Entertainment company Veritas Gold, LLC visits festival #Pi5

The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival is just one such events Harold Whitfield, owner of media and entertainment company Veritas Gold, LLC visits each year. “I get a chance to see a lot of good work,” he said of independent festivals. “The only difference between an independent film and a studio film is who pays for it.” Whitfield said he’s been involved in major film projects including The Help, Contagion, Ladder 49 and Syriana and focuses on funding and legislative issues related to the film industry. He said there’s one thing that stands out most in any film. “Good storytelling is key to everything, no matter what the technology is. And if you can tell a good story, you fall into that five percent of screenplays that are in development that I guess David Trottier and the Screenwriter’s Bible talk about being successful projects.” Whitfield said he frequently sees films that are promising, but that need to be developed more in order to make them commercially viable. “It’s the art, but at the same time, 70 percent in my mind, of the business is now business, and about 35 percent or 30 percent is actually the art.”

With new markets opening up in new countries, many of which provide more government and financial support to filmmakers, Whitfield said that competition in filmmaking will only become stiffer. Independent film festivals, he said, are a good way to see films that are more focused on art, which, he said, is refreshing, but cautioned independent film makers who want to make a career out of their work to keep business in mind. “I want them to understand that it’s alright if you have a full time job, but if you want to do this for a living, you want to buy a house and live in down town Philadelphia, you have to meet a certain bench mark,” he said. Whitfield came to the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival on invitation and was in attendance at several movies on Saturday night.