Advice from an Indie Producer: Budgets Line by Line
There are two major components to an indie film budget: above the line and below the line. Above the line typically includes the fees paid to the writer, director, producer and cast. Below the line is everything else you need to buy or rent to make your production run, including post-production. The largest expense on...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Disney’s Call for Writers & Broadway’s Gender Problem
Disney Channel launches a new screenwriting program. Hey, Broadway! Why weren’t any woman-written Broadway plays produced this season? Interview with Belle director Amma Asante (video) and Q&A with star GuGu Mbatha-Raw. Women (literally) rule at this year’s Cannes film festival. Fifteen of Time magazine’s “Top 100” are women in the arts. Happy 10th Anniversary, Mean Girls. #StopTryingToMakeFetchHappen
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: The Same but What Now?
Photo via Go Into the Story. “The same but different” is the magic formula for a winning script. Does it mean anything or is it double speak for “I know it when I see it?” Patterns not formulas: Create familiar emotional patterns in new situations. The same is a recognizable tone with a recognizable build that...
READ MORETerry’s Picks: Majority Female Cannes Jury and Belle
COMMENDING THE NEWS: of the first majority female Cannes Film Festival jury since 2009. American director Sofia Coppola, French director/actor Carole Bouquet, South Korean actor Jeon Do-yeon and Iranian actor Leila Hatami will join jury president Jane Campion, who became the first woman director to win the Palme d’Or for her 1993 film The Piano. PLANNING...
READ MORENYWIFT’s May Events: Reality TV, Crowdfunding, and More
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/132037876?et=icW4txOvQHdEavSB5nAJxA&SeoLinks=off&sig=xMCXtqKMEzUUksWEohaXF06lItNujTkOruxSvSGgjqw= Sign up for New York Women in Film & Television’s programs in May: Producing a Dynamite Sizzle Reel: The Key to the Sale Thursday, May 1, 6 pm Tribeca Film Center (375 Greenwich Street) TV and digital packaging agent Jim Arnoff will moderate an expert panel who will give you the insider’s take on how...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Lupita Nyong’o Wins Again & Universal’s Nikki Rocco Retires
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/486363289?et=i-3vXGNAQ_1ma7_bFMgQ-w&SeoLinks=off&sig=YcRFzn7IhsUJvIjJyiPZZh7_9SFfZLMtZxobB6eSdsU= In case you hadn’t heard, Lupita Nyong’o is also “Most Beautiful.” Courtney Cox’s directorial film debut launches at Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a family affair! Brooklyn native Marisa Tomei discusses her latest project and losing friend Phillip Seymour Hoffman. 20-year-old Keke Palmer will make television history this summer. After 47 years, Universal Pictures distribution chief Nikki Rocco is retiring....
READ MORENYWIFT at Women of the World Summit
A high-five moment captured by Livestream at the 2014 WITW Summit. On April 3rd to 5th, women and men, but mostly women, crowded into a theater at Lincoln Center to engage with and listen to women from all corners of the world as they shared tales of heartbreak (personal accounts of surviving chemical warfare attacks...
READ MORENotes From a Screenreader: Mamet-ize It
Photo via Go Into the Story. THIS is the supreme last word on screenwriting from David Mamet. It is a memo from Mamet to his writing staff on The Unit, which you may or may not recall ran for 69 episodes between 2006 and 2009. It is glorious, true, funny, useful and brilliant. It’s not long....
READ MORETerry’s Picks: NYC’s New Film Commissioner, ‘Nashville’ Guest Stars
//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/167209623?et=Kg1MuwxjQClW04eYpiguVQ&SeoLinks=off&sig=hB5yEDyE2pDGOH6X-uumfriIvQcDwWhIBHAEHt2c9sc= Celebrating: the appointment of NYWIFT member Cynthia López to be the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and… Feeling honored: to be quoted in the press release! I am one of many looking forward to the growth that López will bring to the film, television and digital media production community here in New York. And while...
READ MOREFiscal Sponsorship & NYWIFT for Indie Filmmakers
Musician Clarice Magalhães and producer-director Irene Walsh in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Walsh’s documentary LAPA: The Heart of Samba chronicles a community of musicians and composers as their music resurrects a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. My first feature-length documentary, LAPA: The Heart of Samba, is a project that I have largely funded myself, with a third of...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: TFF 2014 Arrives & DreamWorks Adds More Color
Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s Tribeca Film Festival time! Here are “5 Female Directors to Watch.” Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. Donna Tartt received top fiction honor for The Goldfinch, playwright Annie Baker won for The Flick. DreamWorks’ next movie will have an African-American, female lead. The number of women writers in television has...
READ MOREMember Spotlight: Kelly Glover
Kelly Glover during the production of The Contradictions of Fair Hope. You may recognize Kelly Glover’s name from her roundup posts right here on our blog, where she manages to find a compelling mix of TV, film and digital news every week. I was lucky enough to catch up with Glover to learn about her...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Low Readability
Photo via Go Into the Story. An active voice stands out immediately from the rest of the pile. It’s such a huge advantage to write action lines as if you want to tell a story rather than sketch in the background. INT. LIVING ROOM – DAYTim is sitting at the table, playing solitaire. Molly is...
READ MORETerry’s Pick: Women’s Media Center, WGA & a Power Lunch
Julie Louis-Dreyfus playing the VP of the United States in Veep GLOWING: with laughter and admiration at this “high concept” Power Lunch article in last week’s New York Times, in which Julie Louis-Dreyfus of Veep and Nancy Pelosi of the US Senate sit down to talk about female leadership, charcuterie and all sorts of other delights. FINDING MYSELF: unsurprised with...
READ MOREThrough the Grapevine: NYWIFT Spring Membership Drive
Birds are chirping and spring bulbs are blooming, and that means it is Spring Membership Drive time! This is your opportunity to join New York Women in Film & Television, the preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York, now through Monday May 5 and get 50% off our initiation fee. NYWIFT brings together...
READ MOREWeekly Roundup: Jane Pauley, Chelsea Clinton & Women’s Media Status
Jane Pauley, 2012. Photo credit: David Shankbone. Journalist Jane Pauley leaves NBC to join CBS News. New SNL writer Katie Rich has witty insight on male comedians’ success. Women’s Media Center updates its Status of Women in the U.S. Media report. Pam Dawber, TV’s original “Mindy,” to reunite with Robin Williams. Persistence pays off for Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz producer Nira...
READ MOREA Conversation with WIGS & ‘Blue’ Creators
The award-winning web series Blue stars Julia Stiles as a single mother moonlighting as a call girl. It’s a case study of a successful drama series on the web. Blue premiered on WIGS, one of the first premium original content channels funded by YouTube and launched in 2012 by director Rodrigo Garcia (Albert Nobbs, In Treatment) and Emmy Award–nominated...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Bang a Gong
Photo via Go Into the Story. Theme is the beating heart of the screenplay, the proposition about the human condition that your story explores—the big issues. Love. Faith. Resilience. Trust. Power. Courage. All the goosebumpy things. The theme, that single, simple thesis that creates clarity and scope and resonance through the arcs of your story,...
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