AFF Roundtable: Production & Post-Production | Tuesday, July 18, 2017 | 7pm | 4th Tap Brewery
Join us at 4th Tap Brewery for a casual and informative roundtable workshop covering production & post-production. In the spirit of AFF’s popular roundtable sessions during our Screenwriters Conference, this event will offer exclusive and intimate access to local filmmakers, producers, distributors, and industry insiders with knowledge and experience to share. Visit different tables during the event and get some one-on-one access with our esteemed guests. Attendees are encouraged to ask specific questions about the creative and business aspects of filmmaking.
Stop by as early as 6:30 for special happy hour prices, bites from the Austin Taste Us food truck and an opportunity to connect with other up-and-coming Austin filmmakers in a casual environment. Whether you’re currently working on a project or are just curious about taking that first step as a filmmaker, take advantage of this invaluable experience to network and learn.
INSIDER EXCLUSIVE: you can purchase a Film Pass on site at this event!
MEET OUR ROUNDTABLE GUESTS:
Drew Saplin - Assistant Directing
Drew Saplin is a writer director for the Austin-based production company Rooster Teeth. In his 7 years since graduating from UT with a Bachelor of Science in RTF he has had a diverse and bizarre career in the entertainment industry. Drew worked as a field producer for the show Shipping Wars, was a PA on Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, as well as The Kroll Show and Arrested Development. As an AD he’s worked in LA and Austin doing features and web series working with all sorts of eclectic faces and talents: rappers to cowboys, horses to hot air balloons. Additionally, he has a side hustle as a leather craftsman making wallets and bags. He lives in an east side fixer upper with his partner Allie and his dog The Admiral.
Kakii Keenan - Art Directing
Kakii Keenan studied film at The University of Texas at Austin. She has been active in the Austin film industry for almost three decades, working on a variety of films, documentaries, television shows, and commercials. She has taken part in many aspects of filmmaking but focuses on art direction. She prefers working on low-budget productions, because it allows her to be involved in all facets of art direction, from set design and wardrobe to computer graphics and special effects. Her specialty has always been finding creative, low-budget solutions to big-budget problems.
Sandra Adair - Editing
She is most known, however, as the award winning film editor who has has had an ongoing artistic collaboration with film director Richard Linklater, having edited 19 films for him over the past 25 years. Some of the films she has edited for Linklater include the classic Dazed and Confused, the 2012 comedy Bernie, and the critically acclaimed Before trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, and the acclaimed Boyhood.
Boyhood premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and went on to win numerous awards, including 3 Golden Globes and 3 BAFTAs. Boyhood also earned 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Editing for Sandra Adair. Adair won the American Cinema Editor’s prestigious Eddie Award for best edited dramatic feature in 2015 for Boyhood.
In 2003, Adair was nominated for an Eddie Award by the American Cinema Editors for School of Rock, and won the Best Edited Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2012 for the feature documentary Shepard and Dark. Some of Adair’s credits with other directors include Everything Must Go, starring Will Ferrell, and the award winning documentary Sushi: The Global Catch. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and American Cinema Editors. Adair just finished editing Last Flag Flying for Linklater and the film will open the New York Film Festival in the fall of 2017.
Brian Ramos - Score and Sound Design
Brian J Ramos is a composer, producer, mix engineer and sound designer whose work includes records with Charanga Cakewalk, Grupo Fantasma and Master Blaster Sound System. His music has appeared on HBO, ESPN, AMC, PBS, A&E and FX networks as well as in numerous feature films, television advertisements and independent shorts.
Brian J Ramos has also been a producer and host of On Story® from Austin Film Festival and Public Radio International, a nationally syndicated public radio program which takes a look at the creative process of film-making through the eyes of some of the entertainment industry’s most prolific writers, directors and producers.
Mindy Raymond – Texas Motion Picture Alliance
Brian Buongiorno - Visual Effects
During his 25 years spent working in Los Angeles, Brian collaborated regularly with many of LA’s top visual effects companies including Sea Level, A52 and Digital Domain. Brian struck out on his own on September 11, 2001 when 525 was purchased by Liberty/Ascent Media, just as the visual effects workflow began to change. New technology made streamlining post-production possible, and he applied his technical expertise and artistic talent to create an all-digital process. He developed his digital color intermediary skills at Deluxe’s EFILM in Hollywood, color-graded the feature films “Click” and “Zoom”, then set about to re-design his coloring/finishing workflow for commercial clients.
In 2010 Brian brought his company home to Texas and opened Tone Visuals in order to deliver A-level talent and digital workflow to directors, editorial companies and advertising agencies. Tone Visuals allows projects with tight deadlines and shrinking budgets to begin as soon as the footage leaves any camera in use today. Brian enjoys the challenge of creating great work.
Meredith Stephens - Equipment Rental
With a passion for being on set calling her name, Meredith dove into the freelance world. She worked as a Production Manager and Producer of national and regional spots for clients including GMC, Denny’s, and Nokia.
After achieving her goals as a freelancer, Meredith ceased the opportunity to work at one of the largest and most respected production rental facilities in the Southwest, MPS Studios. She currently serves as Vice President of Business Development for MPS Studios Dallas Austin Denver – consulting on movies, commercials, and tv shows; formulating new ways to generate growth, and orchestrating plans for business expansion. In 2011, she and her husband opened the MPS Austin, and she has played a major role in supporting independent filmmakers in the Austin area.
Meredith is a founding board member and former president of Texas Motion Picture Alliance, through which she helped create seven pieces of legislation passed into state law. She was appointed to the Texas Film Industry Incentive Advisory Committee by then State Comptroller Susan Combs. She received the Breast Cancer Advocacy Award for her work with The Bridge Breast Network, and was selected as one of the 10 Most Influential Women in Texas by Southwest Actors Guide. She graduated from Leadership Texas, an organization dedicated to providing leadership education programs that advance and improve the personal, economic, and professional status of women.
Ms. Stephens has held the reign as President of Women In Film.Dallas, whose mission is to empower, promote, and mentor women working in media. She served two terms as Treasurer of the Southwest Chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, a non-profit organization representing production companies in five states. Under her leadership, the accounting process was overhauled for increased efficiency and transparency.
Troy Campbell - Music Licensing
Troy is the founder of The House of Songs project -an artist residency program for singer-songwriters that fosters collaboration between musicians through songwriting sessions and showcases. The program is now on its sixth year of operation and includes over eight countries. As co-owner and producer for Collectionagencyfilms.com his animation and film projects have been awarded a Telly Award, an Emmy and several Pollie awards. He also produces the annual Roky Erickson Ice Cream Social concerts during the SXSW Music Festival since 2008, and currently works as a music consultant for Warner Brothers Music. Troy’s 25-year career has seen international gold record co-writes, a New York Times top ten critics list and eight full-length CDs.