Branding and Selling Yourself as a Screenwriter: How to Stand Out, Get Read and Build a Successful Career
Webinar hosted by: Tiegen Kosiak
Producer at Dashon Productions
Tiegen Kosiak is a film, TV, and digital producer as well as the co-founder of The Young Hollywood Mafia, an entertainment networking group with 150+ members currently working in the industry. Tiegen is currently partnered with an A-list actress on a hit Netflix family comedy series. Additionally, Tiegen is producing the $3MM thriller BORREGO, which she discovered in a Stage 32 pitch session last year. The project is incubating at a major studio with a high-level cast attachment. She is also producing RAVENOUS, another feature she found in a Stage 32 pitch session. Tiegen is the former Director of Development for Zoe Saldana's Cinestar Pictures ("Rosemary's Baby", QUANTUM IS CALLING, THE HONOR LIST) where she navigated the first-look deal with Lionsgate and Televisa as well as an additional digital production deal with AwesomenessTV. Before Cinestar, she was the Executive Assistant to the President of Production & Literary Management at Untitled Entertainment (client credits include WONDER WOMAN, "Game of Thrones", GONE GIRL). Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
You know what you like to write, but do you know your personal brand as a writer? Branding yourself as a writer is an integral part of your strategy toward getting read, securing representation, attracting development executives and producers, and, ultimately, securing a long and successful career in the entertainment industry. Should you write in a variety of different formats or stick to one? Should you settle in on a tone or style or show your versatility? All of these questions (and many more) will factor in to how you brand yourself as a writer. Your brand is equal parts preferred medium, chosen genre(s), and personal voice/style. Once all of this is determined and developed, it will become easier to for you, your representation team, and/or your production company to sell/produce/finance your material.
There are more screenwriters than ever looking to secure and maintain a career writing for film, television, and now, digital content. But with so much talent vying for limited opportunities, it’s important to find a way to stand out from the crowd. And because there are very few new stories, only fresh takes on proven formulas, a writer’s unique voice and style are paramount when creating and selling content. This voice/style combined with preferred genres and mediums make up a writer’s brand, and cultivating that brand is instrumental in selling yourself and your material in Hollywood. And you don’t need representation or a production company behind you to do it! Developing your brand as a writer starts and ends with you. Once you fully understand, determine and develop your brand with confidence, you’ll find that many more representatives, producers, and other buyers will be willing to jump on your bandwagon.
Tiegen Kosiak began her career working with, among others, the Academy Award-winning writers of BIRDMAN and the creator of STEP UP and SAVE THE LAST DANCE. While working in management and development Tiegen recognized how integral a writer’s brand was in submitting material, setting meetings, and pitching clients for open writing assignments. Prior to her new role working with an A-list actress who has a producing deal with Netflix, Tiegen worked for Cinestar Pictures, Zoe Saldana’s production company. In these roles Tiegen uses branding every day to option material, sell screenplays, and attach writers to projects. She'll help you understand how you can stand out, get read and get sold!
Tiegen will teach you the tools needed to craft your brand as a writer and how to use that brand to sell yourself and your material to representatives, producers, and other content buyers in the entertainment marketplace. No matter if you're writing for features or television, Tiegen will show you how to rise above the competition by finding your lane and using this focused strategy to get reads and get you in rooms that matter. Whether you're looking for representation or searching for new representation, Tiegen will teach you 9 invaluable tips on approach that won't make you "just another writer" in the eyes of a rep. She will teach you how to choose the right representation (so important). She will explain and help you navigate where to find work, how to handle, general, pitch and network meetings, and how best to approach producers. In short, she will give you all the tools to help brand you and your writing so executives, reps, and decision makers want to read you and work with you from the jump!
PRAISE FOR TIEGEN'S TEACHINGS:
I found it very helpful and entertaining. I was shocked at how fast the time went. Tiegen packed a lot of great information into the 90 minutes. I know this is a webinar I will listen to again.
- Cam C.
This was an EXCELLENT webinar! Useful, unique information. Tiegen generously shared an enormous amount of information. Writing is a strenuous, though rewarding endeavor, and her detailed observations and vigorous, yet concise, genotype theories, as it were, have inspired my work ethic. And triple thank you for mentioning there are management companies with offices in NYC, not far. I don't live in LA, and have been worried for ages about that geographic block. Thank you Tiegen, and Stage 32.
- Gerri G.
What You'll Learn
Understand the Hollywood Landscape and its Players
- Who falls under each of these categories and what to expect working with them:
- Creatives
- Sellers
- Buyers
What Should You Write and How Do You Brand Yourself?
- Should you write many different things or focus on one thing?
- Should you write a variety of different formats?
- What should you consider when it comes to genre, tone, theme, etc.
- How to start building your "branding" as a writer, with TV and feature examples
- How to find your "lane"
Where to Find the Right Representation and How to Approach Them
- Differences between agents/managers/lawyers
- 9 tips on how to approach representation
- How to choose the right representation
- How to effectively utilize your representation
- All problems are not solved once you get repped
Matching Your Writing to the Right Production Company
- Where can you get writing work and the different opportunities for each:
- Production company
- Studio
- Network
- Overall vs. first look deals
- Types of meetings, what to expect and how to prepare:
- General meetings
- Pitch meetings
- Networking meetings
- Production companies are brands, too:
- Breaking down Blumhouse, A24, Skydance, Lifetime
- Balancing brands - how to match your style to theirs
Q&A with Tiegen
About Your Instructor
Tiegen Kosiak
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Testimonials
Great webinar - lots of great useful info - Thanks! ~Ron H.
Very informative. ~Vicki V.
I think Tiegen was absolutely wonderful. I would love the opportunity to have coffee with her one day. I learned a great deal from a really appealing and knowledgeable woman. ~Simone Y.
I found it very helpful and entertaining. I was shocked at how fast the time went. Tiegen packed a lot of great information into the 90 minutes. I know this is a seminar I will listen to again. ~Cam Clark
This was an EXCELLENT webinar! Useful, unique information.Tiegen generously shared an enormous amount of information. Writing is a strenuous, though rewarding endeavor, and her detailed observations and vigorous, yet concise, genotype theories, as it were, have inspired my work ethic. And triple thank you for mentioning there are management companies with offices in NYC, not far. I don't live in LA, and have been worried for ages about that geographic block. Thank you Tiegen, and Stage 32. ~Gerri George
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