Summary
Founded in 2011 by Richard "RB" Botto, Stage 32 is the world's largest online platform connecting and educating film, TV and new media creatives and professionals worldwide. Stage 32 works with over five hundred industry professionals and executives who provide education, instruction and professional opportunities for members of the platform. Stage 32 currently has over 1,200 hours of exclusive film, television and digital craft and business education in its library. Stage 32 members use the platform daily to build their network, take online webinars, classes and labs, find work and cast and crew their projects. Stage 32 members range from students to Emmy, BAFTA and Academy Award Winners.
Over the last few weeks, we have been working tirelessly to ensure that you know that Stage 32 is your online home to stay connected with over 600,000 creatives and professionals from across the globe. Now, we are looking forward to bringing you another virtual event to help you stay up-to-date about the state of the entertainment industry featuring some of the top professionals in the business.
In this special event webcast we presented a virtual panel featuring some of the top minds in the Stage 32 community to discuss the current state of the entertainment industry as we are all faced with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Stage 32 Managing Director, Amanda Toney, hosted this incredible lineup, where you will hear the point of view of a production company (Andrew Fried of Boardwalk Pictures), a lender (Viviana Zarragoitia of Three Point Capital), lender counsel (Carolyn Hunt of Barnes & Thornburg LLP), a talent representative (Tracy Christian of TCA Management), all moderated by producer and production company counsel (Elsa Ramo of Ramo Law PC).
Stage 32 is proud to be putting the "social" in #SocialDistancing. Please share this event on your social media and tag @stage32 on Twitter and @stage32online on Instagram.
What You'll Learn
Tune in now for this panel discussion on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of the entertainment industry. Producers, lenders, talent, and distributors are all adapting to the current shutdown. This panel will discuss how they are operating under the current shutdown, how existing and future productions are being handled, and most importantly, how we can strategically plan and learn for the future during this uncertain period.
Our Stage 32 Managing Director Amanda Toney hosted this incredible panel and kicked off the conversation. You will hear from top industry professionals that can offer thorough points of view from multiple facets of the entertainment business:
- Elsa Ramo - Ramo Law (Recently named to Variety’s 2019 “Dealmakers List,” Elsa Ramo has represented over 100 films and 50 television scripted and unscripted series in 2019 alone, including Emmy award-winning shows and films which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.)
- Andrew Fried - Producer at Boardwalk Pictures (Netflix's CHEER, Gwyneth Paltrow's THE GOOP LAB, CHEF'S TABLE)
- Carolyn Hunt - Barnes & Thornburg LLP (Carolyn routinely counsels clients on the legal and business issues of entertainment financing transactions, including single-project financing transactions, capital raises, slate transactions, lines of credit, co-productions and domestic and foreign incentivized financing structures.)
- Viviana Zaragoitia - VP at Three Point Capital (While at Three Point Capital, Viviana has been involved in the financing of over 70 independent films and worked with such producers as Cassian Elwes, Rob Barnum, Anthony Bregman, James Schamus, Aaron Gilbert, Kimberly Steward, Nicolas Chartier, and Kevin Frakes, among others.)
- Tracy Christian - Agent, TCA Management ( Past clients include Oscar winners Melissa Leo, Octavia Spencer, Mo’Nique, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Elizabeth Moss. Within the lit space she’s personally responsible for more than 1,000 hours of on air primetime programming.)
Who Should Attend
All levels of directors (advanced, intermediate and beginner) looking to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of the entertainment industry.
All levels of writers (advanced, intermediate and beginner) looking to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of the entertainment industry.
Producers looking to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of the entertainment industry.
Actors looking to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all aspects of the entertainment industry.
Executive
Meet the Panelists:
Elsa Ramo, Attorney, Ramo Law
Recently named to Variety’s 2019 “Dealmakers List,” Elsa Ramo has represented over 100 films and 50 television scripted and unscripted series in 2019 alone, including Emmy award-winning shows and films which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Elsa provides comprehensive legal services to producers, financiers, creators, and owners of film, television and digital content and projects across a range of budgets and production levels. She established her own law firm to enable up-and-coming filmmakers and producers to bring their stories to life. Her clients include Imagine Entertainment, Fox, Balboa Productions (Sylvester Stallone’s production company), Scout Productions (creators and EPs of “Queer Eye”), Boardwalk Pictures (EPs for “Chefs Table”), LOL (Kevin Hart’s production company), The Jim Henson Company, and Skydance.
Elsa’s leadership within the legal and entertainment communities extends beyond her successful Beverly Hills firm. She dedicates substantial time to mentoring women through various organizations, and she has become a go-to commentator and instructor on legal issues related to film financing and the entertainment market.
Elsa Ramo founded the firm in 2005 on the Universal Studios backlot after several clients approached her to handle their independent productions. Now as managing partner to the firm, she handles client matters as well as manages the firm’s attorneys and packaging and sales department.
Andrew Fried, Producer
Andrew Fried is the founder and President of Boardwalk Pictures, producers of premium non-fiction content for multiple networks and distributors including Netflix, Showtime, Quibi, YouTube and many others. A recipient of multiple awards and 3 Emmy nominations, Fried and Boardwalk strive to elevate and expand the idea of documentary television across an ever-growing unscripted landscape.
Boardwalk is best known for its award-winning Netflix series Chef’s Table. Now entering its 7th season, Chef’s Table has received 8 Emmy nominations, has won 3 James Beard Awards and the IDA Award for Best Documentary Series.
Boardwalk’s other recent credits include the Netflix series 7 Days Out, Street Food and Last Chance U (now in it’s 4th season), the Showtime series Action and YouTube’s Best Shot.
Carolyn Hunt, Attorney, Barnes & Thornburg
Carolyn has extensive experience with advising investors in virtually all aspects of their film, television, interactive gaming and other finance and distribution matters. Having been involved in the financings for hundreds of entertainment projects, including many award-winning films, she represents domestic and international financial institutions, senior, mezzanine and equity venture and production funds, high net worth individuals and media and entertainment companies in their finance, corporate, intellectual property, distribution and other entertainment-related transactions. Carolyn routinely counsels clients on the legal and business issues of entertainment financing transactions, including single-project financing transactions, capital raises, slate transactions, lines of credit, first and second lien financings, co-productions, print and advertising financing, securitizations and domestic and foreign incentivized financing structures, as well as distressed debt and restructuring transactions. Her vast experience also includes output agreements and other transactions for the acquisition and disposition of film and media content.
She has extensive experience successfully guiding secured creditors through the unique issues surrounding entertainment and media assets in bankruptcy. In the past year, her work in the television and video industry has seen an uptick given the rapid changes of consumer expectations and usage habits in this age of video-on-demand and mobile media consumption. Her financier clients are increasingly providing capital to OTT projects, and she represents content providers who are more and more frequently focusing their attentions toward streaming and other alternative media transactions.
Active in the community, Carolyn has served for several years as a board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art 'Contemporaries' and the Hammer Museum's Kids Art Museum Project. She is actively involved with the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai and is on the board of the Heartland Film Festival.
Carolyn has consistently been named a top dealmaker, a top entertainment attorney and one of the most influential women in entertainment by Variety and included in the Daily Journal’s “Top Women Lawyers” list. She is listed in Chambers & Partners as a ranked Media & Entertainment: Transactional lawyer.
Carolyn earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. In law school, she was a staff writer for the International Law and Policy Journal.
Viviana Zarragoitia, Financier, Three Point Capital
Viviana Zarragoitia began her career in the entertainment industry working in production accounting at Millennium Films and Bold Films.
She then spent 5 years at Lionsgate, where she started working in the accounting department and segued into the finance division, specifically, profit participation. While working in profit participation, she oversaw the preparation of multi-million dollar film and television distribution deals. She was then promoted to the group's audit division, where she managed film and television royalty audits of producers’ profit participation statements.
In 2013, she joined Three Point Capital, a boutique firm that specializes in senior lending on film and television projects. While at Three Point Capital, Viviana has been involved in the financing of over 70 independent films and worked with such producers as Cassian Elwes, Rob Barnum, Anthony Bregman, James Schamus, Aaron Gilbert, Kimberly Steward, Nicolas Chartier, and Kevin Frakes, among others. As Vice President, Viviana closes the financing on every film that the company is involved in, as well as manage the company's operations in its satellite offices (Ohio, Kentucky, and Louisiana). Viviana has received over a dozen Executive Producers credits on titles she has financed.
She graduated Cum Laude with a double-major in Business and English from Loyola Marymount University.
Tracy Christian, Agent, TCA Management
Tracy Christian is a veteran talent agent with more than twenty years in the industry working in both the literary as well as talent space. Past clients include Oscar winners Melissa Leo, Octavia Spencer, Mo’Nique, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Elizabeth Moss. Within the lit space she’s personally responsible for more than 1,000 hours of on air primetime programing.
In 2011, she opened TCA, a Los Angeles based boutique talent agency representing trained character actors, writers, and producers.
Early on I remember discovering an agency called IFA. Just five agents representing a list of top tier talent. Until then I didn’t know that it could be done. I thought that as I grew my client’s careers that I’d have to move with them to larger agencies. Eventually I had to free myself from the banality of department meetings and bring the focus back to the client. That’s why I created TCA. We’re doing something special at TCA; we’re repping talent that we’re insanely passionate about and keeping the list intentionally small so we can give the same attention as a manager with the aggressiveness, access, and deal making skills usually found at larger agencies.
Today, Christian doesn’t just find opportunities for actors in film and television or sell successful programming. Through their production imprint, Black Leather Jacket, TCA is also a content creator. Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy is the first film from the imprint and stars Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart. The film was chosen to close the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and is was released by Universal Pictures in 2019.
Your Host
Amanda Toney, Managing Director, Stage 32
As Managing Director for Stage 32, Amanda oversees operations and business development for the global business. She has curated over 1,200 hours of online education created exclusively for Stage 32, and works with hundreds of entertainment industry executives from around the world to serve as educators and mentors. She has spearheaded partnerships with such prestigious organizations as the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film, American Film Market, SXSW, Austin Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, PGA, WGA and DGA, as well as brands such as AT&T, Peerspace, Pond5, Mandy, Bondit Media Capital and her personal favorite partnership, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is the official vodka of Stage 32.
As a producer, Amanda has worked on the psychological thriller What Lies Ahead starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont; Chick Fight, starring Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin and Bella Thorne, Metaphorms, a Hungarian film, which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival and Dolphin Girl, an entire Stage 32 production in conjunction with the St. Petersburg Film Commission. She is an Executive Producer on Vagic, produced by Amy Baer at Gidden Media. She recently sold an unscripted show to a major US network .
Amanda has spoken all over the world at the Cannes Film Festival (France), Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Fest Festival (Portugal) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.