Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists.

Logline

Emerging Artists LA offers access to the film festival experience FREE to filmmakers and film aficionados alike. Submitting a film is free and attending the festival is free and that’s the way we’d like to keep it!

Synopsis

Currently hosting one film festival annually, Emerging Artists LA seeks to provide opportunities for filmmakers in the greater Los Angeles area to show their work at absolutely no charge.

From the Program Director:

As a diverse female filmmaker with no legacy in the entertainment industry, I personally understand the challenge of getting executives, agents and key talent interested in films created by an unknown writer and director. Even still, with my USC film degree and experience working as a writer’s assistant for Criminal Minds and Homeland as well as my current position at Warner Brothers, I have had more opportunity than most of the hard working filmmakers from underrepresented minority communities in pursuing my passion for writing and directing films.

The goal of our festival to help filmmakers with limited access to have a place to share their unique films with key people that can help them to launch successful careers in the entertainment industry. We partner with industry leaders to help curate commercially viable films to feature in the film festivals and offer mentorship to our filmmakers to help them get one step closer in the path to becoming a successful filmmaker.

Though we will accept film submissions from all genres within the Emerging Artist film festivals, we seek to showcase films with a diverse cast and/or diverse crew with a particular focus on artists from underrepresented communities. 
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Erica Mountain — Curator/Program Director

Erica Mountain is an army brat who spent many childhood years in Naples, Italy and traveling throughout Western Europe. Desiring to pursue her love for television and film writing, Erica attended USC’s MFA screenwriting program and, while in school, she interned at Bad Robot Productions, the Fox Writer’s Studio and Criminal Minds (CBS) where she continued to work full time as a Writer’s Assistant. She has also worked on the show Homeland and at Team Downey Productions. Erica has also directed and produced five short films and her scripts have placed in the top drama category on The Black List as well as garnered finalist spots in many programs and screenwriting contest such as the ABC Disney program and the Script Pipeline contest. She currently works at Warner Brothers writing copy and television spots for DC Comic shows.

Carla Harris — Curator/Art Director

Born in Indianapolis, IN, but raised traveling the globe as the child of a military officer, Carla Harris’ social and artistic development was impacted tremendously by the geopolitical and natural environments she encountered. She fervently believes that space (physical and physiological) has a fundamental, lasting impact on personal identity. While the environment around us is constantly evolving, photography has the power to capture humanity in a place, in a moment – transforming a flicker in time into a lasting, appreciable statement. Carla’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC, Granada, Spain and Quebec, Canada. She completed undergraduate coursework at the School of Visual Arts in New York, received her Bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia, and her MFA from UCLA in 2015. She currently lives/works in Los Angeles, CA.

Jermaine Mountain — Volunteer Manager/Finance Diretor

Jermaine is a seasoned financial and accounting professional with a passion for all forms of technology, new media, and entertainment. Jermaine began his career as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche, and earned his CPA during his three-year tenure. Subsequent to leaving Deloitte, Jermaine has worked for MTV Networks, CSC, American Diabetes Association, CBS Television, and Comcast NBCUniversal. Jermaine earned his MBA from Pepperdine University with an emphasis in Management with ambitions to leverage his financial and quantitative acumen in an effort to gain additional management and financial experience within the entertainment industry. Carla Harris and Jermaine Mountain were an integral in the previous Haunted Memories Film Festival and will continue to hold leadership positions within this organization as well. Carla was co-curator of the event and responsible for curating visual art and art film works from ten fantastic emerging visual artists, overseeing the hanging and programming of the art show.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.