The Film Panel Notetaker

Our History and What We Do:

Since its humble beginnings in December 2005, The Film Panel Notetaker has evolved from one blogger to a team of several bloggers, all of whom contribute to our independent film community in one form or another from filmmakers to producers to writers to editors to marketers to publicists, we all have unique backgrounds, but one common interest – to be a fly on the wall at film discussions and share with you information we’ve learned that will be helpful in your own film endeavors.

Whether you’re looking to break into the business, are already an industry veteran, or simply a lover of film, we hope you find The Film Panel Notetaker a fun and informative resource, and always welcome your comments. If you attended any of the panels and Q&As we’ve blogged about, please post additional notes in the “comments” of that particular post.

If you are interested in becoming a part of our volunteer notetaking team, please send an email to Brian at:

brian at thefilmpanelnotetaker dot com

Some of the places we cover often include:

360|365 Film Festival, BAM, Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking, Gen Art Film Festival, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Hamptons International Film Festival, Hotdocs, IFP Filmmaker Conference, MoMA Film, Museum of the Moving Image, New Directors, New Films, New York Film Festival, Newfest, Silverdocs, South by Southwest Film Festival, Stranger Than Fiction, Tribeca Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, and more to come.

We’ve had the honor of interviewing the following filmmakers for our original “One-on-One” Q&As:

Jae-Ho Chang and Tara Autovino (Ultimate Christian Wrestling), Amy Seimetz, Kentucker Audley, and Kate Lyn Sheil (Sun Don’t Shine), Bradley Glenn (Battle of the Bozos), Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture, Girls), Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office), Kimberly Reed (Prodigal Sons), Rory O’Connor (The Battle of Durban II), Andrew Bujalski (Beeswax), Johnny Weir & James Pellerito (Pop Star on Ice), Jacqui Morris (Mr. Right), Kris Swanberg (It Was Great, But I was Ready to Come Home), Daryl Wein (Breaking Upwards), Ry Russo-Young (You Won’t Miss Me), Hugo Perez (Neither Memory Nor Magic), Tambay Obenson (Beautiful Things), Dawn Scibilia & Alan Cooke (Home), Lucia Gaja (My Life Inside), Richard LeMay and Jason Brown (Whirlwind), Phillip Van (She Stares Longingly At What She Has Lost), Sue Williams (Young & Restless in China), Paul Krik (Able Danger), Josh Koury (We Are Wizards), Fritz Donnelly (To the Hills 2), Leah Meyerhoff (Twitch), Ed Pincus & Lucia Small (The Axe in the Attic), and more to come.

Along with Chief Notetaker Brian Geldin, The Film Panel Notetaker consists of Associate Notetakers:

- Filmmaker Liz Nord (“Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land”). Liz is now in pre-production on her second feature documentary (“Battle for Jerusalem”). Liz has been covering many events and panels for TFPN in New York City.

- Filmmaker Erin Scherer (“Are You From Bingo?”). You may be most familiar with Erin through her “How Mumblecore Saved My Life” podcast a few years ago. Erin, who lives in Upstate New York, has covered the 360|365 Festival in Rochester and also the Woodstock Film Festival.

Our Contributing Notetakers include:

- A.M. Peters (“NO Cross, NO Crown”)
- Kelly Deegan (IKnowWhatKillsMe). Our fabulous NewFest contributor.
- Jennifer Warren (Independent Film Marketing Consultant)

- Erin Essenmacher – Our newest contributor who covered Silverdocs in Silver Spring, MD, and most recently the IFP Envision Conference. You may remember her documentary, “Mine,” that won the audience award at SXSW in 2009.

- John DeCarli – Editor of FilmCapsule.com.

Read more about all of us in our “Bios” page.

Here’s what other people have said about The Film Panel Notetaker:

“Not only hits up all the film events, speeches and discussions the rest of us are too lazy to attend, but he actually passes along detailed notes of all the important points and exchanges that arise. It’s basically Cliff Notes for Gotham’s film-snob set, and as such, is indispensable.”– The Reeler’s S.T. Van Airsdale (currently with Movieline)

“A blog with a unique concept.” – GreenCine Daily’s David Hudson (currently with MUBI’s The Daily Notebook)

“Gets the award for the best self-explanatory blog name ever.” – 3pointD.com’s Mark Wallace