INDUSTRY SUMMIT

The festival’s Industry Summit features professional workshops, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions with special guests and W&M alumni. These events offer attendees an opportunity to engage directly with artists and professionals working in the arts to learn more about their craft and career paths.

Sessions are free and open to the public, with no reservations required. All events take place at the W&M Entrepreneurial Hub, unless otherwise noted.

The Art of Cinematic Sound
Ryan Vaughan (W&M ‘13)
Monday, 2:00 PM

In this workshop attendees will learn the professional workflow and standards of editing sound for film and television as well as industry standards for recording production sound. 

ABOUT RYAN VAUGHAN
Ryan Vaughan (W&M ‘13) is a Re-Recording Mixer and Dialogue Editor working in Los Angeles, CA (union Local 700). He has worked on feature films for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, as well as AAA Games such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Call of Duty. He recently mixed Miley Cyrus: Backyard Sessions for Disney+ and Demi Lavato’s holiday special for Tubi. He has mixed feature films that have premiered at Tribecca, SXSW, and Sundance. Ryan is also a part time professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he teaches industry standards in sound recording and editing. He was born and raised in Williamsburg.

How To Be Creative
Prof. Kevin Smith
Tuesday, 11:00 AM

Do you wish you were more creative? Would you like to write stories (films, TV shows, plays, short stories) but don’t know how to begin? Would you like to increase your powers of creativity? In this workshop, you’ll learn about the many techniques for unlocking the creativity buried inside you. You’re far more creative than you may realize. And after this workshop, you’ll learn where great stories come from and how to create compelling stories of your own. 

ABOUT KEVIN SMITH
Prof. Kevin Smith (not the “Clerks” guy) is a professor who teaches film studies at William & Mary.  His BFA in Creative Writing and Literature is from Emerson College in Boston. His MFA in Cinema is from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He teaches classes in screenwriting, film production and cinema history. Also, a script-read of Kevin’s original play, The DOMA Diaries, will be performed during the festival.

LEGO Stop Motion Workshop
Intermotion Productions
Tuesday, 4:00 PM

Join Intermotion Productions for an engaging LEGO stop-motion workshop where you’ll bring mini-figures to life through hands-on animation techniques. Perfect for all skill levels, this session covers storytelling, frame-by-frame animation, and creative filmmaking in a fun, interactive environment!

ABOUT INTERMOTION PRODUCTIONS
Intermotion Productions (IMP) is an on-campus film production group that provides students with opportunities to work on ambitious productions that fall under the Film and Media umbrella. This student-led organization strives to create a strong bond between group members to create a lifelong team you can trust with your creative vision! We are open to all levels of filmmakers, so if you are itching to put a particular creative vision into reality, this is the community for you!

Frame by Frame: Building and Pitching Your Film Vision
Brandon Hennessey, Director of the W&M Entrepreneurship Hub
Wednesday, 10:00 AM

Unlock the entrepreneurial side of filmmaking in this hands-on workshop designed to help aspiring filmmakers turn their creative ideas into compelling pitches. Starting with real-world examples of successful entrepreneurial approaches in film, participants will explore how to strategically map their film projects using a tailored version of the Business Model Canvas.

Guided by experienced facilitators, you’ll learn how to articulate your film’s value proposition, identify key resources, and plan for diverse audiences and production scales. The session culminates with the Pitch Pivot exercise, where you’ll present your film idea, receive feedback, and refine your pitch in real time.

ABOUT BRANDON HENNESSEY
Brandon Hennessey is the Director of the W&M Entrepreneurship Hub, where he fosters innovation and entrepreneurial thinking among students, faculty, staff, and the wider community. Formerly, Brandon led entrepreneurship initiatives at Longwood University, combining his background in art education with a Master’s in Business Administration to drive regional economic development. Passionate about leveraging entrepreneurship for positive change, Brandon is dedicated to equipping and empowering individuals to make meaningful progress in their professional journeys.

Editing Trailers and Promos
Denzel Dykes (W&M ‘18)
Wednesday, 2:00 PM

This workshop will explain the business of film and television marketing and discuss the keys to creating trailers that move people. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions about what it’s like working in the industry. 

ABOUT DENZEL DYKES
Denzel Dykes’ (W&M ‘18) experience on domestic and international shoots lends unique visual perspective to the intricacies of production and how to craft beautiful stories. Denzel currently serves as Editor at National Geographic creating high-level feature programs, marketing promos and YouTube original content.

The Aura CuriAtlas Playground
Joan Gavaler & Malcolm Shute
Thursday, 4:00 PM, PBK Hall Room 159

The workshop will dive into the creative world of Aura CuriAtlas and Human Landscape Dance through guided movement improvisation, partnering, and collaborative creation. Joan Gavaler, Malcolm Shute, and company members will share the foundation of their practices to provide a vocabulary to generate original movement ideas and cultivate collaborative relationships. Participants from all backgrounds are welcome. These presenters will also perform an original piece, Moments In Our Grasp, during the festival.

ABOUT JOAN GAVALER
Joan Gavaler is the Artistic Director of Aura CuriAtlas and a Professor of Dance at William & Mary. As a choreographer and movement director, Joan has created 85 original works and has been a driving force behind four performing companies. She relishes collaborative discovery and has worked with poets, visual artists, composers, musicians, actors, directors, acrobats, psychologists, geographers, physicists, and neuroscientists on dance and theatre projects.  She has been invited by over 80 organizations to present and teach in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. 

ABOUT MALCOLM SHUTE
Malcolm Shute, MFA, CMA, founded Human Landscape Dance in 2006. Noted for “…ingenious choreography and staging…” by The Washington Post, Shute’s dances are characterized by intimate portraits of people using touch to communicate, bodies molding to create a collage of images.  Shute organizes dance concerts around the world, bringing together movement artists of various backgrounds to share their work with audiences. Shute has been a faculty member of the Towson University Dance Department since 2004. He has led workshops in partnering, contact improvisation, and Laban Movement Analysis in many nations.

Conducting Research for Your Next Creative Project
Alison Freedman (W&M ‘13)
Friday, 10:00 AM

In this workshop, we’ll talk about the role of research in the visual arts world and learn how this fundamental college skillset can be applied to personal creative projects or a career in the arts. We’ll look at examples of research used in media productions, discuss best practices for organizing and displaying information/images, and discover how essential the research process is when building a story or designing the visual style of your project.

ABOUT ALISON FREEDMAN
Alison Freedman (W&M ‘13) has worked on projects for Walt Disney Imagineering, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Animal Planet, and Travel Channel in addition to several independent short and feature films. She is currently a member of the Collections team at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

Songwriting: Drama, Tension, Relief
Conor Molloy
Friday, 2:00 PM

Using real-world examples and examples from his own musical repertoire, Conor will discuss how these three elements (drama, tension and relief) have influenced his philosophy on songwriting. Along the way, he’ll share what he’s learnt about concepts such as arrangement, structure, themes, lyrics, musicality, voice and tone. And he’ll play live snippets on his guitar to demonstrate examples. There will be a small hands-on component for attendees, and at the end of the workshop, there will be a chance for Q&A.

ABOUT CONOR MOLLOY
Originally from Manchester in the UK, Conor has been writing music since he was 9 years old. He’s played his songs live to a crowd of 5,000 at the Royal Albert Hall, received airplay on BBC national radio and WHRO, and had editorial playlisting on Spotify. Conor released a debut self-produced album in 2023, which was funded by two grants from arts organizations in the UK. He also scored a short film that was chosen for the 2022 BFI Film Festival, and has composed music for many podcasts. Since arriving in Virginia, Conor has played his songs twice on local television (The Hampton Roads Show, Coast Live). He has a small home studio here, and continues to write, compose and produce and release music. But perhaps more importantly, for the purposes of this workshop, he’s been thinking about songs and songwriting for over two decades.

How To Pursue Your Passion When It’s Not Paying You
Andrea Coleman (W&M ‘00)
Saturday, 10:00 AM

Lawyer and Stand-Up Comic Andrea Coleman shares how she maintained her career as a New York City Lawyer and Litigator while also building a career as a stand-up comic, writer and performer. If you have a side passion you’d like to pursue, you’ll learn the tools she used to balance these two demanding industries.

ABOUT ANDREA COLEMAN
Andrea Coleman (W&M ’00) is a Brooklyn-based writer, performer and attorney, practicing law for 17 years and trying 30 jury trials. She writes sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, screenplays and stage plays. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, TimeOut NY, NPR and aired on PBS. You can watch Andrea on Amazon Prime in Iconic Justice, Hot Haus or on YouTube in the critically acclaimed web-series All My Friends Are Married. Andrea will also perform her one-woman play, 3 White Guys Named John, during the festival.

How Editing Made the Movies
John W. Francis (W&M ‘03)
Saturday, 1:00 PM

From Edison’s and Melies’ first “in-camera” edits, through the evolution of classic Hollywood’s Continuity Editing, Eisenstein’s Soviet Montage, Godard’s jump cuts, to the innovative editing techniques of today’s Academy Award winners like Everything Everywhere All At Once. We’ll look at the history, style, and techniques of the craft of EDITING – and how it is the single most important catalyst for what allows for the art of cinema.

ABOUT JOHN FRANCIS
John (W&M ‘03) is a TV Editor based in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. His documentary, reality tv, and promo editing work has appeared on Netflix, Disney+, The National Geographic Channel, The Discovery Channel, A&E, History Channel, and many others.

What Does a Director (Really) Do?
Emir Kapetanović
Saturday, 3:00 PM

Ever wondered what a director actually does? In this workshop, Emir break down the director’s real scope of work—demystifying the role, tackling industry myths, and uncovering the skills that truly matter. Along the way, he’ll share personal insights and hard-earned lessons, including: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me – The unfiltered truths about directing that no one warned him about. How to Make a Living When You’re Not Directing – Creative ways to sustain yourself between projects by utilizing artistic skills outside of a movie set. One-Person Army – How to embrace the “auteur” mindset and get things done?

ABOUT EMIR KAPETANOVIĆ
Emir Kapetanović was born and grew up in Sarajevo, where he graduated directing at the Academy of Performing Arts. He is the author of socially engaged films, comedies, music videos, plays, and political cabarets, which have received domestic and international recognition. When Santa Was a Communist is his first feature film. He lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a director, screenwriter, and directing instructor. He is a member of the European Film Academy. Emir will also be present for a Q&A discussion following a screening of his feature film When Santa Was A Communist.

Rights and Clearances – A TV/Film Department You Might Not Have Heard Of
Alanna Calcagni (W&M ‘12)
Sunday, 10:00 AM

Without a legal degree, you can work in the rights and clearances department and carve out a great career path for yourself. In this workshop, you will learn the importance of having a R&C coordinator or producer on a project, the roles that they fill, the difficulties that can arise in this position on a project, the creativity that is involved in a somewhat dry sounding department, and be provided examples in television and film of when great R&C work saved or helped a project get finished AND avoid a lawsuit.

ABOUT ALANNA CALCAGNI
Alanna Calcagni (W&M ‘12) worked on the production side of TV and film for about 5 years before she found her way to working in rights and clearances. She has worked on narrative projects for film and television as well as late night talk shows and programs. While she was on Desus and Mero, she took on the R&C role when the previous staff member was moving on to a different role. Ever since, her entire career goals have pivoted as she has fallen in love with the somewhat tedious and complex side of R&C that also allows her to think creatively about the goals of a TV show or film.

More Info on the Industry Summit

Desktop Ad – 4 Rows

Mobile Ad – 2 Rows