Learn Producing Class - From the Heart Productions - Carole Dean, Robert L. Seigel, Jonathon M. Smith

Steven Lifshey is an accomplished editor and award-winning filmmaker with over 30 years of experience in post-production, editing for networks including A&E, AMC, Discovery, Showtime, Comedy Central, and Food Network. His credits span acclaimed series such as Hoarders, Duck Dynasty, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Chopped, and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

As a filmmaker, Steven has written and directed multiple shorts, including the award-winning Life on Pause — now in development as a feature — and Static Cling, which won awards for Best Comedy, Best Director, and Best Ensemble on the festival circuit.

Eye and Visual Flow — Where the viewer's eye is at every moment, and how shot selection, composition, and cutting rhythm guide it.
Organization and Media Management — Why knowing your footage cold is what separates the best editorial choices from merely available ones.
Honoring the Performance — How to piece together the best acting across takes and setups, and why performance always drives the cut.
Reading the Room — The collaborative dynamics of editing, from reading personality types to adapting your process to every working style.

Stephen Marinaccio is a veteran producer with over 35 years of experience working on global feature films and television. He’s worked in more than 30 countries — from diving to the wreck of the Titanic as Unit Production Manager under James Cameron on Ghosts of the Abyss, to serving as the lead UPM on Netflix's Marco Polo — He’s also the creator of the r/FilmTVBudgeting community on Reddit — a space where producers share real, unfiltered knowledge about the business of production.

Stephen co-founded Cinematic Apps — and in March 2026, launched its flagship product: Line Budgeter. It’s the first modern, end-to-end budgeting platform built by working producers who were simply done waiting for someone else to fix the tools.

Rachel Elizabeth Seed is a Brooklyn and Los Angeles-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing.

In 2025, she won the Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award for her debut feature film, A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY, which is also a New York Times Critics Pick.

Rachel’s work has received support from the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Films, the Jewish Film Institute, the California Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Maine Media Workshops, the Roy W. Dean grant, the National Arts Club, IFP, and many others.

Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited worldwide, including at the International Center of Photography, and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries. Rachel’s writing has been published by No Film School, the Sundance Institute, and Talkhouse and she is Executive Director / Co-founder of the Brooklyn Documentary Club, a NYC-based filmmaker collective with 250+ members.

Tom is a quadruple hyphenate actor / writer / producer / director. He’s raised over $30 million private equity for films. He has produced 20 films (produced his last two concurrently in August). His film Ask Me to Dance, which he directed, opens in Theaters October 7th in 30 cities around the country. In 2020, he was one of the Executive Producers of LANKSY, starring Harvey Keitel and Sam Worthington (his Producing partners on the movie produced The Hurt Locker and Dallas Buyers Club).

He’s written 30+ screenplays, and optioned, sold, or made into movies 25 of those screenplays, and he’s starred in a bunch of movies, including Love N’ Dancing and the Alphabet Killer. He’s also the President and co-owner of Glass House Distribution, a sales and distribution company, that now represents over 130 films in their catalog, recently opening a TV division. He Co-Owns FilmmakingStuff, one of the most popular film blogs online, and his book Bankroll was the gold standard book on film financing.

Marc Scott Zicree is an acclaimed writer, producer, director, and bestselling author whose career spans hundreds of hours of television for virtually every major studio and network. His credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Sliders, Beauty and the Beast, and many other iconic series. His landmark book The Twilight Zone Companion has sold more than half a million copies and was named by The New York Times one of the “Ten Science Fiction Books for the Ages,” inspiring creators including J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. Zicree is also the bestselling author of the Magic Time trilogy and the co-author of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. As writer, director, and executive producer of Star Trek: World Enough and Time, he won the TV Guide Award and received Hugo and Nebula Award nominations, while his career has also earned Hamptons, Rondo, and Saturn Awards and recognition as a Writers Guild Diversity Honoree. Alongside his wife Elaine, he has mentored thousands of filmmakers and founded The Table, a global creative community, and is currently the creator, writer, director, and producer of the acclaimed science fiction franchise Space Command.

Year 1 of the Producer’s Class (Classes 1-26) is based on Producer to Producer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Low Budget Independent Film Producing by Maureen A. Ryan, an award-winning producer whose credits include the documentaries Man on Wire, Dick Johnson Is Dead, and Becoming. This is the Bible for learning to develop & produce in the film industry. One of the most asked questions is, “What do Producers do?” Maureen Ryan says, “They make it happen.” This is what we are teaching, how to “make it happen” with developing and an emphasis on funding.

Year 2 and beyond of the Producer’s Class will expand on topics explored in Year 1 and new topics!

Carole Dean is the Founder and President of From the Heart Productions, a top-rated 501(c)3 non-profit that supports independent filmmakers by helping them raise funding for their projects. Over thirty years through From the Heart’s fiscal sponsorship program, she has assisted filmmakers in raising over $30 million for their films.

She created the Roy Dean Grant in 1992 and has awarded over $2,500,000 in grants to independent filmmakers, and helped to produce over 80 films through the grant.

Her creation of a business in 1970, Studio Film & Tape, that purchased leftover motion picture film from production then resold it at a discount, helped spark the independent film revolution by giving filmmakers affordable film stock.

In the 1980s, she produced 120 Health Styles Shows that were sold to Oasis Cable and 30 Filmmaker shows, now in the National Archives. She was Executive Producer for BAM 6.6, Women Behind the Camera, Step Away From the Stone, and American Chain Gang. More of Carole’s producing credits are available on IMDB.

Carole Dean is the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts & The Art of Manifesting: Creating your Future. Click here to see Carole’s complete Curriculum Vitae.

Carole Joyce Co-Host, From the Heart Productions Board Member and Producer A talented filmmaker, photographer, and producer, Carole Joyce is a Board Member of the 501(c)3 non-profit From the Heart Productions, and Director of the Roy W. Dean Grant, of which she has been an integral part of for over 20 years. Carole is also the CEO of Authentic Vision Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in independent film production and financing.

A graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Carole is an award-winning filmmaker for her documentary Survivors. Carole served as Executive Producer for the award-winning short film Stairway to the Stars starring Sean Young and as LA Line Producer for Wheels of Heaven with Mickey Rourke. Carole produced the short film Living UnDone, which won the Grand Jury Award at the Ethos Film Festival and Best Short Documentary for the Paris Film Festival. Carole is a Producer for the upcoming film Prodigal Daughter. Carole’s additional credits are available on IMDb. From the Heart Productions’ credits are also available on IMDb.

Carole also serves as an Advisor for the Authentic Global Film Festival and a Judge for the Ethos Film Festival.

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Founded over 30 years ago, From the Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting independent filmmakers at every stage of the creative journey.

Your purchase of this educational content constitutes a tax-deductible donation to From the Heart Productions, Inc. (EIN # 95-4445418). Purchases are exempt from Sales Tax. Proceeds from this purchase support our nonprofit mission to empower and support independent filmmakers in completing films that are unique and make a meaningful contribution to society. We do this through our five yearly grants, fiscal sponsorship, education, mentorship, and free resources.

Thank you for being part of this work.

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