How to Lock-In Professional Actors and Musical Talent

Speakers

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  Colin McCormack Communications Manager, SAGindie
  

  Colin McCormack

  Communications Manager, SAGindie

  Colin McCormack is the Communications Manager at SAGindie, a free educational resource that assists indie filmmakers in hiring professional actors for their films. He has worked in various capacities as a writer, producer, and editor on projects ranging from features, short films, commercials, and documentaries. As SAGindie’s Communications Manager, he handles advertising and promotions, filmmaker interviews, and web operations for SAGindie.org. Colin also manages SAGindie’s Movies & Music program, designed to offer resources that bring together independent filmmakers and music professionals.

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  Debby Romano Casting Director
  

  Debby Romano

  Casting Director

  Debby Romano has worked in casting for 30 years. She is a 3-time Emmy nominee and Artios Award winning CD for the TV series SCRUBS. With her business partner, Brett Benner, they cast the current AppleTV series SHRINKiNG and will soon be starting the indie feature SPIRIT WEEK based on the AFI thesis short BALLOON. Prior projects include long running series LAST MAN STANDING, ONE TREE HILL and COUGAR TOWN, as well as numerous other “shorter running” TV shows (we all know how that goes).

  She cast the pilot and season 1 of THAT ‘70s SHOW as a CD at Liberman/Hirschfeld Casting. That experience gave her the confidence to start Romano/Benner Casting.

  A New Jersey native, Debby always loved film, TV and theater. For her 13th birthday, she asked her parents for a filing cabinet to organize clippings and articles of the actors she loved. Her parents feared she might grow up to be a stalker! She turned out okay. Debby loves that this job is different and full of surprises every single day and is thankful to keep calling it her profession.

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  Roxanne Castillo General Counsel, Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund
  

  Roxanne Castillo

  General Counsel, Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund

  Roxanne Castillo is General Counsel for the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund (FMSMF), the non-profit that collects, processes and distributes residuals to musicians who work on film, television and streaming media scores. Prior to joining FMSMF, Castillo served as Director of the American Federation of Musicians’ (AFofM) Los Angeles Local 47 Electronic Media Services Department and was responsible for contract administration and advising producers about AFofM agreements covering film, television, commercials, sound recordings and videogames. From 2020-2021, she provided legal and production consulting advice to independent filmmakers and companies on a wide range of subjects, including WGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and AFofM agreements. She has been featured as a guest speaker on topics such as intellectual property, musicians’ royalties and residuals, and she currently teaches copyright law at UCLA’s Extension program. Castillo served as a board member of the California Copyright Conference and is currently a member of FilmLA, Inc.’s Operations Committee. A native Angeleno, Castillo received her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law.

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  Timothy Loo Music Contractor, CFO, Sabron Payroll Services
  

  Timothy Loo

  Music Contractor, CFO, Sabron Payroll Services

  Timothy Loo, moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to study cello performance at California State University at Northridge and the University of Southern California. Timothy is a member of the Lyris Quartet, founded in 2008. This quartet is the resident ensemble at both Jacaranda and Hear Now Festivals and has been featured numerous times on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella and Noon 2 Midnight series at The Walt Disney Concert Hall. In January 2018, Mr. Loo made his concerto debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at The Walt Disney Concert Hall performing the fiendishly difficult Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Bernt Zimmermann, under the direction of conductor Susanna Mälkki.
  Timothy has also performed on over 1000 motion pictures, TV shows, albums, commercials, award shows, including yearly at the Academy Awards.

  Timothy is also one of the foremost music contractors in Los Angeles. Most recently he assembled the orchestra for composer John Williams for the scoring of Indiana Jones 5: The Dial of Destiny, ESPN College Football Playoffs, The Fablemans and Obi Wan Kenobi. Mr. Loo is also the music contractor for James Newton Howard, Mike Post, Jeff Russo, Branford Marsalis, Disney’s Launchpad streaming series, The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, just to name a few.

  In 2019, Timothy and his husband Tommy Johnson purchased Sabron Payroll Services and act as CFO and CEO respectively. Sabron is a leading payroll company in the entertainment industry that has built strong relationships with major production companies such as Disney, Netflix, MGM, Paramount, LucasFilm, and Apple. Sabron has a 30-year legacy as a boutique payroll company that helps any production or composer to navigate the complex music contracts of the American Federation of Musicians, SAG-AFTRA, and IATSE.