by Voyage | Nov 29, 2016 | Audience, Blog post
Four years ago, we started a journey to bring emerging writers and storytellers into Hollywood… Voyage was a brash and revolutionary idea that came straight from the heart… ‘We believe that everyone has a story worth sharing and we want everyone to have a fair shot’. But, when push came to shove and we had to run a business in the real world, we gave up on one of our original dreams… We had this dream of creating a ‘cooperative’ of sorts in which everyone playing in the sandbox with us could and would benefit financially from everyone’s successes… The idea was to create a community of creators that were willing to make a big bet on their own projects but that would still benefit even if their project didn’t work out… Let me give you some context and get really real for a sec… To reference real estate, the entertainment industry is a ‘buyer’s market’. And it likely always will be. There are an estimated 50,000 scripts and 1,000,000 books entering the market each year. And how many movies and series are produced? Estimates range from 7,000 to 10,000 worldwide. This isn’t scientific, but it’s akin to a hundred people selling homes and there’s only one buyer. That’s the harsh reality of our industry. You’re starting from a 1% chance of ‘making it’. It was these underlying market conditions that inspired our big, audacious dream… What if we were all in this together! What if, while making a bet on your project, you were also making a bet on others’ projects? Of course, you want to give your...
by Voyage | Oct 17, 2016 | Audience, Blog post, Book to Film
Congratulations to our author client Diane Dignan for just reaching #1 bestseller status on Amazon in our Amazon Bestseller Program! “Race From The Finish” about a passionate NASCAR driver in the 1950’s is now a #1 Amazon Bestseller! We’ve been working with Diane since 2014 on a couple of different book projects she’s written and it has been a pleasure to see her grow as a writer and expand her knowledge of the industry. After moving up through the ranks of our book-to-screen program, Diane decided to pursue becoming an Amazon Bestselling Author. Within 2 months of signing up for our program and working with our Amazon guru on her book launch, Diane can now say she is a #1 Bestselling Author! facebook Twitter LinkedIn Archives November 2024 (2) October 2024 (3) September 2024 (2) April 2023 (1) January 2023 (1) December 2022 (1) October 2022 (1) June 2020 (1) April 2020 (1) February 2020 (1) January 2020 (1) October 2019 (1) August 2019 (1) June 2019 (1) January 2019 (1) April 2018 (1) March 2018 (1) February 2018 (1) January 2018 (1) December 2017 (1) November 2017 (1) October 2017 (2) July 2017 (4) April 2017 (1) February 2017 (1) January 2017 (1) December 2016 (1) November 2016 (1) October 2016 (1) September 2016 (2) June 2016 (1) May 2016 (1) April 2016 (1) February 2016 (3) January 2016 (1) December 2015 (2) November 2015 (1) October 2015 (2) September 2015 (2) August 2015 (2) July 2015 (1) June 2015 (1) April 2015 (1) March 2015 (1) February 2015 (2) January 2015 (3) December 2014 (2) October 2014 (1) September 2014 (3) August 2014 (3) June 2014 (2) May 2014 (5) April 2014 (3) February 2014 (1) January 2014 (1) December 2013 (1) April 2013 (1) December 2012 (1) July 2012 (1) April 2012 (2) March 2012 (2) December 2011 (1) November 2011 (3) October 2011 (4) September 2011 (5) August 2011 (3) May 2011 (2) April 2011 (1) March 2011 (2) November 2010 (2) August 2010 (1) June...
by Voyage | Sep 22, 2016 | Blog post, Entertainment Business, Pitching, Presentations, Screenwriting Tips
As creator of the TV series EXTANT, Mikey Fisher certainly knows a thing or two about it and he’s recently written about his experiences in this eye-opening story below. He recounts every moment on his roller-coaster journey, from figuring out which screenwriting contests to enter, to how to choose an agent, to doing a conference call with Spielberg. This document is a veritable How-To on breaking into the TV business. And for more tips and tools on the screenwriter’s trade, stay connected via Voyage Media. We make stories like Mikey’s happen every day for our clients. __________ ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS I’VE BEEN ASKED -MIKEY FISHER WHY I WROTE THIS: The day I turned forty years old I sold my first big script, a tv pilot for a new show called EXTANT. One of the Executive Producers was Steven Spielberg, it starred Oscar Winner Halle Berry, and got a straight to series order for thirteen episodes from CBS. I was made an Executive Producer as well and spent two years learning how to make television at the highest level. It was my first job in Hollywood. A lot of people are going to tell you that it NEVER happens that way. But it DID happen and to quote David Mamet from THE EDGE, “What one man (or woman) can do, another man (or woman) can do.” So I’m passing along what I learned from my personal experience. I know it’s not going to happen for everyone the same way and there will be plenty here that other people will disagree with. This is just one guy’s overall experience from writing the pilot to...
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! ...
