Orly Ravid

founder

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Orly is committed to helping artistically and intellectually rigorous and important films reach their respective audiences via a financial model that is sustainable for filmmakers.

Having established the theatrical, festival, digital distribution and educational services, presently at TFC, Orly works primarily on distribution, sales/licensing and contract/negotiation services with a focus on new media digital distribution.

She also oversees theatrical releases, the various educational services, and the organizational overall.

Called a “big picture” thinker, Orly founded TFC in response to a dominant and overarching structure that favors middlemen, not filmmakers. She is passionate about protecting filmmakers’ rights and revenues as much as she is about good film.

Having worked in the film business for two decades, Orly’s past experience ranges from programming to all aspects of the business of film. Previously Orly was a Programming Associate for documentaries at Sundance and a programming consultant at Palm Springs International. Other past affiliations include Senator Entertainment (VP Acquisitions and Distribution); Wolfe Releasing (Director: Acquisitions, Theatrical, Non-Theatrical/Festivals, Business Affairs and Digital Distribution); Ravid Film Consulting (Distribution and Marketing for filmmakers and distributors); Maxmedia (Development); Picture This! Entertainment (Acquisitions, Distribution and Sales); and Outfest (Board of Directors and Associate Programmer). A regular blogger about new media and distribution in general, Orly has regularly contributed to indieWIRE, Ted Hope’s blog “Truly Free Film,” and Sundance’s Artists Services, for which she was an advisor. Orly has also spoken about distribution at film festivals and universities, including Sundance, Cannes, SXSW, Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF), AFI Fest, Dok Leipzig, Cairo Cinema Days, India’s Film Bazaar, UCLA, and USC, to name a few.

Orly launched the organization’s book Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, and more recently, How Not to Sign a Film Contract, as well as TFC’s Fiscal Sponsorship and the new Collaborative Releasing initiative.

Jeffrey Fabian Winter

co-executive director

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Jeffrey is drawn to The Film Collaborative and the act of championing independent film because of his love for the process by which good movies can effect positive change in our world today.

Jeffrey’s areas of specialty include niche distribution, niche marketing, and festival/non-theatrical/special events distribution. Representative recent films include Kirby Dick’s 2013 Oscar Nominated documentary The Invisible War, 2013 Sundance Award-winner A River Changes Course, 2012 Sundance Award-winner Valley of Saints, and 2011 Sundance Award-winner Undertow (Contracorriente).

Other career highlights include five years managing strategic investments and U.S. sales/acquisitions for the largest media conglomerate in Spain (under the banners Maxmedia, Sogepaq, Sogetel, and Sogecine); several years handling grassroots marketing for L.A.’s two largest film festivals (the Los Angeles Film Festival and AFI FEST); a long tenure handling non-theatrical/festival/educational screenings for Wolfe Releasing (the world’s largest catalogue of LGBT films); and 11 years as a panel programmer/programming consultant for the Sundance Film Festival’s Digital Center (now called New Frontier on Main).

Jeffrey was also the former principal of the San Francisco-based film/video production company Please Louise Productions, where he directed and produced commercial video for numerous companies including Microsoft, Lucas Films, and the California Bar Association; and created/produced the 38-part documentary series FLIQ VIDEO, in association with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and The United Way.

If “the medium is the message,” Jeffrey’s goal is to make sure the message gets heard.

David Averbach

creative director and director of digital distribution initiatives

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David directs TFC’s digital distribution initiatives and regularly advises filmmakers on D.I.Y. digital distribution. He has also spoken on film festival and film market panels, such as the Tacoma Film Festival, DOC NYC, and the FilmBazaar in Goa, India, and participated in industry markets, such as IFP Week, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Toronto InsideOut and DOC NYC.

David holds a PhD in Japanese literature and film from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been a mentor/decision maker in pitch sessions and filmmaker meetings at EIDF (Seoul), ACFM (Busan), Jeonju Project, Dhaka Doc Lab (Bangladesh), Docs by the Sea (Indonesia), and others.

David is also in charge of TFC’s distripedia™ program.

In addition, David handles all internal print and web design and branding collateral for the company, David excels at translating marketing objectives into creative and workflow strategies. With almost 30 years of experience in graphic marketing, graphic design, database design and web design, David's skill set combines a strong sense of visual design with a knack for problem-solving.

David’s knowledge of film and understanding of how people absorb new information make him a valuable part of any project, whether it be extending existing branding/campaigns or creating new ones. He works with filmmakers, festivals and distributors on key art, posters, print ads, web sites, databases, social networking, electronic marketing, and iPhone Apps.

David also provides graphic design support to filmmakers in the form of key art and website design.

David has taught Japanese film and literature at Berkeley and at the University of Washington in Seattle and has taught Japanese language at San Francisco’s prestigious Lowell High School in San Francisco.

Lynnette Gryseels

director of development and fiscal sponsorship

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Lynnette is passionate about film and helping filmmakers tell thought provoking stories that entertain, stimulate social change and support their filmmaking aspirations.

Lynnette holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Studies and another in Media Studies, and has a long history of working with notable film organizations such as the American Film Institute, Film Arts Foundation, Women in Film, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, AFI Fest, and Hot Docs International Documentary Festival. Lynnette assists filmmakers in learning their craft through educational program design and project development support.

At The Film Collaborative, Lynnette developed and launched the fiscal sponsorship program and regularly advises filmmakers on fundraising strategies and sources, audience development and film distribution strategies during the development and production process of filmmaking.