New Price Reduction for Making The Power Move from Amateur to Pro, this Sunday!

Yes, you read that subject line right.  The new, reduced ticket price for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career Strategy for Writers  is now a 60% savings at:  

*$40 per ticket*  

Please note that we've also changed the time to 12-5 pm, Sunday, March 6.  Take advantage of this incredible deal and buy your tickets today.  

That's not all: new price, new time and new panelists, too.  We are pleased to announce the addition of two speakers to the panel -- founder and CEO of Voyage Media Nat Mundel, and personal branding and marketing expert extraordinaire Nance Rosen.  This is an excellent opportunity to meet them and learn from their expertise.

For a taste of the insights from the Voyage Team watch the trailer: http://voyagemedia.com/videos/seminars/seminar_sizzle_for_writers_copy.mov

Voyage Media & The Writers Junction present:

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career Strategy for Writers

Sunday, March 6, 2011

***12 pm - 5 pm***

At The Writers Junction

1001 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica 90401

***NEW PRICE: $40 per ticket!  It's a steal!***

Purchase tickets here:

http://powermovemasterclass.eventbrite.com 

or on the Eventbrite widget below!

Space is limited, and seats will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

In case you haven't heard...

Establishing a career as an entertainment professional requires much more than just talent-it requires strategy.  Step out from behind that computer and approach the industry as a business person with a product to move and no time to waste. 

This class, taught by the executives and producers of Voyage Media, a company that has helped writers, producers, and directors package, polish and pitch over 1,100 high-profile entertainment projects in film, TV, and branded entertainment, offers the industry insiders' frank and honest instruction - stuff you'll never read in the trades or the how-to books-- on creating strategy and selling your work.  

Who will be there?

*Nat Mundel - Founder / CEO of Voyage Media*

Nat is a consummate adventurer and storyteller. After a successful career as a professional mountain climber, Nat formed Voyage in 2002 to help filmmakers develop, market and sell their projects. Notable projects the company has helped develop include BROTHERS (Lionsgate), THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Warner Bros), PET SEMATARY (Paramount), THE FORGOTTEN (ABC), MIAMI MEDICAL (CBS), LE REV (Wynn Las Vegas), MILLE MIGLIA (Ferrari World) and others. In addition to entrepreneurialism Nat enjoys surfing, flying, and personal growth. He lives with his wife in Topanga, California.  

*Nance Rosen*

A media commentator on CNBC, Nance Rosen has been named "America's Top Job Coach." Investor's Business Daily featured her in its Managing for Success column. Over 420 media outlets cover Nance on Personal Branding, Social Media, Business Communication and Success. She's a former marketing executive with The Coca-Cola Company, the number one most recognized brand in the world. She founded a division for Bozell Advertising and Public Relations, now Omnicom. She delivers keynotes and training, and coaches clients on marketing themselves to media and other high visibility positions. Her latest book is The Ugly Truth About Your Reputation: How to Create and Manage Your Personal Brand. Her last book is Speak Up! & Succeed: How to get everything you want in meetings, presentations and conversations. Nance is now CEO of NanceSpeaks! and Executive Publisher at Pegasus Media World. In 2009, she produced a Wall Street Journal bestseller, BusinessWeek bestseller and the number one sales book on Amazon. Nance is a world-class speaker and a faculty member at UCLA Extension. Her websites are NanceSpeaks.com and NanceRosenBlog.com. Nance is on the nominating and judging committees for the Personal Brand of the Year Award, a global competition. She is also the Tuesday columnist for PersonalBrandingBlog.com, with 104,000 followers.

Jesse Israel

Jesse Israel is a feature film producer living in Los Angeles and a consultant at Voyage Media.  His upcoming projects include AARON & SARA, starring Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson and directed by Neil Patrick Harris.  Jesse also spent many years as an executive and Vice President at Alcon Entertainment, where he worked on movies such as THE BLIND SIDE, THE BOOK OF ELI, LOTTERY TICKET, and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2.  He has also worked at Warner Brothers Pictures, Silver Pictures, Village Roadshow and Circle of Confusion. Before moving to Los Angeles, Jesse was a producer for Dateline NBC.   Jesse has an MFA from The Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California and a BA in History from Dartmouth College.

Elizabeth Kushman

Elizabeth Kushman is a 10-year veteran of the entertainment industry who got her start as an office Production Assistant on Wes Craven's DRACULA 2000. She continued working with Craven as his Creative Executive, developing such films as PULSE, CURSED and THE HILLS HAVE EYES.  Elizabeth went on to work at Kadokawa Pictures USA, where she rose to the rank of Vice President of Production.  For Kadokawa, Elizabeth was Associate Producer of Takashi Miike's MASTERS OF HORROR: IMPRINT (infamously banned as too shocking for broadcast) and of the TV series MASTERS OF HORROR: DREAM CRUISE. She was also a Co-Producer of the Warner Bros. feature ONE MISSED CALL which was a box office success grossing $45 million worldwide.  From 2008-10, Elizabeth was Vice President of Development & Production at Dimension Films, where she supervised a diverse slate including HALLOWEEN 2, YOUTH IN REVOLT, THE ROAD and SCREAM 4 for Bob and Harvey Weinstein.   She is now an independent producer in LA and a consultant at Voyage Media.

Victoria Foster

Victoria Foster has worked in film development since 2004.  She assisted a senior agent in the Motion Picture Literary Department at Creative Artists Agency, and pitched projects in the agency's Creative Group, to clients such as Hilary Swank, Cruise-Wagner, Flower Films, and many others, and served as Director of Development for two CAA motion picture directing clients.  She was involved in the development of SEASON OF THE WITCH, PATHFINDER, and most recently helped package SHRINK, which debuted at Sundance in 2009, and she is now VP of Development & Production at Voyage Media.   

In addition, we are pleased to announce that at the end of the day we will also be including a special guest speaker who produced The Blair Witch Project.  

It's harder than ever to break in to entertainment in a real way, but those that do reap richer rewards than ever.  Sign up for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro now to find out how you can employ the right strategies to drive your career powerfully forward.

Online Ticketing for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career powered by Eventbrite

Early Bird Gets the Movie Deal!

Is your film the next I Am Number Four?  Or will your creative vision take you Somewhere else?  Figure out the next move for your project with Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro:

• In-person seminar on selling a project and building a career 
• Learn the unspoken rules and "secret handshakes" straight from Hollywood insiders
• Shows how to move out of the amateur pool and start working

Establishing a career as an entertainment professional requires much more than just talent-it requires strategy.  Step out from behind that computer and approach the industry as a business person with a product to move and no time to waste. 

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro offers Insider knowledge on the strategizing, selling, politicking, self-agenting, reputation-building, and other business skills you need to establish a paid, lasting career in the industry. 

Taught by the executives and producers of Voyage Media, a company that has helped writers, producers, and directors package, polish and pitch over 1,100 high-profile entertainment projects in film, TV, and branded entertainment, this course provides a fresh-from-the-field perspective on building a career in an exclusive, seemingly impermeable industry.  It teaches you how to:

• Avoid wasting time on the wrong ideas (and start spending time on the right ones)

• Stop going it alone.  Choose supporters and delegate the way the pros do

• Be your own agent - and use their best tricks to your advantage

• Get ready to pitch and sell so you don't blow it when your moment comes

• Build a reputation that will get you hired again and again

• Spot and avoid the common mistakes everyone seems to keep making

You'll get frank and honest instruction - stuff you'll never read in the trades or the how-to books - on creating strategy and selling your work from the course speakers, including:

Jesse Israel

Jesse Israel is a feature film producer whose upcoming projects include AARON & SARA, starring Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson, and directed by Neil Patrick Harris. As a Vice President at Alcon Entertainment, he worked on films including THE BLIND SIDE, THE BOOK OF ELI, LOTTERY TICKET, and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2.

     

Elizabeth Kushman

Elizabeth Kushman is a 10-year veteran of the entertainment industry who got her start as an office Production Assistant on Wes Craven's DRACULA 2000. Elizabeth went on to work at Kadokawa Pictures USA, as Vice President of Production and Dimension Films, where she supervised a diverse slate for Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Victoria Foster

Victoria Foster has worked in film development since 2004.  She holds an MFA in Film Directing and Entertainment Business from the USC school of Cinema-Television, assisted a senior agent in the Motion Picture Literary Department at Creative Artists Agency, and pitched projects in the agency's Creative Group, to clients such as Hilary Swank, Cruise-Wagner, Flower Films, and many others, and served as Director of Development for two CAA motion picture directing clients.  She is now VP of Development & Production at Voyage Media.  

It's harder than ever to break in to entertainment in a real way, but those that do reap richer rewards than ever.  Sign up for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro now to find out how you can employ the right strategies to drive your career powerfully forward.    

Sunday, March 6, 2011

10 am - 6 pm

At The Writers Junction

1001 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica 90401

The Early Bird Discount ($80 tickets) will be offered until FEBRUARY 27TH.  Tickets sold after Feb. 27th will cost $100, so buy your tickets today!

Purchase tickets here:

http://powermovemasterclass.eventbrite.com 

or in the widget below!

Space is limited, and seats will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Online event registration for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career powered by Eventbrite

Indie vs. Studio and Where You Fit In!: Seminar with Daniel Manus

Is your film the next Iron Man or the next Little Miss Sunshine?  

Find out next week at "Indie vs. Studio and Where You Fit In!," a seminar led by script consultant Daniel Manus.  Start learning the business and make your movie happen!

When: Wednesday, March 2nd
Where: The Writers Junction, 1001 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Admission: FREE!
All attendees must register here.
open to members & non-members

From Daniel Manus:
"In the ever-changing worlds of studio and independent film, sometimes it becomes unclear where your project fits best. This class will cover:  How to know if your project is better suited for studios or indies; The different types of companies and the differences between them; What studios are (and aren’t) looking for; Financing options and how indies and studios differ; Packaging-- the best way to get your work noticed and differences between packaging for indies and studios; Indie story archetypes; Option vs. Attachment Agreements; Getting your indie script noticed; Q&A"

Daniel Manus has a multi-faceted understanding of the film industry, and here's a chance to get a glimpse of it for FREE!  Seats are limited, so make sure to come early!

About Daniel Manus:
Daniel Manus is an in-demand script consultant and founder of No BullScript Consulting. In 2010, he was ranked Top 15 "Cream of the Crop" Consultants by Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He’s been a development executive in Hollywood for several years for companies including Clifford Werber Prods and Sandstorm Films. He is the author of "No BS for Screenwriters: Advice from the Executive Perspective," a columnist for The Business of Show Institute and teaches seminars across the country.

LA GrandSLAM Championship: Into the Wild

Shake yourself out of next week's Monday morning blues with some intense verbal action at The Moth's LA GrandSLAM: VIII, hosted by comedian Brian Finkelstein. Watch skillful storytellers get primal as they duke it out with their wildest tales!

When: Monday, February 21st
Where: The Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Doors open at 7 pm
Stories begin at 8 pm
Seats are on a first come, first serve basis, so make sure to arrive early!

From The Moth:
"The Moth presents the GrandSLAM, a battle of wits and words -- fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking and all points between. Listen as ten StorySLAM champs tell tales about Mother Nature or human nature, backwoods and boondocks, the beast within, or the beast on the other side of the tent wall. Stories of survival skills or Guys & Girls Gone Wild.

The Moth is dedicated to finding intriguing people to tell inspired stories. At The Moth StorySLAM, those people find us. On this night, using words as weapons, they word-it-out to determine The Moth's LA GrandSLAM Story Champion!"

Whose voice will be the victor? Buy your tickets ($18 each) at www.ticketweb.com to find out!

Flawed but Loved: Writing Character

Here’s a tip from screenwriting teacher Julie Gray in Monday night’s detailed workshop, Writing Organic Characters Straight From the Heart: invest in flawed but active main characters.  

In order to make that tangible investment in our characters, Julie’s writing exercises had us asking our main characters a series of questions about who they are, what they want, and why they so desperately want it.  The idea is to answer these quickly and instinctively and then to explore how those desires change over the course of your story.  Fully investigating your characters desires can pull you out of writers block or trigger a detail that transforms your understanding of your character. 

Julie encourages writers to also ask similar questions of yourself (I am….?  I want…?) Asking these questions can give you insight about yourself, and what you might want to change about yourself.  This is no small thing since we often have the sticky, albeit unavoidable, habit of imbuing a lot of ourselves in our main characters.  

Story is no story without a flawed main character.  Don’t make the mistake of falling too much in love with your character on page one…Julie wants us to fall in love with who our character becomes at the end of the story instead.  Don’t make them so likable from beginning to end that they never get a chance to grow and change.  Unfortunately, we may be unwilling to admit our characters’ flaws because we don’t want to get into our own.

If there was one thing Julie wanted writers to take away from the night it was to make your character's flaws active, active active.  Can others identify the flaw in the way your character acts?    Where “arrogance” is an active flaw (a braggart who puffs up his chest and walks around like he owns the place), “fear of failure” is not.  You can use fear of failure as the building block, but try “perfectionism” on for size as that character’s active flaw and see how the story grows.

It might not be a very pretty sight, but ripping off the Band-Aids that cover our characters’ scars is an act of tough love that we need to do to keep them honest, and to not so gently prod them into becoming characters to be truly smitten with in the end.

For more writing tips from Julie Gray, visit her screenwriting blog, Just Effing Entertain Me.