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 December 2024 (2) 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...
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! ...
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...
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 | Dec 8, 2015 | Audience, Blog post, Entertainment Business, Pitching, Presentations
Deliver Your Best Producer Pitch You already know how important it is for newcomers who want to break into the Hollywood market to get their story in front of the right executives. But we haven’t really touched on what happens when you finally do land a meeting with that big-shot producer at that high-powered studio or network? You only have a few minutes, at most, to capture their attention… So what do you say and do to get that producer interested in your book or script? Here are 5 tips to help you craft your perfect pitch and blow that Hollywood exec out of the water with your movie or television show idea: 1. Be The Expert Of Your Story Prove that YOU are the perfect writer to tackle your concept. In order to do this, you must have confidence in yourself, your project and where it’s headed. You should also establish your specific connection to this story. What inspired you to write this specific story in this particular way? Insert your personality, voice and/or experience into your pitch. 2. Keep It Simple Don’t try to do too much with your pitch. You need to boil your story down to the most important elements by highlighting the big picture concept of your story. Include your hook, main concept, and a couple of sentences about your main character so it’s clear whom the story will follow. Establish why the producer should care to connect to that specific character. 3. Your Characters Are The Key Conflict drives a story and keeps people interested. So keep your characters at the forefront...
by Voyage | Nov 30, 2015 | Entertainment Business, Pitching, Screenwriting Tips
How rethinking your writing can help you bounce back from rejection You don’t need me to tell you that rejections are tough. The stories we tell, the ones we really care about and want to see come to life, are our darlings. They’re the result of hard work and tough love. When you’ve got a story that you’ve slaved away on for weeks, months, or even years of your life, it can be crushing to take that project to a producer and be told it’s not what they want. Worse—they might not even respond to you at all! So how are you, as a writer, expected to traverse the minefield of rejection and criticism we call “Hollywood”? You only have a few minutes, at most, to capture their attention… So what do you say and do to get that producer interested in your book or script? First: don’t panic. Rejection is just as much a part of writing as hand cramps and eye strain. Even the greatest writers can get rejected at the height of their established careers. By nature of marketing to the changing landscape of film, not everything you write is going to find its audience on the first go around. It’s what you do next after your script gets sent back to your doorstep that really counts. Before you plan your next move, it’s important to understand the two types of feedback you can get from a producer… The useful… And the unreliable… If you’ve gotten critical feedback from a producer who’s read your script, you’re already a step ahead on the road to improving your writing’s marketability....
by Voyage | Oct 8, 2015 | Entertainment Business, Producer Interviews
How to make your audience care about what’s important to YOU, and use your voice to provoke social action…not reaction What does it take to get an audience to care about ingrained political and global issues? How can you inspire empathy in your viewers? And what social responsibility does the creative have to their wider audience? Bonnie Solomon tackles these questions and more in our latest Voyage producer interview. Oscar Wilde once famously wrote, “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” This is a quote that rings very true to the tone of Bonnie Solomon’s work dealing with hot-button, sometimes uncomfortable-to-talk-about social issues. But death, continues Solomon, is of course not the only possible outcome when you need to convince an audience that the truth is relevant and important to their own lives. “They’ll kill you,” says Solomon, “…or they’ll completely tune you out, and watch the Kardashians.” When your goal is to make people listen, you must grab their attention as soon as possible, or their inaction will make future change impossible. Audience boredom is certainly a frustration for many writers, and for Solomon it means that the urgency of her issues aren’t getting through to the people who might need to hear them the most. Of course, not all of us writers are social activists, nor do we specifically call on those themes within our own work. However, what is striking about Solomon’s work is how she strives to inspire a strong ethical sense in her audience, through only the language of film. Knowing how to engage an audience...
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...
by Voyage | Sep 11, 2015 | Entertainment Business, Producer Interviews, Screenwriting Tips, The Expert Network
John Crye, Producer Find out how to make Hollywood producers want to work with you again and again by building producer rapport using advice from industry veteran, John Crye. As part of our ongoing series, which asks our producers about their work in the entertainment business, I talked with John Crye, a current Hollywood producer and Voyage team member, about his work in the industry. Here you can read some of his own personal advice on building producer rapport in Hollywood, what a writer can do to make a producer’s life easier–and get them to fall in love with your script while they’re at it. Crye–the former director of Creative Affairs at Newmarket Films, who had a hand in acquiring such modern-day classics as Donnie Darko, Memento, and Whale Rider–has more recently moved on to independent writing, directing, and producing. In his many years in the entertainment business, he’s learned a lot from experience about the production world and the professionals who inhabit it. I asked him about any advice he had to give to writers thinking about entering the business, from the perspective of someone who had not only written himself but also worked extensively with writers as a producer. A common theme tended to reappear in his advice: understanding your producer’s needs is crucial to getting your story made in a way that’s satisfying for everyone. In the most basic terms: you need to make their job as easy as possible. So the question remains: why do YOU need to make their job easy? Aren’t THEY supposed to work for YOU? While a producer is indeed there...
