Wednesday, May 23rd, 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

Brian Beckmann, CFO, Arclight Films

John Kim, President, Deep C Digital

Meyer Shwarzstein, President, Brainstorm Media

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

Ray Ricord, SVP, Scripted Development, Critical Content

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

Brian Beckmann, CFO, Arclight Films: 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 Hotel Mumbai starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer, First Reformed starring Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, and Jungle based on the harrowing true story of survival in the Amazon starring Daniel Radcliffe.

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.

Meyer Shwarzstein, President, Brainstorm Media: Shwarzstein is currently President of Brainstorm Media, an independent production and distribution company he founded in 1995.  He has been directly involved in the development, finance, marketing, distribution and/or production of over a thousand movies. Shwarzstein has developed and produced movies, series and specials for a number of theatrical, TV and SVOD companies including AT&T, Chiller, EPIX, Hallmark, Hulu, InDemand, Ion, Lifetime, Oxygen, PBS, Showtime, Sony Pictures, Syfy, TVOne and Walt Disney. Before forming Brainstorm, Shwarzstein headed up worldwide distribution for indie distributor Image Organization, foreign distribution for Atlantic Releasing, pay TV for MGM/UA, non-theatrical for Films Inc. and video for Record Shack of Cleveland.  Prior to entering the movie business, Shwarzstein was general manager of Triad, a Chicago-based rock and roll magazine.  He did research in solar energy while a student at Illinois Institute of Technology. Shwarzstein has spoken extensively on the independent film business on panels and with members of the US Congress, the US Senate and the Federal Communications Commission.  He has composed music for film, is a game designer and a member of the Television Academy.

Ray Ricord, SVP, Scripted Development, Critical Content: Ray Ricord is the Senior Vice President of Scripted Development, overseeing the development of Critical Content’s scripted slate of programming. He has played an integral role in the growth of Critical Content’s scripted business having shepherded development of projects at MTV, ABC, FX, and EPIX, as well as the Crackle series StartUp. He previously served as a development executive, overseeing both movies and television series at ABC Family, Disney Channel, ABC, and ABC Studios. Ray then went on to sign an overall deal at Sony Pictures Television. Ray started off running a theater company in Los Angeles before writing documentaries and scripted children’s programming for PBS where he won a Peabody for his work on Wishbone.

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.