OKC Film & Creative Industries Office to host panel at 25th-annual deadCenter Film Festival

Saturday, June 14 at 1 p.m.

Moderator:

Jill Simpson, Executive Director of Oklahoma City Film & Creative Industries Office

Jill Simpson is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Film & Creative Industries Office, a key initiative established in 2022 by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber in collaboration with the City of Oklahoma City. Focused on driving economic development, job creation,

promoting inclusivity, and fostering a thriving and collaborative production environment, the office has made significant strides in growing Oklahoma’s film industry.

Jill spent 20 years working in the film and television industries in Los Angeles before returning to Oklahoma to run the Oklahoma Film & Music Office for a decade beginning in 2004.

Panelists:

Joseph Chianese, SVP and Practice Leader, Production Incentives, Entertainment Partners

Joseph D. Chianese, SVP & Production Incentives Practice Leader at Los Angeles-based Entertainment Partners, provides production and legislative consulting, as well as financial, tax, and administrative services for domestic and international film incentives.

With over 30 years of experience in accounting, government affairs, and production, he has held roles at Sony Pictures, Disney, ABC, Paramount and Ernst & Young. Today, he is recognized as a leading expert on global production incentives, helping shape policies that drive industry growth

Dylan Brodie, producer of Reservation Dogs and The Lowdown

Dylan Brodie is from Ramona, Oklahoma - Population: 500. He began editing films in 2008, making his way from local to national film festivals, which led to work on Food Network productions and feature films for both Magnet Releasing and Blumhouse Productions. He later served as UPM and Associate Producer on Sterlin Harjo's feature film, “Mekko,” and produced the series “Flipping The Heartland” for HGTV. Dylan has worked on shows of all sizes including the STARZ series “American Gods,” feature films “The Mule,” “Stillwater,” “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” He has been the UPM on commercials for companies including Nike, 2K Sports, Dish Network, and Warstic baseball bats featuring Jack White. Dylan continues to produce and production manage diverse projects and recently served as UPM for the Oscar winning A24/Plan B film “Minari,” the Sundance 2023 selection and Apple Original Film “Fancy Dance,” and Associate Produced on all three seasons of the Emmy nominated Disney/FX series “Reservation Dogs.” Dylan is currently Co-Producing on the new Disney/FX series “The Lowdown” from Sterlin Harjo. 

Steve Belsky, IATSE Labor Relations 

Steve joined the I.A.T.S.E. in 1992, when the Texas Studio Mechanics Local 484 was chartered, then elected as its first Business Agent. In 1996, he was elected President of the local and served in that capacity until 2023. Steve continued to work in his craft, splitting his time between Texas and Los Angeles with credits on memorable projects like Dazed and Confused, Stargate, and JAG. He was also a camera operator in Local 600 and was a Chief Lighting Technician in Local 728, now honorably withdrawn from both.  Since 2005, Steve has been coordinating the incentive lobbying effort on behalf of Local 484, first in Texas and now Oklahoma as well. Steve was hired by the IATSE National in 2013 to bargain and draft Employment Contracts for the burgeoning Sports Broadcast Jurisdictions. In 2019 Steve was made Co-Director of the Broadcast Department while continuing to advise and coordinate legislative strategies for his home local 484; all roles he continues to this day.

Kevin G. Lee – President/CEO, Producer, Astria Studios

Kevin G. Lee is an award-winning producer and composer with over 15 years of experience spanning production, film finance, and creative development. He currently serves as CEO and President at Astria Studios, where he is spearheading the financing and production of three original films in the studio’s inaugural year—establishing a distinctive funding model that blends private equity with strategic financing in an ever-changing market.

Kevin's entry into film began as an investor on two early projects, where he developed a deep understanding of production economics. This foundation led to a seamless transition into producing, leveraging his background in finance and project management. His breakthrough project, RIFT (2022), shot in just five days during the early COVID-19 lockdowns, secured global distribution and a landmark deal with Showtime.

Previously, Kevin served as Head of Production for two major Los Angeles Production Companies and Head of Studio for one of Arizona’s largest facilities. He also teaches producing as a professor at Arizona State University’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School.

Chad Burris – Producer and founder, Indion Group of Entertainment Companies

Chad Burris (Chickasaw) founder of Indion Group of Entertainment Companies. Chad developed, through the first Indion company, the country’s first private film incentive in the country with the state of Oklahoma. That incentive program was instrumental in financing numerous films and film production in the state increased substantially. In addition to film, he has worked with industries from construction and technology, to structure and close over $100 million of credit equity transactions that have contributed significantly to the overall growth and vitality of rural economic development.

Chad received his J.D. with an emphasis in Indian Law and focused first on supporting underrepresented filmmakers and stories by producing and developing programs through state and federal economic development incentives that would attract film production to and promote industry growth in lower‐income areas.

Chad’s influence in the film industry is attributed to his work, producing award winning films including Goodnight Irene, Four Sheets to the Wind, and Barking Water by Sterlin Harjo. Chad produced the award‐winning short film Shimasani for Navajo director Blackhorse Lowe and Executive Produced the Michael Winterbottom feature The Killer Inside Me, starring Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck. Both of those films premiered at Sundance 2010.

In 2011 he also executive produced the directorial debut film for Famke Janssen, Bringing Up Bobby, and more recently the Nick Cassavetes feature Yellow. Chad’s films have collectively screened at some the world’s most prestigious festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, New Directors/New Films, Toronto, Cannes and Venice. His film Mosquita y Mari premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and he was nominated for Film Independent’s Spirit Award for the Piaget’s 2012 Producer of the Year. That film is also nominated for the John Cassavetes Award by Film Independent’s Spirit Awards. Chad won the Mark Silverman Award for New Producers from the Sundance Institute in 2007. Chad is nominated for Film Independent’s Spirit Award for the John Cassavetes Award for Mosquita y Mari. Chad also produced Bare by director Natalie Liette, the award-winning Christmas tale Santa Fake by J.M. Burris, the award-winning Sundance film Drunktown’s Finest by Sydney Freeland and and most recently Billy Luther’s feature debut Frybread Face and Me which premiered at South 2023 film festival in Austin, Texas.

Chad has been a speaker on tax credit programs, entertainment law, and film finance for the Sundance Institute, Tribeca and Smithsonian American Indian film festivals, the Producers Guild of America, and the Los Angeles Incentive Office. His expertise in the field is chronicled in several newspaper articles and in a primer on the topic, in an article he wrote for an industry magazine, “Movie Money: Minimizing Risk in Raising Capital,”.

Chad is the founder of the company Site Solar, which designs, manufactures and leases mobile solar power trailers with the aim of replacing diesel power generators in the equipment rental space.  That company currently operates out of Phoenix, AZ with clients across the western United States.  These units are currently being deployed into studio productions in New Mexico and California.