Kindling Training Studio: Fundraising & Legal

RSVP PORTAL OPENS 8/18/2025

Kindling and the Providence 48 Hour Film Project are excited to bring a first-of-its-kind event! 

The Kindling Industry Training Studio (KITs) is a free day of workshops for local filmmakers. Industry professionals lead these workshops and they are free to attend. Happening on Saturday, September 27th this is a great way to brush up on everything you need to do before you start shooting. Registration is required to guarantee a spot. In person attendees will receive refreshments and lunch. 

Note: some of the modules may change time. We’ll notify filmmakers that have RSVP'd of these changes. The most valuable way to participate in this event is to attend the full day.

Agenda:

9am - Check-in

10am - Keynote presenter Emily Best

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through an enterprise SaaS platform Film Forward. In 2023, CNBC named Seed&Spark one of the top 200 fintech companies in the world. She serves on the Advisory Board for a variety of early stages startups and the Board of Film Impact Georgia. In 2024, alongside Christie Marchese at Kinema, Emily spearheaded an effort to launch The Distribution Playbook, a free and open- sourced field guide for independent filmmakers to succeed in distribution. She has produced films, VR, shorts and series that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca and more. She is currently touring with a feature documentary she produced called RATIFIED about the 100+ year struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment.

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11am - Workshop 01 | Greg Kanaan, The Legal Artist

Greg is the founder and Managing Attorney of The Legal Artist, PLLC. Greg is an experienced intellectual property and entertainment attorney and has been representing creative professionals for over ten years.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Greg was a television producer, working on documentary series for Discovery Channel, Court TV, TLC, and A&E, among others. He studied film and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002.

In 2009, Greg enrolled at Northeastern University School of Law to get a better sense of how the entertainment business worked. He quickly became an expert on entertainment and art law and built his practice exclusively around filmmakers, artists, and other creative people. Greg is licensed to practice law in Connecticut and New York.

Now based out of New Haven county in Connecticut, Greg represents clients across a wide spectrum of creative fields, including film and television production companies, app developers, writers, performers, visual artists, designers, architects, and more. Not only does Greg provide legal services and counsel, he regularly lectures at colleges, non-profit art organizations, and professional design associations and teaches a law and governance course at the Pratt Institute in New York City.

Bar Admissions

State of New York
State of Connecticut
Education: Rhode Island School of Design, 2002, Northeastern University School of Law, 2012

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12pm - Lunch (provided)

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1pm - Workshop 02 | Boston SAG

Benjamin Shallop is the Senior Business Representative for the New England SAG-AFTRA Local. He first began his career at SAG-AFTRA as an organizer primarily working with broadcasters in 2012. Today he oversees contracts for freelance performers who are members of SAG-AFTRA in New England. Prior to his work with SAG-AFTRA he worked as a labor organizer for the American Federation of Teachers as well as the United Food and Commercial Workers in the south and southwestern United States and as a Community Organizer in Florida and Ohio. Originally from Salem Massachusetts, he returned home in 2008 and has ever since been working to help build a vibrant film industry here that works for working artists throughout New England.

Senior Business Representative, New England Local
SAG-AFTRA - benjamin.shallop@sagaftra.org

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Kate Riccio is a Business Representative for SAG-AFTRA's New England Local, joining the team in September 2024. In this position she primarily handles low-budget contracts for projects like student and micro-budget films and short projects. A local from the Greater Boston area, Kate recently graduated from the University of Virginia, where she studied English and Media Studies and was involved in the arts community through a cappella and theater. Before coming to SAG-AFTRA, she had experience working in digital media at NBC10 Boston, and the public relations and publishing industries.

Business Representative
SAG-AFTRA New England
20 Park Plaza, Suite 822, Boston MA 02116
617-316-5726 ext. 5726 | https://www.sagaftra.org/ne

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2:30pm - Workshop 03 | Becca Bender

Becca Bender (she/her) is an independent archivist and curator of moving image and recorded sound who approaches archiving with a deep commitment to centering access. She’s a firm believer that archives must engage collaboratively with the communities they represent, and that through partnerships we can work toward creating a more equitable and inclusive historical record. She trains and advises various types of cultural heritage organizations to care for audiovisual materials across their lifecycles, emphasizing the need to balance best practice with the reality on the ground. Becca is an active member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, working with a core group to build a national initiative to preserve local television.

Prior to earning a master’s degree from NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, Becca worked for many years as an archival producer on documentary films, specializing in African American history and culture. Documentary projects include the Emmy-nominated Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise, a four-hour PBS series covering 50 years of Black American history, the Peabody Award-winning Chisholm 72 – Unbought & Unbossed about Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 run for president, and Beyond the Steps: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a profile of the venerable dance company as they built a new permanent home in New York City.

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4pm - Special presentation | TBD

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5:30pm - After the workshop network | TBD

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Disclaimer

To make this event accessible to filmmakers throughout the area, these workshops may be recorded and uploaded to the Providence 48 Hour Film Project's YouTube page. Please be aware that you may be recorded. We are working on a system to help our attendees opt out of being recorded. 

If you have any food allergies, don't hesitate to contact Mel Rainsberger at pvd48hfp@gmail.com so we can ensure we have suitable food available for all our attendees.

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FAQs

How is this free? 
Thanks to a grant from the RI State Council for the Arts, we can cover the cost of the venue and instructors. Food and media services are donated. 

Why is this free? 
We know filmmaking is expensive. Our goal is to help them develop their skills in order to be more capable filmmakers and part of the filmmaking workforce.

How many people can attend?
The attendance is capped at 75 people.

Will this be live-streamed? 
No, this will not be live-streamed. The event will be recorded and uploaded to the Providence 48 Hour Film Project's Youtube page within a month of the event.

Can I teach? 
The instructors for these workshops have already been chosen. Reach out to us at pvd48hfp@gmail.com if you would like to be considered in the future. 

This event is made possible through a grant from the RI State Council for the Arts and donations from our community. 

Rhode Island State Council on the Arts