Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Elizabeth “Liz” Bendelac
Welcome to NYWIFT, Elizabeth Bendelac! Liz is a locations professional. She’s managed, key assistant managed, scouted, and coordinated for film and television across New York and New Jersey. Her credits? NBC's New Amsterdam. Paramount’s Smile. Sony’s Goosebumps: The Vanishing for Disney+. Indie? She’s there too. Ponyboi, starring Dylan O’Brien and Victoria Pedretti. She’s everywhere you need her to be—quietly making it all happen. Recent work in the Tri-State area? The Home with Pete Davidson. Insidious 5. Manifest. Disenchanted. Resurrection. The Good Nurse. And a standout collaboration with Edward Burns on his sequel to The Brothers McMullen: The Family McMullen. Outside of production, Elizabeth dedicates her time to Surfers Healing, a nonprofit surf camp for children with autism. It’s a cause close to her heart, combining her love of the ocean with her commitment to community and empathy. Elizabeth is also an adjunct faculty member at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where she developed and teaches a course on location management. Elizabeth: She doesn’t just do locations. She produces. And producing, for her, has rules. Collaborate with directors who share her values. Strong roles for women of color. Fresh takes on stories you thought you knew. Films with the elegance of Merchant & Ivory but the punch to succeed in the real world. Films that leave a mark. To that end, she’s developing two scripts with award-winning playwright Montserrat Mendez. Exploring genre mash-ups. Shaking up narratives. Figuring out new ways to make audiences sit up, pay attention, maybe even gasp. Because whether it’s a location or a story, Elizabeth Bendelac knows how to map the journey. She knows the destination. And she will get you there.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Angelica Marciano
Let’s give a warm NYWIFT welcome to our new member, Angelica Marciano. Angela is a location manager and producer who has worked in several different states on narrative feature films and TV. She just recently moved to New York after living in New Mexico, and Boston. She is the person behind the scenes of queerfilmbk and prides herself on being a person who excels at bringing community together. She has a cat named Lewis who acts like a dog. She’s an enthusiastic extrovert who can talk to any stranger and is a self-proclaimed freak in that she hopes that the person sitting next to her on an airplane wants to chat. In our interview, Angelica discusses her winding career path, advice to women filmmakers, and what excites her about the locations department!
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Jillian Fisher
Welcome to NYWIFT, Jillian Fisher! Jillian began her career as an intern with the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Three film festivals, various day jobs and a very particular set of skills later, Jillian created a public relations company. When a few movies came knocking on the door of one of her clients (the City of Kingston, New York), Jillian answered. After assisting the productions with locations and negotiations, she turned her attention to scouting locations full time. Over a decade later, Jillian still loves the creative aspects of scouting, but is now also pursuing producing her own projects.
READ MOREAdvice from an Indie Producer: Locations
Locations are an important part of your prep as a filmmaker. The places you choose can either enhance or potentially harm the production value of your project. The process to find locations can be daunting especially on a full-length feature film, so it’s imperative that you have a plan. BreakdownsBreaking down the script is the...
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