Canadian Researchers to Partner with FootageFest

For the second consecutive year, the Visual Researchers Society of Canada (VRSC) is joining forces with the third-party content association at this year's annual conference, taking place this September in the NoHo district of Los Angeles. 

The VRSC has many of its top researchers and archive producers attending this year's conference, bolstered by the infamous Elizabeth Klinck, who will be moderating this year. The Ontario resident was the first Canadian to be awarded the FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Canada will not be the only international region represented.  Contingents of archive producers from New York, London, Paris and Rome, as well as Argentina and Australia, will be in attendance.  Brisbane’s Matt Miranda, a giant in rights’ management, wouldn’t miss it. “It’s got a great vibe, great access to industry contacts from the UK and the US,” says Miranda, who moderated FootageFest’s first sports panel in 2018.     

Sponsors for this year’s conference include Retro Video, LOLA Clips, as well as 3p Sync -- a new project being launched by longtime clip producer Teddy Cannon.  Other sponsors include CNN, News Exposure and British Pathe.  Nearly 40 booths have been rented by international content providers, and nearly all sponsorship opportunities have been taken.  If interested, please contact Dominic at info@footagefest.com

This year’s seminars will cover a wide-range of topics, including the return of our "Ultimate Fair Use Panel", moderated again by Heather Bennett, and including ABC Studios’ Hector Del Cid and Davis Wright Tremaine partner Jonathan Segal.

Another legal panel will be “Unfairly Used”, designed to give content owners advice when their copyrighted material has been used without a halfway decent fair use argument, or content has not been paid for. 

There will also be several one-on-one discussions with industry legends such as Steve Binder, who directed and produced the Elvis Comeback ’68 Special, and was even portrayed by Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery in the 2122 Baz Luhrmann biopic, Elvis.  Others will be announced soon.

Another semi-legal discussion will be “A Case Study of Sorts”, reviewing the 1991 Allan Carr-produced Oscar opening number featuring a singing and dancing Rob Lowe and Snow White. On the panel will be (the show’s writer) Bruce Vilanch, Eileen Bowman (who played Snow White) and a legal expert who will explain how and why the Oscars did not clear Snow White’s image for the production number.  Rob Lowe has declined an invitation.  

An important and timely seminar on AI, subtitled “What is it is and am I Out of a Job?”, has just been added, featuring Peter Kuran, visual effects designer for Star Wars: A New Hope and other digitally-driven films.

We will also have a Showrunner / EIC panel designed to help job-seekers on tricks of the trade: What to do – and what not to do – on resumes and sizzle reels; How showrunners find new talent; How to stay out of the EIC’s office.  The discussion will feature 1895 Films’ Tom Jennings, and others.

Also on the list are panels on the News Exposure-sponsored “Acquiring News Footage”, as well as “Acquiring Film and TV content”, featuring Paramount’s Larry McCallister.

Over the three-day conference, FootageFest will be screening two documentaries at the legendary El Portal Theater in North Hollywood.  There are two state-of-the-art theaters, one that seats 360 people, and a second that seats about 100. Both screenings will include a Q&A panel of filmmakers and other experts.  Those two documentaries have been confirmed and will be announced shortly.

 Emmy-award winner Rich Remsberg, one of the industry’s most sought-after archive producers, travels from New York every year to participate in the conference. “Because it’s a multi-day  event, it offers a rare immersive experience where we can really spend some quality time with our colleagues and friends in our archival community.”

L.A.-based Archive Producer Jodi Tripi says there is no other organization that is specifically targeted toward the third-party content community. “ Who else in the entire world actually understands what we do? How zany and difficult and interesting it is? I really love being around my peers and colleagues, and everybody else’s talents and experiences.”

After a three-year hiatus from FootageFest’s live events, archive producer Amy Dax is just looking forward to congregating with people. “What we can do can be isolating and just getting out there and connecting with people again -- seeing actual humans – will be great.”  Dax adds that she also enjoys all of the seminars. “I feel like you learn something new.”

Tickets for the three-day conference are available at an early-bird rate of $75, which will increase to $100 after July 15th.  Go to www.footagefest.com to register and purchase tickets for this exciting event.  Don’t miss it.