launched film financing vertical, Republic Film, which enables fans to invest directly in their favorite filmmakers' new projects, and share in their success. Success stories from Republic Film include Skybound Entertainment (The Walking Dead, Invincible), Pressman Film (American Psycho, Wall Street), and Robert Rodriguez's Brass Knuckle Films, which have raised tens of millions of dollars from their global fanbases. 

Marc is also a film and TV producer whose credits include Hotel Mumbai, Gone in the Night, Late Bloomers, Daliland, and About a Hero.

Our special guest today is Jason Perlman. Named #4 in LA Weekly's "Top 10 Entertainment Professionals to Watch in 2023," Jason is an accomplished screenwriter, director, producer and editor. He has worked with major television outlets and studios like Warner Bros, Sony, and Lionsgate. His material has screened at prestigious festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. As a WGA screenwriter, Jason's work in both features and TV is always high-concept and about superheroes, but not in the way you think. When consistently adapting IP, or in his prolific original work— Perlman focuses on grounded characters forced to challenge their human capacity and reach for the profound. In a word, Inspiration, our true superpower. Today we’ll discuss his new Sci Fi thriller, SITE, which is his second feature film as both screenwriter and director.

Breianne Pryse has been a coach, writer, inventor, healer, investor, spiritual advisor and guide in the physical and spiritual healing arts for 23+ years. She has recently moved into business coaching and leadership roles in her job as a startup investor. 

She has had training in energetic modalities including Theta Healing, Pyranic Healing, energy psychology, animal healing, holistic allergy removal, and others even becoming a teacher in Divine Intervention, Light Language and other practices.

Beth Basa Pielert is a Producer, Director, and writer of television and documentary films. She co-produced and co-directed Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life with Darrell Hillaire, Executive Director of the Lummi media company Children of the Setting Sun Productions and Vision Maker Media. The film is now airing on PBS through WORLD Local U.S.A. 

Pielert formed Good Film Works in 2001 while writing and directing Out of the Poison Tree, a documentary that explores truth and reconciliation for survivors of the Cambodian Genocide. Under Good Film Works, Pielert produced documentary shorts for Apple Inc., IDEO|bedsider.org, and Bay Area nonprofits that help provide transitional housing and services for the unhoused.

Her documentary credits include: The Corporation, winner of over 24 International awards including the Sundance Audience Award in 2004, Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial, winner of 6 awards including best documentary at Palm Springs International Short Fest 2009.

Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life can be seen Streaming on YouTube World Channel

https://www.YOUTUBE.com/watch?v=soJ-De4osic

Irina Chernikina is a filmmaker with over two decades of experience in producing, directing, writing, and editing. She has led multiple projects from development through post-production, focusing on narrative filmmaking.

Her recent work includes directing and producing the comedy series Being Bossy (2021) and an ongoing anthology series Bedtime Stories (2020-), where she also served as writer and editor. In 2024 Irina produced two feature films - a thriller Smile Maker and a horror Legado. She is currently developing a comedy feature Bum Next Door, which has a pre-sale offer from Glass House Distribution, along with Knockout, a female-driven action film, and Circulus Initium, a sci-fi action series.

In addition to narrative projects, Irina has worked on commercials, music videos, and educational content. Her experience across multiple aspects of production allows her to efficiently manage and execute projects while maintaining a clear creative vision. She currently manages the Film Funding Group with her partners Matt Chassin and Randy Fabert.

Rachel Antell has worked in documentary film production for over two decades but found her true passion in archival producing. In 2014 she co-founded Sub-Basement Archival, where she’s had the honor of being archival producer on dozens of documentaries that have screened worldwide, and garnered FOCAL Awards and an Emmy nomination for research and use of archival footage. In 2023, Rachel co-founded the Archival Producers Alliance (APA) with Jen Petrucelli and Steph Jenkins. 

The APA was created to organize archival producers, educate the film community about the craft, and advocate to make archival materials accessible and affordable to independent filmmakers. The APA's first initiative addresses Generative AI’s impact on documentary film and archival work. Last year, the APA published the first industry-wide guidelines, Best Practices for Use of Generative AI in Documentaries, with endorsements from over 50 organizations, foundations, production companies, and film festivals, as well as dozens of filmmakers.

Tony Panaccio is a 36-year media veteran, having started his career in the 1980s as a newspaper journalist for The Clearwater Sun, The Tampa Tribune and others. He later shifted his career into public relations with video game producer Capstone, where he also scripted many of their games, including William Shatner’s TekWar. During that period, he was also Shatner’s publicist for his various video game projects. Today, he is the CEO of Victory Comics, a startup in the contract publishing space.

Victory’s COO, Jan Utstein is an internationally award-winning Producer and Editor-in-Chief of Hurricane Entertainment. She has produced numerous comic books and graphic novels through Image Comics, IDW Publishing and CrossGen Entertainment, boasting over 2.3 million dollars in sales worldwide.

Utstein was Editor-in-Chief of all of Hurricane’s titles, including “Violent Messiahs”, which earned nominations for every major award in the comics industry including the Harvey Award, Wizard Fan Award, and the Eisner’s Russ Manning Award. While at Hurricane, she also partnered with entertainment luminaries such as 4 time Academy Award winner Star War’s Ben Burtt on their title “Chassis” and Kurt Russell, Debra Hill and John Carpenter on the title “Snake Plissken Chronicles”. 

She spent 8 years at Marvel Studios with Production Accounting credits on all productions including but not limited to - Film: Avengers Infinity War & Endgame, Black Panther 1&2, Black Widow, Thor: Ragnarök, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol II & III, Doctor Strange 1&2 - TV: Wanda Vision, Loki, Moon Knight, Hawkeye, Werewolf at Night and Animation: What If…?, and I am Groot. Her other studio credits include Warner Bros.’ Demolition Man, Columbia Picture’s Green Hornet, and DreamWorks Studios’ Cowboys & Aliens, as well as Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Utstein also worked in the DreamWorks Production Finance department. Educationally, Utstein earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Binghamton University. She was granted a full scholarship towards a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television & Animation. 

Born into a family of Accountants finance is in her blood. Utstein's dedication to the entertainment industry is evident through a track record of successful projects and a commitment to continuous learning and growth.

As a Producer, she has developed both film and TV series with Madonna's Maverick Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company, and The Pitt Group. Her producing credits include the Internet TV series Payday, based on hit video game
"Payday 2"; 35 Days of Kevin Eastman a documentary on the co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; the multi-award-winning Cinemascope feature film Valhalla; and as a partner in 88 Tranzmedia - Agent 88, which garnered worldwide press, including the front page of the LA Times.