Michael Musante & Leo Matchett - AMERICAN ZOETROPE/DECENTRALIZED PICTURES

Make Your Sh*t

On this week’s show, Kyle speaks with Michael Musante and Leo Matchett from famed independent production company American Zoetrope about their non-profit organization Decentralized Pictures. They discuss their alternative approach to film financing, what the cinematic landscape looks like outside of the studio system, and how today’s independent scene compares to the risk-taking auteurs of the 70s and 90s.

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MICHAEL MUSANTE is vice president of film production and acquisitions at American Zoetrope, a co-founder of The Decentralized Pictures Foundation, Inc, as well as the Secretary of its Board of Directors. He is an attorney, admitted to practice in New York and North Carolina, and received his BA from Duke University and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2001. He practiced law for 10 years before becoming a full-time creative film producer. He collaborated closely with such accomplished filmmakers as Ted Kotcheff, Martha Coolidge, Fred Roos and Richard Chew before joining the team at American Zoetrope. As executive in charge of production at American Zoetrope, he is overseeing development and production of several feature films, including Fairyland starring Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy, as well as the Broadway Production of The Outsiders Musical. Most recently he is an Executive Producer of Gia Coppola’s Mainstream starring Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke, Nat Wolfe and Jason Schwartzman.

LEO MATCHETT is a Technical Emmy Award winner who grew up in Toronto and has lived in Los Angeles for 12 years working in film production. He brings a balance of knowledge in film, technology, and crypto assets. Leo has been involved in smartphone application development since 2008, developing Artemis Director’s Viewfinder (2018 Engineering Emmy Award Winner), and Techscout Touch for Android and IOS. As an early adopter of Bitcoin, Leo began conceiving ways to bring blockchain technology, its auditability, and efficiencies to the filmmaking lifecycle. His primary goal is talent discovery and helping those creative thinkers concentrate on what’s important - the creative. Twitter