Filmmakers Hear Feedback at Rough Cut

BMI ‘s Doreen Ringer Ross, Vice President of Film/TV Relations, was in New York recently to participate as a workshop leader and advisory board member of the Independent Feature Project (IFP) Narrative Rough Cut Lab, a national program connecting mentors and projects before they are submitted to film festivals.

Shown are front row (l-r): Michelle Byrd, executive director, IFP; composer Mychael Danna; back row (l-r): Gretchen McGowan, Rough Cut lab leader and producer; BMI’s Doreen Ringer Ross; Scott Macaulay, Rough Cut lab leader, producer and editor, Filmmaker magazine; and Amy Dotson, producer & managing director, programming IFP

Ringer Ross and music supervisor Tracy McKnight led an educational session on music selection and rights, while BMI composer Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine, Capote, Monsoon Wedding, The Sweet Hereafter, Surfs Up) met with filmmakers to critique and advise them on scoring options for various scenes from a composer’s perspective.

Composer Mychael Danna is shown guiding the audience

Launched in 2005, the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Lab aims to identify ten high quality independently produced features each year that can benefit from the support and expertise of experienced film professionals. Projects are selected by lab leaders and senior IFP programming staff based on the quality of the work and its ability to benefit from the lab curriculum and mentorship involvment.

As part of the IFP’s ongoing commitment to diversity, the Narrative Rough Cut Lab also seeks to ensure that at least 50% of the participating projects have an inclusive range of races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and physical abilities in key creative positions. This year, 47 people of diverse backgrounds worked as key crew — director producer, executive producer, cinematographer, editor or writer — on these projects. The 2007 lab includes a diverse sampling of emerging filmmakers from New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, Chicago, North Carolina and Oklahoma. Their projects, representing genres including comedy, drama, science fiction, musical, horror, and western, reflect U.S. independent filmmaking at its best, showcasing original, unusual ideas as well as finely crafted, traditional pieces.

The IFP Market is a week-long showcase held each autumn in New York for new features, works-in-progress, shorts and scripts. It is the only market in the U.S. where independent filmmakers can present new film and television works in development directly to the film industry in a selective and professional atmosphere. For the film industry, it is a vital exhibition and discovery forum for new talent and a place to discover new films before they hit the festival circuit.

Photos: Gary Gershoff