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FORMER SAG-AFTRA FOUNDATION EVENTS & COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
LAUNCH NEW DIGITAL EVENTS-FOCUSED VENTURE ‘IN CREATIVE COMPANY’
Tuesday, August 4th (NEW YORK, NY) - Former SAG-AFTRA Foundation team members Mara Webster, Liz Riesterer, and Danna Friedberg have joined forces to launch ‘In Creative Company’, a new bi-coastal entertainment-based events company, focusing on digital events and online conversations within the awards space and in support of releases throughout the year.
The trio will be equal partners in the new venture, with Webster heading up programming, Riesterer handling business and operations, and Friedberg managing communications. With years of experience producing live events and conversations, and after much of the industry shut down during the pandemic, Webster, Riesterer and Friedberg on behalf of SAG-AFTRA Foundation collectively programmed, produced and promoted over 170 digital interviews with top talent across film, television and theater, and plan to apply their experience this year producing engaging digital content towards their new venture.
Launching during Emmy season, In Creative Company will be hosting a year-round online interview series that will feature in-depth, thoughtful craft driven discussions focused on creative disciplines, in both the narrative and nonfiction mediums across film, television and theater. The venture will feature conversations with a wide array of guests including directors, actors, showrunners, hosts/ presenters, podcasters, costume/production designers, cinematographers and more.
The audience for this series will be industry and guild members, entertainment creatives, aspiring filmmakers, as well as television and cinema enthusiasts alike. Talks will be recorded and shared online via YouTube, in an email newsletter to subscribers, on social channels, and the audio will be available in podcast form.
“During these unprecedented times, as we’re all faced with increased isolation and separation, we’re found that discovering or revisiting a show, film, or artist and sharing that experience with others, has been a breath of fresh air in a sea of unfamiliar territory,” said Webster, Riesterer, and Friedberg in a statement.
“Given the situation and current climate in our industry, we look forward to highlighting and elevating creative voices online, whilst this is the only way it is safe for us to do so right now. We’re excited to help share and celebrate the incredible work of all types of artists behind-the-scenes in entertainment and discuss how these individuals are dealing with the shift to creative work online – from costume designers and actors, to producers and production designers. We hope that these conversations spark as much joy for audiences as we’ve had programming them, and that they help inspire future filmmakers and artists to collaborate, create, and lift each other up.”
The team has lined up a number of events to launch their series in the coming weeks, starting with today’s virtual screening and live Q&A for IFC Midnight’s horror film RELIC (in collaboration with North Bend Film Festival). The lineup of upcoming events include Q&As from new and current film and TV projects, including for HBO Max's “Pursuit of Happiness” with host/executive producer Ravi Patel, Hulu’s “Into The Dark” with director Julius Ramsey and writer Alston Ramsay, USA Network’s “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story” with director/co-executive producer Maggie Kiley, Netflix's “Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything” with host/executive producer Latif Nasser, Showtime’s THE CHI with actress Birgundi Baker, Apple TV's “Little Voice” with actress Shalini Bathina, HBO’s “Room 104” with writer/director/composer/co-executive producer Julian Wass, Hulu’s THE BINGE with director/producer Jeremy Garelick, OWN’s “David Makes Man” with actor Akili McDowell, and Vertical Entertainment’s NO ESCAPE with actor Ronen Rubinstein. The programming will also include special conversations with artists in front of and behind the camera, including writer/director Megan Griffiths (LUCKY THEM, THE NIGHT STALKER), cinematographer/director Benjamin Kasulke (LAGGIES, BANANA SPLIT), comedian/author/actor Maz Jobrani, well as a conversation around creativity in the current climate with Alysia Reiner and Diana Oh, and more. In Creative Company are also partnering with The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival for a series of talks featuring actors from their upcoming season, including actresses Isabella Gomez and Izabella Alvarez.
Advisory board members for the new company are comprised of several prominent members within the entertainment landscape, including IFC Films’ Marketing and Publicity Director Danielle Freiberg, Neon’s VP Partnerships and Audience Engagement Darcy Heusel, Tribeca Film Festival’s Film and Immersive Senior Programmer Loren Hammonds, Indiewire’s Managing Editor Christian Blauvelt, Anonymous Content Executive David Joseph Craig, Glass Half Full Productions’ Producer Victoria Weinberger, Kino Lorber’s Director of Press & Publicity David Ninh, Producer Theodora Dunlap (ROBOT AND FRANK), Perception PR Co-Founder Julie Tustin, Film Editor Sarah Flack (LOST IN TRANSLATION), and Actress and Producer Alysia Reiner (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK).
Initial programming is centered around film, television and theater but will extend to additional creative voices within the entertainment industry as the program grows and evolves. Programming for 2020 will run exclusively online and will remain the central core of the business, with plans to add in-person events further down the line when it is safe to bring audiences together again.
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ABOUT ‘IN CREATIVE COMPANY’
In Creative Company is a new year-round digital talk series inviting audiences to connect with the entertainment industry through roundtables, panels, screenings and Q&As. Take a front row seat with us and get up close and personal with creative voices in the entertainment industry from actors and directors to cinematographers, hosts, showrunners, costume designers, comedians, composers and more! We celebrate the behind the scenes creativity that goes into great storytelling across film, television and theater.
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