On Demand Webinar - Available for immediate viewing and unlimited access.
On Demand Webinar - Available for immediate viewing and unlimited access.
Rebecca Windsor is the Vice President and Head of the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, the premier writing and directing program for artists looking to launch their television careers. As an extension of her role developing new talent, Rebecca helped launch Warner Bros. digital brand Stage13, overseeing the critically acclaimed SNATCHERS, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, and SPECIAL, which premiered on Netflix and garnered four Emmy nominations. Previously, she was the Creative Producing Initiative Manager of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, playing a key role in coordinating the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Episodic Story Lab, and Creative Producing Lab and Summit. Prior to Sundance, Rebecca was Manager of Development at Samuel L. Jackson’s television company, UppiTV, and at Mandeville Films. Full Bio »
Find out what it takes to get into the elusive Television Writing Fellowships from ABC-Disney, NBC, Warner Bros., and more from the Vice President and Head of Warner Bros. Television Workshop!
Writing fellowships are a proven way to break into the entertainment industry.
These writing fellowships (hosted by NBC, Paramount, ABC-Disney, WB, and others) train you to work in TV writers' rooms and eventually run your own show.
But what are these programs looking for?
How can you stand out?
What mistakes should you avoid?
In this exclusive Stage 32 on-demand webinar, you’ll go behind the scenes and find out how to get into one of these elite TV writing fellowships directly from the Vice President and Head of Warner Bros. Television Workshop, Rebecca Windsor.
In addition to her work with the WBTV Workshop, Rebecca launched the Warner Bros. digital brand Stage 13, where she oversaw SPECIAL, which premiered on Netflix and garnered four Emmy Nominations.
Previously, she was the Creative Producing Initiative Manager of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program. She was pivotal in coordinating the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Episodic Story Lab, and the Creative Producing Lab and Summit.
There is a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding what it takes to get into these fellowships, but Rebecca will provide accurate insight based on her many years of experience working in this arena.
She’ll take you through what you need in your portfolio to apply, how to choose what to write, what makes a great personal statement stand out, the selection process, how to nail your interview, and more.
Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn directly from someone who has significantly shaped the fellowship process and knows what you need to stand out from the crowd in your application!
Praise for Rebecca's Stage 32 Next Level Webinar:
Rebecca was fantastic and her advice was so helpful. She obviously knows this topic well and was able to provide meaningful instruction. - MacKenna V.
Great insight on details involved in compiling and completing applications and how to be prepared. - Angelique W.
It was awesome and informative. Rebecca is so incredibly knowledgeable about this industry and really chisels away at script structure. Great learning from her! - Greg P.
Rebecca Windsor
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It’s the dream of almost every filmmaker to one day get nominated for and win an Academy Award. It’s the gold standard that everyone strives for—from burgeoning film students to Leonardo DiCaprio. Yet this goal can also feel utterly unattainable. It’s The Oscars after all. Awards go to Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese, not to me. Believe it or not, you absolutely have a path to the Oscars. It’s more possible than you think, and countless talented independent filmmakers find their way through the nomination process without big money, without big celebrities, and without big studio backing, but instead with just a really fantastic project. Don’t throw that dream away. There’s a road to the Oscars that you can take. Finding your way into the Oscars Ceremony is possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or just happens organically. The Academy Awards are a competition, and like any competition, they come with rules and regulations, procedures, and strategies to win. If you want to one day see Oscar gold, you need to make a fantastic film, but you also have to understand the ins and outs of the awards, the politics that surround it, and where you can best fit in. Let’s explore. Daniel Sol is the co-founder and co-director of the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival and has helped multiple filmmakers through the Oscar qualification process, including the short film SKIN which won the Academy Award after premiering and qualifying at his festival. Daniel was formerly a theatrical sales executive before he founded HollyShorts as a response to seeing that young filmmakers had little access to industry professionals and few options for screening their films. Now in its 17th year, HollyShorts has quickly become the most influential short film festival in Los Angeles, with Daniel guiding it as Festival Director and lead programmer for the festival. Daniel is also the co founder of the premium Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV content channel BITPIX. Daniel’s long experience at the helm of an Academy-qualifying film festival has given him a unique perspective on what it actually takes for filmmakers to find their way to an Oscar nomination. Exclusively for Stage 32, Daniel is going to break down exactly what it takes to qualify your film for an Academy Award and the steps you can take to score a nomination or even become an Oscar winner. He’ll lay out how the Academy nomination process works and will dive into current trends, explaining what sort of themes and genres are more likely to ultimately get nominated. He will then break down the qualification process and the different ways you can get your own project qualified, including through qualifying festivals and other avenues. Daniel will finally talk about steps you can take and what to expect after your film is qualified, including strategies to better your chances of hopefully getting nominated. Becoming an Oscar-nominated filmmaker is not as out of reach as you may think, and Daniel will break down what you can do to better make this dream a reality.
Quick, name your 5 favorite movies of all time. Chances are they are all encompass different genres and various worlds and journeys. But likely, they all have one thing in common: A memorable and multi-dimensional protagonist. Writing lead characters can be tricky. They're usually the first character that comes to mind when we're crafting our story. As such, we tend to have definitive, even strict, ideas of how that character will dress, how he or she will behave, and even what happens to them along the way. As such, many writers end up crafting their leads as rigid and one-dimensional. As a result, their lead character becomes passive and the supporting characters end up being much more proactive and interesting. Writing a truly memorable lead character takes a full understanding of your character's wants, needs, obstacles, flaws and much more. It means digging into the psychology of your lead before you begin writing so that you can make wonderful, informed discoveries throughout the writing process. With a constant parade of franchise sequels, remakes, and reboots, it’s become harder than ever to create a unique and nuanced lead character that audiences feel they haven’t seen before. And in a marketplace crowded with more of the same, it’s never been more essential (and potentially lucrative) for screenwriters to set their work apart. In addition, with the explosion of content being created for the streaming platforms, it's more important than ever, no matter whether you're writing features or TV, that you are able to create lead characters that development execs, producers, showrunners, and financiers can't deny and want to follow. That uniqueness in voice and vision is getting writers signed, sold, staffed, and more and more work than ever before. So how can writers create characters that appeal to a wide audience without sacrificing the very qualities that make them singular? Tyler Ruggeri is a writer with over a decade of experience on both sides of the entertainment industry. His original screenplay The Making Of Rock Hudson sold to veteran producers Celine Rattray (The Kids Are Alright, Bernie) and Trudie Styler (Moon) of Maven Pictures. He is currently adapting a critically acclaimed non-fiction book and writing an original action drama. Prior to his writing career, Tyler was a talent manager at Exile Entertainment, where he represented screenwriters and directors while developing the company’s slate of projects. He signed emerging filmmakers including Lee Patterson (Nicholl Fellowship winner for Snatched) and multiple Academy Award Winner Damien Chazelle, who wrote and directed LA LA LAND, WHIPLASH, and, most recently, BABYLON, directed FIRST MAN, and wrote the sci-fi hit 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE. Tyler has read thousands of screenplays and knows first hand what makes a memorable and multi-dimensional protagonist. And now Tyler is teaching you how to write interesting and complicated characters that audiences can root for without sacrificing depth. Tyler will focus on studying (and deconstructing) the building blocks of movie protagonists in a straightforward, fun, and easy to digest format. He’ll discuss character in a macro-level approach while zeroing in on recent examples from popular films. He will teach you about making meaningful choices for your characters and how you can't be afraid to make the tough choice. He will delve into your characters wants, needs, and goals. He will discuss whether you lead character needs to be likable. He will teach you all the rules of writing characters and show you how you can break those rules to stand out from the crowd and make an exec turn pages. He will teach you all the tips and tricks of character building that he's learned over the last 10+ years of working with writers and reading scripts. He'll even discuss writer's block - if there is such a thing - and how to get beyond it all and keep writing. In short, he will teach you everything to have your lead characters jumping from the page and pulling the reader along for his or her journey. PRAISE FOR TYLER'S TEACHINGS: "Tyler is an extremely articulate presenter. It really helped to have such specific information about how a character can be multi-dimensional. I already see the issues with my protagonist and can't wait to get it all fixed!" - Becca B. "I took pages and pages of notes, thank you! Very well delivered, Tyler clearly had a vast knowledge of the subject. I really enjoyed it!" - Natalie E. "Thank you for bringing Tyler back. One of my favorite Stage 32 educators! This seemed like a week's worth of material delivered concisely and deliberately. I'm so grateful! - Bob K.
Learn the animation process so you can get your animation film, TV show or show made from a 3x Emmy nominated animation director and producer! Animation storytelling is ubiquitous, has massive global market appeal and yet how it’s made is still mysterious. The challenge to bridge the gap between your animation idea and bringing it to fruition can seem enormous. So, what are the concrete creative steps to manifesting your animated project? If you’re one person with no budget, how can you compete with huge studios with endless financing? Here's how... become your own animation writer, producer and director by learning a few simple steps. In this exclusive Stage 32 on-demand webinar, 3x Emmy animated animation director and producer Kimson Albert will teach you how to take your animation film, TV show or short film concept and actually get it made. From script to storyboard to character design, most people aren’t aware of the necessary steps to create an animated project and find themselves stuck in the process. Being aware of the animation production pipeline equips you with the map to successfully navigate the obstacle course that is animation production and bring your project from idea to screens everywhere. Don't miss this chance to learn about animation creation and production from one of the very best in the business! Plus! You'll receive the screenplay for BEAVIS and BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA!
Learn how you can connect with the right producer to help move your project forward from an exec who has worked with Hulu and had multiple films at Sundance! PLUS! Get exclusive case studies from Rachel's work on DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, SWISS ARMY MAN, and BEING FRANK! Finding the right producer is pivotal to getting your project made! However, finding, securing, and building a relationship with a meaningful and experienced producer can be one of the biggest challenges writers and filmmakers face. Even with a great script and a stacked cast, many producers who can move the needle forward on a project are often in great demand. Securing a meaningful producer means you have someone on your team who can pull the strings, make the offers and put the puzzle pieces of the project together. But how do you find a producer in the first place? How do you build a relationship and show them that you’re someone they should take a chance on? And once you’ve reached that point, how do you get the most out of that relationship to assure that your vision reaches the screen in the most productive and profitable manner possible? To help you understand the path to securing a great producer is Rachel Crouch, the Director of Development at Cold Iron Pictures, a production/financing company that has most recently produced BEING FRANK starring comedian Jim Gaffigan and Anna Gunn. Previously Cold Iron produced SWISS ARMY MAN starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, as well as Marielle Heller’s directorial debut DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL starring Bel Powley, Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgård, both of which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. They also produced the Sundance hit UNTITLED AMAZING JOHNATHAN DOCUMENTARY, which premiered in the US Documentary Competition section and is available on Hulu. Rachel has been involved in every step of producing these films and has helped launch careers of the talent involved with them. In this exclusive Stage 32 on-demand webinar Rachel will walk you through the nuts and bolts of finding the right producer and forming a great working relationship with him or her. PLUS! Rachel will provide you with exclusive case studies from her own background to illustrate how the producer-talent relationship helped bring the film to life. Downloads include case studies from: Independent Spirit Award winning DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL Sundance winning SWISS ARMY MAN SXSW nominated BEING FRANK Praise For Rachel's Work and Teaching: "Rachel Crouch was awesome. She enriched my knowledge of the world of producers and how as a screenwriter we can make connections with the right ones and how best to work with them! Great job." - Ricki L. "WOW. I can't say enough good things about Rachel. Working with her gave me the skillset to actually get my script into the right hands. Thank you!" - Cynthia M.
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.
Join Tiffany Boyle, President of Packaging at Ramo Law PC - exclusively through Stage 32! Learn how to attach producers, actors, directors and financing to your project! The art of packaging—and it is an art—requires juggling many elements at the same time, but it usually comes down to three major factors—attaching a producer or production company, attaching talent (actors and director), and attaching financing. Each is its own unique process, yet at the same time, all are invariably tied to one another—your success with one will usually aid your success with the others. Beyond these three elements, understanding how to pitch your project is vital. No matter how many producers, talent, and other attachable elements you approach, none of it will come to fruition if you don’t have a good pitch and the right materials to send. So how do successfully producer or filmmaker package their project? How can you navigate politics, relationships, and the industry as a whole to secure the elements you need for success? We have you covered. Since joining Ramo Law in 2009, Tiffany Boyle has leveraged her business-oriented sales and packaging skills to bring hundreds of films and documentaries to fruition. Since 2018 alone, Tiffany has optimized clients’ financial and business positions on more than 35 films and documentaries. Through her critical review of content and strategic use of Ramo Law resources, Tiffany creates successful content packaging that bridges the needs of both client and industry demands. In addition to all these skills, Tiffany also served as a co-executive producer and brought in financing for films like SOMETHING ELSE (Tribeca 2019) and ARKANSAS starring Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn. She led the sales and packaging for TRAGEDY GIRLS (SXSW 2017) and FREAKS (Toronto IFF 2018), she brought foreign financing to ASHES IN THE SNOW (Los Angeles FF 2018) starring Bel Powley, and she sold an autobiography to Hulu for development into a limited television series. Tiffany has seen it all when it comes to film and TV packaging and understands what filmmakers need to do to find success with this tricky process. In this advanced level and intensive 4-session on-demand class, Tiffany will break down the best practices and the steps you should take in securing attachments in order to give your project a strong, marketable package. In her first session she will focus on the initial step you should take of attaching a producer/production company to help shepherd your project forward. Next Tiffany will walk you through how to get both significant actors and directors to pay attention and get attached to your project. In her third session she will delve into financing and teach you everything you need before you approach financiers, the different types of financing there are, and who to approach to secure funding. Finally, Tiffany will walk you how to present your project by explaining what you should pitch, how you should pitch it, and, when you get that bite of interest, what materials you should send next.