© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

TPR Filmmaker Forum

Headshot photos available here:

TPR Filmmaker Forum | In Partnership with City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture and San Antonio Film Commission

Filmmakers of all ages were invited to a free networking mixer and panelist discussion dedicated to breaking into the film industry, understanding resources provided by the San Antonio Film Commission, career sustainability, the role of film festivals in a filmmaker's career, the pros and cons of film school, advice from the panelists, and a Q&A!

Our panel was moderated by San Antonio Film & Music Commissioner Kimberly LeBlanc, and will feature panelists Vanessa Lerma, Danny Ramos, Guillermina Zabala, and Paul Ardoin.

The event took place on Tuesday, February 21st and featured a group panelist discussion and started the night with screenings of the #filmSA 2022 contest winners.

Headshots and photos taken by Alejandra Sol Casas.

Facebook Event: https://fb.me/e/3pwkz4mTs

Guest Panelists:

Kimberly LeBlanc (Moderator) | San Antonio Film and Music Commissioner

Vanessa Lerma | Director/Co-Owner/Producer/Talent Manager at Screenville Films

Danny Ramos | Executive Producer/Director/Creator/Producer/UPM/First AD/Second AD at Drop Zone Films

Guillermina Zabala | Filmmaker/Multi-disciplinary Artist/ Professor of Practice in the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Paul Ardoin | Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor of Humanities in the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Meet the Panelists:

Kimberly LeBlanc is proud to serve as the City of San Antonio’s Film & Music Commissioner, where she works closely with creative industry professionals and community leaders to foster growth in San Antonio’s local film community and promote San Antonio as a competitive destination for film, television, commercial and digital media production. As a part of the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture, the San Antonio Film Commission supports projects filming in San Antonio with a wide range of resources including: location services, turnkey film permitting, government liaising, crew and vendor production directories, casting calls, grants to individual artists and organizations, including film festivals and the Supplemental San Antonio Film Incentive Program (SSAI).

Prior to joining the San Antonio Film Commission, Kimberly was a senior staff member at the Texas Film Commission (in the Office of the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism Division) for 12+ years, where she scouted more than 1,200 potential filming locations, administrated the state’s Film Friendly Texas program and successfully managed the varying needs of more than 2,000 film, TV, commercial and digital media projects filming in Texas.

Prior to joining the Texas Film Commission, Kimberly worked at the Austin Film Society, the Austin Film Festival and as the Assistant to Director Robert Rodriguez at Troublemaker Studios. Kimberly is a proud alumna of Trinity University, where she nerded out about cities (as an Urban Studies major) and helped co-found the Film Studies minor. She is a big fan of road trips, yoga, breakfast tacos, family movie nights, and the Spurs.

Vanessa Rae Lerma is a director and producer from San Antonio, Texas and is the Co-Owner of Screenville Films, established in 2015. She has over 15 years experience producing and directing plays and musicals from San Antonio to New York City, but decided to start getting involved in film in 2011. She Co-founded and served as the Managing Director for Lone Star Theatre Company in Manhattan, where the goal was to produce Texas pages on New York stages. During the pandemic, she decided to leave her teaching career of 13 years to work full time in the film industry, where she serves as a Producer/Production Manager. When not involved with film, she serves as a Managing Director for Teatro Audaz, a theatre company who exclusively produces Latinx content for the San Antonio community. She decided to take the next step in her career by Co-Creating the Web Series, Most Likely To, and directed all six episodes, which features a predominantly Latino and LGTBQ cast and crew.

Born in Argentina, Guillermina Zabala Suárez is an award-winning filmmaker and artist, educator, and researcher whose art examines the intersection between the individual and their environment. Her works have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and film festivals nationally and internationally, including the McNay Art Museum, SAMA, Contemporary, Telluride Film Festival, and Showtime Latino Showcase. Her documentary Las Artivistas won the Premio Mesquite for Best Documentary Short at the 2022 CineFestival, the nation’s longest-running Latino film festival, and her feature documentary Juanito’s Lab was the opening film at the 2021 edition of the festival in its out-of-competition category. Guillermina is Professor of Practice of Film & Media Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds a Master of Arts in Media Studies from New York’s The New School and is currently working on her dissertation for her Ph.D candidacy in the Doctor of Arts program at the University of La Plata, Argentina. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Media Arts Distinguished Thesis Award from The New School and the Rick Liberto Visual Arts Award from the Luminaria Foundation, the San Antonio Artist Foundation Award, and the NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant.

Paul Ardoin is Associate Professor and Director of UTSA's Film/Media program. Author of Not a Big Deal: Narrating to Unsettle (U of Nebraska P, 2021), he teaches courses in Film History and Critical Theory. He holds Phds from Florida State University and the University of Antwerp, edits a book series on philosophy and modernist aesthetics for Bloomsbury, and his 7 year-old just won the Pillar Award for Fairness at Henderson Elementary.

Daniel "Danny" Ramos is a multi-award winning independent Director/Producer, born and raised in San Antonio and lived in Los Angeles, California from 2000-2013, Daniel is a member of the respected Directors Guild of America, Inc. (DGA) since 1995 and Screen Actors Guild (SAG/AFTRA) since 1993 and has been in the Entertainment Industry for over 35 years.

While studying Theatre Arts and served as the Vice President of the Drama Club in his high school years at Highlands High School in the 80's, he caught the acting bug and soon made his first TV featured appearance on ABC General Hospital, NBC Unsolved Mysteries and NBC Knight Rider 2000 with David Hasselhoff, while shooting on location in San Antonio, Texas. He also had principal roles in TV commercials such as McDonald's, Miller Lite Beer, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and appeared on TV shows and feature films.

After attending San Antonio College where he majored in Radio, Television & Film Production, Daniel worked for Dick Clark Productions & ABC Television in 1988 "SeaWorld-Texas Grand Opening Celebrity Celebration" in the Cue Department and worked on a Lifetime Network show, "Attitudes Across America" as a Supervising Producer, later in his career he worked with Academy Award winning "Rocky" Director John G. Avildsen on a studio picture New Line Cinema titled: "8 Seconds'" starring Luke Perry and Stephen Baldwin in 1994, where he was John G. Avildsen's Assistant to the Director and had a Role as a Bartender filmed in San Antonio. He then had the opportunity to work on a Walt Disney Studio Picture "The Big Green" starring Steve Guttenberg and Olivia d'Abo in 1995 as a DGA 2nd Unit Second AD filmed in Austin, Texas and Warner Brothers Picture, "Selena" starring Jennifer Lopez and Edward James Olmos in 1996 as a DGA 2nd Assistant Director and Location Scout filmed in San Antonio and continues to work as a 1st & 2nd assistant director on over hundreds of national/regional TV commercials, music videos and documentaries nationally and Internationally.

During the mid 90's working on and off camera, Daniel started working in the Ad Agency world as a free-lance Assistant Producer for 4 years with Top Leading Hispanic Advertising Agency; Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar, Noble & Associates and then became a Producer for Montemayor y Associados based in San Antonio, Texas. Daniel produced Radio & TV spots for clients such as Burger King, P&G products Pampers and Pepto-Bismol, Sprint, Western Union, Circle K, Chrysler Jeep Cherokee.

In 1999, after serving as a DGA - Unit Production Manager (UPM) on the Independent Feature film titled: "Living The Life" starring Jay Hernandez formerly known as "Party Girl", Executive Producer Jack Mayesh offered Daniel a position as a Producer for Richard & Esther Shapiro Entertainment, Inc. in their Beverly Hills California office from 2000-2003.

In 2010, he then Directed & Executive Produced an Award Winning "Best Reality Documentary" titled; Paparazzi: Full Throttle LA, that won several awards in the New York International Film & Video Film Festival and at the Indie Fest for an "Award of Merit" in San Diego, California and at the Beverly Hills Film & Video Film Festival.

In 2018, Creator/Producer/Actor/Director Daniel "Danny" Ramos returned back to San Antonio and has made his Directorial Debut on his 1st Independent Feature Film titled: "The Margarita Man", starring Anthony Guajardo, Danny Trejo, Jesse Borrego, Barry Corbin and Pepe Serna a 2019 Multi-Award Winning Indie Film, which won for Best Narrative Feature: Gold (Comedy) and the Grand Prize for (Best of Festival) at the Hollywood Independent Filmmaker Awards and Festival on the lot of Paramount Pictures Studio in Hollywood, California and also took an (Award of Merit) at the Accolade Global Film Competition.

In 2022, Producer/Director Daniel took another Gold Award for his Cinematic Dark Music video "Fallen Angel" by LA Latina Rap Artist Squishy, created & written by Natalie Calderon and Mousie Cervantez at the Hollywood Independent Filmmaker Awards and Festival.

He was also the 1st Assistant Director with country award winning songwriter/artist Miranda Lambert where she won "Female Video of the Year" for her hit song "If I Was a Cowboy" directed by award winning Trey Fanjoy filmed in Boerne, Texas at the 56th Edition 2022 CMT Awards on CBS Live from Nashville, TN.

Daniel has also Co-Produced a few Independent Feature Films: "Colossal Youth" starring Riker Lynch, "Mexican Gangster 2: Venganza" starring Damian Chapa and a new upcoming Rom-Com titled, "The Answer to my Prayer" starring Songwriter/Actor, Despacito sensation Luis Fonsi and Actress Vannessa Vasquez, co-starring Chris Kattan, Angelica Maria and Pepe Serna, coming soon 2023.

He is the Owner/CEO and Executive Producer of Drop Zone Films, LLC an Independent Production company since 2007.

Kristin Quintanilla is the Marketing Associate at Texas Public Radio.