Law of the land: understanding film distribution & sound rights
You’ve shot your film! Now what? Let us be your guide as we navigate through the do’s and don'ts of getting your film distribution as well as music rights. Learn from the Nacelle Company Senior VP of Distribution & Acquisitions Anna Roberts; Caleb Ward, Vice President of Acquisitions at the Highland Film Group; and May Rogers, Music Coordinator at Full Pursuit.
Panelists:
May Rogers
Music Coordinator, Full Pursuit
May Rogers is a Music Coordinator for independent Music Supervisors, Season Kent and Gabe Hilfer, where she works to creatively pitch source music for TV/ film as well as to legally clear the use of the songs with the copyright holders. She graduated from UNC Wilmington with a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and went on to earn her certification in Music Business from UCLA Extension. A few of her most recent projects include Prodigal Son (Fox), The Flash (CW), Dickinson (AppleTV), The Righteous Gemstones (HBO), and To All The Boys: Always and Forever (Netflix). May is based in Los Angeles, CA.
Anna Roberts
Senior Vice President of Distribution, Nacelle Company
Anna currently serves as the SVP of Distribution at the Nacelle Company (known for projects like Down to Earth with Zac Efron, The Movies That Made Us, and stand up specials from Jim Gaffigan, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Ali Wong, and more). A North Carolina native (who moderately retains her accent), she graduated from UNC and UNCW with degrees in Business Administration and Film Studies, respectively. Anna’s previous experience includes Gravitas Ventures, Vertigo Entertainment, and Deluxe On Demand.
Caleb Ward
Vice President of Acquisitions, Highland Film Group
Caleb Andrew Ward currently serves as the Vice President of Acquisitions for Highland Film Group and its domestic distribution label The Avenue. He sources feature film projects and oversees acquisitions and production development for the company’s worldwide sales slate serving as Executive Producer. Ward has several years of distribution and acquisitions experience in the entertainment industry. Most recently, he was Director of Acquisitions at Freestyle Digital Media, the digital distribution unit of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, and was responsible for acquiring a slate of indie films including What We Found, Teenage Badass, Clover, and She’s in Portland. In this role, Ward oversaw acquisitions targeting theatrical releases and direct-to-VOD titles. He also ran the company’s film festival and market coverage program, which supplied commercial feature film and TV content information directly to all global digital platforms, including Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Ward is the creator and Director of the Late-Night program for the Colorado-based festival SeriesFest and also served as a programmer for North Carolina’s Cucalorus Film Festival. Prior to Freestyle, Ward served as film acquisitions coordinator for The Orchard/1091 and before that as the marketing, theatrical and digital sales coordinator for Gravitas Ventures.