Our latest episode of Direct Chat will feature two filmmakers from Raising Buchanan, the 2019 AZ Feature Film of the Year at the Phoenix Film Festival. Amanda Melby (Producer and Star) and Bruce Dellis (Director and Producer) will come on and talk to us about their film, things they’ve learned, and answer our fun questions about other filmmaking topics. Join us at 10am on Thursday, April 30th live.
We’ll take audience questions through a chat and also ask their opinion on questions like:
- What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned as a filmmaker?
- How do you plan on using this time of social distancing as it relates to filmmaking?
- What’s on your streaming list?
When:
Thursday, April 30th
10am (video will be recorded and posted for anyone to view after)
Where:
Register here via Zoom (you will need to download the Zoom app to watch the live feed).
Cost:
FREE event – open to the public (limited to 100 participants)
Who:
The event will be hosted by IFP Phoenix Program Director Aaron Kes and we will be interviewing Amanda Melby and Bruce Dellis. More info on both:
Bruce Dellis is the writer/director of Raising Buchanan (2019). The Tempe resident was selected as Arizona Filmmaker of the Year by the Phoenix Film Foundation. He has been nominated for 14 Rocky Mountain Emmy awards, winning five. Bruce has written and directed over twenty short films, including a mockumentary about Abraham Lincoln, an oddball film about the PTA, and a three-minute film featuring 18 speaking roles. Feature work includes writing Netherbeast Incorporated (2007) starring Steve Burns, Judd Nelson, Dave Foley, Jason Mewes and Robert Wagner. Bruce also wrote and directed a “chapter” of Locker 13, an anthology feature starring David Huddleston (“The Big Lebowski”) and Curtis Armstrong (“Revenge of the Nerds”). Both films were produced in Arizona.
Amanda Melby, a native Minnesotan, made her way to Phoenix via Los Angeles, Washington, DC, San Diego and Cleveland. She has worked in front and behind the camera in feature and short films, industrials television and commercials.
Amanda has produced a number of film projects of varying lengths, including the recently-completed feature film Raising Buchanan starring René Auberjonois, M. Emmet Walsh, Cathy Shim, Terence Bernie Hines, Robert Ben Garant and Melby, distributed through Gravitas Ventures and available May 5, 2020. She has been the creative force (writer/director/producer/editor) on 28 short films through her acting studio, Verve Studios. These Verve Studios films are used primarily as an educational tool for her students, but have gone on to be accepted into film festivals and to win awards. She directed the short film Kerry and Angie, which had a fantastic festival run.
Amanda was one of the creators of Screen Wars, an Arizona-based 30-minute television program featuring independent film. As Supervising Producer for the first season, she oversaw the production of 28 original episodes and 26 encore episodes. The first season was nominated for 7 Emmy ® Awards (Rocky Mountain Chapter of NATAS) and was awarded four; she was personally nominated for one. Amanda Executive-Produced the 17 original episodes of the second season, which was again honored with six Emmy ® nominations, including two for Amanda (Hosting) and best Arts/Entertainment Program (Producer).
From 2005-2011, Amanda served as the Executive Director of the Phoenix chapter of Independent Feature Project (IFP/PHX) working tirelessly to network, educate and showcase Arizona’s independent filmmakers. From 2006- 2012, she was a board member of the Phoenix Film Foundation and the Arizona Film and Media Coalition (AFMC). She was the Secretary of the SAG-AFTRA Arizona-Utah Board, having served on the separate unions boards prior to the merger from 2005-2013.
She was honored with the 2007 Phoenix Film Foundation Board Member of the Year, with the 2008 Layne Award and was nominated for the 2011 Governor’s Arts Award for her contributions to the Arizona Entertainment Community. Raising Buchanan has been awarded Best Arizona Feature (Phoenix Film Festival), Best Dramedy Feature (Manhattan Film Festival), Best Comedic Actress – Melby (New Haven Film Festival), Best Screenplay – Dellis (New Haven Film Festival), Best Comedy Feature (Franklin Film Festival), Best Feature (ROFL Festival), Best Picture (Red Rose Film Festival), Best Supporting Actor Nominee – Auberjonois (Garden State Film Festival), Special Jury Award – Comedy (WorldFest-Houston), Best Editing – Feature – Dellis (WorldFest-Houston), Best Actress Nominee – Melby (WorldFest-Houston), Best Supporting Actress – Shim (WorldFest-Houston), Best Supporting Actor Nominee – Auberjonois (WorldFest-Houston). At the 2019 Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards, the trailer for Raising Buchanan World Premiere was Nominated for Talent Performer – Melby and recipient for Writer-Short Form – Dellis.
As an actress, she is in SAG-AFTRA and AEA and has worked in commercials (Courtyard by Marriott, Culver’s, McDonalds, State of PA, Trucks Only, Priceline.com), independent film (Locker 13, Jake’s Corner, Netherbeast Inc., Madison Hall), Television (Candid Camera, S.I.S., Boston Public, Young & the Restless) and theatre (Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Theatre Artists Studio, Phoenix Theatre, Cleveland PlayHouse).
Amanda is a faculty associate at Arizona State University teaching Screen Acting and is the head coach and owner of Verve Studios, a professional actor-training studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. Amanda is an accomplished cellist and actress and holds a BA in theatre and English from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.
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