Social Media and Branding For Filmmakers

Social media is a key component in crowdfunding but it also plays a vital role in a film’s promotion. This panel brings together social media experts to introduce filmmakers to the latest tools and strategies integral to a creating a successful campaign.

This panel will be moderated by Darcy Heusel

Moderator
Darcy Heusel is VP of Audience Engagement and Impact at NEON. She also co-heads SUPER LTD, NEON’s boutique distribution division. She has worked on the acquisitions, distribution, and traditional and social impact marketing for independent films across the last decade. Before joining NEON, Darcy was Senior Vice President of Impact at Picture Motion, a marketing and advocacy firm for social issue films. In this role, she built and executed national social action campaigns for narrative and documentary projects including The Zookeeper’s Wife, America Divided, FED UP, Fruitvale Station, and American Promise. Prior to Picture Motion, Darcy served as the Director of Programming and Marketing at Constellation.tv and the Director of Acquisitions and Marketing at Screen Media Films.

Panelists
Kristin McCracken
Christina Raia
Tanya Selvaratnam

Kristin McCracken is a social media and content strategist who works with filmmakers, film festivals and other organizations to build their profiles, community reach, and engagement through social and digital media. She provides editorial content across platforms, and has contributed filmmaker interviews to select outlets.

Christina Raia is a New York City based Writer/Director, the Founder of CongestedCat Productions, and the Director of Crowdfunding at Seed&Spark. Her work, a collection of short films, a web series, and two feature films, has gained a large online following through multiple crowdfunding campaigns. She has been covered by press outlets such as Indiewire, AfterEllen, and BuzzFeed. She also turned her desire to foster collaboration and engagement in the local film community into IndieWorks, a monthly film screening series showcasing and supporting the work of other independent filmmakers in New York.

Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, an actor, an activist, and an Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning producer who has worked for more than twenty years in the areas of arts and social justice. With Laurie Anderson and Laura Michalchyshyn, Tanya is the Co-Founder of The Federation: a coalition of artists, organizations, and allies committed to keeping cultural borders open and showing how art unites us (wearethefederation.org). She is also the Executive Video Producer/Director for GLAMOUR Women of the Year and Planned Parenthood. Past productions include films by Gabri Christa, Chiara Clemente, Liz Garbus, Catherine Gund, Hannah Rosenzweig, Mickalene Thomas, Le Tigre and Laura Parnes, and Carrie Mae Weems. She is the author of THE BIG LIE: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock. tanyaturnsup.com.

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