The Business of Adaptations for Film and TV – Spring 2024

Agents, Hollywood producers, and publishers are always searching for the next great story, but not all writers start from scratch. Oftentimes, ideas come from the things we see, read, write and hear. The challenge for many is how to transition these materials from their original form of a book, article, and story into a full-fledged viable screenplay and adaptation material for another medium.

Savvy industry professionals love to leverage their time and efforts by capitalizing on a story that can be adapted into many forms. Learn from this experienced panel about ways to locate common sources for your story or script and the power and pitfalls of working with adaptations for your project.

Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Time: 6 PM ET – 8 PM ET

Cost: $15 for NYWIFT Members; $20 for Non-Members

Register

Panelists

LANE SHEFTER BISHOP is a multi-award-winning Producer and Director who has received numerous accolades for her work including an EMMY and the DGA Fellowship Award for Episodic Television. Currently Ms. Bishop is the CEO of Vast Entertainment, THE go to book-to-screen company since in an online interview, CNN dubbed her “The Book Whisperer” of Hollywood.

Ms. Bishop has numerous projects, both completed and in active development including: Producing Feature Films, THE DUFF for CBS Films & Lionsgate and ASSASSINATION GAMES for MPCA (both based on books). She is also Producing and Directing the feature THE TROUBLE WITH DREAMERS for (based on the book) as well as the Backdoor Pilot for Series, THE DARK DESCENT OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN for Sony Pictures Television and Tristar (based on the Kiersten White novel) with Lizzie Mickery.

Ms. Bishop has also been Executive Producing and Directing Christmas Movies for UPtv and Superchannel including MISTLETOE & MOLLY, SECRET SANTA, CHRISTMAS BENEATH THE STARS, THE HOLIDAY SWAP, CHRISTMAS ON THE ROCKS, and AN ECLECTIC CHRISTMAS (all but one based on Melissa Hill novels) as well as numerous Thriller Movies for Lifetime including TEMPTATION UNDER THE SUN, HUSBAND WIFE AND THEIR LOVER, A LIFEGUARD’S OBSESSION, DESPERATE WIDOWS (also written by Ms. Bishop), HIS SECRET MARRIAGE (also written by Ms. Bishop), HE KNOWS YOUR EVERY MOVE, WICKED MOMS CLUB, BLOOD SWEAT AND LIES, HER DEADLY NIGHT IN PARIS, THE VENICE MURDERS and THE CHOKING GAME – which was the third most viewed program on television the night it premiered. Ms. Bishop also Directed the Streaming Movie A BROTHER’S HONOR, as well as the final two films in the trilogy A MAN’S PROMISE and A LOVER’S VOW which will premiere by the end of 2024 on Tosca Musk’s Passionflix Channel. All of these films are African American romances based on NY Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson’s uber-popular novels.

Lastly, Ms. Bishop is a published Author of the book SELL YOUR STORY IN A SINGLE SENTENCE, ADVICE FROM THE FRONT LINES OF HOLLYWOOD. She also holds a B.A. in Literature from UC Santa Barbara and an M.F.A. in Production from USC’s School of Cinema/Television. She is a director-member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Mark DeGasperi has been a writer, lecturer and professional story analyst in New York for many years. He has read and scouted screenplays, plays and books for film and TV adaptation, most recently for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tribeca Productions, LBI Entertainment, Centropolis Entertainment and the Johnson Production Group. He has also covered potential movie and TV material for Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, the William Morris Agency (WME), International Creative Management (ICM Partners), and past companies like Miramax Films, Jonathan Demme’s Clinica Estetico and Stanley Jaffe`s Jaffilms. He teaches Advanced Film and Television Writing at New York University-SPS. He has received an NYU Award for Service. He has taught the Master Class in Screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is Associate Producer on the award-winning eco-documentary THE STOLEN RIVER. He has recently been a speaker at ThrillerFest 2024 in Manhattan.

Maria C. Miles is the founding partner of an entertainment law firm with offices in New York. Maria’s practice focuses on all areas of entertainment and media law, including, film (both documentary and narrative), television (scripted and non-scripted), literary publishing and new media. Her clients consist primarily of independent film producers, directors, writers and talent.

Prior to starting her own practice, Maria was general counsel for a multi-media digital start-up working on a diverse range of subject-matter areas including a webseries and editorial content, corporate and financing transactions, technology development and licensing, employment and intellectual property (including a large catalogue of trademarks, copyrights and patents) both in the US and abroad.

Prior to her role as in-house counsel, Maria was associated with a large law firm where she served as counsel to numerous award-winning actors, writers, producers, television hosts and multi-platinum recording artists, sports teams, and corporations in the fashion and retail industries related to their entertainment and intellectual property matters.
Maria is an Adjunct Professor at The Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema and The School of Visual Arts. She served on the Board of New York Women in Film & Television for six years and currently serves on the Board of the Hellenic Film Society USA.

Maria is admitted to practice in the State of New York, The United States District Court, Eastern & Southern Districts of New York, and The United States Supreme Court.

Kelly Thomas is an Associate Literary Agent with Serendipity Literary Agency and a Certified Copy Editor with a bachelor’s degree in English from Pace University. She is an associate member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and a member of the Editorial Freelance Association. She co-runs the monthly “8 Simple Steps to Writing a Successful Synopsis Workshop” alongside Jennifer S. Wilkov through the publishing and entertainment consulting company Your Book Is Your Hook. Prior to joining Serendipity Literary Agency, she provided part-time manuscript analysis for the D4EO Literary Agency. She is a panelist for the New York Women in Film & Television’s (NYWIFT) ‘The Business of Adaptations Panel’ program and a trainer for ‘The Next Bestseller Workshops.’ Kelly has participated in Pitch Slams for writing conferences, including ThrillerFest, Crimebake, Writing Day Workshops, and The Writer’s Digest Conference. She has sat on ‘Ask the Agent’ panels for the AWP Conference and Writing Barn’s ‘Courage to Create’ program, and she has participated in the ‘First Pages Critique’ panel for the Carnegie Center for Literary and Learning’s Books-in-Progress Conference and for the Women in Publishing Summit. She has participated in the “First Ten Lines Critique” panel for The Hampton Roads Writer’s Conference where she also taught classes on synopsis writing and character development. Kelly is a published poet with publications in Tales for the Disenchanted (2008) and Penumbra Art & Literature (2015). She has served as an editor for the literary arts magazine Pen & Brush and as a writing coach for the academic consulting company Brattlestreet.

Jill Michelle Williams is a working television producer and writer who has created content for Broadcast Networks (NBC’s Biggest Loser), Streamers (HBO Max Ellen’s Next Great Designer), and Cable Networks (Lifetime’s Project Runway All Stars and A&E’s Confession of a Serial Killer: BTK). She has sat on panels for the Chelsea Film Festival, been a guest lecturer at Chapman University and a Judge for the Emmys.

Jill has been developing for as long as she’s been producing working also as a development consultant creating concepts in the true-crime, lifestyle and docu-soap genres including the Bravo series Southern Charm.

Throughout the years, she’s created hundreds of hours of content across unscripted specials, competition shows, as well as documentary and scripted series including a stint as Head of Development. She offers development consulting services through her website hollywoodconsultingstudio.com.

Jennifer S. Wilkov is a multi #1 international best-selling award-winning author, producer, an award-winning freelance writer, The Literary Agent Matchmaker™ and a respected book, business and entertainment creative consultant for nearly 20 years. Jennifer was selected as the Top Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant and Best-Selling Author of the Year for 2024 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP). She supports first-time writers and creators and seasoned authors, screenwriters, scriptwriters and playwrights with the essentials to become a bestseller: a great project, a strong platform and a well-polished pitch, presentation and hook for their book, television project, film, or theater project. She passionately teaches and educates writers as a speaker and program producer at writers conferences including Writer’s Digest Conferences, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Crimebake, ThrillerFest, Women in Publishing Summit, California Creative Writers Conference, and others and for groups such as the Writers Guild of America – East, Motion Picture Association and New York Women in Film & Television where she leads the Writers Group as a platinum member and teaches online for writers’ resources such as Writer’s Digest. She is a member of Women In Film in Los Angeles and in San Francisco Bay Area and the creator and producer of The Next Bestseller™ Workshop (virtual), a safe space that provides writers with exclusive access to the dream team to help writers learn to talk effectively with industry professionals about their projects. Her keen eye for stories that sell for both books and in Hollywood is trusted by industry professionals who appreciate her savvy in seeing the many possibilities a subject can lend itself to. www.YourBookIsYourHook.com