Stephen is an established data researcher in the film industry whose work has been featured in the New York Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Evening Standard, Newsweek, The New Statesman, AV Club and Indiewire. He acted as an industry consultant and guest on the BBC Radio 4 series The Business of Film, which topped the iTunes podcast chart, and has consulted for a wide variety of clients, including the Smithsonian in Washington.
Stephen has taught at major film schools, normal business schools and minor primary schools. His lessons range established topics from Producing at MA and BA level, online video and the business of film producing to more adventurous topics such as measuring the unmeasurable, advanced creative thinking and the psychology of film producing.
He has taught at the National Film and Television School (NFTS), Met Film School, NYU, Filmbase, and on behalf of the BFI, the BBC and the British Council.
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Jon has twenty-five years of experience in the independent film, internet and film festival communities, a rare leader with a unique combination of skills. As a filmmaker, he has produced a number of award-winning documentaries; and as a consultant, he has guided many independent film projects through the maze of festivals and hybrid distribution models.
As a co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival (1995), he led the event for the next two seasons before being named the Festival Director for the prestigious AFI Film Festival in 1997. After running AFI Fest for three years (1997-1999), he created a consulting business, guiding the launch of numerous film festivals (Bahamas, Lone Star, Orlando), directing many others (Santa Barbara, Naples, Hollywood), and consulting to dozens more.
In October of 2012, Jon authored his first book, entitled Filmmaking for Change: Make Films That Transform the World. After serving as Head of Acquisitions for several distributors, Jon Founded iGEMS.tv in 2019 as an internet guide to engaging movies and series. In 2021, the Company introduced iGEMSpro as a resource for the independent film community. The site provides articles, courses and podcasts.