TFC Newsletter: April 2014
Amicus Project, Annual Independent Film Week, New Blog Posts, Member News, Tidbits |
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Dear Collaborators,
Some of you may know that I have just completed a law degree from an accelerated program called SCALE at Southwestern Law School, a venerable Los Angeles institution and one of the top in the country for Entertainment law. I’m grateful to them for giving me a full scholarship and a fantastic legal education and experience.
This post is intended to help raise some funds for a public service the school launched: The Amicus Project, which supports important causes and positions with appellate briefs accepted at high courts. Amicus — or “friend of the court” — briefs are written by people who are not parties to a lawsuit but who want to support a position because of knowledge and concern regarding the issues. The Amicus Project at Southwestern is a first-of-its-kind professional outreach program, enabling law students, mentored by professors, to gain practical experience by researching and preparing amicus briefs on a pro bono basis for cases in which one is needed.
Southwestern honored me with the chance to launch the Amicus Project with the first brief, which was for the Ninth Circuit. I wrote the brief to the Ninth Circuit and then co-wrote another one to the U.S Supreme Court. Both involved entertainment. The Ninth circuit brief involved talent managers being disgorged of their due fees. The U.S Supreme Court one involved copyright claims by an author’s daughter against a major studio. Neither case has been resolved, so I don’t yet know the outcome. Another brief, written by another student, really makes my heart sing. It argues, pro-consumer, in support of the Aereo system as a healthy free-market response to current anti-competitive television distribution.
Here’s what my classmate and fellow amicus party has to say:
“The Amicus Project is an extraordinary program that combines public service and legal education. By pairing law students with supervising attorneys, the Amicus Project is able to provide pro bone people and organizations a voice on important legal issues.”
— quoting my classmate and co-Amicus party, Drew Pruitt, a terrific advocate on Southwestern’s Trial Advocacy Honors Program, who is currently clerking at the California Department of Justice.
By the way, The Film Collaborative has enjoyed referring its members to Southwestern’s pro bono legal film production clinic, part of the school’s entertainment law Biederman Institute. Our members have been thrilled with the school’s pro bono legal service.
I’m currently externing (clerking) at the California Supreme Court while still doing my thing at TFC. I graduate next month. I’m truly committed to being of service to filmmakers and consumers alike. In general, please do let us and me know if and how we can help you and your careers.
And now, please join me in donating what you can to the Amicus Project. Our goal is $1,000. The money goes to helping the briefs get submitted to the high courts. The benefit is unpaid advocacy for important issues and overall public service.
Please click here to be taken to a page on our site that lists donate options.
Thank you for reading and thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Orly Ravid
Founder, The Film Collaborative
New Blog Posts
We hope you have enjoyed our recent blogs, such as
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IFP is currently seeking screenplays, documentary works-in-progress, and web series for its annual Independent Film Week Project Forum (September 14-18, 2014), the oldest and largest forum in the U.S. for the discovery of new projects in development and new voices on the independent scene. The Project Forum is a meetings-driven forum connecting filmmakers with producers, agents, funders, distributors, broadcasters, sales agents, festival programmers, and more.
Now seeking applications in all sections: RBC’s Emerging Storytellers (for writers and writer/directors at the script stage, and web series creators in development, production, and post-production looking to connect with producers, funders, agents, digitaldistributors, and streaming platforms), No Borders International Co-Production Market (for established narrative producers with partial financing in place looking to connect with financiers, distributors, sales agents and international partners), and Spotlight on Documentaries (for documentary filmmakers in production or post-production looking to connect with financing partners, broadcasters, distributors, and film festival programmers).
Recent participants in Independent Film Week include After Tiller, Appropriate Behavior, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Cutie and the Boxer, Dinosaur 13, Fill the Void, Obvious Child, Our Nixon, Ping Pong Summer, Pariah, Rich Hill, Short Term 12, and many more.
RBC’s Emerging Storytellers & No Borders Deadline: May 2. Spotlight on Documentaries Deadlines: May 2/May 23. For more information, and to apply, click here. |
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TO BE TAKEI is the Opening Night film of the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival
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Now available on iTunes and GooglePlay
Leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, media organizations reported that 40,000 sex workers would be trafficked into South Africa. The prediction was a gross overestimation based on unsubstantiated evidence. So why was it made and what was the effect? DON’T SHOUT TOO LOUD offers the harsh and unsettling theory that special interest groups are manipulating public policy in order to promote their agendas by inflating the scope of human trafficking. In doing so, they cause public panic and resources to be directed away from those who require the most help.
Watch the trailer here.
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TIDBITS: News You May Have Missed
- Screen Australia has just released an updated directory of international sales agents. If you are looking for someone to represent your film to foreign buyers, download this pdf.
- A plea from France to US indie filmmakers “Please let me give you money to view your films.” Making the case for direct to fan distribution.
- A new guide on Tax Incentives for productions both in the US (state by state) and internationally.
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