WESTDOC 2012 IS A HIT!
After taking 2011 off, WESTDOC - The West Coast Documentary and Reality Conference roared back in a big way on September 9th – 12th, 2012 in Culver City, California. Over 400 attendees from around the world spent four days listening to speakers, making deals and sharing information. The casual nature of this conference coupled with the accessibility of the speakers and panelists made WESTDOC the perfect place to network and learn.
WESTDOC’s schedule offered something for everybody. Things got started on Sunday with Peter Hamilton’s Master Class, three excellent documentary screenings (JASON BECKER: NOT YET DEAD, OFF LABEL and BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*) and the kickoff party at the beautiful Culver Hotel. Over the course of Monday and Tuesday, over 140 industry players drew on their considerable experience as delegates enjoyed more than 20 panel discussions on the doc, reality and digital worlds. Acclaimed filmmaker Kirby Dick provided the insightful keynote conversation. Delegates had the opportunity to pick and choose from over 40 Sit-Down sessions, which consisted of relaxed, candid conversations with network and production executives detailing the editorial needs and entry points of their given organization. And for those attendees who wanted one-on-one appointments with broadcast representatives from over 24 television channels and prodcos, there was Face Time at Rush Street.
Day Three was entirely devoted to PitchFest: twelve filmmakers took turns standing before a packed audience while pitching their projects to a panel of 15 network executives such as Laura Fleury of A&E, Elizabeth Jane Browde of Veria Living, JT Ladt of National Geographic and David Padrusch of Travel Channel, as well as agents Lee White of WMEE and Sean Zeid of Kaplan Stahler; reality guru DMA served as moderator. Filmmaker Erinnisse Heuer’s pitch for her feature-length documentary “Spirit/Will/Loss” won the third annual WESTDOC Best Pitcher award. This year’s PitchFest runner-up was Donald Bowman of Carmel, California and his pitch for “Heart: Flatline to Finish Line.” We’re already thinking about next year’s event. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up on our mailing list for updates about WESTDOC 2013! Photos courtesy of Danna Kinsky |