Making the Right Mistakes to Stay Relevant in Cinema

Dirk Blackman, writer of Outlander and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, has built a successful, long-lasting career as a writer, educator, and communicator with deep experience and passion for telling stories in words and images. With over 30 screenplays and pilots sold to major studios and independent films produced by indies and mini majors, he has an insider's view of how movies are made. As an educator, he is consistently impressed and inspired by the next generation of student creators who will face a wild west of technology and consumption. Dirk has worked with some of the most talented marketing and advertising experts on the planet as they build internal and external communications strategies for global brands, including Nike, Sunglass Hut, Kodak and RED Digital Cinema. He is currently at work on the graphic novel Savager for Panick Entertainment, due in early 2025. Dirk is an adjunct professor with Columbia College Chicago and co-producer of EditFest London.

Scott Kennard, digital marketer for Christie cinema and writer of Another Time, has been where every film student finds themselves at one point or another thinking, “I wrote the screenplay, I learned the lessons, I made the movie, what now?” A graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Playwriting and Screenwriting at Columbia College Hollywood, Scott’s love for cinema kept him working in the industry from creative development to exhibition technology. Now, he works with Christie to develop marketing campaigns and messaging that push the next big thing in cinema illumination technology with a passion for seeing movies the way filmmakers intended.