by Voyage | Nov 7, 2017 | Blog post, Book to Film
A LOOK AT THE ‘DO SOMETHING PRINCIPLE’ & SELF- MOTIVATING By nature, writing is a solitary exercise. Most of us don’t sit in an office full of other writers to bounce our ideas off of. Similarly, there’s no boss to get on our case about making those edits to our screenplay or completing our next chapter. So in order to move a project forward, we have to motivate ourselves to get it done. But sometimes self-motivation can feel like the most daunting task in the world—like an un-climbable mountain… But what if there was a way to eliminate the necessity to self-motivate to achieve a goal? What if there was a way to alter the way we think about the relationship between motivation and action? Consider this… Action isn’t just the effect of motivation, but also the cause. What if, instead of identifying motivation as the cause of our actions, we thought of our actions as the cause of motivation? Think of it this way: action is always within reach. It is always possible to do something. Even if that something is writing a few crappy pages, you can take the action of writing and harness your reaction to it as a way to begin motivating yourself. Plus, you will often find that you’re actually inspired by the act of writing itself and are able to turn those crappy pages into your next masterpiece (and even if it’s not a masterpiece, it’s something!) The mere action of writing will inspire new thoughts and ideas. But that new insight will never come if you simply sit around and contemplate it....
by Nat Mundel | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog post, Entertainment Business, Font Page
Yes, absolutely. He is 100% responsible for his actions (as we all are). But there’s also a whole lot more at play… I woke this morning and, as in every day leading up to this one, Harvey Weinstein is in the news. And now, as you may know, Roy Price, the head of Amazon Studios, has resigned as a result of a sexual harassment firestorm that’s come out as a result of women in Hollywood finally feeling like they can have their voices heard. Much has now been said on a culture of harassment in Hollywood, and the complicit behavior that goes along with it. BEAUTIFUL GIRLS scribe Scott Rosenberg articulated it clearly in his ‘everybody knew’ letter you might have seen on Deadline. In it, Scott paints the picture of Harvey as ‘a goose laying golden eggs’ that everyone coveted (and therefore kept their mouth’s shut even though they knew what was going on). What I want to address is how the ‘old’, centralized Hollywood model created the inevitability of all of this. When so much power resides in the hands of a few select people – the power to make (or break) a career, the power to greenlight (or kill) a project on a personal whim, the use of implied (or explicit) threat that results in 1000s of voices forced into silence (over decades!) – bad stuff is going to happen. Actors feel like they have to endure unacceptable (and in some cases illegal) behavior lest they not be able to fulfill on their dreams and calling. Writers who give ‘voice’ to so many great and inspiring...
by Voyage | Jul 7, 2017 | Blog post, Entertainment Business, Font Page
By: Dan Benamor, Voyage Producer In film, there may be no key creative more marginalized than the screenwriter. Screenwriters are fired and re-hired, rewritten and written out, and generally cede power to the director, producers, studio executives, and so on in the filmmaking process. If you are fortunate enough to sell a screenplay, once you as the writer have signed on the dotted line, you relinquish control. The writer is often on the low end of the totem pole in the film world, but it’s a reality screenwriters usually have to come to terms with. As tough as it may seem sometimes to break through and maintain a creative vision of your script as described above, there is an exception to this rule… You can decide to produce a micro-budget screenplay. Taking this journey will require a screenwriter to utilize skillsets more akin to a producer, and/or (if so desired) a director. But by taking control of your own career in this way, you can guide the process, both creatively and pragmatically (there’s no one to blame but yourself if the film is not made). Micro-budget films can be made for extremely low budgets with the modern state of film technology. Crowdfunding has become a valuable resource to the micro-budget filmmaker, and on the back end of the process, VOD has democratized everything. A case in point here is a film I co-wrote, INITIATION. The film was released on just about every VOD platform last August. That means that if you are scrolling through VOD titles on ITunes or Amazon or any other VOD platform, you could easily find my film...
by Voyage | Apr 19, 2017 | Blog post
The ‘Voyage 3.0 Master Plan.’ We completed Voyage 1.0 and 2.0, which basically consisted of: 1.0 – Provide emerging storytellers with direct access to high level producers 2.0 – Nurture storytellers with quality education and training, and facilitate production of their projects The reason we built 1.0 and 2.0 was to prove the thesis that non-professional storytellers could be made professional with access to quality information and producer-mentorship. We proved the thesis as we were able to produce and distribute 4 projects, finance an additional 3, facilitate deals on over 40, get paid writing assignments to over 30 writers, and facilitate 45 authors in becoming bestsellers. With 3.0, we’re adding the final building blocks of our audacious vision: A thriving community of storytellers and a revolutionary, heart-centered way to create, share, and earn from the transcendent art of film and television storytelling. The cornerstone of Voyage 3.0 is to align our entire family – you and us – in an economic and creative future that has us ‘in it together’. We’re inspired and deeply moved by a future where storytellers control their own destiny, are creatively fulfilled, and contribute to and benefit from each others’ success. Like United Artists did in 1919, we’re establishing the first modern creator-owned studio, complete with its own production financing that’s not dependent on the outdated and exploitative studio/agency system. Here’s what we aim to accomplish by 2021: Have a thriving community of 1 million creators, that are economically aligned and supportive of one another Produce 34 movies and 12 TV series that come directly from our community and with our own financing...
by Nat Mundel | Jan 5, 2017 | Blog post
I’ve received a lot of questions over the last few months about what exactly we do, how it works, and what the benefits to you are. With this letter, I intend to articulate exactly how it all works, including what we’ve so far done well and what we need to improve on. Secondly, I want to bullet-point our master plan for the future, which I’ll refer to as “Voyage 3.0”. Finally, I also include an FAQ section at the end so you can get answers to some great questions we’re sometimes asked (and that will be good for you to know). Our humble beginnings… Our vision from the get-go has been to enable emerging writers to have a viable path for their film/TV projects outside the traditional agency and studio system. With Voyage 1.0, we launched our “Get Connected” program, which enabled writers to connect 1-on-1 with film and television producers. Our goal in providing you direct access to producers was to create a viable path to Hollywood for emerging writers and to bypass the traditional agency model. Our community upgrade… Once we had our team in place, it was time to expand. So with Voyage 2.0 we introduced both our “Get Educated” and “Become an Original” programs. The idea with 2.0 was to (1) facilitate a ‘smarter’, more market-savvy community of creators and (2) partner with select creators and produce their projects. We are now a little over four years in to building this vertically-integrated, concept-to-screen company that covers development, packaging, financing and production. As you can probably ascertain, it’s a big undertaking with a lot of moving...
by Voyage | Dec 23, 2016 | Blog post
It’s been an incredible year for the Voyage family and we’re so grateful to you for your hard work, dedication and commitment to your craft. You’ve inspired us in unimaginable ways. As we prepare for an even better 2017, here are some highlights we want to celebrate looking back… Our Commitment to Your Success 2016 found us looking within to discover what we could be doing more to benefit you. In 2017 we’re completely reinventing, which you’ll learn a lot more about in the coming weeks. And you can take a peek at our revitalized commitments here. But we also took a moment to celebrate our astounding victories. And many of you have gone on to achieve wild success with your projects. Here’s a tally: 3 projects have been fully produced and distributed with a 4th headed into production right now and a 5th that’s fully financed. 3 projects have been partially financed Nearly 40 unknown writers/authors have had their material optioned by producers 30 writers have received ongoing paid writing assignments Over 45 authors have become bestselling authors We often get asked about stats and while we tend to avoid them since this is a creative enterprise, we were surprised to learn that 15% of our clients who work with us one-on-one achieve an objective metric of success like the ones listed above. We actually didn’t know it was that high ☺ A Brand New Batch of Originals VALLEY UPRISING (Documentary Feature by Peter Mortimer & Nick Rosen) -Our film won an Emmy this year for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction! The film tracks the history of...
