TV Series Pitch Document Writing Lab (One on One Mentoring)
Other education that may be of interest to you:
Getting Notes On Your Script and What They Actually Mean: The Note Behind the Note
As a writer, receiving notes on your material may be a difficult part of the process but, ultimately, it's part of your job. And understanding how to deal with and apply those notes to your writing may be your most important job of all. Make no mistake, all writers are precious about their work, and taking notes is never easy, but the sooner you open yourself to receiving and understanding your notes, and the note behind the note, the more likely your work will become tighter and you'll signal that you're a writer that people want to hire and/or pay for your work. Film and television are the ultimate collaborative medium. You write alone (or in a team), but to make the final product, the work of dozens to hundreds of people is required, and they all have a contribution to make. The work is a product to be sold to buyers and an audience, and they get a say in what they want to purchase and consume. Screenwriting is also the ultimate iterative process. No script is ever perfect on the first draft, and scripts evolve and grow even during production itself. So you will be receiving notes – lots and lots and lots of them. Some you will ask for: notes from other writers, professional consultants, managers and agents. Some you will hope for: producers, executives, directors and stars. Some you will agree to: showrunners, studio and network executives. And some will remind you that necessity is the mother of invention: from line producers, casting directors, set dressers, and costume designers. The bottom line is you need to understand what these notes mean and how to execute them when you agree and what to do when you don't. Anna Henry is a Producer and Development Executive. Anna has set up projects at Sony, 20th Television, EOne, Starz, Amazon, Netflix, Corus, ITV America and more. Anna began her career as a development executive at Nickelodeon, then crossed over to prime-time television working at CBS and ABC in drama development and programming before working in management and establishing herself as a Producer. Anna has been on the giving and receiving end of script notes of literally hundreds of scripts throughout her career. She has developed a strong understanding on the "lingo" of script notes and what the note behind the note means when it comes to your script. Now, you will learn how to dissect the feedback you get on your script from an executive's perspective. Anna will take you through the entire process of receiving notes. She will take away the anxiety of the entire process and teach you how to accept notes with professionalism and grace. She will explain to you who you should be getting notes from and how listening to the wrong voices can set you back. She will teach you what notes you should think about and when you should take a note as gospel. She will explain what notes are worth challenging and which you should absolutely adapt. She will help guide you through what it means when you get notes that go over structure, plot, stakes, character and exposition. She will take you through logic and clarity, cuts, action lines, dialogue and scene notes. And, she'll even go over what you should do if you get vague notes, nit picky notes and when you get suggestions and alternatives. Anna will remove all the fear and apprehension one feels when asking for and receiving notes, giving you a comprehensive guide to reference every time you get notes on your work. You will learn how apply them to tighten your work and put yourself in a position to sell your material and/or get hired! PRAISE FOR ANNA'S TEACHINGS: Great webinar and Ms. Henry really shines as a very knowledgeable and caring professional. -Angela U Great presenter. She provided a wealth of information. -Karen B
TV Series Pitch Document Writing Lab (One on One Mentoring)
The writing lab is full. If you have any questions, contact edu@stage32.com By popular demand, we're bringing in TV executive Anna Henry (who has 100% satisfaction with her webinars!) to teach a one-on-one TV pitch document writing lab! Need help with writing your TV series pitch document? Look no further! Anna's here to help. "I thought it was a great course and really helped me understand the format. Anna is knowledgeable and quickly cuts through to what can help your story better. Her notes on my script were insightful and really demonstrated her thorough experience." - Lee L. "Anna’s class was by far the most thorough, well put together, and organized screenwriting class I’ve ever taken. I have an MFA in filmmaking and, after graduating, I still felt as if I didn’t fully understand the structure of pilot writing. Anna’s class laid it out step by step and she went through every piece in detail. She was also extremely available to her students. During our one-on-one sessions, I expected to have a quick 15 minute call with her but she ended up speaking extensively with me about my story from outline through script stages. She really, truly cares for her students and is there to answer any questions, which, given her abundant experience in the industry, is a priceless piece of her labs. Thank you, Anna!" - Jacqueline D. "Anna was concise, and detailed. I've been working on log-lines/treatments/synopsis for 2 years for my scripts and never had it nailed like Anna was able to do. She rocks!" - Cheryl Lynn S. This is the golden age of television and the appetite for content has never been greater. What does everyone network and streamer want? Fresh, unique, authentic voices with never-been-told stories. While the door is open to new writers, the competition is fierce. Of course you need a very strong finished script, but before that will be read, you need to be able to communicate what makes your show stand out from the crowd, what will make people want to watch it for years and years, and why you are passionate about writing it. You need a blueprint of what the series will be beyond one episode. That's where a pitch document (aka bible, aka treatment) comes in. Whether you are selling your show verbally, sending the pitch to a potential producer, or applying for a fellowship, this document carries the weight of your imagined world with all its inhabitants and stories. That's a tall order! So where do you begin? How do you organize your ideas? What should be in a pitch? How detailed should you get? Should you start with a summary of the pilot? Should you have ideas for future episodes? What should you say about your characters? In this lab we will delve deep into writing an effective pitch for your scripted television idea - one that will clearly communicate your intentions, excite the reader, and convey your voice and your passion. I have spent my career developing television projects with writers and selling those show ideas as a development executive, manager and producer. What I have found is that most screenwriters have taken classes that helped them learn about story structure, writing scenes, dialogue, etc. but writing a pitch is entirely different. Most writers need help with switching gears and selling their story in addition to telling it - which is the purpose of this lab. Payment plans are available - contact edu@stage32.com for more details
Writing a Network Pitch and Pilot that Sells
THIS WEBINAR HAS A 100% SATISFACTION RATING! Network TV is dead, right? All good shows are on cable and streaming! Not so fast! Network TV is alive and well, as demonstrated by the critical success and healthy ratings of shows such as 9-1-1, Black-Ish, Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Resident, New Amsterdam, as well as powerhouse veterans such as Grey's Anatomy, Law and Order, The Simpsons and NCIS. Broadcast networks are increasingly having to compete for top talent and ideas in a crowded marketplace. While landing a series order from ABC or FOX is no easy feat, the networks’ deep coffers mean they can buy and develop a high volume of shows, season after season. Producers of course enjoy the prestige of developing ideas for HBO or Amazon, but they are equally eager to find the next network hit, which can yield huge financial dividends with multiple season orders. What’s more, agents and managers judge prospective clients based on their original pilot scripts, and the right network pilot can demonstrate to a potential representative that you are ready to staff and ready to sell. As a manager, I always recommend writers have at least two or three finished scripts ready to go, and a mix of cable and network samples increases the number of producers and executives who may be interested in your work. In this webinar, you will learn about the brands and programming models of broadcast networks, how to know what ideas they will find appealing, what you need to include in your network pitch, and the do’s and don’ts of writing your network spec pilot.
Writing Lab: Write Your TV Pilot and Learn How to Pitch it in 10 Weeks
***Sorry, the lab is filled!*** This lab is designed for beginner and intermediate screenwriters looking to build a pilot from scratch or expand on an existing idea. With the TV market exploding right now, 30-minute and 60-minute TV drama and dramedy pilots are in demand. Many, if not all, managers and agents are looking for writers that can write in this space, and with more and more production companies heading into TV, knowing how to write a strong TV pilot will give you a competitive advantage and help you find success as a TV writer! Stage 32 is thrilled to have our Writing Lab: Write Your TV Pilot and Lean How to Pitch it in 10 Weeks taught by Anna Henry who is a veteran TV development executive that's worked with ABC, CBS, Nickelodeon, SONY, 20th Century FOX Television, Amazon, Starz, EOne, OddLot Entertainment, Corus, ITV America and more. This hands-on intensive lab will guide you through picking a concept, creating engaging characters, structuring and outlining your pilot, writing the pilot, polishing and pitching it! You must have a solid understanding of screenwriting to participate. We will not be going over the basics. The main objective of this 10-week lab will be to have a solid completed script that is market-ready to start pitching. You will meet online with Anna for 2 hours a week in a class setting, plus have phone or Skype consultations during some of the weeks when you don't have an online class. This will be accompanied by weekly homework assignments to guide you on your way to creating a marketable, unique pilot that will grab the industry's attention. Payment plans are available - please contact edu@stage32.com for more information. This Lab is Limited to 10 People.
Stage 32 Directing Workshop: Master Your Vision
Maximize your creativity with the guidance of a professional filmmaker with over 40 years of experience in this directing intensive, covering everything from development through post-production. You’ll take a deep dive into everything expected of you as a director and how to achieve your vision. Do you dream of directing your own feature but worry that you don’t have the training or experience to make it happen? Whether you want to establish yourself as an independent filmmaker, build a career within the traditional system, or become an accomplished television director, all it takes is one project to set your career in motion. But directing is more than supervising a crew and telling actors how to emote. Directing starts months before cameras start rolling, as you lock the script, determine your vision, and set a production plan to execute it. It’s an enormous task and one that you need to know what it entails before jumping in. This Stage 32 exclusive on-demand course teaches you just that. Starting with how to break down a script and design a visual story, through pre-production with scouting and casting, to the actual production and managing your cast and crew, and through post-production, where you have the last chance to create your vision. You’ll learn time-management skills and tools to collaborate with your crew and actors so that everyone is as excited and invested in the project as you. You’ll even see how directors get hired in the industry for directing jobs, so you can hit the ground running in your career. Taking you through these invaluable tools is feature film and television director Bobby Roth, who has over 40 years as a director in the business and whose films have been honored at over 70 international film festivals. He’s worked with top-tier talent, including Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno on the film THE BOSS’ SON, who won Best Supporting Actress at the Miami International Film Festival. He’s been nominated and won several awards for his work in features, including the films HEARTBREAKERS, BAJA OKLAHOMA, DEAD SOLID PERFECT, MANHOOD, and BERKELEY. He’s also directed countless hours of television on popular shows, such as GREY’S ANATOMY, MACGYVER, and AGENTS OF SHIELD. Using his decades of experience, Bobby will show you how a director learns all the filmmaking skills, such as screenwriting, casting, editing, and composing, in order to build great partnerships with every member of production and create a beautifully cohesive story. After this intensive, you will have access to this incredible resource on-demand. You will also walk away with confidence that you know everything being a director entails and how to achieve a fantastic film with your team.
How to Develop, Package, and Sell Your Podcast and Make it a Hit
The world of podcasts has exploded and become an industry to be reckoned with. Over 175 million Americans listen to podcasts on at least a monthly basis, and individual shows can have millions of fans. An art form in its own right, podcasts have also become a proving ground for stories to be adapted for television or movies. Podcasts like FRIDAY'S WITH, THE COLDEST CASE IN LARAMIE, and SPEAKING OF GOING have taken the world by storm. It turns out to stand out you need more than a great concept and some fancy audio equipment. For a podcast to really pick up steam it needs to be packaged similar to a film or TV series. It usually needs producing partners, it needs banner names and talent, and it needs a distributor or network that is willing to pick it up. So what do you need to do know before you write that first word or produce that first .wav file? How can you put the odds in your favor and still enjoy the ride? Mark Ramsey is the creator, writer, and host of several imaginative, top-ranked podcasts for Wondery including INSIDE STAR WARS, INSIDE PSYCHO, INSIDE THE EXORCIST, and INSIDE JAWS. He wrote and directed POPS! THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF JAZZ LEGEND LOUIS ARMSTRONG starring Reno Wilson (MIKE AND MOLLY, GOOD GIRLS), and THE UNDERCOVERS, hosted by Ed O'Neill (Modern Family). Mark is currently co-producing the upcoming podcast AFTERSHOCK, a full cast fiction audio thriller just acquired by iHeartMedia and starring Sarah Wayne Callies (THE WALKING DEAD, COLONY), David Harbour (STRANGER THINGS), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (THE WALKING DEAD). He is also writing and narrating a podcast adaptation of THE LAST STONE, a true crime story from New York Times best-selling author Mark Bowden (BLACK HAWK DOWN) and is developing a podcast version of William Kotzwinkle’s classic THE FAN MAN, starring David Arquette (SCREAM). Mark will lay out how to properly develop and package your podcast in order for it to hopefully get picked up by a podcast network and serve as IP for future opportunities. He’ll delve into what the podcast landscape looks like and what it takes for a podcast to become a hit. He’ll share the 4 main ways you can increase your odds for discovery and discuss the need for getting a podcast distributor on board. He’ll also go over how best to bring name actors on board and get them excited on your project. Mark will then teach you how to nail your pitch to networks and podcast distributors, what sort of pitch documents you should prepare and how to communicate your show to get executives on board. Mark will even provide case studies of real pitch documents he’s created for his own shows and go through what about them worked and didn’t. Finally, Mark will discuss the path from hit podcast to IP and what next steps can be. Mark's deep experience in the podcast space and the success he has found through his career has given him the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to make a podcast hit, and he's going to share what he knows with the Stage 32 community. Making a podcast hit means more than a great concept or script. Mark will walk you through what you actually need to do to give your show the platform it needs to find success. Praise for Mark's Stage 32 Teaching: "Mark is amazing. I learned so much from this webinar that I'm going to bring with me as I try to get my first podcast off the ground." - Noah L. "Tons of valuable information here not just for those looking to make a podcast, but for anybody telling stories in film, novels, television, you name it. Highly recommend." - Haley R. "I can't recommend learning from Mark enough. He's a wealth of information." - Zach C.
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