SESSION 1. BUILDING UPON FREE

What are the strategies to use in building a career, or a business, in the new digital economy – one increasingly defined by the economics of free? This workshop will delve deeper into the techniques that filmmakers, cross-media artists and even traditional media businesses can use to build audiences, raise money and build new business models that are sustainable. Get practical advice, see concrete examples and have time to apply them to your projects.

BRIAN NEWMAN, Consultant and Former President, Tribeca Film Institute

Brian Newman is a consultant focusing on business development projects in the entertainment and cultural industries as well as helping filmmakers, artists and organisations to distribute content and connect with audiences through innovative uses of new technology. Brian was most recently CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) where he conceived and launched the Reframe project, a unique initiative that is digitising and making available thousands of films for DVD, streaming and video on demand. He speaks regularly on new media, audience development and the future of the industry, and contributes irregularly to a blog on these subjects at Springboardmedia.

He previously served as Executive Director of Renew Media, which he merged with TFI in 2008. He was Executive Director of IMAGE Film & Video Center, Producer of the Atlanta Film Festival, and has held positions at the IFP and the South Carolina Arts Commission.  Brian also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Art Papers magazine, the Advisory Board for the International Film Festival Summit and was an Officer of the Board of Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media (GFEM) for five years. He was born in North Carolina and has an MA in Film Studies from Emory University.