Links from Distribution U. in NY...And looking ahead to Saturday at UCLA

Wow... we had a great group of 200 filmmakers converge on NYU's Cantor Film Center last Saturday for the first Distribution U. of 2010... and now we're looking ahead to the second (and thankfully, final) workshop of the year, this Saturday at UCLA.

Just wanted to share some stuff from NYU.

- Eric Kohn of IndieWire was there as one of our guest experts, running lunch discussions on how filmmakers can get reviews, whether in traditional media or blogs. Afterward, he posted this write-up of the marketing and distribution case study we did on "Exit Through the Gift Shop," with speakers Marc Schiller of Electric Artists and Richard Abramowitz of Abramorama.

- "Star Wreck" director Timo Vuorensola couldn't join us (he was preparing to start shooting his latest project, "Iron Sky"), but he sent this six-minute video explaining his approach to building communities around his films — and raising money for the productions online.

- Participant Moishe Kaufman posted his notes from the morning and afternoon sessions on his great blog about film, the Internet, and media, The M Word.

- Dustyn Gobler, who was part of our excellent team of volunteers in New York (and is also an experienced post-production consultant), posted his notes on his blog.

- One of our other guest experts, producer and Filmmaker Magazine editor Scott Macaulay, had put this post on his blog before the event (it contains some audio from Distribution U. 2009, at USC). Anne Thompson of IndieWire, who'll be a guest expert this Saturday in LA, published this post on her "Thompson on Hollywood" blog, which contains another bit of audio from 2009.

- Here's the Twitter stream from the event. (This Saturday, we'll again be using the hash tag #distribu.)

- Participants shared some really kind words with us afterward. My favorite: "Honestly, this event really exceeded my expectations. Awesome."

- If you're in LA, we hope you can join us this Saturday (or spread the word to folks who might benefit.) We're grateful to our friends at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, who've made it possible for us to come to campus.

- Our discussion leaders in LA are a pretty impressive bunch, and you'll be able to sit down with three of them for a small group chat that we think will be full of helpful guidance:

• Roko Belic, Director, "Genghis Blues" and "Happy"

• Joe Beyer, Producer, Sundance Institute Online

• Adam Chapnick, Founder, Distribber

• Jonathan Dana, producer and producer's rep, "Road to Nowhere"

• Nolan Gallagher, Founder and CEO, Gravitas Ventures

• Jim Gilliam of NationBuilder, the Internet strategist who helped Robert Greenwald launch (and finance) his Brave New Films series of documentaries and online videos

• Roberta Grossman, Producer/Director, "Blessed is the Match"

• Madelyn Hammond, Marketing Expert, Madelyn Hammond & Associates

• Producer and editor Joel Heller ("Winnebago Man")

• Justine Jacob, Director, "Ready Set Bag" and Partner, Lee & Lawless

• Oren Jacob, CTO, Pixar and Executive Producer, "Runner's High" and "Ready Set Bag"

• Skot Leach, Co-Founder, Lost Zombies

• Cara Mertes, director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program

• Cora Olson and Jennifer Dubin of Present Pictures

• Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder, IndieGoGo

• Chris Shellen, Web strategist and producer, "Marwencol"

• Jill Sobule, crowdfunding pioneer and musician; Jill's latest release is "The California Years," funded entirely by her fans.

• IndieWire writer Anne Thompson of "Thompson on Hollywood" (formerly of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

• Nancy Willen, Head of Acme PR, Documentary Publicist (“Taxi to the Dark Side”)