In this episode, our Executive Director Kathyrn Tucker chats with Bentonville Film Festival Director and BFF Foundation President Wendy Guerrero and BFF Head of Content and producer Kristin Mann about what to expect at the 2021 Bentonville Film Festival.
In this episode, our Executive Director Kathyrn Tucker chats with Bentonville Film Festival Director and BFF Foundation President Wendy Guerrero and BFF Head of Content and producer Kristin Mann about what to expect at the 2021 Bentonville Film Festival. The Festival runs August 2nd through 8th, with both virtual events and safe in-person events at venues across Northwest Arkansas. Keep up with the Festival on IG @BFFFestival and visit their website to get tickets!
Reel Talk Arkansas is a production of the Arkansas Cinema Society. It's produced by Christian Leus and Kody Ford.
Kody Ford: Welcome to Reel Talk Arkansas, I'm your host Kody Ford, outreach and programming director with Arkansas Cinema Society. While normally I get to host each month and talk to some really great guests, this time our executive director at ACS, Kathryn Tucker, will be chatting with the crew from the Bentonville Film Festival. The 7th annual Bentonville Film Festival will take place across Northwest Arkansas, August 2nd through August 8th. Today, Kathryn will chat with Wendy Guerrero, who is the head of the festival itself and president of the foundation and Kristin Mann, who is newly hired as head of content. Kristin is a native Arkansan and has just relocated to the area to help Bentonville expand and all their great programming. And they're going to tell you more about all the things to expect this year with the festival and what to come throughout the year.
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Kathryn Tucker: So thanks everybody for joining us with the Arkansas Cinema Society’s Reel Talk podcast - we're so excited to have our guests from the Bentonville Film Festival, our friends Wendy Guerrero and Kristin Mann with us today. Wendy is president of the Bentonville Film Festival. We also have Kristin Mann with us, the Head of Content for the Bentonville Film Festival. Thank you ladies so much for being here. It's a pleasure to have you. Thanks for having us here. Thank you. So first I want to kind of start chronologically. Wendy, could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to be with the Bentonville Film Festival?
Wendy Guerrero: Yeah, I mean, my background is very organic, so I come from the acting world. So I studied acting in San Francisco at ACT, and then I moved to New York city and went to circle in the square theater school there and really had a passion and a love for theater and writing. So when I got to New York, I started doing a lot of traditional theater like Chekhov Arthur Miller. And although I love all of these male playwrights, I was really curious about where all the women were and particularly where all of the new women playwrights were. So I started really developing new plays by women and staging them. So my whole thing was like, let's get it off the page, let's get it up on the stage and see how it all works. Because a lot of things change when you start putting it up on a stage.
And so I just didn't, I felt like there was such a strong need to do that. And that was just kind of where my curiosity was. And, and as a, as a mixed race person, I've always been struggling with my own personal identity. Like what side do I really belong on my large Mexican side from my dad's family or my small English side on, on my mom's side. So my dad's from Mexico, my mom is from England. And so I've always had this exploration of my own identity and why people asked me what I was, what nationality I was if I was American, if I was European. So there was, I was just getting all of these questions and, and I think that's what drew me to acting to begin with is because I could kind of lose myself in these characters and not really have, you know, have to struggle with these questions that I was having as a young adult and going into school.
So I did that in New York and then I moved back to LA after 9/11. I'm going to be dating myself here, but I just felt it was really hard to stay in New York after 9/11. I didn't have any family there. It was kind of a scary period for me to be there.
KT: I was there.
WG: Yeah, a lot of unknown. So I moved to LA and then I was like, I'm going to start my own theater company in Los Angeles. Cause I was doing all of this in New York. So I thought it would just transfer over to LA, which it did not because LA is such a different town, even though there's a lot of theater there and a lot of people are really passionate and there's some good plays, you know, being done out of Los Angeles. It was just a whole different dynamic, which I found like I started a theater company, I produced a play.
It was for women writers again. So I produced our first play. We had a red carpet, I directed it too. Didn't just produce it. I directed and produced it. And then we had this huge red carpet, like all of these stars and celebrities came thanks to my partner in the theater company who was Bruce Stern. And so I ended up meeting him through a friend from circle in the square. They were working on a movie together and Bruce needed somebody to go with him on set and assist him. So I met him for a Coke and we kind of talked about my background in New York and the teachers that I had at circle in the square and Bruce comes from a theater background. So he went to the actor studio, he was on Broadway. And a lot of his contemporaries were my teachers.
So we suddenly had this really incredible bond, even though we were such different ages and in such different stages in our lives, he was a huge influence in my life and a huge mentor and champion of me. And that was kind of like my first introduction into what that means. And somebody's trajectory and how important it is to have somebody in your corner that has influence, or that has seen the road ahead and can help kind of guide you and inform you. And that was a huge relationship for me because I lost my father at 17. And so he filled so many of those roles as a mentor, as a father figure. And yeah, so, so he championed me and I did my first theater company in Los Angeles. We had this big red carpet, all of these like celebrities came out, Jason Patrick, Macaulay Culkin, the house was full.
It was a 99 seat theater. And I was like, okay, we've got a theater company. It was going to take off, we're going to do this whole, you know, slate of, of new plays by women. And then the rest of the play of the run was like, not as full as the opening night. So we could barely, we were so struggling just to sell tickets, to get people in the seats. I didn't know anything about marketing. I was like learning on the fly. Like how do I let people know about these plays? And like all the important work that we're doing. And so we were just kind of like, oh God, what did we do? And then we just pivoted to you know, a production company. So we started a company called Publicly Private, and then we started championing women writers too. Like we were developing screenplays with women and projects that Bruce would star in and or produce or executive produce.
So it was, it was a really great time to learn and understand this industry with someone like that by my side. And then I eventually, you know, got introduced to Gina Davis through her neighbor who is the co-founder of festival, Trevor drink water. And he told me what Gina was doing with the Institute. And I was really unaware of all of that work. And so I met Gina and they were talking to me about how they wanted to create this festival that really championed women and inclusive voices, diverse voices underrepresented. And this was in 2014. So this was like way before the #MeToo movement or way before any of these inclusion sort of you know, programs were, were being implemented. But I, I quickly realized that if I had access or opportunity to these programs, like I would have felt like that would have been a great place to learn and develop and meet like minded people and maybe people that were struggling as I was with, where do I fit in into this industry? You know, how do I become what the vision of myself, you know, I wanted to, to, to work in this, in this industry. And I understand how difficult that is, you know, for people who may not have the fortunate circumstances that I did just to like connect with an important person.
KT: Exactly.
WG: So, I mean, I could go on...
KT: No, I love it. That is so I didn't know all of that actually. Wow. Thank you. I'm happy. Thank you, Wendy. That was beautiful. Thank you. And so I'd like to hear Kristin, a little bit kind of the same question: what your background is and how you came to the Bentonville film festival.
Kristin Mann: Yeah. So the way we started out is somewhat similar. I mean, I grew up, I was born and raised in little rock Arkansas, so Arkansas bred. And I was one of those weird kids that knew from the time I could talk, you know, what I wanted to do in the sense that I wanted to work in film. I didn't know exactly yet what I wanted to do in the world of film. I thought at the time, you know, growing up that acting was the only option. I didn't obviously know. I didn't know what producer, you know, was, I didn't know or think about any of the other positions. So I just dreamed about acting because I thought that was, you know what you did and so, so I dreamed about it for, you know, forever. And then I ended up going to school at University of Central Arkansas.
They didn't really have a film program there. So I ended up focusing on theater. So I was performing and sort of like found my, you know, crew in that world, like these creative, strange, you know, people, beautiful people. And but then I, the thing about going to UCA in a sort of smaller school is they did have gear, right? So I would go, I ended up sort of double majoring in communications and theater. And so I would go access like the camera gear and looked at sort of the editing bays and suites and I would experiment. So I learned a lot just from playing around you know, just sort of playing around with the camera and making little videos and stuff with my classmates. And then the first thing that I did was you know, sort of professionally was as an intern in New York. I basically begged and pleaded with this company to let me come out and intern for them for a summer.
And it was like, you know, for these reality shows, not something I really wanted to do, but that was a very eye opening experience like being in this bubble in Arkansas my entire life, and then getting thrown into the world of production in New York for a summer. So that was a huge sort of turning point. I actually came back to Arkansas and started working on commercials and music videos, like anything I could do really. There were a couple of feature films that came through that. I ended up working as a production assistant on, and then I, I met the Miller brothers, Josh and Miles Miller, who you have worked with before Kathryn. And they're based in Little Rock and they, you know, basically came to me and said, “We have this weird little short film that we want to do, and we need somebody to help us. We need a producer.” And at the time I was sort of starting to, you know, become intrigued with producing mainly because on set, people were starting, I'm starting to get feedback from people like, “Hey, you should consider producing. It feels like that might be sort of where your skill set lies.” And for a long time I rejected it thinking dear God, no, that sounds like a lot of responsibility and pressure. And I don't know people with money. I don't know. I don't know how you would even do that, you know? But they basically gave me this opportunity and said, here's a, you know, here's our budget. We we've got the money for it. We just need somebody to produce it. So I said, yes, thank goodness. Because that was my first opportunity to really like, come in and produce something, you know, that actually had a little bit of money.
And and that was for me another sort of turning point because I realized, oh my God, this is, so my lane, like this is I'm loving every minute of this, even though it's so hard and there's so many challenges and and it felt impossible at times, but I, I thrived in that environment. And so that was when I sort of officially decided like, okay, this is my, this is my thing. This is where I'm, you know, headed. So I started producing short films. I produced a short film for Daniell Campbell, who's also in Little Rock. And then Jeff Nichols brought his movie Mud, you know, to Arkansas. And I basically like begged and pleaded again to be hired on to that movie. And I was just, I told them, you know, I'd do whatever. I ended up getting hired as a sort of temp production assistant for the first couple of weeks.
But I remember at the time I was like, okay, I've got two weeks to convince these people that they need to hire me, like for the full run of show. And and I did, I basically like, was really observant to see, okay, where is there a hole? Like, where can I sort of show my value? And they ended up losing a props person and I had never worked in the art department or done props like in my life, but I was like, that's where I, there we go. There's my opportunity. So I, again, begged and pleaded the prop master, like to hire me. And I think I eventually bugged him enough that he was just like, okay, fine. I come back and we'll hire you! And so that put me on that show for the rest of the time. And that was huge for me because it gave me an opportunity to develop relationships with all of these amazing, you know, and Jeff surrounded himself with amazing crew people.
And that's where I also met his producer, Sarah Green. So once that was wrapped I again did my really annoying thing of begging and pleading and sending notes to Sarah and her team at the time of like, Hey, I'm really, you know, interested in producing and, you know, if he ever had a position available or whatever, like I'd love to continue working together. And they ended up, it was months later, I think they ended up having a day where they were going to do some insert, insert shots for Mud in Austin. And she basically sent me a note said, if you can get here, you know, this day or whatever they could figure it out and you can assist. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do that. I got myself out to Austin and basically, you know, assisted for the day.
And that led to Sarah asking me to have breakfast with her the next morning and her offering me, you know, a position to come in and assist her. And that was, that was huge for me because I like growing up in Arkansas, you know, I was in a family that sort of lived paycheck to paycheck, and I had zero connections in the industry, zero connections to money. And I thought, if I'm ever going to seriously, like get into producing, something's got to change here. I can't just stay in Arkansas in this bubble. And so, so that was an opportunity for me to I mean, it's a huge risk. I, you know, basically sold everything and moved to Austin and started working for her, but it ended up, you know, paying off because it very quickly moved into a sort of associate producer role with her.
And not only did I get to work with Jeff, but I also was thrust right into the Terrence Malick, you know, world, which is very unique and special. And so I did that for about four years and it was really kind of a bootcamp for me as a producer. I was getting to work on these massive projects in my mind, massive with, you know, top talent and then eventually decided to start producing on my own. So did that, and then cut to, so I've been producing movies for the last, you know, what is it now seven years or so um on my own. And I have another project that I can't say too much about right now, but a project that I'm bringing to Northwest Arkansas soon. And that is what, Wendy and I had met before, because I had a film at the festival at Bentonville film festival in 2019 called To The Stars.
But we reconnected recently because of this new film that I'm bringing that will, we're planning to shoot in Bentonville. And so that led to just reconnecting and, you know, sort of organic conversation and one thing led to another, and we started to realize sort of thing that I was kind of looking to do like some of that lined up with what they were looking for in a person, you know, to launch this new production arm. So it just, it felt very like serendipitous and organic and that's what kind of led us to here.
KT: So great. Thank you for sharing all of that. It's so funny to me how our backgrounds are so similar, like everyone that grew up in Arkansas, or even as a female trying to get into the film industry, you know, we first go to theater and acting, cause we don't really know what the options are.
I did the same thing. And then you kind of, as you move around and, you know, you sort of find film in that way and when you find it, you know and I think all of us are trying to bring that to young people at an earlier age particularly women. But I think it's so interesting how that is kind of the trajectory for our generation of filmmakers and gender.
KM: Well, and also you have any sort of like entrepreneurial spirit or if you are a type a, or you're controlling or you're super ambitious or whatever, there's a lot of different things, but acting is so hard because you don't have any agency over your career. You really like, you could be amazed. I mean, I know some amazing actors that are, you know, struggle just because it's really at the end of the day, it's, it's tough, man. You, you don't have any control over, over your career. And so that was, that was tough for me. And the other thing that led me to sort of producing is like, okay, this is completely within my control kind of thing. It's up to me how hard I work and what I do.
WG: Sure. Yeah. That's very similar to my experience, except the one thing that kept reflecting back to me when I was going to auditions and pursuing acting was just, I didn't fit any look that they were looking for, you know? And so that was even a further like mindfuck. Because I was like, I just didn't understand at that point that there was a look or a type, I was just like, oh, the best actor, you know, with the chemistry. And like, I just thought it was all creative. Like I was just very much like this worked like great. I know I'm going to book this, but then it, all the feedback I was getting was like, oh, you don't look American enough or you don't look this enough. Like, so it just was a very big you, like Kristin said, like there was no control.
That's when I really understood, I don't have any control about my talent. Like it's all the way people perceive me and what they think I'm right for. And that's how I'm going to get up in this industry. So that really, you know, started started my desire to kind of work on the other side and understand that creative producing is almost is, is just as rewarding because you're putting those pieces together and you're still shaping a story. And it's just, that's the one thing that I really, really love about the festival as well is because it's like creative producing, you know, you're curating a program, you're putting people together. We have all of our alumni that we're constantly, you know, asking what are you doing? How are you, how can we help? Or use us as a resource, we're here for you. And that's kind of how Kristin and I approached that conversation originally, it was like, oh, you're doing this, this, this is incredible.
Like, we'd love to support you and champion you in whatever you need in, in Arkansas and beyond. So I just love that about what the three of us over the years, like Kathryn, I've known you for a while too. So it's just, we've always supported each other and reached out to each other if we needed information or help, or, you know, that that's really important to me that, that we in the state of Arkansas and also beyond like we're partners, even though, you know, we're not always directly working together, but we're trying to bring opportunity, like you were saying earlier, Kathryn, to, to people that don't have access.
KT: Yeah. And compliment each other's strengths, because I think our organizations are different enough that we can kind of like we can handle certain things and you guys, that's why I was so excited when I heard about Kristin coming on in this role, because it's something that ACS can offer right now. You know, it's just access to funds to make more movies in Arkansas, which is really what it's all about. I mean, that's the thing. If you like, look at Kristin's story as an example, Mud, that $15 million movie or whatever the budget was coming into Arkansas started so many careers for people because it was a legitimate film in Arkansas. And then it creates people like Kristin that, you know, had no opportunity prior. And then when you work your tail off and you're pleasant to be around and you're smart, they take you with them.
And that's how the industry works. I mean, I know that from my own experience, but I've also seen it work with others. And so the key is having more production in Arkansas is my opinion, which is why we were working on the film incentive, you know, the new tax film, the tax credit. But I think what you guys are doing works, compliments what we're doing so well. And, you know, even recently I had someone send me a script that was like, do you know anyone? And you know, I, I have some someone to send it to now which is so great.
WG: Well that's kind of how this all started too with just the last seven years, we're going into our seventh year of the festival. So just understanding the struggles of filmmakers who are going to make their next film and they're on the festival circuit and they're, you know, trying to get any, anyone to read it or looking at what their financial model is going to be now on this next feature and understanding that, oh God, what did they do on their last feature was probably just get, you know, I just finished a film that took me 10 years to make, so I understand how hard it is to raise money, especially as a woman producer or for a female-led story. So, so understanding those struggles and just talking to filmmakers over the last seven years, we were like, we have to go beyond, obviously we're championing and celebrating film and inclusive voices at the festival.
And we have a whole inclusion qualifier that is really, we were the first festival to really require our filmmakers to submit their, you know, background on their film, like who is there? Who is their director? Is it a woman or a person of color? Who is their writer? Is it a woman or person of color from an underrepresented community? So all of those questions, it's like a 24 question or 36. I mean it's long. And Gina's idea of doing that in the submission process was not only to collect data and understand, okay, who's out there and what, what are, how are they crewing up and what are they looking at when they're hiring, but also to get them to think about who they're going to hire on their next film and that maybe they'll, they'll reach out to more than they're friends, because a lot of us, you know, we just reach out to who we can rely on and we know that is going to come through for us.
So I think it's really going beyond that as producers and storytellers, to make sure that you are kind of looking at what does your crew look like and giving opportunities to people that may not have had that opportunity. So filling out that questionnaire was like, oh, maybe, maybe that'll also be like a reflection back and they'll think, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make my next movie 50/50 and inclusive. So that's what really kind of led this whole role role for Kristin and this role of the foundation and the festival kind of stepping into and saying, you know what, we're not just going to champion films that have already been made and produced and show them at the festival, but we, we want to know what you're doing next and how we can help you get that next film made. And then how, what resources do we need to start developing to make this talent pool larger, you know, than just what we see in Hollywood and what the studio systems are, are churning out. Not to say that you know, a lot of, a lot of, it's not only independent film, like we w we talk with the studios all the time, not only on the Institute side to share data, but also just saying, Hey, we have these talented filmmakers coming through and they're, they're ready to work. Like, they're, they've made great films. They've been on streamers. You know, it's not that big of a risk to hire someone who may not be in your, you know, on your list.
KT : Yeah. And just even having the festival be selective about, you know, or just being conscious and intentional about what, who they're accepting introduces that idea to people like, oh, you know, maybe we do need to look at those demographics.
WG: So, we're also not allowing, you know, not, not to be pointed, but, you know, everyone has initiatives and missions, but are they really fulfilling an outcome? So we can all have these programs and we can put a sentence on our website, or we can talk about it on this podcast about how inclusive our festival is and all, and all of those things. And we've always had a desire to, to create content that was reflective of our mission. You know, that, like we were saying earlier, it really is a process. And how do, how do we do that? Who are our partners in that? You know, so we're still figuring all of that out since this was such a new announcement, but the intention is to, is to really get that content out into the world that reflects what we're living. So that desire is still extremely strong. And I think it is an outcome that supersedes all outcomes because you actually have that product there that filmmaker's progressing on and that product can be sold and they can go on and make their next thing. And so when we look at the holistic demographics and the research like five years from now, you know, hopefully we will have effectively created that, that push that a lot of these filmmakers need who are struggling and are talented, but there's just not a path.
KT: Right. And also, I mean, it's good for the studios. It's new content, it's new voices. It's, you know, I feel like there's so many talented Arkansans and I, you know, I've worked in LA and I've worked in New York and Louisiana and Atlanta, but, you know, the Arkansans are so unbelievably talented and they're so grateful when they get the job. And so it's just the quality of work ethic is really impressive, I think there. And so bringing it to Arkansas I think, is, is meaningful in that way as well. But I did want, I, I do want you guys to talk about, or you ladies, talk about a little bit where, where the festival is now and kind of where it came from and how it's evolved, and then specifically Kristin's role and, you know, what your kind of like, day-to-day looks like, so I guess maybe we start with Wendy.
WG: Yeah. So we, you know, we started the festival in 2015 and with this, with the championing of Walmart. So Walmart is our founding sponsor and Coca-Cola is our presenting sponsor. And that was such a, an important time in, you know, in, in creating this festival because it was all right before we're going into all of the time's up movements and all of the other racial equity that we're rectifying, I feel like not the festival, but us as a society, we're grappling with all of these things. So when this festival started in 2015, it was like, I was saying earlier, it was kind of like, I wish I had this festival when I was looking for, for ways to feel like I was, I had a home or I was represented somewhere. So then the mission of the festival has always been the same to champion women and inclusive voices.
And we just, we, we actually had the help of Tribeca our first year, because our green light from Walmart was so quick. We, we didn't really have the time to kind of open submissions and program the whole festival in the traditional way that we do now. So Tribeca was really helpful in understanding our mission and supporting us and championing us again and saying, yes, we have so many of these films that we're not able to program. So let me share all of this with you. And not only the films, like the knowledge of how do you run a jury, how do you, you know, do all of these things? So that was kind of our template year, where we, we presented this huge program with lots of panel discussions and we brought out filmmakers and it was so fun and just such a, a rewarding time. And then in 2016, we were kind of all on our own, but obviously still struggling to fund. I mean, it's still a festival is really not a money maker or...
KT: Really? (laughs)
WG: Yeah. So it's always like, okay, how are we going to do this again? We'll go back to the drawing board, you know, and start, start that process of, of raising funds, which is, is, is something that we have to start like right after the festival and just making sure people understand that we don't have an underwriter yet. And that was really one of the key transitions that we were able to make this year is we switched over to a 501 C3. So moving it to a foundation model and using that organizational structure, it really gives us more opportunity to provide access to the community year round. So instead of just coming in for once a week, you know, and maybe doing some films or some events throughout the year we are able now to, to really put roots down in the community to have an office, to have a staff year round that is just kind of crewing up during festival time. So it really provides us that structure to kind of settle into ourselves a little bit and start that long-term vision of, of how, what are we going to look like in 10 years, you know, and how we're going to use our access to help develop programs, not only for filmmakers around the world, but for filmmakers in Arkansas, you know, so we started our Movie Mondays, which is a screening and alumni of an alumni filmmaker that we do every, every third Monday of the month, we'll be reaching out, you know, and doing those in Springdale, we'll be doing those in Bentonville.
So it just gives us more of an opportunity to dive deeper into the community and understand the challenges and the access points that are not there, and then develop those programs and create those opportunities for, for Arkansans and for other filmmakers that have come through the festival you know, we are huge on our alumni. So we really think that that talent pool is so impressive. And we just want to give them as much support as they go out to make their next film. You know, that we can. So last year we really started our first grant cycles. We selected eight cohorts that Coca-Cola foundation gave us a grant to like mentor them throughout the year. So it was a women or people identifying as, as female eight alumni just kind of went through this original, you know, program that allowed them access to pitch decks, you know, all these different in intensive you know offerings that the festival could provide.
And then we, we brought in all of our sponsors to kind of come together as an entertainment council and listen to these eight cohort pitches. So we had you know, people from NBC universal, we had people from Viacom, we had marketing teams from Walmart, marketing teams from Coke, from Mars. They had their agency teams on. So we had this big call for two days. Where eight cohorts, like pitch this big group of 30 people. And so that was like a huge outcome where we were just so over the moon that our partners were just as, you know, interested in supporting this type of discovery process as we were. And we're kind of just going along with us, like, we're all, you know, it is a discovery process and we will do this, this next group of cohorts in 2022. So we'll continue that program, but just to see that the, the effect of the effect that we can have in such a short time is really encouraging because I'm just so excited that we're, we're just gonna move beyond and create all these incredible programs with partners like you guys.
WG: And, you know, Kristin's gonna take those scripts that are coming in and, and just look to see what programs, what scripts are really mission aligned with what the festival's championing and how can we get in and help. And each one's going to be different. So, you know, maybe can we tax flow tax credit cashflow tax credits? Can we subsidize stage time? You know, we do have a 10,000 square foot stage that is not the festival's, but we're partnered with a company called Kickstart that just kind of came into Arkansas, was like, I really want to have this as a home for, for Kickstart. I want to create a soundstage that not only the festival can use and the alumni, but that could, you know, have a facility here to bring in filmmakers to make films. You know, there's, there's things like that, that we're, we're partnering with other local organizations to, to bring those same opportunities to, to other sound stages or businesses in the area.
I just, we just had a tour a few weeks ago at that post-production house that I was totally unaware of. So things are cropping up all the time that we're, we're getting introduced to new people that we want, you know, to, to have our filmmakers kind of say, Hey, we have all the groups here. You can just come and make your film. You can do posts, and it's all going to be in Arkansas if you want, or, you know, you can do part of it. And this is how we can help you here and go on and do whatever you you're going to do posts and another place. So, okay.
KT: I had a follow-up question about the pitch cohorts, when once, once they pitched what's the process, like, do you select one of them? Or do you kind of move with all forward with all eight of the cohorts? I was just curious about the, like what happens after the pitch?
WG: Yeah. It was a selection of one and NBC Universal awarded that person $25,000 to make their next one. And then we also had really other exciting outcomes come out like Unilever gave an opportunity for an influencer on their social channels. So one of those cohorts was using product and hair product. And talking about this is my, this is, this is what I would use from the Unilever line. And so she did this whole influencer campaign for that brand. So it's all kinds of different opportunities. I feel like that are available because a lot of these, these alumni that are coming in are kind of writer, director, actor, you know, they're doing everything like Kristin and I were thinking like, we're going to do everything, but they are really talented at acting, but they're also amazing at writing or they're, they've written their own pilot for themselves that they want to start and direct in. And so we find that there are, since we have so many different partners in the CPG space and in the studio space, that there's opportunities beyond just film and television, like that Unilever campaign was really important because it was like, wow, she was paid a great w you know, normal wage. It was like just a job that she, she did. So it wasn't, you know, but it came out of the program. So that was exciting.
KT: That's really exciting. And so Kristin talk about, you know, your perspective and, and what kind of your day to day is going to be. And we've kind of discussed this before a little bit, but like, you know, what your role is as head of content.
KM: Yeah. so presently, right now, I'm sort of in this phase of you know, when we announced a lot of scripts were sent in all at once, so I'm a reading like crazy I'm spending you know, several hours, every single day reading and getting through through scripts, because even if we decide not to board a project, or if we just decide, like we, there's not something we can offer or whatever, we're still, I'm still reading them. And and often meeting with the filmmaker, just out of respect. So it's taking some, it's taking some time that I'm kind of right now balancing the day between reading and then zooming essentially with either the writer or director, or sometimes the same person and anybody else that they might have involved, whether that is people that are in Arkansas or you know, it's more just mission-aligned.
And if they're from an underrepresented group and getting to know them and, and kind of catching up a little bit, like with the alumni, I haven't been involved with the festival, so this, this whole, you know group of alumni with the festival that I am getting to know and, and figuring out how can we, how can we help? So that's kind of what it currently looks like. And we are I mean, I've been doing this for a couple of months now. And so we're just now getting to the place where we've identified a few projects that we feel like we can really be instrumental with and helping. And a few of those are, would shoot in Arkansas. One might shoot in Chicago, but so I'm in the process also of essentially boarding those projects, you know, talking about what our involvement means, what are we bringing to the table?
And also assessing like what, what team do they already have in place, if any? Cause we don't want to come in and step on any toes either. It's really just like, where, what do you need and what do we have to offer and, and, and help and support. So that's kind of what things look like right now.
KT: How many, how many projects and like at what level are you able to support at this time?
KM: So right now, really any is the short answer, but right now we're focused on lower budget just to kind of get like dip our toes in the water, get some things going quickly. It's going to be likely in the range of like under a million or maybe two, three million in that range. Having said that there's a project that we're talking to right now, that would be much more than that.
So it just, it really truly depends. It's less about, it's less about the sort of genre, it's less about the budget. It's more so is it mission aligned that's top priority? Is it something obviously that we believe in and can get excited about long enough to, to be able to help because we all, we know that you're gonna jump in and any sort of producer level, you've got to really like be passionate about it because it's art and it takes a long time. So we're also, you know, looking at projects and getting involved at different levels, meaning some, we might be able to help bring the financing and work in sort of an EP capacity, a little bit more hands-off, but helping assemble some of the pieces to, to make it happen. Or there's some that we're looking at that, you know, we've, there's an amazing, you know, alumni director, for example, who had a short, or actually a feature at the festival she wrote and she acted in, but she really wants to direct.
And she is someone that we think is really, really special. And so she is, she's going to need a lot of help because she's, she'll be a first time feature director. And so that's one that we're looking in coming in to, and really actively like producing every, every step of the way kind of thing. Which is cool. Yeah. With my producing background is helpful. It's sort of, again, sort of perfect fit in that I'm bringing my experience into this, you know this world that we can, we can offer all of that, but it really truly like it's genre agnostic. It's more about the mission and can we be valuable and helpful in getting this person's project off of the ground or help them take that next step in their career? And then there's the other side of it that is I think maybe a little bit more personal for some of us it's less like correct me if I'm wrong Wendy, but it's, it's less like the mission of the festival, but more like someone like me, I was born and raised in Arkansas.
And like I said, I didn't have any connections to money or people in the industry, but I knew what I wanted to do since I was little, but it took me like a ridiculously long time to get here, right. Like a ridiculously long time to get to a place where I could support myself, you know working in this industry. And so we were motivated for a number of reasons to bring as many projects as we possibly can to Arkansas. There's a lot that goes behind that, but you know, a, there's just a lot of, like, there are investors there that are interested in getting involved in film. We're obviously aligned with, you know, Walmart and some of the local leaders to grow the economy and the, you know sort of overall well-being of Arkansas, but I'm also like coming at it from a very personal place of, you know, there's gotta be other, like little Kristins out there or people that are in these like you know, underrepresented communities that maybe they have stories in them. And no one knows about, or maybe they're dreaming about, you know, working as a cinematographer, but just have absolutely no access or way to, you know, pursue that.
KT: Um well, and maybe they're not being presented the opportunity to work in film, so never, it never occurs to them and you know, they might've been an electrician or something instead. And instead of being an electrician, maybe they become a gaffer, you know, like it's, there's so many avenues there.
KM: Yeah. Yeah. And not obviously not everyone is cut out to work in film, so we're not on this huge global mission to be like, everyone should be working in this crazy industry.
KT: Right. But like, there are opportunities there.
KM: Yeah. If that's what you're meant to do, then we want to help those, those people, those kids are in Arkansas that, that drew on it.
KT: We want it to be realistic.
KM: Yeah. But also like on that note, you know filmmaking and the arts are transformative for anybody, you know? And so there is that sort of overarching sort of idea and mission to that. You know, this is important work.
KT: Right. Yeah. It's, it's kind of work with a heart.
KM: Yeah. I mean, we're not like brain surgery surgeons obviously, or it's not like life and death, but like the arts in general, it's I believe important. Yeah.
KT: Yeah. And can change lives and certainly can change communities. And I mean, it's, I always advocate for a film, but it, I feel like it it's the perfect industry. It draws tourism. I mean, like you were talking Wendy, you know, when you have a festival, that's tourism, but when you start having year-round programming, that's community building, and then when you start adding in production, it's economic development. And then once the movie's made it's tourism, again, like it's a wild ecosystem, but it also employs artists. So it's just, it's really kind of a beautiful industry and I,
WG: Wait, great jobs, you know, and like, like we were saying earlier, a lot of times films come and these gems leave the state and go on and don't come back often times. So it's great to have people who want the lifestyle to stay in Arkansas and still be able to work in film and have those great paying jobs that, you know, they can raise a family on and stay in Arkansas. They don't have to make choices or sacrifices that they may not be ready to make at that time. So I think it's, it's really, you, you put it that, that was really put very well, Kathryn, then it is all a holistic ecosystem.
KT: And Graham Gordy said when he was speaking on behalf of the bill to committee at the legislature, he said, this is not about giving money to outside outside of Arkansas companies. It's about companies employing Arkan- outside companies employing Arkansans. And I think that's such a great point because the image of it is that, you know, we're just going to be hemorrhaging money to Disney, which is not the case, actually Disney is going to be employing Arkansans in Arkansas. It's the idea.
KM: Right. Right. Yeah. And we want to build on that and create enough ensure that there's enough production work, that when that happens, those, those crew members don't gain experience and then move off because they don't have the option to exactly work.
KT: Right, that's what happened to you and I.
KM: Exactly.
KT: So I mean, we're pretty much out of time here and I don't, I don't want to take more of your time, but and you've really kind of been over most of my questions already, but, you know, in terms of the future, you know, if you could kind of dream ahead, you know, one to five years, you know, where do you see if you could manifest and dream it up? Like, what would your vision board look like for the Bentonville film festival over the next, like say five years, what would you be doing? What would it look like? Wendy, can you go first?
WG: Yeah. Am I still on? No, I'm not on mute. You know, the vision, I think we're moving at pace with, with the vision it's always been to, to run a year round organization that provides opportunity and access. And so, like I was talking about with the Coca-Cola foundation fellowship, you know, that was just one program we were able to accomplish in one year. So I dream that we have multiple programs for directors, writers, you know, that can come to Bentonville in Northwest Arkansas or Arkansas in general. And everyone loves Arkansas who ends up coming. Because first of all, we didn't even talk about any of this, but it, it kind of just blows their mind because of the myths of Arkansas and in entertainment are just not very, you know, not, it's not shown in a good light. So when they do come, they're just blown away.
They're like, this is the most beautiful place. Like I love this town and it's so charming and so beautiful. I want to go house. I want to go look at houses. And like, they're really motivated to learn more about, about not only why we have the festival in Bentonville, but like about Arkansas and what are the opportunities here. So not only, you know, I feel like we can bring in global leaders to the state and we can also provide Arkansans with access to those international leaders, storytellers, voices. So I feel like that's one thing that we can do that's different and it's, it's still, you know, supporting the community, but it's also introducing the community to, to people that they may not that to stories that they might not ever see or hear. You know, one of the things about the festival that I love is that when people come and see the films as well, they're, they're completely struck with, while we don't really have this, an art film here that we can just go see a movie like this, you know, so they have all, all of the access to studio films, but they don't have some of the access to maybe these more nuanced films or storytellers that, that might not get in the mega plexus, which are still just important.
And, and they still, you know, they find that they have a desire to see those films also documentaries. So just continuing to to bring those voices to this community is, is my vision. And I also have a vision, like I want a cinematic center, you know, I want Bentonville film festival to have Bentonville foundation to have its own theater, to have its own building, to have its own center of cinema that's connected to the community and that people can, can come to and, and feel like they're represented and that their voice matters. So that's like my big goal one nomadic center, but no, in the meantime, we will continue to just develop all of these different programs that I see endless opportunity for and support for. So I'm just really excited to continue to continue this work, you know, indefinitely for forever. Like it's part of my like main life goal since it's so personal to me too, to know that you can find yourself reflected in, in media and, and that we can provide those, those stepping stones for, for, for filmmakers and storytellers that that may not have had a pass.
KT: Yeah. And just to follow up before Kristin answers the same question you touched on this a little bit, but you know, why, why Bentonville? Why did you, why did the festival decide to land in Arkansas?
WG: Well, I think it was very much driven where Walmart decided to wanted to work with us and want to just so the home office is in Walmart and we just thought that Bentonville is the perfect quintessential American town. It's like it's, like I said earlier, every time someone comes into Bentonville, it's like, they're just completely awestruck about the quaintness about middle America and just the, the food and the, the atmosphere and the people. It's just such a great place to have a festival because it's, it's kind of like those throwback days from Sundance or that I imagine I never went when it was first starting, but it just reminds me of, you know, it was a community where you could run into lots of different people during festival week and be able to create relationships that are everlasting. Like we have people who have come to the festival that worked on projects that work on projects together because they met each other at the festival, or they found a mentor that they could kind of work with outside of, you know, maybe they still live in Arkansas, but this person is in Los Angeles or New York and is kind of there, you know they're communicating and sharing their knowledge.
So I feel like it's just an open place and it just gives the filmmakers this, like, I don't want to say camp type atmosphere, but you know, we start the, the festival with a filmmaker retreat. So we get everybody together. So they know about each other's projects and they know they have an opportunity to meet each other and not this frenzy, like festival atmosphere, and that really creates relationships and all of these incredible partnerships not only with the filmmakers coming in each year, but with the community, just embracing, you know, the, the appetite for this community to see films and talk to filmmakers and get a question in the Q and A is like, unlike anything I've ever had ever seen and extremely smart questions, you know? And so it's just, it's just incredible and a joy to be able to see how this has developed and how the community just embraces it. You know, so we're really excited to go into our seventh year.
KT: Wow. I can't believe that that's wild. That's so great. You guys have done a lot though.
WG: It's crazy to think seven years has gone by so fast, but I know definitely rewarding.
KT: Yeah. It is very rewarding. And Kristin, what do you kind of see in your position and, you know, what would your dream be in a year, a year to five years?
KM: Yeah. UI mean, really my goals for it are this sort of separate entity. This production entity is just to see how many films A, that we can bring to Arkansas. UB, how many films that we can truly get involved with that are mission aligned with the foundation and festival. And, and like I said, bring like add value to that, that project. Uwe're not like w we're genuine in that. We're not trying to get onboard this sort of inclusive train and, and check off some boxes. It's just not what we're, it's not what we're doing. We want to truly come in and, and bring value and add value to instill makers lives in the projects.
And so it will really come down to like, yeah, hopefully we're, we're working on a handful of of film projects and, and shows each year and another, you know, part of like my dream for it is I, like I said, we'll want to create a sort of ecosystem that, that leads crew to feel like they can stay in the state and sustain themselves. But part of that too, is I will say right now, like one of our biggest weaknesses in, in Arkansas is grit, like a high number of crew, because so many of them do train and then leave. So, you know, we have dreams of, and we're talking, are you talking about you know, putting this into place, but training, you know, people, folks that are interested in cinematography or, you know we need more like camera assistance and sound people.
And just so that when you have a production, a commercial shooting or a film shooting, you can have more than one or two projects go at the same time, you know, and still have, you know, deep enough crew. I talked with Dwight Chalmers recently, who, I don't think he'd be embarrassed if I brought him up, but he you know, started of working full time for a post studio and in Fayetteville. And I was like, damn it, like that was our sound guy. Like, I know I'm bringing a movie to Arkansas and he is absolutely the person I would have called to do the sound. And now he's, he's not an option. So I just want to be able to help build up the crew base there you know, partnering with, with people there and working on building that up so that, you know, that's another reason why shows are looking, I don't want that shows to consider Arkansas and then say that be the reason they not come because there's not enough crew. So that's a big, a big part of it. Yeah, I, I, I'm sort of putting my money where my mouth is and I'm, I'm moving to Bentonville next month. So I'm hoping that I can really immerse myself in the community and truly make a difference.
KT: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm with you. You know, part of the problem is even if we created, you know, collectively some robust workforce training programs until we have the productions to, for them to work on it's it's, so it's very like kind of chicken or eggy, right? Like you really, you need to have the productions, but will the productions come if there's not enough crew? And so it really has to evolve, but you know, our, you know, collective idea is that we have sustainable work. We can't have a movie like Mud happen once every five years. It has, we need two or three months a year and maybe a series and to keep all of the Arkansans from leaving cause you know, they leave and they're, they're gone. I mean, that's just the way that is.
KM: So yes, that's gonna be huge. And that's a big part of our sort of dreaming too, is we want to bring series two to Arkansas because that will obviously create very regular work.
KT: Right. Well, thank you ladies. So much in common here. So it was like my inner monologue every morning.
WG: That's great. You know, there are more of us than we're going be able to partner and work here.
KT: No, I know it's so great. Like I love it. I love it. Like the more of us working towards the same thing, the better and we can actually achieve, we're not just like shouting into the wind anymore. I think actually like make some progress. So yeah. Well thank you both for taking the time. I know you're super busy and you're probably rolling zoom, zoom schedules.
WG: No, this is fun. Thanks for always nice to talk to, to you both. I learned so much more about, about you both, so I I'm appreciative of the time.
KM: Yeah, same.
KT: Likewise. And then anything we can do. Actually I did want you to talk just like really quickly about the festival so that everybody, all of our audience knows what's happening with the festival and the dates and all of that.
WG: Sure. Yeah. So the festival starts on a Monday this year. So August 2nd through the 7th. No, actually, no, let me say it again. We get Sunday's the eighth. So the festival starts on a Monday this year, August 2nd through the 8th of August and we'll do a couple of days of the drive in and then we'll start our on-ground programming in Bentonville on Wednesday. And so yeah, we'll be, we'll be in the square all week and then we'll do some, some programming over at NWACC. And then we'll also be going out to Springdale on Saturday and Sunday. And so we can get you those venues. Cause I don't know them off the top of my head right now.
KM: Yeah. Yeah. More folks from other parts of Arkansas to come out and take part.
KT: For sure. I'll be there. And we want to make sure everyone, our audience knows what's happening because it's such a, it's such an amazing resource for Arkansas.
WG: We will send you guys like a key event schedule. And then I don't know if we talked about that panel yet that, you know, the, the film commissioner, like the Arkansas film panel that we want to do, we would definitely want you on that, Kathryn. Okay, great. Thank you. But we can share more like key event schedule and just venues and stuff in a schedule that we can send over to you and then we'll, Ashley would probably connect on the panel. Great.
KM: Yeah. I'd love to do that. I want to throw out too, just for anybody that might be listening that has material especially in Arkansas that you might want to submit, you can email me at kristin@bentonvillefilm.org. I bear with me. I'm catched. I've got a lot to get through. I got to play catch up, but I will get to it. I promise.
KT: Love it. Awesome. Okay. Well thank you ladies so much.
KF: And that's a wrap for this episode of Reel Talk Arkansas. I'd like to thank Kathryn Tucker, our executive director for stepping in and chatting with Wendy Guerrero and Kristin Mann. And we are so happy to have them on the show today. So don't miss the Bentonville Film Festival. Again, that is August 2nd through August 8th, across Northwest Arkansas. They have a lot of great events. Geena Davis will be in town as always. So it's always exciting to see her around too. And if you'd like to know more information, visit Bentonvillefilm.org. Thanks for tuning in.
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KF: Reel Talk Arkansas is produced by Christian Leus and Kody Ford. Theme music by Amos Cochran. Thank you for listening and tune in next time. To find out more about Arkansas Cinema Society, visit our website: arkansascinemasociety.org.