Financing 101
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 | 5-6:30 PM PT | Online

This group will share best practices, personal experiences, and discuss budgeting, financing, crowdfunding, and other advice for first-time filmmakers.

Rebecca Green

Rebecca Green is the Discipline Head of Producing at the prestigious AFI Conservatory and she has made an impact across many facets of the industry, most notably as a champion for producers and advocate for their vital role. Green’s SubStack “Dear Producer” is a one-of-a-kind resource for producers and a reflection on the state of the industry. Some of Green’s feature film credits include It Follows, I’ll See You in My Dreams, All That We Love, Downtown Owl, as well as the documentary 44 Pages and the Amazon pilot Hot Pink. Green previously held executive roles at the Sundance Institute, Lynda Obst Productions, and Lionsgate. She has taught at several universities and arts organizations including the University of Michigan, Film Independent, and the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Baltimore. A Women at Sundance Fellow, she’s been named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” and was nominated for the Producers Award at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Green is a member of Producers United and the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Brian Newman

Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre, is known as a pioneer in the film and media industry, consulting on film and media content strategy, distribution, and marketing for some of the top brands in the world. Sub-Genre guides companies through the process of leveraging entertainment to showcase their values, have greater impact, and to stand out from the crowd.

Current and former clients include: Amazon’s The Climate Pledge, Hilton, Indeed, John Deere, Lowe’s, Oatly, Patagonia, Patreon , REI , SmugMug, Stripe, Sundance, WeTransfer, and Yeti Coolers. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, produces independent films, and writes a popular weekly newsletter on film.

Helena Sardinha

Helena Sardinha is a creative producer, co-founder of Driven Equation, and a Sundance Producing Lab and Film Independent Fellow. She also serves as Head of Film Development at Simbelle Productions, a nonprofit that amplifies women’s narratives. Her recent feature credits include the SXSW 2025 premiere Satisfaction and the Ukrainian feature The Eternity Man. Helena executive produced the Wim Wenders-produced feature I'll Be Gone in June (Cannes 2026, Un Certain Regard) and associate produced Blue Heron, which won the Swatch First Feature Award at Locarno and is now being distributed by Janus Films.

Liz Sargent

Liz Sargent is a Korean-American adoptee and filmmaker whose work explores adoption, disability, and family dynamics. With a background in choreography, she brings emotional depth to her storytelling, shaped by her experience growing up as the middle child of eleven.

In 2026, Sargent received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Lighthouse Award at the Lumen Awards for her debut feature, Take Me Home. A two-time NY EMMY winner (2020 & 2021), she is also a HALF Initiative Mentee (2022 & 2023), an MSSNG PCES AICP Mentee (2023), and an NBCU Launch Director (2024–2026).

Her debut narrative short, Strangers' Reunion (2019), a personal adoptee story produced by Ritz-Carlton and Hearst under the mentorship of Mike Figgis, was released worldwide in six languages.

Sargent’s proof-of-concept short Take Me Home premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (2023), won the 2024 Grand Jury Prize at the American Cinematheque PROOF Film Festival (2024), and was featured at the White House for the 25th Anniversary of the Olmstead Act. Sargent later expanded the project into her debut feature, which won AT&T Untold Stories, the largest production prize in the world at the Tribeca Film Festival. Take Me Home premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival with an international premiere at the Berlinale in Perspectives competition.

Mynette Louie

Mynette Louie is a Spirit Award-winning, Emmy and Critics Choice-nominated producer. Her credits include Suzanne Andrews Correa's Sundance 2026 selection The Huntress, Eric Lin's Locarno-winning Tribeca 2025 selection Rosemead (Vertical), Heidi Ewing’s Sundance-winning, Spirit Award-nominated I Carry You With Me (Sony Pictures Classics), Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Tribeca-winning, Gotham-nominated Swallow (IFC Films), Jennifer Fox’s Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Spirit Award-nominated The Tale (HBO), Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation (Drafthouse/Netflix), Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz's Spirit Award-winning Land Ho! (Sony Pictures Classics), and many others. Louie serves on the Board of Directors of Film Independent, the Producers Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a member of Producers United and the Television Academy. She won the Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award and was named one of Business Insider’s “12 Movie Producers at the Top of Their Game to Watch,” Ted Hope’s “21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film,” and Indiewire’s “100 Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter.” Louie is also an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice and Co-Head of Creative Producing at Columbia University’s graduate film program. A native New Yorker, Louie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese literature and film.