Making Media Now

Meet Scilla Andreen, Co-Founder and CEO of IndieFlix

Scilla Andreen possesses more than 2 decades of film and TV experience, having started her career in film and tv as a costume designer. 

 

In 2005, she and a partner launched Indieflix; a global DVD, on-demand subscription, streaming and screening service that serves independent filmmakers and provides social impact films, television, shorts and documentaries to create positive change in the world. IndieFlix has amassed over ten thousand titles from 85 countries and has secured worldwide rights on a revenue share basis. 

 

In 2016, Scilla successfully pivoted the streaming service to be edutainment focused, and now streams over 5,000 curated features, documentaries, shorts and TV series. Today, she additionally oversees the creation and streaming of IndieFlix original social impact documentaries to thousands of schools, corporations and communities in over 50 countries; effectively connecting the off and online worlds through film.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

Forgiving the Unforgivable: A Conversation with Garrard McClendon

Forgiving the Unforgivable: A Conversation with Garrard McClendon

On episode number 23 of Making Media Now, the Filmmakers Collaborative podcast, host Michael Azevedo speaks with filmmaker, professor and author Garrard McClendon.

 

Garrard’s debut documentary film, "Forgiving Cain," is a deeply personal examination of what it means to forgive an almost unimaginably painful act: the murder of your parents by armed assailants. This is the choice Garrard made in 2009, shortly after his parents, Ruby and Milton McClendon, were murdered.

 

Listen in to discover how and why Garrard arrived at this place of forgiveness and how he used this grievous loss as a personal catalyst to help others whose lives have been irrevocably altered by the scourge of gun violence in US cities. 

 

Now in post-production, the film will be released in late 2021. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

 

More about Garrard McClendon: https://garrardmcclendon.com

 

 

Picture This: A Conversation with Storyboard Artist Josh Hayes

On episode 22 of Making Media Now, the Filmmakers Collaborative podcast, host Michael Azevedo has a fun and wide-ranging conversation with art director and storyboard artist Josh Hayes. 

 

If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, which often features conversations with filmmakers as well as folks who work their magic 'behind the scenes,' you just might be the kind of person who watches credits at the end of movie. So have you ever wondered what a Storyboard Artist does? Well, wonder no more! Meet Josh Hayes!

 

Josh is an LA-based storyboard artist who has worked with a virtual who’s who of Hollywood directors: Rob Reiner, Kathryn Bigelow, Michael Bay, Kevin Smith, and Barry Levinson just to name a few. His television credits include work on The West Wing, The X-Files, Heroes, and ER. And he’s storyboarded thousands of television commercials including dozens for Super Bowl spots for clients such as: Apple, McDonald’s, Budweiser, Audi, Coca Cola, Nike, and American Express. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

 

 

 

Big Subjects, Big Images: A Conversation with IMAX Director Daniel Ferguson

On this episode, we go big as host Michael Azevedo talks with writer, producer and director Daniel Ferguson. Daniel’s films take on big subjects: the Tour de France, Jerusalem, and the Journey to Mecca. And, he shoots them in a big format for big IMAX screens all over the world. His latest immersive IMAX film is "Superpower Dogs," which introduces audiences to the life-saving superpowers and extraordinary bravery of some of the world’s most amazing canines!

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

Shining "Light" on Eating Disorders in Performance Athletes

Welcome to episode number 20 of Making Media Now, the Filmmakers Collaborative podcast, with host Michael Azevedo. This episode features a conversation with first-time filmmaker Caroline Treadway about her documentary called "Light." 

 

Drawing on Caroline’s personal struggle with an eating disorder and her first-hand experience as a climber, Light illuminates the seldom-discussed issue of eating disorders in the world of professional rock climbing, particularly among its female athletes.

 

Since its streaming debut in February, the 45 min film has been viewed close to 160,000 times…on YouTube alone. And, as you’ll hear Caroline share, has prompted viewers from across the globe to reach out to her to share their stories and struggles with the eating disorders.

 

It’s estimated that at least 30 million people in US, of all ages and genders, suffer from an eating disorder. And more than 70 percent of those who struggle with an eating disorder will not seek treatment due to stigma.  If you think you may be struggling with disordered eating, contact the National Eating Disorders Association by calling or texting (800) 931-2237 or visit national eating disorder association.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

 

 

Traveling the Blues Trail with Filmmaker Ted Reed

It’s episode 19 of Making Media Now and we’ve got the blues!

Listen in as host Michael Azevedo chats with Oscar- and Emmy-award winning filmmaker Ted Reed about his documentary “The Blues Trail Revisited.” 

In the spring of 1970, 20 year old Museum of Fine Arts film students Ted Reed and his friend Tim Treadway drove through the south to find and record some of the last living blues legends. Their goal was to discover the very roots of American popular music, and the sources of the rock music they had grown up with. That film, the 27-minute 16mm black and white “Thinking Out Loud” was seen at a handful of festivals, and then sat in a storage facility. 

Fifty years later, Reed, by now a multiple award winning documentary filmmaker, discovered his old film while in the process of moving his office. He realized he was sitting on a treasure trove; archival footage of a bygone time that no one else had ever used. His curiosity moved him to drive the identical route he had taken years before and see firsthand what had changed in the birthplace of the blues. The result is “The Blues Trail Revisited” (http://bluestrailrevisited.com)

 

As on his original trip, Reed was looking for the source of the spirit of the blues in the flatland cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, the lonely highways that crisscrossed the region, and a sense of the spirits of the departed blues artists he had originally sought out. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

And if you’re enjoying this podcast, we encourage you to subscribe and leave a glowing review!

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

Bringing Vitality to Virtual Film Festivals with Lela Meadow-Conner!

On episode number 18 of Making Media Now, the Filmmakers Collaborative podcast, host Michael Azevedo speaks with Lela Meadow-Conner, Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance.  This episode serves as a coming attraction of sorts, as Lela will be the featured guest at Filmmaker Collabortive’s March 17 lunchtime (12:30pm ET) webinar. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunchtime-webinar-with-the-film-festival-alliance-tickets-144458327747)

The Film Festival Alliance is an organization that creates a collaborative global community for mission-driven film festivals while advocating for a sustainable and inclusive environment for the filmmaking industry. Lela has served as its executive director since 2017 and has more than 20 years experience in the filmmaking industry as a producer and festival organizer. She possesses a deep understanding of how cinematic arts organizations can bolster a community, with an emphasis on arts advocacy, collaboration and independent storytelling.

So settle in to listen to our chat and then head on over to filmmakerscollab.org to reserve your tickets for the March 17 webinar. This event is open to members and non-members alike! Bring your questions to find out what the virtual world means for film festivals, how to select the best ones for your film, what to expect once accepted, and more! This will be a roundtable discussion with plenty of time for Q&A.

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ and www.mrazvo.com

The Future is Now: Discussing Emerging Platforms with GBH's Tory Starr

On episode number 17 of Making Media Now, the Filmmakers Collaborative podcast, host Michael Azevedo chats with Tory Starr of Boston’s public television powerhouse ‘GBH. 

 

As the Director of Digital & Social Content Innovation at GBH, Tory works with the station’s many local and national production units to inform and develop content strategies on social and emerging platforms.

Since 2018, she has led GBH’s Emerging Platforms initiative to pilot original programming and instill audience-first content development practices throughout the station. 

Tory’s expertise and insight around the topic of how best to produce and distribute dynamic and educational content for a digital audience was informative and truly engaging!

 

MMN is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

And if you’re enjoying this podcast, we encourage you to subscribe and leave a glowing review!

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

 

We Need to Hang Out with Billy Baker

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo chats with Boston Globe columnist and best selling first-time author Billy Baker. 

 

Billy Baker writes features and humor columns for the Globe. His first book, "We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends,” which has raced up the best seller lists since it was published by Simon & Schuster in January. (https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Billy-Baker/150722648)

 

In "We Need to Hang Out," Baker embarks on an entertaining and relatable quest to reprioritize his ties with his buddies and forge more connections, all while balancing work, marriage, and kids.

 

Along the way, Baker talks to experts in sociology and psychology to investigate how such naturally social creatures as humans could become so profoundly isolated today.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

And if you’re enjoying this podcast, we encourage you to subscribe and leave a glowing review!

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com

 

Meet Media-Maker Michele Meek (Holy Alliteration, Batman!)

In this episode, host Michael Azevedo speaks with the multi-talented, multi-faceted media creator Michele Meek.

 

Michele is a writer, filmmaker, professor, and the founder of NewEnglandFilm.com and Independent Media Publications. Her most recent books include Independent Female Filmmakers (2019) and The Mastermind Failure Club (2020). She has directed numerous award-winning short films, including Imagine Kolle 37 (2017), and she worked as associate producer on the documentary feature Salvage (2019), which premiered at SXSW Film Festival.

Her scholarly research focuses on depictions of sexual consent in media and literature, and she presented a 2018 TEDx talk. She is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies department at Bridgewater State University, where she teaches film studies, digital media, and screenwriting.

Making Media Now is sponsored by FC, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey. To learn more, visit filmmakerscollab.org

 

And if you’re enjoying this podcast, we encourage you to subscribe and leave a glowing review!

 

About the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

and www.mrazvo.com