Independent Film Financing

Learn independent film financing from business plans, investors and how to structure a financing deal:

  • How to confidently talk to (and convince) investors outside of the Industry.
  • The four essential independent business models deconstructed and the best one suited to you.
  • Who and what you’ll need on your team for success.

Sean Covel, producer of the highly successful Indie Film Napoleon Dynamite and professor at USC’s Peter Stark Program on Producing breaks-down the intimidating feat of financing your independent film into easily understood elements and steps.

Pitching Your Story

Step-by-step instructions by the woman who leads the business on how to pitch your story:

  • Unlocking the industry secrets of the pitch to make yours stand out among thousands.
  • In-depth checklists of creating the pitch to sell your screenplay.
  • How to pitch not just your story but yourself for a complete package that works (and how to avoid what doesn’t) to create the perfect pitch.

Jen Grisanti, the founder of the successful Jen Grisanti Consultancy and former Vice President of Current Programs, CBS Television and Head of Programming for Spelling Entertainment, has heard thousands of pitches and knows just how to make your’s sell.  

Writing Genre

What makes Hollywood so drawn to genre flicks?  In this craft-focused lesson from a leading team of genre screenwriters find out the tracks to great genre and great films:

  • Answer to the question “What is genre?” and hallmarks of great genre structure, character, plot and theme.
  • Realizing the differences and unique benefits to Comedy, Horror and Action/Adventure and how your dynamic characters can really come to life.
  • Concise direction on how to take your screenplay that one step further with decisive action scenes and thrills.

Michael Colleary, UCLA Masterclass professor, & Mike Werb, member of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, is Hollywood’s go-to writing team (Face/Off, Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, TV Show Extant) and they give you an in-depth dissection of what makes Comedy, Horror, and Action/Adventure so viable in the marketplace and how any screenwriter can make the most of genre and character.

Hollywood Managers: What They Do and How to Get One

Just what does a manager do, how do you get one and how do you work with one to sell your material?  In this video learn:

  • What managers do to sell you, and how they work compared to agents.  
  • The ultimate tactic to get not just a manager, but your manager, to have that inside middle-man working for you.
  • How to be a good client and how to find, and keep, that great manager.

Managers think for you and Aaron Kaplan, founder of Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment (500 Days of Summer, Paper Towns, Star Trek Beyond) tells you just how useful a manager can be to sell your work, how to make it better, and how to work in the Industry for the long haul.

How to Write Successfully in the New Television Landscape

This class explains how storytelling has changed in the new age of digital television and how to tailor your pilots and scripts to be relevant and cutting-edge:

  • In-depth breakdown of the key elements needs to stand out in today’s content market..
  • How to get attention for your show and how to make it last.
  • Find out why “niche is the new mainstream” for online streaming.

Neil Landau, Head of the Television Department at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and writer of Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead and shows such as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Melrose Place gives insider information about the changing digital market and what you can do to stand out and sell your work to Netflix, Hulu, On Demand, Amazon, and the dozens of online networks.

Writing the Television Pilot

Learn the difference between what makes a great pilot script, and how to make it stand out:

  • The seven unique story differences between a pilot and a feature in character, structure, environment and more.
  • Essential elements of a TV series that will make it work.
  • The advantages of a television series and what you, as a writer, can bring to its unique world.

Emmy-nominated producer/writer Ellen Sandler (Everybody Loves Raymond), author of the acclaimed The TV Writer’s Workbook, outlines and delivers the qualities that make television a medium that outshines any other and how you, as a writer, can succeed in it.

Working with A Producer

Learn what producers and executives are looking for in writers when optioning material or hiring for development:

  • Key factors that make an executive want to buy your script.
  • Strategies on how to network when you know no one, and how to keep your contacts.
  • Important visual representations to land (or ruin) a pitch!

Oscar-winning producer and former President of NBC Studios, Tom Nunan (Crash),  bridges the gap between sellers and buyers and shows you what to expect in order to sell your spec.