On Wednesday, February 8 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the “You Made a Film, Now What?” free panel discussion will be hosted at City Hall, located at 23920 Valencia Boulevard. This panel is a part of the New Heights: Artist Development Workshops, presented by the City of Santa Clarita City Council and Arts Commission.

The series of workshops is designed to help artists, performers and arts organization representatives expand their knowledge and acquire valuable tools to increase their ability to be successful.

Independent filmmakers, as well as the public are invited to attend the discussion panel and glean information from professionals as they share their experiences and expertise regarding topics such as emerging film markets, preparing and packaging a film for the marketplace, and more. Each one of the panel members has had experience in distribution, film festival submissions and successfully leveraging their own independent films. Panelists include multi-award winners and trailblazers in the industry: Liz Manashil, Gerry Maravilla, Lisha Yakub and Jennifer Fischer.

After earning her B.A. and M.F.A., Liz Manashil spent several years as a film critic for the PBS/Hulu series Just Seen It. Her debut feature, “Bread and Butter,” can be viewed around the globe. She is currently in pre-production on her next two feature films and works at Sundance Institute in funding and distribution.

Gerry Maravilla works as Seed&Spark’s director of crowdfunding. In this position, he helps other filmmakers reach their financing and audience building goals. His short film “Cross” has screened at film festivals across the country and his film “Desert” is an entry in the multicultural romance anthology US/Them.

Lisha Yakub is a Santa Clarita based producer and her focus is youth-oriented content for film, television and digital platforms. She also has experience packaging film, television and new media projects through Discover Management and Sony Pictures Television.

Filmmaker, arts educator and film curator Jennifer Fischer has plenty of experience to share. Through self-distribution, she screened her multi-award winning film, “Smuggled,” at university, college and community organization events throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, she founded and ran the Santa Clarita Valley Film Festival for seven years.

The “You Made a Film, Now What?” discussion is free and open to the public and no RSVP is needed. Additional information about workshops, as well as podcasts from previous panels can be found at SantaClaritaArts.com. For more information about the New Heights series, please contact the City’s Arts and Events Supervisor, Jeff Barber, at (661) 250-3779 or jbarber@santa-clarita.com.