The Art of Film Funding

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Mark is currently directing The Baristas vs The Billionaire and Executive Producing, Exiled From Hollywood, Orson Welles’ Lost Masterpiece. His first film, Building Bombs, was an Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Feature some of his other notable projects include: Kent State, The Day the War Came Home, Emmy Award, News and Current Affairs; Blood Ties the Life and Work of Sally Mann, Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Short Film; The Fire This Time, Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nominee and Writers Guild of America TV Currents Affairs Award nomination.

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“Inside Ukraine’s war zone, a filmmaker captures courage, chaos, and the cost of truth.”

Xackery is a New York–based director and producer, drawn to stories that unfold in times of crisis, where resilience and identity intersect. His debut documentary, American Chain Gang, exposed controversial forced-labor prison programs in the U.S. His follow-up, Nothing Without You, explored memory, loss, and obsession.

And now, with his latest film, Brace for Oblivion, he brings us an immersive chronicle from the Ukrainian frontlines, filmed over three years, following seven citizen-soldiers through the cycles of combat and rare moments of homecoming.

Beyond his films, Xackery co-chairs the Producers Guild of America’s Employment Committee and actively supports the international indie film community.

In our conversation, we’ll cover the power of pivoting as a producer, trusting your storytelling instincts, navigating today’s marketplace, and building strong creative teams. And of course, we’ll dive into the craft of writing, shooting, and editing documentaries under extraordinary circumstances.

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Our special guest today is documentary filmmaker Jonathan Berman, who began his career as a stock footage researcher and assistant editor. He is director and producer of The Shvitz, a film about the last traditional steambaths in New York. His film My Friend Paul, about his relationship to his bipolar best friend, was produced for public television. Calling All Earthlings is an exploration of Joshua Tree and the area’s UFO-inspired dome, The Integratron. Berman co-wrote the story for On The Run, featuring Michael Imperioli and John Ventimiglia, and produced the NYC music documentary Sabbath in Paradise, which featured Harvey Pekar and John Zorn. Today we’ll discuss his film Commune, which is being rereleased 20 years after it was made.

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Our special guest this week is Lisa D’Apolito, an Emmy nominated producer and director who is also a dual citizen of the United States and Italy. She started as an actress in film, theater and television, and her roles included a part in “Goodfellas.”  She went on to producing and directing in advertising. Lisa’s documentary, “Love, Gilda,” was nominated for 2 creative Emmys. Lisa was named one of Variety’s 10 Documentarians to Watch in 2018 and SHOOT Magazines New Directors’ Showcase 2019.  Her recent films include Albert Pyun: King of Cult Movies which premiered at Comic Con and Shari and Lamb Chop, which is being theatrically released in 2025. Curently, she is working on a documentary about singer/songwriter Laura Nyro. 

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Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through an enterprise SaaS platform Film Forward. 

In 2023, CNBC named Seed&Spark one of the top 200 fintech companies in the world.  She serves on the Advisory Board for a variety of early stages startups and the Board of Film Impact Georgia. In 2024, alongside Christie Marchese at Kinema, Emily spearheaded an effort to launch The Distribution Playbook, a free and open- sourced field guide for independent filmmakers to succeed in distribution. 

She has produced films, VR, shorts and series that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca and more. She is currently touring with a feature documentary she produced called RATIFIED about the 100+ year struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment.

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Jeff Annison is the co-founder and President of Legion M, the world's first fan-owned media company that is using new equity crowdfunding laws enabled by the JOBS Act to create a film and television company built from the ground up to be owned by fans.

He was also the co-founder and CEO of Underground Labs, a product development studio that built mobile apps, websites, and enterprise products for clients including AT&T, Sprint, NFL, SEC, ACC, Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony Music, Diet Coke, Paramount Pictures, and more. Underground Labs also created the New York Rock Exchange, a first-of-its-kind marketplace that allowed fans to own a piece of a song.

Prior to Legion M, Jeff was a cofounder of MobiTV, one of the world’s first live mobile television services. Jeff led engineering and product development as the company scaled from 3 co-founders to over 300 employees, won an Emmy Award for Innovation in Television, and grew to over 25MM paying subscribers. 

Jeff started his career designing toys for Hasbro and theme park ride effects for Universal Studios. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. To connect with Jeff visit

 www.LegionM.com.

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Our special guest today is the award-winning documentary filmmaker, Philip Shane. A few of his career highlights include co-directing, writing, and editing BEING ELMO, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. For his editing work on DANCING IN JAFFA, which had its World Premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival, Shane won the Best Editing Award at Israel's DocAviv Film Festival. He worked at ABC News for nearly a decade and edited many distinguished long form programs including Ted Kopple's Iraq War documentary, TIP OF THE SPEAR, which won the DuPont Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism and MARTIN LUTHER KING: Searching For The Promised Land, which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program. Beyond filmmaking, Shane also produces and hosts the long-running podcast, WHAT THE IF. Each week he invites scientists, science historians, and journalists to show us how they would use real science to explore extraordinary imaginary scenarios. Shane has also become a regular speaker and consultant on the use of Artificial Intelligence in documentary filmmaking and beyond. Currently he is directing and producing a feature documentary, THE WORLD I WANT TO LIVE IN, about Myst, a video game currently in The Museum of Modern of Art in New York. Recently he directed and produced JADE DOSKOW: PHOTOGRAPHER OF LOST UTOPIAS, which we’ll discuss today.

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Jilann Spitzmiller is a veteran filmmaker with over 20 awards for her documentary and multi-media work. For more than three decades, she has honed a mastery in long-range, character-driven, cinema verité storytelling, supported multiple times by funders such as Sundance Institute, ITVS and George Soros’ Open Society Institute. 

 She has been a Sundance Documentary fellow and was selected for the Stowe Narrative Lab in 2024. Jilann’s most notable films include MEOW WOLF: ORIGIN STORY, which premiered at SXSW and played in over 600 theaters and is now on AppleTV, Amazon and other platforms. She produced the cult favorite, SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS which premiered at Sundance and won 11 awards and went onto US theatrical and worldwide television distribution. She directed the award-winning features STILL DREAMING and HOMELAND which both aired nationally on PBS. Spitzmiller directed and wrote episodic documentary for Discovery’s MEDICAL DIARY and NBC’s LIFE MOMENTS,

Jilann also has many cinematography credits, shooting on nonfiction episodic for NETFLIX, CNN, PBS, DISCOVERY, NBC, and Bravo. Jilann is currently teaching film funding in her Doc Funding Hub

https://courses.desktop-documentaries.com/memberships/doc-funding-hub

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Today’s episode is especially important because I’m sharing the opening chapters of my new book, Creating your Future: The Difference between normal and genius is your connection to the field. I’ve written to empower filmmakers—not just with funding tools—but with access to the quantum field. I want to hear what resonates with you. Your feedback will help shape the rest of this book. So please email me at [email protected] with your thoughts, ideas, or stories of how you connect to the field.”

A talented filmmaker, photographer, and producer, Carole Joyce is Vice-President and Director of the 501(c)3 non-profit From the Heart Productions and the Roy W. Dean Grant, which she has been an integral part of for 30 years. From the Heart Productions has provided Fiscal Sponsorship for thousands of films, including the Emmy Award winning documentaries "I Am Evidence" and "Belly of the Beast," the renowned Central American film "Cadejo Blanco," and the 2022 HBO documentary "A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting."

A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Carole is an award-winning filmmaker for her documentary, "Survivors." She produced the TV series "Heathstyles" as well as "Filmmakers", which is now in the national archives. While with Garamella/Fitzgerald Advertising Agency, Carole developed projects for young filmmakers David Fincher, Jessie Dylan and Mark Romanek. Recently, she served as Executive Producer for the award-winning short film "Stairway to the Stars" starring Sean Young and as LA Line Producer for "Wheels of Heaven" with Mickey Rourke.

Carole is the CEO of Authentic Vision Consulting, Inc., a management consulting firm for start-ups and early-stage companies. Carole's professional team assists CEOs and their companies with strategic planning and sustained financial progress.

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Chance McClain is a creative powerhouse, blending a rich background in filmmaking, radio, and theater with a passion for storytelling. As the founder of Heritage Films, Chance has created more than 800 feature-length documentaries, celebrating family stories and life legacies. His work has connected generations, preserving the essence of individuals and families through visually stunning films.

A proud Army veteran and a pioneer in narrative innovation, Chance’s career spans sports radio, Broadway musicals, and entrepreneurial filmmaking. From directing a Streamy-nominated film to writing and producing an off-Broadway musical while running a sports station, his versatility and dedication shine through.

Today, Chance leads his team at Heritage Films with a heartfelt commitment to authenticity, merging technical expertise with an artistic touch. Whether inspiring others to embrace their past or discussing the art of storytelling, he captivates audiences and helps them see the value in preserving their own legacies.