Catalyst Storieroad

E51 - Indie Panel: Starting Your Own Production Company

Our Indie Panel: Starting Your Own Production Company with Sofia Monroe, David Schatanoff, Jr. and Zeke Thomas.
 
Zeke Rodrigues Thomas is an award winning filmmaker and on-camera talent with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. You may recognize this face/voice from ad campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and viral videos that top over 100 MM views. He's also worked with some of the top companies in media including: Skybound Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, DEFY Media, and Viacom Digital Studios (VDS). As Executive Producer at Mindjam Media he produced 'Don't Go Alone', a scripted anthology Halloween series for Nickelodeon as well as serving as showrunner on Super League Gaming's Minecraft City Champs also Nickelodeon. Most recently he's also served in a creative development capacity on 'Annie vs. Hayley: LeBake Off', Throw Back with Nickelodeon, and many other VDS projects."
 
David Schatanoff, Jr. is among the new breed of producers. Not only can he navigate the worlds of film and television, but also the growing need for quality new media programs. David began his career in 1998 working in post-production for the major studios. Reliably working with high profile clientele landed him a position supervising post-production operations at 20th Century Fox and later servicing multi-million dollar deals at Sony Pictures. Becoming more involved with script development and production, he made the transition to creative producing and has never looked back. His current projects include the popular second season of the digital series L.A. Macabre, and the feature film Playing With Beethoven. He is also developing a holiday film for release in 2021 and a television series based on U.S. Special Forces. David is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (The Emmys), and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammys).
 
Sofia Monroe is a producer, director and artist who launched Daymaker Productions in 2016. Her company's purpose is a hybrid of Stories, Marketing, Philanthropy and Art to create quality content for social and community impact, commercial and entertainment purposes. In addition to content production, the company works to help people help more people. Sofia has been on production teams with production companies, award shows, development and casting teams for over 10 years and is an active board member of various organizations nationwide.Her experience includes producing projects for Pepsi, Caesars Palace, original content with companies such as Lionsgate's LOL Network, Defy Media, international brands, a Community Action Agency and others.
 
Thank you to the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, WDSE-WRPT Duluth, The Wrap, and the WGA-East for supporting Storieroad.

E50 - Silver Linings: International Business In A Time Of Great Change

With the media terrain undergoing shifts at a very rapid pace, this conversation will focus on strategies for success and how challenges have led to unexpected opportunities in all corners of the globe, from Latin America, Africa, Asia to the Middle East.
 
Panelists include Steven Adams & Theo Dumont from Alta Global Media. Hosted by Matty Rich, highly regarded as one of the pioneers of Black Filmmakers who burst onto the Hollywood scene in the early 90’s, gaining major recognition as a 19-year old acclaimed writer/director/ producer with his award-winning film “Straight out of Brooklyn" and success multiple Sundance festivals, where he serves as a film & television writing/directing advisor.
 
Catalyst Storieroad is brought to you by the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences and WDSE-WRPT in Duluth.

E49 - Festival Podcast Lounge: Last Chance Moms

Sarah Chaney and Heather Olt discuss the short comedy, Last Chance Moms, in the 2021 Festival Podcast Lounge.
 
Logline: Last Chance Moms is a comedy series about two best friends in their 40s, one pregnant and unexpectedly dumped by her man-child boyfriend, the other unable to get pregnant despite countless efforts.

E48 - Special Guest: Real Stories & Tangible Action With Steven Adams

Award winning Manager/Producer Steven Adams is a Founding Partner at Alta Global Media where he represents international media companies and talent.
 
Steven is a producer on the Netflix Original adaptation of Roger Guenveur Smith’s solo performance piece RODNEY KING and the Peabody Award winning A HUEY P NEWTON STORY for Starz, both directed by Academy Award winner Spike Lee. Adams recently collaborated on the marketing of 2 seasons Spike Lee’s hit series Netflix SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, and the Academy Award winning BLACKKKLANSMAN.
 
He served for 4 years as a VFX Executive Producer with Paris-based VFX house BUF. His credits there include such Academy Award winners as James Cameron’s AVATAR, Ang Lee’s LIFE OF PI, THOR for Marvel Studios, as well as GREEN LANTERN, GREEN HORNET, Stephen Sommers’ ODD THOMAS, and Tim Burton’s DARK SHADOWS.
 
Steven was also VFX Executive Producer for French VFX house Digital District whose credits include he Academy Award winning features THE ARTIST & THE INTOUCHABLES.
 
As a partner in Luna Ray Media, Adams produced the Peabody Award winning A HUEY P NEWTON STORY, directed by Spike Lee, the first Starz original Production. Other indie credits with Luna Ray include GOD’S WAITING LIST, JUSTICE and BURNING SHADOWS, and the Sundance indie pilot IT’S NOT ABOUT JIMMY KEENE.
 
Television credits also include 3 seasons as Consultant on THE CULTURE CLASH SHOW. Adams previously served as President of FilmPro Finance, consulting for such international film finance based clients as Bloomberg/Cite and its predecessor the Atlas Film & TV Finance Summit, Film Production Capital, and various global film commissions and festivals.
 
An accomplished host, Adams moderates panels at the Motion Picture Academy Content London and Cannes and co-produced and hosted the web series Show Me The F$#!ing Money: How to Invest, Raise Finance, and Recoup Money in the Film Business, featuring interviews with over 150 top names in the world of Film Finance. He is also a frequent public speaker at NATPE, Sundance, Toronto, amongst many others.
 
Steven began his career at the Paradigm Talent and Literary Agency. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, Advisory Board member Catalyst Content Festival, Content London and the Los Angeles Art Association Advisory Board and serves as Board Ambassador for the Blackhouse Foundation, an official partner of the Sundance Institute.
 
Thank you to the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, WDSE-WRPT Duluth, The Wrap, and the WGA-East for supporting Storieroad.

E47 - Indie Panel: Script & Development - How A Network Series Becomes A Reality

The Catalyst Storieroad Institute in partnership with The Wrap proudly presents, Script & Development: How a Network Series Idea Becomes a Reality.
 
Our guests are:
Cort Cass - VP of Drama Development at ABC Studios
Steve Basilone - Exec Producer, "The Goldbergs"
Elaine Loh - Writer, "Gossip Girl" at HBO Max
Topics include:
The Origin of the Idea: From the Writer’s Head to the Executive’s Desk
The rules of acceptable pitching
How do networks decide what gets put into development? 
What does the day-to-day of development entail?
How does a showrunner staff the writers' room?
How do staff writers create the scripts?
 
Cort Cass is a Vice President of Drama Development at ABC Studios. He previously served as Vice President of Comedy Development at ABC Studios and has spent the last 15 years in various positions within the company. In these positions Mr. Cass develops and oversees series across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. For ABC Network he shepherded Emmy and Golden Globe nominee BLACKISH as well as AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE, SPEECHLESS, and STUMPTOWN. Previous series credits include HAPPY ENDINGS, DOWNWARD DOG, TROPHY WIFE, HELLO LADIES, THE MAYOR, and GRANDFATHERED among many others.
 
Steve Basilone graduated from Emerson College and moved to LA in 2003, where he has written and produced close to 200 episodes of television, working for critical and commercial successes like Happy Endings and Community. In 2015, he wrote a feature for Focus Films, and in 2017 Basilone and long time collaborator, Dan Levy, wrote the sequel to the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito classic, Twins, for Montecito Pictures. For the last five years Steve has been serving as Co-Executive producer for the ABC hit, The Goldbergs. Currently Basilone’s working with Levy on his NBC show, Indebted, while finishing his feature directorial debut, Long Weekend.
 
Elaine Loh was recently staffed on the new Gossip Girl reboot for HBO Max and is now writing for Dynasty on The CW. She is humbled to be a fellow in the HBO Writers Program, as well as to have been named on the Young & Hungry List and as one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2019. She has had scripts place in the world-renowned PAGE Awards (Silver Prize), Austin Film Festival (3 times), Final Draft Big Break (Top Ten), Tracking Board Launch Pad (Top 50), and the ISA (Grand Prize). She wrote/directed the short form series DOXXED, which won Best Short Comedy at Catalyst and Best Achievement at Raindance.
 
Thank you to The Wrap, WDSE-WRPT in Duluth, and the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences for supporting Catalyst Storieroad.
 

E46 - Festival Podcast Lounge: Inferno

Mike O'Brien and Wendy Roderweiss swing through the 2021 Festival Podcast Lounge to chat about the comedy, Inferno.
 
Logline: After a mistake leaves an altruistic law-school grad desperate for a job, he interviews at a firm of morally depraved divorce lawyers. Ultimately he must decide if he’s willing to sacrifice every principle he lives by in order to save his future.

E45 - Indie Panel: Young Minds & Creative Content

Our guests are: ZEKE RODRIGUES THOMAS - Zeke Rodrigues Thomas is an award winning filmmaker and on-camera talent with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. You may recognize this face/voice from ad campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and viral videos that top over 100 MM views. He's also worked with some of the top companies in media including: Skybound Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, DEFY Media, and Viacom Digital Studios (VDS).
 
As Executive Producer at Mindjam Media he produced 'Don't Go Alone', a scripted anthology Halloween series for Nickelodeon as well as serving as showrunner on Super League Gaming's Minecraft City Champs also Nickelodeon. Most recently he's also served in a creative development capacity on 'Annie vs. Hayley: LeBake Off', Throw Back with Nickelodeon, and many other VDS projects.
 
BRENT COBLE - Brent Coble currently serves as the Director, Production & Development at ViacomCBS Digital Studios. In this role, Brent leads Nickelodeon's digital creative strategy, content development, and series production for screens of every size! In his tenure, Nickelodeon's YouTube channel has launched 25 new original series, gaining 6.5M additional subscribers along with over 3.5B video views.
 
Previous to joining Nickelodeon, Brent directed original content for Google, The Grammys, NBCUniversal, Blumhouse, Legendary Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and more.
 
Thank you to the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, WDSE-WRPT Duluth, The Wrap, and the WGA-East for supporting Storieroad.

E44 - Catalyst Spotlight: Adam Schwartz

Welcome to our Catalyst Spotlight with Adam Schwartz!
 
Adam is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated filmmaker from Birmingham, AL. He earned his MFA in film production from the University of New Orleans in 2008 and taught production courses as a professor at the University of Alabama before joining Alabama Media Group/Red Clay Media in 2015, where he currently serves as the managing producer, director, and one of the stars of It’s a Southern Thing’s viral sketch comedy series, "So True, Y’all". He's also one of the hosts and founding members of Literarily Wasted, an online sci-fi/fantasy book club with members from around the world.
 
Tune in to find out how this 2016 Catalyst “Best Reality Series” winner went viral & more! T
 
his program is brought to you by Catalyst Storieroad's partners: the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences and WDSE-WRPT Duluth, in collaboration with our individual donors.

E43 - Festival Podcast Lounge: In Limbo

Antoine Perry and Sylvia Ray join us in the 2021 Festival Podcast Lounge to discuss the short comedy, In Limbo. 
 
Logline: Two childhood frenemies, a serial trust fund partier and a ruthless social climber, are sentenced to the Purgatory Level of Los Angeles and challenged to face their inner demons together to avoid hell and reach heaven.

E42 - OTTs & Streaming For Indie Series

What are over-the-top networks (OTTs) and how should indie series producers use them for distribution? Join us for an in-depth discussion about the growing world of indie OTTs with our guests Michael Dutcher and Ramfis Myrthil, hosted by Starbaby's Jordan Gelber.
 
Thank you to Catalyst Storieroad's partners: the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, WDSE-WRPT Duluth, in collaboration with the Innovation Station at the US State Dept.