On Demand Webinar - Available for immediate viewing and unlimited access.
On Demand Webinar - Available for immediate viewing and unlimited access.
As a media consultant for actors, writers and producers, Deborah Gilels has helped build their representation teams, placing clients with top companies such as Ensemble Entertainment, Code Entertainment, the Arlook Group, Opus Entertainment, Echo Lake Management, the Warden Group, Shoreline, Infinity, ICM, Kazarian Measures, Abrams Artists, and Barry Krost Management. Gilels experience in the entertainment industry has run the gamut from film/television production and development to mergers and acquisitions in the international film market and public relations for film companies, writers, actors, authors and directors. Gilels has also taught at USC Film School Writer’s Program and been a guest lecturer at UCLA Extension School, Columbia College, and LA Film School. She has been an active board member for the LA Femme Film Festival for the past 11 years. At La Femme, Deborah has been in charge of the educational aspect of the festival, including all panels, seminars and special screenings, as well as corporate sponsorship and PR. Gilels’ company, LA Media Consultants has successfully run PR campaigns for independent films and shorts, as well as project and strategic development for production companies, writers and directors. She launched the prolific documentary Keiko the Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy at the 20th Anniversary celebration of Free Willy at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater. Partners included the Los Angeles Unified School District and New Regency Productions. Other launched projects include the television debut of Cevin Soling's award winning documentary The War on Kids currently airing on Pivot, the Lion’s Gate release of Chazz Palminteri- Andie MacDowell family drama Mighty Fine that opened at the Museum of Tolerance, and the US premiere of the documentary Fallout presented by Kat Kramer Films that Change the World. Full Bio »
The goal of this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar is to teach Stage 32 Filmmakers about greater outreach in their non-theatrical film releases that extend beyond VOD platforms to airlines, army bases, hotels, clubs, cruise ships, and educational venues.
This webinar will teach you the basics of non-theatrical releases, how to achieve these ancillary deals, what kind of equity can you expect, the decreased revenue from DVD and increased revenue from VOD and television. We’ll talk about the kinds of indie films and docs that are attractive to these ancillary markets and how to get these projects noticed!
Filmmakers can really box themselves in – thinking they have to either sell to a studio or risk losing their profit by aligning themselves with a sales agent who may or may not be fully transparent. On one hand you have one-stop shopping that will have its limits should the studios or larger indies pass and on the other hand you run the risk of never seeing any profit if you give your film to a sales company that will take the bulk, if not all, of the profit. Do not fall into either of these traps!
Your host, Deborah Gilels, has been a media consultant for the past 11 years, with prior experience in development, acquisitions and foreign sales. Now, working independently as a media consultant, she assists filmmakers and companies in areas such as strategic alliances, launching films and obtaining distribution. There are many ways to achieve the goal of getting your film out there- and in places you never thought likely!
Deborah Gilels
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Sometimes your story just can't be wrapped up in a neat bow with a perfect Hollywood ending. As a writer, you may weave a unique narrative and the idea of tying up all your loose ends into a neat resolution just doesn't seem right. Or, if you're a producer or filmmaker you might want to set your project up for a sequel, so you may want to have your characters riding off into the sunset once you get to the end. If wrapping up your story in perfect fashion doesn't appeal to you, why don’t you consider an Ambiguous Ending? Ask yourself: Is there an artful exit from your story that defies predictions and is both thought-provoking and exasperating in equal measure? Can you work your way towards an ending that people will argue about in the bar immediately afterwards and for months (even years) online? The Ambiguous Ending is a great storytelling trick to pull off, but it’s not easy. If you mess it up, you’re left with a confusing final reel that audiences are likely to dislike— and they’ll carry their loathing out of the theater with them. This webinar explores the possibilities and guides you past the pitfalls. The Ambiguous Ending can present major challenges for you as a storyteller: How do you lay a trail of plot breadcrumbs for your audience that seem to lead them in two directions at once? How do you develop characters who are simultaneously engaging while possibly lying through their teeth about the reality of the situation they’re in? How do you set up the rules of your narrative world so that one reality can peel off from another? How much misdirection is OK? This type of ending requires you as the storyteller to deploy a sophisticated toolkit out of the gate. Luckily, we have a story expert who served as the in-house story consultant for IM Global for nearly a decade and worked on developing films for Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks and Emma Watson. In this exclusive Stage 32 Next Level webinar Karina Wilson will look at some of the tricks and techniques you can use to create delicious doubt about the ending of your script in everyone but yourself. Praise from Karina's previous Stage 32 webinar: "Her presentation was well organized, her slides contained the right amount of information to digest and takes notes from. Her delivery was excellent." - Martha C. "I was so impressed!" - Loretta C. Karina is engaging, reassuring and inspiring. - Helen W. Karina is passionate about horror and has a lifetime of great experiences and information! - Cooke Q. I was so impressed! - Loretta C.
Includes Downloads Of The Pilot Scripts For RUSSIAN DOLL, FLEABAG, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL & KILLING EVE When it comes to today's streaming and television landscape you can easily paraphrase Beyonce... Who runs the world? Badass female characters do! From laugh-out-loud comedies like HACKS to emotionally charged dramedies like GINNY & GEORGIA to dark stories of corruption like THE DROPOUT, its never been a better time to write female-driven stories. In this exclusive Stage 32 on-demand webinar, you’ll learn how to create a female-driven story that only you can tell. Guiding you is Colleen Labella, the producer and Director of Development at Leslye Headland’s Shoot to Midnight. She has sold numerous television series, including Netflix’s RUSSIAN DOLL, Freeform’s SINGLE DRUNK FEMALE, and the upcoming Star Wars series THE ACOLYTE for Disney+. Colleen is dedicated to telling stories about womxn and the LGBTQIA+ community, and she’s bringing that passion and her years of experience to teach you: How and why the industry’s interest in womxn has changed Current patterns in popular female-led series What’s working and not working in today’s female-driven stories Current themes in these shows What is the future of female representation on television Common traps to avoid when writing these pilots How to develop new and interesting characters we haven’t seen yet Most importantly, Colleen will show you how combining your unique voice with different television formats and utilizing multiple storylines can enhance your work, creating a better script and series overall. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to hear from a fantastic expert working at one of the most in-demand production companies around. You’ll walk away with a stronger understanding of both female-driven series and where your voice fits into this growing market. Praise for Colleen's Stage 32 Education: " I strongly suggest Colleen Labella. She is amazing and so detailed.." - Susan W. "This was honestly one of the best webinars I have ever seen!" - Brianna C.
Learn how to produce your film that you direct from top producer and director, Shane Stanley, who's new film NIGHT TRAIN was #1 on Hulu for four consecutive weeks! PLUS! You'll receive exclusive handouts to help you produce your project! ***Flexible Learning: if you cannot attend any of the sessions live don't worry - you will be sent the links to the recordings of each session within 48 hours of the live session and you will have direct access to Shane on email to ask him any questions so you can keep up at your own pace and schedule.*** Payment plans available - contact edu@stage32.com for details Are you a director eager to get your film made but have found it hard to find a producer that will get the job done and create the opportunity you’ve been looking for? Then maybe it’s time for you to take control of your destiny and learn how to produce your film so you can direct the movie you want. All it takes is learning how to produce and understanding how the money in your project actually flows. We live in a moment where filmmakers can wear many hats and can better control how and where production money is spent on a project, giving them more control over their careers. Filmmakers who know how to produce and have a more comprehensive overview of their entire project, and who are well versed in the financial nitty gritty of their films, not just the creative elements, have a massive advantage. If you're a writer who wishes to direct a film, you need to learn how to think like - and consider becoming - a producer. If you're a director, it's paramount as your production is being put together to understand how to save money not only in assembling your cast and crew but also in the day-to-day operations of your production. Decisions like choosing the right equipment that you actually need can be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars per-week added to production costs, often money that is never making it onto the screen. Cutting deals with talent, selecting the right locations and knowing how to cut post-production deals will also assure you cross the finish line not only on time, but on budget. Essentially, it now falls on you, the writer and/or director, to oversee and produce your project if you want to get your film made with you in your dream job. While it may seem like there is now more work for you to get your project made, it is actually a blessing in disguise. As the person helming physical production of your project, you will have a better understanding of the creative elements you can include on screen by knowing how and where you are spending the money. However, in order to do this, you need to know how to function as a producer. That’s where we come in to help. In this exclusive Stage 32 4-part class, you will learn how to take the bull by the horns and produce your own project that you intend to direct. You will learn everything from how to assemble the right team for production and post-production, how and when to effectively and efficiently disperse funds, and how to determine the monetary value of above and below the line talent to pay your cast and crew fair market value to how to get the best deal with different vendors and, ultimately, how to deliver a polished product with your production and post-production team to maintain your creative vision. Teaching you everything you need to know to produce your own project is multi–Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Shane Stanley. Shane is the founder of Visual Arts Entertainment, a film and television production company based in Los Angeles and is best-known for producing the #1 Box Office hit, GRIDIRON GANG starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for Sony Pictures and directing several Music Videos that landed in the Top 20 on VH1. Shane’s recent projects include MISTRUST starring Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning actress Jane Seymour, the surprise smash-hit action film DOUBLE THREAT starring Dawn Olivieri and Matthew Lawrence, and NIGHT TRAIN starring Danielle C. Ryan and Diora Baird, among many others. Shane has successfully raised independent capital and produced his own films and is sharing his unique skillset exclusively with the Stage 32 community! Shane's new film, NIGHT TRAIN, that he produced, directed, and edited was recently #1 on Hulu four consecutive weeks! You’ll walk away from this information-packed and interactive 4-part class with the skills you need to bring your project to life so you can move your career forward in the way you want to. Particularly in independent films, not enough people know the costs, nuts and bolts or general run of a project, but after this course you’ll be able to produce your project to guarantee it gets made with you directing. PLUS! You’ll receive exclusive handouts to help you produce your own project successfully. Downloads include: Tax rebates/locations/incentives Deal Memo Templates (cast & crew) Location Agreements And more! Praise for Shane's Stage 32 Courses: "Shane was thorough and encouraging. Easy to listen to and follow. I'll be signing up for other classes he teaches in the future." -Karena K. "Just straight-forward, real, the kind of producer most of us would kill to work alongside." -Clark T. "Shane was relevant, knew what was happening, and could walk the walk." -Chuck R.
Any producer can tell you just how much goes into creating a budget for a film. Layer after layer, projection after projection, contingency after contingency, it’s always an incredibly difficult, incredibly fragile, and incredibly intricate document that take an immense amount of work and care to put together. And with so many elements involved, it’s just too big and specialized for a program like Excel to handle. There is a reason why nearly every studio, producer, accountant and unit production manager utilizes Movie Magic Budgeting to write budgets. If you are in the position where you have been asked to create a budget, Movie Magic is absolutely essential. It is the easiest and cleanest budgeting program and can handle anything from shorts to multi-cam and single camera series to full features. It is both simple and deeply complex as you start getting into the minutiae of everything it can do. Yet a solid understanding of how to operate Movie Magic is a powerful tool in the arsenal of those looking to move up into management on either the show or studio level and might be a requirement for those looking to find success in their producing career. Rami Rank is a leading and sought-after producer with credits on shows including Amazon's GOLIATH, Showtime’s DEXTER, SWINGTOWN on CBS, HELP ME and HELP YOU on ABC, as well as features such as the remake of APRIL FOOL'S DAY. Beginning his career working on indie features as a Production Coordinator, Production Manager and Line Producer, Rami later joined Universal Studios where in addition to helping manage the Backlot and Stage Operations he also ran UVS-1, Universal’s Virtual Production business. Since then, he returned to production and continues to put together high profile films and series. Through his storied career, Rami has become intimately familiar with the inner workings of Movie Magic Budgeting and set to share what he knows exclusively with the Stage 32 community. Rami will give a full walkthrough of how to successfully use the Movie Magic Budgeting (MMB) software to put together a budget for your own film or series. He will begin by giving an overview of what the budget will look like on MMB, including the top sheet, the accounts, details, helpful shortcut keys, and understanding what amt, units, x, cur, and rate mean. Next he will talk you through how to set up a budget from scratch, including how to choose the right template, input budget info, and set up your header and footer. Rami will teach you how to set up and use different units and will then delve into globals, explaining what they are and how to create them. He’ll to through global groups, applying globals and changing globals. Then he will discuss fringes, explaining what they are in the context of MMB, and go over percentage fringes, flat rate fringes, applying and removing fringes, and setting the fringe account. He will also explain how groups work on MMB, why they are important, how to create them yourself, and how to turn them on and off. Next Rami will explain how to use the currency function and how to set up and build contractual fees. Finally Rami will break down additional basic functions of MMB including pagination, recalculation, and printing and PDF conversion. Movie Magic Budgeting can be an intimidating software, but Rami will give you an accessible and actionable walkthrough so you can have the tools and confidence to build your own budget with it. Rami will be operating from Movie Magic's Version 7.7, the Legacy version of its budgeting software, which is also the version that most professional producers currently use. Praise for Rami's Stage 32 Webinar: "It was great, good presenter, very experienced, good communication" -Paul B. "Terrific host, valuable content." -Mark M. "Rami was great. He was entertaining, and showed he knew what he was teaching. Webinar flowed well and was engaging for the whole timeframe" -Nicholas B. "Very helpful, good overview of the software" -Angie L.
Only 10 Spots Available! 2 spots remain (early spots went to Writers' Room members first! Not a Writers' Room member? You're missing out!) Payment plans available - email edu@stage32.com Do you have an idea for a horror script and want the motivation to type FADE IN?If so, you can write your horror feature film screenplay in just 8 weeks with one-on-one mentoring from Sean Keller, a screenwriter and producer who has written for horror greats like John Carpenter and Dario Argento! Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity to bring your horror feature film to life under the guidance of a seasoned pro. Sean is a genre screenwriter and producer who, for over two decades, has written horror, science-fiction, and thrillers for Blumhouse, Hulu, ABC, SyFy, Lionsgate and more. He has also written for Nicholas Winding Refn, Chelsea Stardust and Antoine Fuqua. His dialog has been performed by Academy Award winning Best Actors Nicolas Cage, Anthony Hopkins, and Adrien Brody. With Sean's expertise and our hands-on approach, you'll whip up your horror masterpiece in just 8 weeks. Are you ready to take the next step to getting a draft done for your own horror feature film script? This is your chance! Your 8-Week Screenwriting Journey: You'll engage in an 8-week virtual screenwriting lab with Sean to write your horror or genre feature film script. You'll connect with Sean in virtual class sessions and one-on-one Zoom sessions. (If you have to miss a class, don't worry! You can watch the recording) Talk with Sean on email throughout the lab to ask any of your script, craft or career questions. Leave the lab with having written a completed script! Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity to bring your horror feature film to life under the guidance of a seasoned pro. Sean is a genre screenwriter and producer who, for over two decades, has written horror, science-fiction, and thrillers for Blumhouse, Hulu, ABC, SyFy, Lionsgate and more. He has also written for Nicholas Winding Refn, Chelsea Stardust and Antoine Fuqua. His dialog has been performed by Academy Award winning Best Actors Nicolas Cage, Anthony Hopkins, and Adrien Brody. Let's make your screenwriting dreams a thrilling reality! Join now and let the horror adventure begin!
Think about the classic images of a director—sitting in a canvas chair, making a frame with your fingers and thumbs, yelling ‘action’ or ‘cut’. None of those things could even come up when you’re directing for animation, though. Honesty, the job of an animation television director doesn’t even exist within the public lexicon. If you’re not already directly within the television animation industry, you might not even have a basic sense of what goes into this line of work. Yet the role of an animation director is very real and getting to this level on an animated television show can be rewarding and lucrative. Top animated shows like THE SIMPSONS, BOB’S BURGERS, BOJACK HORSEMAN, PEPPA PIG and RICK AND MORTY succeed because of the top directing talent at the helm. If you’re a writer, an artist, an illustrator, a storyboard artist, a director or just passionate about animated television, there is a path forward to get into this landscape and work towards directing episodes of your dream animated show. But it might help to have a blueprint to get there, understand how the world of animated TV works, how people become directors within this world, and what directors actually do. Veteran director Mike Disa is here to offer you this very opportunity. Mike Disa is the director of the hit Netflix series PARADISE PD and has been in the animation industry for over twenty-five years. Mike found success working with studios such as Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, and many others. Over a fascinating career, Mike has worked with some of the greatest and most infamous people in Hollywood including Steven Spielberg, Eric Goldberg, Ralph Bakshi, Glenn Close, Steve Oedekerk, David Tennant, Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler, Jeffery Katzenberg and Roy Disney. Mike Disa has extensive knowledge of countless facets of animated TV and film. Mike will give you the nuts and bolts on the overall landscape and the details of what it takes to direct for animated TV. Mike will begin by discussing what it actually is that a TV animation director does and how it differs from other types of directing. He’ll go over the relationship between storyboarding and directing and one can, but doesn’t necessarily, lead to the other. He’ll discuss the how to be successful, valuable, and noticed while working on animated TV and how that will differ at an indie company compared to a larger studio. Mike will then walk you through the different types of animated TV, including children’s scripted, prime time scripted, anime, and premise-driven unscripted, and how the role and expectations of the director differ from one category to another. Next, Mike will delve into the general TV animation pipeline, the 9 steps you should expect from script to finished product. Mike will discuss the dangers of getting typecast within the animation world and how to navigate this tricky area. He will then walk you through 13 necessary skills you will need to learn and display in order to become a director and what skills might not be as important as you think. Mike will prepare you for the biggest challenges of this line of work and go through 5 common mistakes directors make. He’ll then discuss what sort of pathway there is to creating your own animated show and the way to make a lot of money in this line of work. He’ll finally give some practical advice on how to better succeed within the world of animation, including the benefits of getting an agent and the possibility of switching to live action down the line. Praise for Mike's Webinar: "Mike is clear, insightful and conveys ideas and concepts very well. It was an excellent webinar!" -Jon P. "Mike Disa was amazingly generous with his time and information. And he was real. It doesn't get better than that. I'll be able to apply his insights and the information he shared immediately. I'm so glad I decided to participate." - Elizabeth A. "The webinar was excellent and very well paced. I truly appreciated the honesty and straightforwardness of the presenter. I learned a lot and look forward to the next one." - Jerry M. "Great information, Mike did an awesome job and I will look forward to his next webinar." - Diane M.