This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.
In this episode, we hear from a brilliant SWIFT Summit panel of female filmmakers and creatives - Kd Amond (AZIF Productions), Elisabeth Donaldson (Rattled, 2020), Tammy Hyler (Smashville Entertainment), Vicki Yates (News Channel 5), and Sarah Zanotti (Faye, 2021, AZIF Productions). We learn about the Bechdel Test, why it matters and why it's becoming easier to pass, the empowerment movement for women in film, the age of consent, and overcoming your fear as a female creative.
About the SWIFT Summit
The Southern Women in Film & Television Summit (SWIFT) provides a unique forum for unifying the creative objectives of women residing in Southern states via professional advancement, mentorship, and collaboration. The event will assemble luminaries from all areas of the entertainment industry to explore a variety of topics that greatly impact women: from human rights and women’s leadership to storytelling across platforms. Three days of inventive programming with inspiring conversations, new ideas, and innovations that are shaping the future for women in all aspects of entertainment and the empowerment of the next generation of emerging creatives.
About Tammy Hyler and Smashville Entertainment
Smashville Entertainment is a music management and publishing company based in Nashville, Tennessee, affectionately known to the locals and the Nashville Predators as “Smashville”. Award-winning songwriter Tammy Hyler is the CEO and owner of the company, along with a silent investor. Hyler runs the day-to-day operations, including signing and management of the artists, as well as film and television development.
Hyler is also a staff songwriter/producer under Smashville Entertainment’s publishing division.
About KD Amond
Kd started her career in the film industry as a PA before moving into editorial. Her production credits include The Best of Me, Terminator Genesys, Scream Queens, The Big Short, Geostorm, The Free World, and Baywatch. Kd is also an award-winning screenwriter. In 2018, Kd directed her first feature film Five Women in the End, starring Michael Cudlitz and Corri English, now available on VOD.
In 2019, she teamed up with Sarah Zanotti to form AZ if Productions. Together they’ve produced three features: Rattled,Faye, and The Unraveling. They even set a record: Faye is the first American feature film in history to only star one actress on screen and the first one-woman horror film. Faye is now available on VOD and digital as well. Kd also enjoys sipping Elijah Craig barrel proof and watching Rupaul’s Drag Race.
Instagram and Twitter @azifproductions
About Sarah Zanotti
Sarah Zanotti is an actress and screenwriter currently based out of Nashville, TN. She is a co-founder of AZ if Productions, where she has co-written and starred in two feature films, Rattled and Faye. Together Sarah and Kd have written seven screenplays. Sarah graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in songwriting and writes and records her music for Whizbang Inc., a sync and licensing company. She’s somewhat of a queso connoisseur, but she doesn’t want to brag about it. If you would like to contact her, you can call her mom…because she fired her agent. Fun fact: Outside of AZ if Productions, Kd and Sarah are besties who enjoy sipping Anejo tequila and watching RuPaul's Drag Race at least once a week. Sarah is a panelist on Vivid Scenes (Explore Film Techniques of Color, Costume, Casting, Composition in creative writing.
About Vicki Yates
Vicki Yates is an American Award-winning Broadcast Journalist, Anchor, and Reporter currently working as a news anchor for WTVF News Channel 5. Before joining the NewsChannel 5 team, Vicki anchored and reported at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for five years. She also worked as assistant News Director, reporter and Public Affairs Director at WMJC Radio in Detroit.
About the Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test is a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The test is named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel. It has come to be used as an indicator for the active presence of women in the entire field of film.
About the MAKE IT Podcast
The MAKE IT podcast is a platform for the voice of independent filmmaker. We offer a variety of educational, aspirational, and entertaining content that promotes the success of creatives across the filmmaking community and the film industry.
Our Filmmaker Conversations with filmmaking professionals are dedicated to sharing the advice, knowledge, and insights of experienced filmmakers while exploring what it truly means to be an independent creative in the highly competitive world of filmmaking. Each filmmaker conversation is backed by thoughtful research that allows us to uncover the raw, authentic truths behind each filmmaker's journey.
Through our Indie Talks, we share our thoughts and perspectives on navigating independent film from the perspective of Advisory and Executive Producers. We discuss topics that are relevant to filmmakers across a wide spectrum of filmmaking perspectives, and we do our best to uncover hidden truths and new developments in the film industry. Our goal is to help filmmakers avoid the pitfalls and obstacles on the business side of film so that their filmmaking creativity can thrive.
Our Industry Insights provide bite-sized actionable advice that filmmaking professionals and creatives of all kinds can use to keep their heads up as they continue their filmmaking journeys. With advice sourced from the filmmaking community, we build upon the wisdom of our filmmaking guests to provide our audience with truly aspirational and inspirational content.
The Mistakes in the Making series gives our filmmaking friends an opportunity to speak directly to our filmmaking audience to share a specific lesson they've learned through a mistake they've made. We are firm believers that mistakes can be the gateway to success when we open our hearts and minds to learning from them, sharing them, and using them to Be Better.
The Film Investment series is a conversational series of 52 episodes geared towards the would-be film investor. Each episode, facilitated via a friendly conversation between hosts and friends Christopher Barkley and Jason McConnell, highlights a unique aspect of the film investment process. In addition to being a great resource for film investors, it serves as a reference for filmmakers regarding the many considerations that must be made when seeking film investment.
This and all other episodes of the MAKE IT podcast are brought to you in partnership with Women in Film and Television as part of the Voice of the Filmmaker Program. Please help us keep the conversation going.