BRIC Pitch Series with Seed & Spark

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform built to make entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. She has raised millions in investment and crowdfunding, secured large brand partnerships, and built a world-class team for Seed&Spark. In addition to her work at Seed&Spark, she has produced films, series and VR projects that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and more. Her most recent film is RATIFIED, a feature documentary about the 100-year struggle to enshrine gender equality in the US Constitution, coming out late summer 2024. Alongside Christie Marchese at Kinema, Emily spearheaded an effort to launch The Distribution Playbook, a totally free and open- sourced field guide for independent filmmakers to succeed in distribution. Emily has taught crowdfunding, pitching and creative sustainability in more than 100 cities around the world.

Originally from Kansas, Sav Rodgers is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and pop culture documentarian whose feature debut CHASING CHASING AMY (Tribeca ‘23) explores the complicated legacy of Chasing Amy (1997) and its profound impression on his life. The TED Talk he gave in 2018 kickstarted this filmmaking journey and spurred the writing of scripts that center on highly specific, surprising stories about queer people. His screenplays have been recognized by GLAAD, Outfest, ScreenCraft, among others. Named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Media List in 2024, Sav is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Transgender Film Center, a nonprofit aiming to help trans creators bring finished films to audiences around the world. Additionally, Sav works as the Marketing Director at Seed&Spark, the world’s most successful crowdfunding platform for independent film. He is a proud University of Kansas graduate and still sports KU baseball caps wherever he goes.