Panel + Conversation
Annual Report: State of the Film Industry
Tickets are FREE but required for entry
*limit of 2 per person
Film has a singular power to drive the cultural conversation and, when it’s good, to seize the zeitgeist. After half a decade disrupted by the triple threat of Covid, the streaming reset of consumer behavior, and historic labor strikes that brought production to a halt, Hollywood in 2025 is recalibrating and seeing bright spots of storytelling innovation, genre expansion, and mass-market success. The industry is exploring new strategies to bring films to life and reconnect with audiences in a dramatically changed media landscape.
Richard Rushfield and Sean McNulty will lead a discussion with industry insiders about new distribution models, evolving production processes and everything else that it takes to get movies to the screen. Rushfield is the editorial director and chief columnist at Ankler Media. McNulty is the author of The Wakeup newsletter and a panelist on The Ankler podcast.
Presented in Partnership with
she oversees content sales and platform distribution for all SVOD digital services –
including all business agreements for the recent merger of MHz Choice and Topic
streaming services, along with the recently-launched Kino Film Collection SVOD – as
well as Kino Lorber’s film division, which includes theatrical exhibition. She reports to
Kino Lorber President Ed Carroll.
recently overseeing IFC Films where she achieved success by engaging audiences with
award-winning film content across genres and platforms. Her extensive experience is
highlighted by successes in creating breakthrough partnerships and innovative business
models including pioneering day/date film distribution. She led the distribution strategies
of Oscar-nominated films and documentaries including BOYHOOD, TWO DAYS, ONE
NIGHT, 45 YEARS AND FINDING VIVIAN MAIER. Additionally, she was the lead
architect of the development and launch of the IFC Films Unlimited SVOD service at the
2019 Cannes Film Festival, and created and launched IFC Films’ first AVOD streaming
channel, IFC Films Pick.
including Senior Vice President, National Accounts and Advanced Services for Rainbow
Media Holdings Brands, where she drove distribution growth and managed all partner
relationships in the U.S. and Canada for linear networks including AMC, WE tv, and IFC
as well as VOD services including Mag Rack, sportskool, IFC Films on Demand, IFC
Uncensored, and WE On Demand. In addition, she held accountability for nonhome
distribution including airlines and hospitality. Before that, she served as Senior Vice
President, Affiliate Sales for FUSE Network.
She also attended the CTAM Cable Executive Management program at Harvard
Business School. She is a member of AMPAS and the Television Academy, the former
Global Board Director for Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) and the former
Board President of Sacred Heart Academy in Bryn Mawr, PA. She has been honored by
the Variety500, CableFax’s Most Powerful Women and more.
Ryan Hawke, VP of UNDER THE INFLUENCE PRODUCTIONS
Ryan Hawke runs Under the Influence Productions, in collaboration with founder Ethan Hawke — writing, developing, producing and releasing a variety of work for film, TV, podcasting, and theater.
Her notable documentary work includes I AM A TOWN (MOMA Doc), SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION (Telluride, TIFF), and a six-part HBO Max doc, THE LAST MOVIE STARS (Cannes/SXSW) about the lives and careers of Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward.
Her feature film credits are BLAZE (Sundance, SXSW, Locarno), FIRST REFORMED (Venice FF), ADOPT A HIGHWAY (SXSW), WILDCAT (Telluride, TIFF) and BLUE MOON (Berlin, Telluride) a tragic biopic about the songwriter Lorenz Hart — in theaters now.
Her Television credits include the Peabody Award and AFI winning series THE GOOD LORD BIRD, and the noir-comedy THE LOWDOWN, now streaming on FX/HULU.
She is currently working on two documentaries — one about Merle Haggard, titled HIGHWAY 99: a double album (Telluride), and the other about the artist Agnes Denes. She is in post on an independent film produced with Fields Entertainment & Augenschein Film Produktion.
She is the Board Chair of the non-profit EngenderHealth, and on the Board of the Alex Fund.
Jamie Pillet, A born and bred New Yorker, was involved in theatre and the performing arts from a young age. She eventually attended school at the University at Buffalo, where she earned her BA in Theatre and political science. At Buffalo, she studied under some of the industry’s most respected actors and mentors- including Tony Nominated actor, Stephen McKinley Henderson. While in college she spent time working for casting veterans Liz Lewis and Bernie Telsey, and later as a coach for many actors who would end up in prominent roles across all mediums.
Shortly after graduating from the University at Buffalo, Jamie spent 12 years at Abrams Artists Agency now known as A3 Artists Agency, rising to Partner in 2020 and served as co-head of the Talent Department until her departure. With careful attention to detail, Jamie has built the careers of some of the hottest young actors in Hollywood over the last decade including Fred Hechinger (White Lotus, Gladiator), Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon), Andrew Barth Feldman (No Hard Feelings), Jahi D’allo Winston (We Have A Ghost), Walker Scobell (The Adam Project, Percy Jackson) along with many others. In 2018 she was featured in the Variety Youth Impact report issue as a power player in Young Hollywood, and in 2019 was honored in The Hollywood Reporter’s annual 35 rising executives under 35 issue. In April of 2020, she was profiled in Emmy Magazine as a part of their “In The Mix” series, and in the Fall of 2020 she was featured as part of the Variety New Leaders issue.
In 2023, Jamie joined WME’s talent department where she has helped sign Emmy Rossum, Mike Faist, Mark Eydelshteyn and more. She was recently featured in Variety’s New York Women’s Impact Report 2025.
Jamie also serves Fundraising Coordinator for Brain Matters, Inc., an organization that raises funds and awareness for Brain Tumor research, which is a cause very close to her heart.
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Genre
Runtime
60 min
Accessibility
