Industry Conference Session 1: What’s Up Doc? Keynote by Ted Hope
Tue, May 1 9:30am - 10:45am | Rogers Industry Centre, 93 Charles Street West, 2nd Floor
Access: Industry Pass holders
Celebrated producer and industry commentator Ted Hope, drawing on his extensive experience working outside the system, will examine the trends, innovations and tastemakers that have influenced the documentary world over the past 12 months. In addition to outlining the impact of last year’s significant developments, Hope will offer insight into the future of documentary filmmaking, with comments and hot tips for what the next year will bring.
Sponsored by A&E
Moderators
Ted Hope - Producer/Partner/Founder, Double Hope Films
In the early 90’s, American Independent Film burst on the media scene with the promise of new visions, new stories, and new approaches. Ted Hope was among the first producers to emerge from the pack and remains one of the few consistently delivering vital and exciting new work. As times, platforms, and tastes change, Ted’s work continues to break new ground, reach new audiences, and define the term “Independent.”
A survey of Hope’s films – numbering close to seventy – includes many highlights and breakthroughs over the last two decades. As generative as he is with movies, Ted is no less so in business. Ted co-founded and ran the 90’s production & sales powerhouse Good Machine, which he and his partners sold to Universal in 2002. Hope subsequently co-founded the New York production company This Is That, with his former assistant Anthony Bregman and Anne Carey. In its eight years, This Is That produced 19 features, received numerous awards, including four Academy Award Best Screenplay nominations. Most recently, he founded Double Hope Films with his wife, filmmaker Vanessa Hope.
Hope is also one of the film industry’s leading social media voices, posting regularly on his HopeForFilm blog, home of Truly Free Film, and co-founding HammerToNail.com, Hope has been widely recognized as one of the most influential people in Independent Film.
Hope has received numerous awards and honors. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Vision Award from the LA Filmmakers’ Alliance, as well as the Woodstock Film Festival’s Trailblazer Award. His films have received some of the industry’s most prestigious honors: THE SAVAGES (2007) earned two Academy Award nominations; 21 GRAMS (2003), two Academy Award nominations and five BAFTA nominations; and IN THE BEDROOM (2001), five Academy Award nominations. Ted holds a record at Sundance: three of his twenty-three Sundance entries, AMERICAN SPLENDOR (2003), THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN (1995), and WHAT HAPPENED WAS … (1994), have won the Grand Jury Prize. Two of his films, AMERICAN SPLENDOR (2003), and HAPPINESS (1998), have won the Critics Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Additionally, Ted is a board member of the IFP and serves on the advisory boards of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, The Film Collaborative, Power to the Pixel, and the Woodstock Film Festival. Ted teaches “The Future Of Film” at NYU Graduate Film School, in conjunction with the think tank he helped found there, The Cinema Research Institute.
