by Voyage | Feb 23, 2017 | Book to Film, Entertainment Business
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSIFICATION As a writer, you invest huge amounts of time, energy and money into your project (and you should)! But because you spend the bulk of your time writing (often a single project), it can be difficult to dedicate energy to other important areas – such as planning for long-term financial health and wealth management… At Voyage, we aim to look at the life of a creator holistically – it’s not ONLY about sparking the creative fire, honing your craft and developing the most marketable story… It’s also about helping you to create a balanced and fulfilled life – a life from which the best stories and ideas naturally take shape. To give you some context: as a writer, you’re starting with a 1% chance of having someone buy your movie or TV project. Now, this should never stop you from pursuing your dreams… But you want to make sure you’re thinking about other ways of saving and creating wealth, not just from your writing – in other words, you want to save, and diversify your investments of time and money. Here are 3 simple non-writing ways to diversify and have a strategy for a long-term sustainable career that perhaps you didn’t know about: 1. Acorns Sounds funny, but we don’t literally mean invest in the acorns you find on the ground. Acorns is a very high-tech system that allows you to quickly enroll in automatic deposits to a personal savings account where their system will invest it for you based on market trends and super cool algorithms – and you can even select how conservative...
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 | 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 1, 2016 | Book to Film, Entertainment Business, Font Page, Pitching
Your guide to choosing the right people to be on your team If I had a dollar for every time an author asked me, “What’s the difference between Agents vs. Managers vs. Producers?” I would have a ton of dollars! Seriously, I could go on a tropical vacation 🙂 But instead of going on vacation, I’ve decided to break it all down for you right here… So I’ll start off by saying that each of these types of dealmakers exist in their own way to make arrangements that kickstart the process of creating movies, TV shows or webseries from conception to completion. But that’s pretty much where their similarities stop… Agents I like to think of the Agents as the gatekeepers to Hollywood… They control what projects high-end talent take on… They also do all they can to protect / improve their clients’ value by making it tough for a newcomer to break in. Typically, agents work for actors, directors or writers and are highly transaction focused. As a rule, Agents only seek out known talent with pre-existing track records. They are interested in sales and final-products which means that they very rarely take risks on ideas that ‘aren’t a sure thing.’ And while this mindset is necessary to keep Hollywood running smoothly, it can be frustrating to newcomers like self-published authors who don’t have a preexisting reputation. Managers Managers are ‘in it for the long haul’ in terms of their clients’ careers. They are generally more focused on the long-term overall career development of their clients (whereas agents are more short-term-transaction focused). The good news for you is that...
by Voyage | Feb 1, 2016 | Book to Film, Entertainment Business, Pitching, Uncategorized
What does gorging on sugary cereal have to do with loglines? The last time I strolled down the cereal aisle, bold lettering, bright blue coloring, and Tony the Tiger himself jumped off the Frosted Flakes box and grabbed my attention. Why would I choose the Safeway brand lamely boasting “Sugar-Coated Corn Flakes” when I could have a cereal that tasted gr-r-reat? Cereal boxes and loglines are both pitches, advertising themselves to win over the hungry shopper or potential script buyer. The purpose of a logline is to succinctly and clearly convey what your script is about to a producer, studio, executive, etc. who is looking to buy scripts to make into movies. A badly written logline (no matter the quality of the script) can turn away buyers. There are lots of tips for writing a good logline, but these are the ones I found most applicable as I noted which loglines sparked my interest…and which ones stayed on the shelf at Voyage. These tips, along with our logline template found below, can help any writer assemble an appealing logline. Attention To Detail If you saw a box of Cocoa Puffs where ‘Puffs’ was missing a letter, would you still buy it? Maybe. But you might be less confident about the integrity of the product, whereas a grammatically sound competitor will instill trust in the buyer. It takes as little as a misplaced comma to take the reader out of the pitch and away from the story. Find the “Shiny Object” Every kid’s cereal brand has that shiny object, whether it’s Tony the Tiger or “Trix are for kids!” A...
by Voyage | Sep 23, 2015 | Blog post, Book to Film, Entertainment Business, Pitching
(HINT: You don’t need a lit agent) When was the last time you were at the movies? If it was sometime in the past 50 years of so (please tell me it was!), then chances are you caught a flick that was based on a book. Book adaptations have always been a source of compelling content (think Jaws and the first Jurassic Park), but more recently, adaptations have become one of the fastest growing, most reliably profitable and attractive markets for producers in Hollywood (think Hunger Games and Harry Potter). Authors everywhere are gaining more and more traction with producers looking for compelling stories to be adapted for film and television… So where do you start? Traditionally, authors begin by looking for a literary agent who would then connect them with producers and agents in the entertainment industry, and act as their calling card to success in Hollywood. Well I’m here to tell you that is not [always] the case… If you are a well-known author who already has a large following of fans and readers, then this traditional route will be effective for you because a lit agent has pull with producers. A lit agent’s job is basically to make a producer’s life easier by acting as a middleman between writers and producers. But… If you are an author who is just starting out or still working to figure out how to gain traction for yourself and your book(s), then going the lit agent route is not your best option. Here’s why: Literary agents are very focused on the projects that will provide an easy transaction with guaranteed...
