by Voyage | Sep 22, 2016 | Blog post, Entertainment Business
3 Myths About Making It In The Entertainment Industry At times, the Industry can seem like a very mysterious & exclusive club that requires a secret password to gain access. Because of its somewhat elusive nature, stories of what people think the industry is actually like emerge and begin to be taken as fact. We hate to burst your bubble, but here we go… “Everyone is out to steal my story idea, so I can’t talk about it.” We hear this myth from authors and screenwriters all the time, but there’s very little evidence to back it up. In fact, a creator who is trying to break into the industry should be talking about his or her story to anyone who will listen. Yes, when you’re an established film or television writer who takes meetings with producers and executives all the time, copyrighting your ideas should be a consideration. But that fact is, an idea alone is not what sells in Hollywood. What sells is the entire package—how an idea is executed. And it’s crucial to practice telling your story because you’ll need to be phenomenal at painting the picture for your producer-audience when you do land a meeting. Check out producer Elizabeth Kushman’s (ONE MISSED CALL, THE HILLS HAVE EYES) opinion on the topic here: http://voyagemedia.com/exclusive-producer-interview/ “I have to send out a lot of query letters to improve my chances of getting my idea picked up.” Sending out hundreds of query letters to unqualified leads is like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks – it’s a waste of time and often yields little to no...
by Voyage | Jun 1, 2016 | Blog post
Yes! Just about every script doctor and screenwriting book advises us to use cinematic language in our projects, to employ active verbs and paint a vivid picture of the story for our readers. And yet, we are also told, time and again, by most of these same sources to never, ever include any photographs or imagery within the actual screenplay itself. It’s as if it’s been chiseled in to the Ten Commandments of Great Screenwriting – Thou shalt include only the written word and let those words speak for themselves. This is especially true when dealing with a spec screenplay. The accepted wisdom is that to include anything other than the actual script is amateurish, distracting, and it suggests your need the crutch of a picture to tell your story. What’s more, this bias has some support within the industry because almost every agent, producer, actor or director has, at some point, been assaulted with that very unprofessional spec script that included shooting boards, wacky cover pages, stills of dream casts and even six-packs beer in order to garner attention. So I get it. I agree with the concept, for the most part. And realize there’s even an institutional aspect that frowns on this practice. The screenwriting software of choice, Final Draft, the industry standard, does not actually possess the programmable ability to cut-and-paste, insert, import or otherwise include any type of picture. Think about that. It means that even in our digital culture, where pictures are as ubiquitous as the very air we breathe, the world’s most popular scriptwriting program cannot actually execute an image-driven function. (To accomplish...
by Voyage | May 10, 2016 | Blog post, Producer Interviews
Elizabeth is a 10-year veteran of the entertainment business. She got her start working for Wes Craven and went on to become a dynamic producer with many notable credits in the horror / thriller genre (you’ve seen many of them). Here’s what you can expect from the video: At 30 seconds, you’ll hear Elizabeth tell a funny story about her first two weeks working for Wes Craven. At minute 2, hear all about Elizabeth’s background and most notable movie credits. At minute 3, learn how “RAPT” is going to help you break into Hollywood (it’s Elizabeth’s acronym for the 4 most important things creators must remember when trying to break into the industry). At minute 7, hear about Elizabeth’s most exciting projects that she’s currently working on (a few of them happened to come out of Voyage!). At minute 8, hear what kinds of projects Elizabeth is always looking for… and determine if Elizabeth is the best producer for you to work with on your project. At minute 9, learn what makes Elizabeth happy and why she finds working with emerging writers so fulfilling. Check it out! ...
by Voyage | Apr 28, 2016 | Blog post, Book to Film, Font Page, Pitching, Presentations
A guide to understanding and mastering the logline Maybe you’re an author who has been working on perfecting your logline for months (or years). Or perhaps you’re familiar with what a logline is, but aren’t quite sure how to write one for your own story… Or perhaps you have no idea what a logline is or the first thing about writing one… Whatever the case may be, we are here to help break it all down for you! An effective logline is a critical element of attracting producers and buyers to your book or story… What is a Logline? A logline is a one or two sentence description of your story that boils down its basic premise in a way that’s concise yet evokes emotion in your reader. It should not only convey the basis of your book, but also give your reader some poignant insight into the story as a whole. Here’s an example of a great logline…. Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate “Captain” Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor’s daughter, from Jack’s former pirate allies, who are now undead. (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) Loglines are an essential component to packaging and marketing any project – you can even think of them as the basic DNA of storytelling. If you have a compelling logline, you’ll have a much better chance of hooking potential buyers and leave them wanting more – and that’s what you want! Tell your reader exactly why they should take time out of their busy schedule to read your story…. Work on answering the question, “What sets my story apart from...
by Voyage | Feb 4, 2016 | Blog post, Entertainment Business, Pitching, Presentations, Screenwriting Tips
Writers create screenplays to be viewed. At least theoretically, no movie script was ever written for the purpose of being ‘read’ by an audience. Actors, producers and directors, of course, read scripts all the time, and they are a key audience for young, up-and-coming screenwriters, but these professionals are also viewers too, right? They, like general audiences, want to see, view or watch a script, not be forced to read it. We all want it visualized for us, largely, because it’s just easier. There’s less work involved. It takes time, concentration and energy to read a screenplay, but anyone can collapse on a sofa, turn on a movie and watch it… just kind of skim through it. So doesn’t it make sense that a script should share that essence and be designed for skimming, and not reading? I think so. Especially since we’re talking about an industry that’s famous for not always reading material cover-to-cover. When any written document makes for a skimmable read, it rolls off the page. It’s digestible. You see it in your mind and understand it immediately. Ironically, it’s kind of like watching a movie. Yet a large majority of scripts, even those by working professionals, are constructed in a way that hinders the visual flow of the story, and I’m not just talking about using more active, visually potent language. Although it’s rarely written about in the best screenwriting books, avoidable words, grammar and even punctuation often obstruct both clarity and dramatic impact, yet screenwriters go back to them time and again because that’s the tradition. Why? Why create a screenplay using the tools...
