Independent filmmaking certainly isn’t a career choice for those looking to get rich quickly. It can be especially difficult to make a decent living when you’d rather focus on making your first film. Join us for a conversation with incredible self-made filmmakers as they share stories from their beginnings in film, how they stayed afloat while navigating a new industry, and real talk on navigating the fine print of your first big break.

The filmmakers on this panel come from varying backgrounds, finding their way to the independent film community through different routes, but each began their careers with major debuts and continue to make films on their own terms.

Desiree Akhavan is a film director and writer, best known for her debut Appropriate Behavior, and the critically acclaimed The Miseducation of Cameron Post starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Most recently she co-wrote, directed and starred in the Hulu Original series The Bisexual.

Dianna Agron just wrapped director Emma Seligman’s feature film Shiva Baby. She can currently be seen in the anthology film series Berlin, I Love You, which she both starred in and directed. Previous credits include Luc Besson’s The Family, opposite Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer, Dreamworks feature I Am Number Four and Zipper for producer Darren Aronofsky. Dianna came to prominence as Quinn Fabray in Ryan Murphy’s hit Fox series Glee.

Erin Lee Carr is a New York based director, producer and writer. Her latest documentaries, At the Heart of Gold & I Love You Now Die , both for HBO, had their world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca & SXSW film festivals, respectively.

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