Workshop: The Business Experience of Filmmaking

“A lot of people don’t emphasize the business aspect in the academy. How do you make a living?” asked Jim Jermanok rhetorically, explaining the focus of his workshop, Successful Film Producing and Financing: Making Your Film Happen, to be offered at the Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House in Providence on Fri, Feb 21.

Jermanok said that his Command Performance Productions has conducted this “workshop – seminar – master class” nearby in Boston and New London and at film festivals at Cannes and throughout the world, but this will be the first time in Rhode Island. “I love your state. It’s a real pleasure to be there. I’ve been all over Rhode Island.” He said that principal photography for Passionada, on which he was executive producer and co-screenwriter, was in New Bedford and Dartmouth in Massachusetts, but had a few days of shooting in Rhode Island; the film starred Jason Isaacs, Sofia Milos, and Emmy Rossum.

Jermanok has decades of experience making a living from creative endeavors, he said, in roles ranging from working as an agent to writing, directing and producing. “No one like me is speaking on this subject,” he said. “Almost no one who speaks on entertainment topics is actually making a living in the field.” Independent filmmaking has changed radically and continues to do so, he said. “The business has changed. The economy has changed. We’re going to consumers to [both] finance and distribute. We’re compelled to build our own audiences, to market to them, and to distribute to them.”

His workshop is targeted toward actors, writers, directors and “especially producers,” but would be valuable to any working or aspiring creative professional, including crew members, who are “looking to get their creative project off the ground,” he said. Some attendees have already made a number of films but anyone should attend “who wants to learn and enhance their knowledge to succeed in a very difficult economy and industry,” he said. “No one has too little or too much experience” for the workshop. “It’s all meat, no fluff. I distill 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry into five hours.”

Jermanok said he is thankful to Rhode Island filmmaker Mike Messier and to Anthony Demings of Rhodywood and Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House for making the workshop possible. Steven Feinberg, executive director of the state Film and Television Office, is expected to attend. In addition to the Providence workshop on Saturday, there will be another offering in Worcester, Mass., the next day on Sunday.

Jim Jermanok’s web site: jimjermanok.com

Successful Film Producing and Financing: Making Your Film Happen! Brooklyn Coffee & Tea House, 209 Douglas Ave, PVD. Sat, 2/21, 10am – 3pm. Registration: eventbrite.com/e/successful-film-producing-financing-making-your-film-happen-tickets-15129451597

Successful Film Producing and Financing: Making Your Film Happen! Clark University, Tilton Hall, Higgins University Center, 2nd Floor, 950 Main St, Worcester, Mass. Sun, 2/22, 10am – 3pm. Registration: eventbrite.com/e/successful-film-producing-financing-making-your-film-happen-tickets-15386939751