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 | Apr 22, 2015 | Uncategorized
Voyage Media is proud to announce that our documentary, Valley Uprising, is set to premiere on the Discovery Channel this week as the headline of the newly launched “Elevation Weekend!” Featuring vintage footage of this once fringe lifestyle and the breathtaking Yosemite landscape, Valley Uprising provides an in-depth look at seemingly unknown aspect of American history… “We have a purpose…only through climbing can you find yourself,” says one of the featured climbers in the surprising and riveting documentary Valley Uprising: Yosemite’s Rock Climbing Revolution. The men and women featured in this film have a passion for climbing that is palpable, and jail time and living on the fringes of society are minor details in their minds… as long as they can be on that mountain. Don’t forget to tune into the Discovery Channel on Saturday, April 25th at 8 PM EST to see this remarkable film for yourself. Watch out “Shark Week,” the Yosemite Valley climbers are coming for you! 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)...
by Voyage | Jan 21, 2015 | Blog post, Uncategorized
It’s been a big year at Voyage and I wanted to take a moment and thank you for being a part of our growing family of creators! Without you, none of what we accomplished would have been possible. We set some big goals in 2014 – we wanted to get some films made and we wanted to expand our ability to make a real difference to creators (and their projects) around the world. Toward that end, one of our successes was officially launching our “Originals” program, specifically designed to partner with select creators to bring their projects to market and arrange for packaging, financing and distribution. We took on 14 new film and television projects in the program this year, all of which are now partially packaged or financed and in various stages of development. A couple standouts include producing and releasing our award-winning and highly profitable film, VALLEY UPRISING, and bringing the scripted TV series, UNBRIDLED to market and securing the participation of 2 well-known and respected showrunners. You can read more about our Success Stories here. We’re also proud of our partnership with Amplify Releasing/GoDigital, which enabled us to guarantee distribution to some of the film projects in our Originals Program as well as for several clients who took advantage of our new distribution business plan / strategy service, “Distribution Deep Dive”. Our Professionals Program is in its 3rd year and took a surprising and unplanned twist. Not only does the program continue to serve as the incubator for projects that enter our Originals Program, but it also now acts as a crucible for nurturing and identifying...
by Voyage | Jan 14, 2015 | Uncategorized
TOM CARTIER ON METHOD WRITING These days treatments and presentations can’t be run of the mill considering what’s at stake. They need ideas that haven’t been seen before. The toolkit used to tell stories is getting refreshed almost daily but it all still starts on a blank piece of paper. It’s going to take bold, imaginative thinking to stand out. What’s more, this creativity has to be applied to the new medium of the Internet where anything goes. Being a writer, faced with these daunting thoughts, I always rely on my creative process, which applies a salad of different philosophies to the challenge of coming up with big, new ideas. One school of thought believes the best, most original thoughts, especially when writing images for the screen, come from the subconscious. James Cameron once said he had a nightmare about an invincible robot hitman sent from the future to kill him. Hence, The Terminator. I too subscribe to this theory and diligently write down any visions I’ve had while sleeping. Although at times it’s difficult to remember what I’ve dreamt, I find it a vital process. As we enter an age where graphic photo-realism can be applied to almost any concept, where there are 10-second horror film banner ads, no avenue to original ideas can be overlooked. But I also like to have a grounding sense of the reality of a concept. I like to dig into the most granular, un-thought-of details about a subject before execution. And I’m a firm believer that reference like clips, films, books and photography is just the start. As much as possible, I’ll...
by Voyage | Dec 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
This has been a very busy year for us here at Voyage Media! Our clients are making huge strides in getting their projects made and manifesting their careers as successful Hollywood writers and filmmakers. So, as the end of the year approaches, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the year and showcase some of our esteemed clients and their wonderful project successes! VALLEY UPRISING Creators: Nick Rosen & Pete Mortimer Nick and Pete came to us with a rough cut of their documentary. They joined our Professional’s Program to solve some core creative problems with their storyline and ended up creating an amazing, award-winning documentary. Voyage ended up executive producing the documentary with narration by Peter Sarsgaard. The film has won the GRAND PRIZE in all five festivals in which it has competed. Valley Uprising is also available on Blu-ray, DVD, or digitally through the Sender Films website. UNBRIDLED Creator: Marilu Norden Rising through the ranks of our Book-to-Screen program, Marilu had one of our producers and screenwriters adapt her award winning book and true story into a one-hour TV drama. We also worked with Marilu to create a stunning visual pitch lookbook, which helped the project picked up by two successful showrunners!. The project is now being shopped around to TV networks as a Voyage Original. STRANGER Creator: Shaun Cunningham Shaun signed up for an Insider Strategy Session for his film project, Stranger. The script read great so we decided to set the project up in our Originals program, together with co-producer, John Crye.. What started as a seed turned into a...
by Voyage | Apr 23, 2014 | Uncategorized
Filmmakers are always trying to convince somebody to read their work, when they should really be striving to create work that people (and producers) actually want to read. If you can do that, then the path to success will become much clearer and you greatly increase your chances of achieving a positive outcome for your project (i.e. financing, production, distribution). So here’s the million-dollar question: How do you get a producer to come after you? And just as importantly, how do you create material that people will line up to read? This end goal must be broken down into a series of questions you should constantly be asking yourself as a writer or filmmaker in Hollywood. So let’s jump right in… Question # 1: What’s My Market? The best way to begin this process is to gain a thorough understanding of how the various markets in Hollywood work, and then really explore what the buyer for a specific market (your market) needs to fill their project pipeline. What are their agendas and objectives that must be fulfilled in order to successfully do their job and elevate their own stature and career? This is where we start getting into the needs of the producer, which is extremely important for you to understand as someone who wants to get their project noticed… Producers, like the rest of us, want to be successful. They are always looking for that next great project that is going to make money, elevate their career, or make them look good in front of their peers. They’re looking for a project that is going to...
