Developing Your Young Adult Film or TV Series
Webinar hosted by: Michele Weisler & Susan Stremple
Producers behind The Netflix hit trilogy, THE KISSING BOOTH (Weisler) & WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING Starring Sandra Bullock (Stremple)
Michele Weisler (Producer) has over twenty-five years of entertainment industry experience. As an independent producer, the goal for Weisler is to not only create content for entertainment but that will motivate the mind and heart toward tolerance and understanding and compassion. Earlier in 2022 Weisler Executive Produced DARBY AND THE DEAD for Disney/Hulu and before that completed KISSING BOOTH HIT TRILOGY for Netflix. It is one of the most watched films in the history of Netflix, and all pictures had their time in the number 1 slot! Adapted from the novel and directed by Vince Marcello. Weisler is collaborating with Marcello on various other projects, including two musicals for film and television. Some other titles Weisler is focusing on presently include a the Nobel novel, THINGS FALL APART, by acclaimed African novelist CHINUA ACHEBE, true life story of Biddy Mason, the first female slave to own land in the state of CA. Weiser is also developing several YA best sellers, such as, ONE FOR THE MURPHY’S by Linda Mullaly, TELL ME THREE THINGS, by Julie Buxbaum and THE ODDS OF LOVING GROVER CLEVELAND by Rebekah Crane, both digging deep in fictional human stories in order to inspire and motivate positive action and a deeper compassion-- toward all people. Weisler produced TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, a father –daughter story starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake and will collaborate for a second time with Director Rob Lorenz and writer Randy Brown on UNABOM, an FBI story. In television, Weisler is actively pursuing several projects, one penned by Dan Fante, entitled POINT DOOM, based on his novel and several other adaptations. In addition, Weisler developed and produced the TV pilot “Hound Dogs” for TBS, set in the Nashville’s minor league baseball world, written and directed by Ron Shelton. Weisler is also collaborating with youth psychologist Andrew Okoh, working on THE JOURNEY PROJECT, a documentary that focuses on taking African American youth in gangs from South Central Los Angeles and introduce them to their real roots--- in Nigeria. Weisler executive produced STREET KINGS for Fox Searchlight, written by James Ellroy, directed by David Ayer and starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker. Weisler also served as Executive Producer on RING I AND RING II for Dreamworks in 2002 and 2005. Also in 2002, Weisler developed and produced the feature “Try Seventeen,” directed by Jeff Porter and starring Elijah Wood, Franka Potente and Mandy Moore. Her earlier credits include Executive Producer on the films “Novocaine,” starring Steve Martin, Laura Dern and Helena Bonham-Carter, which opened the 2001 Toronto Film Festival, and STIR OF ECHOES starring Kevin Bacon, which marked her second collaboration with director David Koepp. Weisler had earlier served as an associate producer on Koepp’s directorial debut feature “The Trigger Effect,” and Co-Produced DreamWorks’ family film “Paulie.” Weisler graduated with a degree in film from the University of Wisconsin, and then began her career as an intern working on Roger Corman’s horror movie THE NEST. Rising through the ranks of Corman’s Concorde Pictures, she co-produced over 20 feature films, eventually becoming responsible for all physical production at the company by the age of twenty six. Susan Stremple began her career in the film industry immediately following graduation from UCLA in 1985. Over the next 15 years she worked in physical production and served as a creative producer across a broad genre of films. She began her production work at Concord New Horizon Studios where she worked with Roger Corman producing low budget thrillers. She then moved on from Concord to produce “BEVERLY HILLS BODY SNATCHERS”, an independent movie directed by Jon Mostow (Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines, U-571). Stremple then developed and co-produced “3 NINJAS”, an independent movie directed by Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon, National Treasure, Cool Runnings). “3 Ninjas” was purchased by Disney and became their most profitable feature of 1992 in terms of cost-to-gross ratio. Following this success she then developed and co-produced “WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING”, starring Sandra Bullock and directed by Jon Turteltaub. “While You Were Sleeping” was enormously successful grossing over $180M in worldwide box office and over $50M in DVD sales and rentals. For the last several years she has been developing multiple film and television projects. Her television projects include “YOU GET WHAT YOU PLAY FOR”, inspired by the novel and written by Jeff Farley, and “SANCTUARY”, a project being developed with the creative team of Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro (Necessary Roughness, Extant, Salvation). Stremple currently is developing feature film projects with Michele Weisler (Trouble with the Curve, The Kissing Booth 1, 2 and 3) , Jeff Farley (Thunderstuck) and several YA novels by Rebekah Crane (THE ODDS OF LOVING GROVER CLEVELAND and SUMMER BURN) Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
An Exclusive Webinar
Learn How To Develop Your Young Adult (YA) Films and TV Series From The Executive Producer Of DARBY AND THE DEAD for Disney+/Hulu & THE KISSING BOOTH TRILOGY for Netflix and the Producer of WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING starring SANDRA BULLOCK.
Plus! You Will Receive The Pilot Script For THE KISSING BOOTH
The Young Adult (YA) demographic is such an important one for film and television producers to understand.
The YA audience can encompass kids from eleven years old through their early twenties. Not only is this the majority of film and television viewers, there is arguably more freedom to explore storylines and characters in this genre than standard adult fare or even family content.
Taking you through every step of how to create successful YA projects are Michele Weisler and Susan Stremple, a producing team with a focus on the YA genre.
In 2022, Weisler Executive Produced DARBY AND THE DEAD for Disney/Hulu and before that completed the hit trilogy THE KISSING BOOTH for Netflix. It is one of the most watched films in the history of Netflix. Previously, Weisler produced TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake. Stremple has produced “BEVERLY HILLS BODY SNATCHERS” directed by Jon Mostow (Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines, U-571) and “3 NINJAS” directed by Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon, National Treasure, Cool Runnings). She developed and co-produced “WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING”, starring Sandra Bullock and directed by Jon Turteltaub, which grossed over $180M in worldwide box office receipts.
YA viewers have voracious appetites for digital video content. As distribution outlets continue to aggressively chase YA audience growth the result will be a disproportionate increase in production and marketing dollars in YA content. Understanding this arena will give you another way to monetize your craft as well as potential new found freedom for creatively, with respect to themes and storylines that are specific to the young adult, early twenties experience.
This webinar will help you understand how to set yourself apart with your YA projects to succeed in this ever growing and changing genre. You will go over strategic partners for YA content, casting philosophies (there is more freedom than you think), storylines, themes, character development, and more to help you on your journey.
If you aspire to create and produce YA movies or TV series this webinar is a must.
What You'll Learn
Introduction to Michele Weisler and Susan Stremple
YA –What exactly is YA?
- The age group
- Why is it more popular than ever before?
- Getting familiar with and Understanding the YA genre
- Who watches YA content?
FINDING YA MATERIAL
- Where to look for content (IP)
- Adapting Real life stories
THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING YA CONTENT
- The most common mistakes to avoid
- The keys to story structure
- The characters
FINANCING YA CONTENT
- Who finances YA content
- What differentiates buyers
- The reason everyone does not fund YA
EMERGING CONTENT TRENDS
- How to make your content stand out
- What’s hot now and why
- The latest new formats and content trends
- What to look out for when pursuing YA projects
Q&A with Michele and Susan
About Your Instructor
Michele Weisler & Susan Stremple
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