About Us:
Film Industry Training Seminars (F.I.T.S.) is a team of highly experienced film industry professionals. Our live seminars and training manuals guide our students along the path to a rewarding career in the film industry.
Carol Kravetz – Production Coordinator
Carol has been a Production Coordinator in Film & Television for over thirty (30) years, in entertainment for sixty-plus (60+) years. Some of her film and television credits include features for MGM, Embassy, AIP, Filmways & TNT, two mini-series for Warner Brothers and movies of the week for HBO & USA Network. Her series television credits include Showtime Red Shoes Diaries, Nickelodeon Brothers Garcia, 20th/Sony Party Of Five, FX’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Showtime/Sony Huff and her last show that she retired on was AMC/Sony Breaking Bad.
Carol is excited to give back to the film & entertainment community that gave her so much over the years. She has written a manual and has created and launched a LIVE workshop on being a Production Coordinator. She hopes to give students, career transitioning adults and Veterans of the Armed Forces a good sense of the business end of making movies. Her current Live Seminar, and manual is titled – Production Coordinator: A Production Office Master Class.
Kenny Chaplin – Assistant Director
As a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC) , Kenny worked with production crews in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He was employed in the film industry for twenty (20) years within the Assistant Directing team in the capacity of 1st AD, 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd AD, Key set PA and Extras Wrangler.
Kenny grew up on the open prairies, in a small town far removed from the Hollywood film industry. On a whim, he boarded a place for Australia in 1997 to seek employment as a Production Assistant on one of the most talked about films of the decade, Terrence Malick’s “Thin Red Line.” Successfully working six months earned him the confidence and experience to seek out productions requiring a skilled PA.
He honed skills on shows such as “Runaway Jury,” “Roswell“, “Judging Amy“, “Dude, Where’s My Car?“ “End of Days,” and the literary classic “Moby Dick” filmed in St. Julian, Malta. He recently completed the feature film “Look Away“.
His material includes a Live Seminar, and books titled – The Director’s Team – The Assistant Directing Department, The Production Assistant: Film Set Protocol, Etiquette, and Safety, and Background Performer: Working as an Extra!
Terra has been working in the Costume Department of the Film & Television industry for over fifteen (15) years. She has helmed the department as a designer, worked as a Production Assistant, Buyer, Costume supervisor, Additional Costumer, and Truck gal. With experience on features, shorts, television series and live events, her credits include: “Homeland“, “South of Hell“, “Lincoln’s Last Day“, “Identity“, “Teachers” and most recently “MountainTop“.
Her current Live Seminar and training manual is titled – The Costume Department: Become a Costume Assistant
Lisa Postma – Script Supervisor
Lisa, a former member of I.A.T.S.E. for over ten (10) years, has been a script supervisor on MOW’s, TV Series, commercials and feature films such as WolfCop, Step Dogs, InSecurity, Lullaby for Pi and many more. She has worked hand-in-hand with Directors Jeff Beesley, Jennifer Lynch, and Benoit Philippon. While on-set she has guided line delivery into the mouths of Forest Whitaker, Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond, and Christian Slater.
Her current Live Seminar and training manual is titled – Script Supervision: The On-set Editor
Instructor Dan Allers – Gaffer and Key Grip
Dan has been lighting the entertainment field since 1978 across a wide spectrum of environments has provided lighting designs for more than 520 live stage productions, been the Gaffer on many television shows, commercials and feature films. He has lit commercial, and retail buildings, inside and out. His film credits include: “Not This Part of the World“, “Magic Valley” “Breakaway“, “Mark of the Veil“, “Antiques Road Show“, “Teach“, and many many more…
The Grip and Electric Department – Understanding the DP’s Lighting Team
Doug Lodato – Film Financing
Doug Lodato attended Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor’s in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. He went onto attend Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government earning a Master’s in Public Administration. After a stint in a bank, he went to NYU’s graduate film school, where his classmates included some of the most well-known film makers of today. He raised approximately $800,000 after graduation, from private investors, and made a film which lost nearly every penny. He learned from this experience, and has studied film finance models as he has directed and produced. He raised over $5 million privately and combined this money with subsidy programs in North America to substantially increase the cash flow of the film Ticket Out, without diluting equity or selling rights. He is working on the financing of a few films he will make, including Crash Dummies, which currently has 70% of the funding arranged in Australia, and which he will make with Chris Noonan, writer-director of Babe.
Doug covers the budgeting process, typical financing avenues, industry as represented by the studios, industry as represented by foreign pre-sales, private equity via Information Memorandums, and potentially cutting- edge subsidy/equity possibilities. He also offers his opinion as to what types of films have, in the past, represented the best entries into the industry for young film makers.
Doug teaches a Live Seminar on film financing