Wednesday, October 17, 2018

10:45 AM – 11:45 AM

Track III: Herscher Hall, Room 202

Investment & Funding of Film, Indie Film and TV: from Theatrical Features to Cable Networks, Netflix and Amazon

Bob Emmer, Co-Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Shout! Factory

Kevin Kasha, Co Founder, Three Bridges Entertainment, former, Head of Acquisition, Starz and New Line Cinema

Brian Beckmann, CFO, Arclight Films

John Kim, President, Deep C Digital

Jonathan Schwartz, SVP of Scripted Content, Apiary Entertainment

Seth M Willenson, President. Seth Willenson, Inc., Moderator

Seth Willenson - President, Seth Willenson, Inc.:  Seth Willenson has over 40 years of experience in the, entertainment business starting in 1970 as one of New Line Cinema's first, employees. Seth Willenson's other Executive positions included : Corporate VP of, Programming and Business Affairs for RCA; where he was a key participant, in the creation of the RCA Columbia joint venture, cable channel, investments, and the selection, creation, and clearance of content to be, released in home video where no previous model existed, Senior VP of, Programming United Satellite Communications first DBS service financed, by General Instrument and Prudential, Vice President of Acquisitions and, Special Projects Paramount Television group, and Senior VP of,

Telecommunications and Strategic Planning for New Line Cinema.   For the past 20 years, he has been head of his own consulting firm, working with over 100 clients including: Scholastic, Columbia-Tri Star,, Disney Channel, Blockbuster Entertainment, Saul zaentz, Working title,, and Warner Brothers among others. He has been active in valuation of, entertainment properties including: the Credit Lyonnais CDR Library, the, Last Emperor, Yellow Submarine, Easy Rider and Gordy the Pig.  He has represented or produced over 100 features utilizing value in new, channels of distribution. Seth Willenson graduated from Cornell University in 1968 with a B.S. in, Economics, and attended the Annenberg School of Communications at The, University of Pennsylvania.

Brian Beckmann serves as CFO at Arclight Films, the leading international sales company for theatrical, television, and home entertainment licensing. Beckman’s prolific career profile includes 20 years’ experience as CFO, including 8 years at Arclight, working for start-up firms, as well as, established companies ranging from small businesses to publicly traded companies. Beckmann has successfully led several companies through financial and operational turnarounds, managed all facets of a start-up organization and is an accomplished strategist within growth-oriented companies.  He has worked in a variety of industries from film/entertainment, media/advertising, manufacturing, to advanced technology. Arclight Films’ slate include the upcoming Hotel Mumbai starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer, the critically acclaimed First Reformed starring Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, and Jungle based on the harrowing true story of survival in the Amazon starring Daniel Radcliffe.

Jonathan Schwartz is currently SVP of scripted content for Apiary Entertainment, prior to that he was an Exec Producer Of scripted television for Critical Content currently producing “Malcolm X” and “Whistleblower: The Karen Silkwood Story” for F/X. Prior to Critical he was responsible for the distribution and production joint-venture between Relativity Media (don’t ask) and The Weinstein Company (don’t ask) which churned out gems such as “The Fighter” and “NINE”. Prior to that he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Madonna’s Maverick Films, responsible for the “Twilight” and “Cody Banks” franchises. Well, one of them is a franchise.

John Kim, President, Deep C Digital: Few people in the home entertainment industry have as wide-ranging and hands-on experience as John Kim, principal of Deep C Digital. With over 20+ years of sales and marketing experience, John sold both independent and major studio movies and TV content directly to iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Sony, Google, Microsoft, and Hulu for the past 5 years. Prior to this, he spent 10 years at Disney and Paramount; marketing over $1Billion dollars of DVD and Blu-ray sales to big box retailers Walmart, Target, and Best Buy.  Before entering the home entertainment industry, he served as a brand manager at Nabisco and a Marketing Director at Mattel. John is a graduate of Yale University and has an MBA from the Kellogg Management School of Business at Northwestern University. He currently resides in La Canada, CA with his wife of 24 years and they have 3 children.  John is a former nationally ranked tennis player, avid fisherman, and golfer.

Bob Emmer, Co-Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Shout! Factory: Bob Emmer brings over thirty years of entertainment industry licensing, acquisitions, and business affairs experience to Shout! Factory.  His business and legal skills are complemented by his creative abilities and industry relationships.  His ability to identify and execute acquisitions, license and create new projects has proven to generate significant long-term value. As Shout! Factory’s Co-CEO, Bob oversees Shout! Factory’s legal and business affairs activities, including major deal negotiations for content, as well as major contracts including distribution, manufacturing and financing.  His entertainment experience has led to close relationships with many of the top entertainment attorneys, artist managers and rights holders; and Bob has great expertise in all issues surrounding music clearances.  He also oversees Shout! Factory’s international activities. Bob previously served as Executive Vice President at Rhino Entertainment for twelve years beginning in 1984 where his responsibilities included business affairs, deal execution and project oversight for Rhino’s record, video and film divisions.  During this period Rhino’s revenue increased to over $100M, largely driven by acquired and licensed video and audio product and integrated projects.  In 1996, following the initial stage of Rhino’s acquisition by the Warner Music Group, Bob was recruited to serve as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs at WMG whose record labels include Elektra, Warner Bros, Atlantic and Rhino Entertainment. Prior to joining Rhino Entertainment, Bob served as Director of Business Affairs for MGM/UA Home Video and Senior Vice-President, Creative and Business Affairs at Alive Enterprises, a multi-faceted entertainment management and production company.  His early career includes assisting in the commercial development of numerous music talents, including Alice Cooper, Blondie and Teddy Pendergrass.  Bob was also Executive Producer/Creator of the NBC late night music show Rock ‘n Roll Tonite. Bob is a frequent panelist and guest lecturer at entertainment industry seminars.  He has also taught several college courses on the music industry and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of UCLA’s Entertainment Extension School.  He is a graduate of Loyola Law School and the University of Southern California.

Kevin Kasha has been a key player in the entertainment industry for more than two decades, overseeing acquisitions, production, programming and distribution for some of Hollywood’s leading independent studios. Kevin most recently served as Head of Acquisitions at Starz. In his previous position as Anchor Bay Entertainment EVP of Worldwide Acquisitions and Co-Productions, Kevin oversaw film, television series, and digital acquisitions for all of the Starz businesses. Kevin acquired more than 100 films in a mere five years including the box office successes and award contenders City Island (starring Andy Garcia) and Solitary Man (starring Michael Douglas). Kevin showed his unique understanding of the marketplace when he acquired the home entertainment and digital rights to AMC’s smash hit “The Walking Dead” as a pre-buy. Prior to joining Anchor Bay, Kevin held senior posts in sales, marketing and acquisitions at New Line Home Entertainment, Miramax Home Entertainment where he reported directly to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, as well as Vestron Video.   Kevin was instrumental in the production of each of the following movies and series: The Walking Dead, Rush Hour ($141mm Box Office), Dumb And Dumber ($127mm Box Office), Mortal Kombat ($70mm Box Office), Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay ($38mm Box Office), Rumble in the Bronx ($33mm Box Office), Brooklyn’s Finest ($28mm Box Office), Boogie Nights ($27mm Box Office), Air Bud I&II (total $33mm Box Office), Undisputed ($12mm Box Office) and City Island ($7mm Box Office).