
This is a day I've been looking forward to for a long time: the beginning of a new era at NFS. Please welcome Liz, Jon, and Emily — and let us know what you'd like to see more of on the site!
"It has never been more expensive to go to film school, and it has never been cheaper to make a film." This is a point I've made often regarding the increasing relevance of free and inexpensive educational film resources. But here at NFS we have rarely had the resources to do everything we want to be doing. We've always known that to fulfill the mission of this site, we were going to have to be patient, grow organically, and staff up when the opportunity finally presented itself. So I'm excited to be adding new people and new facilities! This will allow us to bolster our coverage in several areas and expand our offerings in the video, audio, educational, and community departments.
The No Film School site as you know it today began when I launched it as a daily resource in 2010, but it actually started out as my personal blog five years earlier — so this site has been around, in one form or another, for over ten years (!). For years, I wrote all of the posts myself, then hired additional writers, relaunched with a new design in 2014, and now we've moved into a physical office and brought on board actual staff (to date, we have been a distributed workforce working wherever, whenever). Befitting our independent nature, we have set up shop in a building in downtown Brooklyn, New York, right in between two of Brooklyn's foremost arts organizations, BAM and BRIC.
Moving into an office is important, but not as important as our new people! So I'm very pleased to introduce our new staff: Liz Nord, Emily Buder, and Jon Fusco.
Liz Nord, Editor-in-Chief & Lead Producer
Liz Nord has been producing news, documentary, and multi-platform projects for over a decade, including an Emmy win for running the MTV News presidential campaign coverage in 2008. She has also written for several film-related outlets, most recently covering transmedia for PBS's POV Docs blog, and has spoken at events like SXSW and TEDxDumbo. In 2003, she used money that could have gone towards film school to buy a Sony VX2000 camcorder and shoot her first feature doc, Jericho's Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land. She is a producer on the in-progress transmedia documentary Jerusalem Unfiltered.
At NFS, Liz will be overseeing our editorial direction, expanding our coverage to new areas and formats, and regularly writing posts and hosting podcasts. Drawing on her background in production, Liz will also be overseeing new multimedia/interactive/educational initiatives. You can reach Liz at liz@nofilmschool.com.
Emily Buder, Managing Editor & Head of Community
Emily Buder joins us from Indiewire, where she managed all of Indiewire's social media accounts, interviewed hundreds of filmmakers, and wrote and edited articles. Before that, she was the Creative Executive at a production company in NYC. She went to (dunh dunh dunh) film school at NYU.
At NFS, Emily will be contributing editorial oversight, daily posts, and interviews; managing our Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts; and helping manage and refresh our Boards, which we are excited to improve for the community with updated functions and better organization. You can reach Emily at emily@nofilmschool.com.
Jon Fusco, Multimedia Producer/Editor
Jon Fusco is also joining us from Indiewire, where he edited podcasts, built out the video hub/strategy, and edited supercuts that ran in conjunction with Indiewire articles. He studied acting at NYU and is now a filmmaker.
At NFS, Jon will be producing, recording, and editing content for our recently-launched podcast channel, as well as editing video and contributing posts and interviews. You can reach Jon at fusco@nofilmschool.com.
The rest of us aren't going anywhere
I'm shifting to a slightly different title of Founding Editor & Publisher, but I will still be contributing posts and podcasts, overseeing certain aspects of our overall direction, and running things from a product and publishing standpoint. However, I've got a feature film to make — finally — with Netflix announcing they're financing and distributing AMATEUR. So pretty soon I'll have a lot more "lessons learned" to share... I couldn't be more excited about where the site is headed with this capable New York-based team joining our existing writers and editors, who are writing posts (and making films) coast-to-coast.
Some of the changes afoot won't be immediately noticeable, but know that we're working hard behind-the-scenes to make this the leading worldwide community “by filmmakers, for filmmakers.” And as always (but especially during this time of transition) we'd love to hear from you about what you want to see more of. Like many of our film careers — my own included — we're just getting started.
Your Comment
29 Comments
No pictures of the space??
February 26, 2016 at 1:44PM
It's BROOKLYN!!!!
February 26, 2016 at 4:16PM
It's probably just a Starbucks seeing as there's barely any work involved in freebooting
February 27, 2016 at 3:58AM
Great news! Looking forward to some BTS of the making of Amateur, working with Netflix, and what you learn about the process. Congrats!
February 26, 2016 at 2:16PM
I would love to see more video content from you guys! Your Sundance coverage has been great, so I want to see more video tutorials/podcasts/explanations/etc
February 26, 2016 at 2:17PM
Nfs isn't in the business of creating worthwhile video content - they mostly just take existing videos and write a few paragraphs to disguise the fact that they're basically just freebooting. Scouring the Internet for more content whilst they delete the accounts of users that expose them for the shills they are
February 27, 2016 at 3:53AM
Ease up on the haterade. Also, if you're going to be jerk, perhaps having your "company" info in your sig is a bit ridiculous.
February 28, 2016 at 12:02AM
Awesome! Maybe this means V' Rene is on the chopping block and we don't have to read awkward articles all the time?
February 26, 2016 at 3:30PM
Believe me, nothing is more awkward than the fact that I'm still here to provide you with more awkward (?) articles than you can handle.
February 27, 2016 at 12:54AM, Edited February 27, 12:54AM
LOL
February 27, 2016 at 4:45AM
Wow, don't mind the haters Renée. Keep up the great work.
March 1, 2016 at 9:02AM
Not awkward, just reworded youtube videos from Film Riot and Darius Brit. Unlike Koo and other writers at NFS, I don't think I've ever seen her write about a project that she has been working on.
February 27, 2016 at 4:00PM
Welcome to the team!
(Reorganizing the boards is indeed a good idea :-p )
February 26, 2016 at 3:38PM
Very big congratulations! More theory/technique/breakdowns. Less click bait headlines.
February 26, 2016 at 3:49PM, Edited February 26, 3:49PM
This is great news. Love seeing real, tangible growth from old fashioned hard work and dedication. Congrats, Ryan. And welcome home Liz, Jon and Emily.
February 26, 2016 at 6:44PM, Edited February 26, 6:44PM
What is the hard work they are doing? Many posts are about things 2 days, or more, old. And there's very few posts at that. Some posts are about the post-ers opinion of movies and such.
February 26, 2016 at 10:06PM, Edited February 26, 10:06PM
Congratulations and welcome to the new team members!
February 26, 2016 at 6:59PM
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
February 26, 2016 at 7:13PM, Edited February 26, 7:13PM
Hopefully this means more posts related to digital shooting, while less about film, you know, stuff 98% of us can use.
February 26, 2016 at 10:02PM
It nice to see the evolution of the site and the new crew let me think that you are aiming in the good way! Congrats!
February 26, 2016 at 10:35PM
Congrats guys! Really excited for you and for what's to come. Keep it up!
-The ShareGrid Team
February 26, 2016 at 11:25PM, Edited February 26, 11:25PM
Congratulations! Exciting times ahead :D
February 27, 2016 at 3:11AM
I can agree with some of the comments on here, in that I would love to see some more original content. It is nice to see that NFS aggregates good content, but I think I'd love to see more guest posts from some of the content creators work you share often. Also, love the push for video that you all have been making with the interviews. Picking peoples brains about their process is a great way to look at creative work from many different angles.
February 27, 2016 at 5:31AM, Edited February 27, 5:32AM
Congrats. Long time follower. Keep up the great work.
February 27, 2016 at 6:18AM
Congrats on expanding guys! You guys have always provided great content, and I'm sure will continue to do so.
You don't need a full-time pharmacist on staff by chance, do you?
February 27, 2016 at 12:02PM
Congrats! You guys have always done a terrific job. Big fan of Liz!
February 28, 2016 at 12:04AM
Congratulations on your expansion! Looking forward to reading / hearing / watching more.
March 1, 2016 at 1:15PM
If there was some sort of a notification for when someone replies to your question on the boards & when others make a comment on a post that you've commented on, that would be helpful to keep the conversations going! Thnx for all the hard work, vision & passion you have executed on.
March 7, 2016 at 6:03AM
Thanks Derek. This was actually in our design specs for our relaunch two years ago, but didn't make it in for launch. It's at the top of our list for community features... no date for you but it's coming!
March 27, 2016 at 3:41PM