Doco maker Matt Harlock and multi-screen expert Steve Peters to address SPAA conference
The Screen Producers Association of Australia has confirmed documentary maker Matt Harlock and multi-screen expert Steve Peters of Emmy Award winning Fourth Wall Studios will address the SPAA Conference on how they’re focusing on the future’s new ways of broadcast, creation of audiences and distribution models through the “Beyond Rear Vision Thinking” plenary session.
SPAA Conference takes place at Melbourne’s Docklands from 12-15 November.
The announcement:
The Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) has confirmed two further international guest speakers for their annual Conference running 12 to 15 November at Central Pier Docklands in Melbourne: British filmmaker of award-winning documentary, American: The Bill Hicks Story, Matt Harlock, and founding partner of No Mimes Media, Steve Peters of the Emmy Award-winning Fourth Wall Studios.
UK based Harlock together with his partner, Paul Thomas, produced the feature length documentary American: The Bill Hicks Story, which was a huge commercial success. The film was opening night film at The South by Southwest® (SXSW) 2010 and they made the decision to theatrically release the film themselves day-and-date with VOD in the USA. The film was the second most successful documentary released in UK cinemas in 2011, played at over forty international festivals, was nominated for a Grierson & Cinema Eye award, and was awarded Best Documentary at Dallas, Little Rock, Downtown LA and Biografilm Bologna. It was released in thirty five US cities in April 2011, and went on to achieve a top 10 iTunes Docs & Indy chart position for two months, and is seeing significant returns from pay-per-view in 100 million homes on the TimeWarner Comcast cable network. Harlock will be part of a panel session on VOD: Too Many Secrets? on Wednesday 14 November at 11:15am.
Steve Peters is not making screen content but is creating experiences, real and digital, that make our stories real for us. He has worked on some of the best internationally recognised projects, including: Nine Inch Nails, Why So Serious (for The Dark Knight) and I Love Bees. He is a pioneering force in Alternate Reality Games (ARG.net). Peters is now a Senior Designer at Fourth Wall Studios, which received a 2012 Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media, Original Interactive Television Programming for Dirty Works, the first full multi-platform television series created solely for an online audience. The company continues to focus on developing a wide range of interactive entertainment properties designed for their RIDES’ multiscreen entertainment platform. Delegates can hear Peters speak on transmedia and multi-platform extensions for feature film in a panel session titled: eXtending film on Tuesday 13 November at 11am.
Harlock and Peters will also address the Conference on Beyond Rear Vision Thinking at a special morning plenary session on Thursday 15 November at 9:30am where they will focus on what they are doing now and into the future, with emphasis on new ways of broadcasting, creation of audiences, distribution models and divergence.
SPAA Conference, 12 – 15 November 2012, Central Pier, Docklands, Melbourne.
Source: SPAA press release
