Big Apple Film Festival Big Apple Film Festival

BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL INDUSTRY NETWORKING AND MENTORSHIP

Family and character driven films have long been a significant part of the movie industry in the United States and around the world. Creating these fun films for all age groups is a unique craft unto itself, and in many ways an industry of its own within the film and TV business.


In the session, veteran writer Alec Sokolow behind the mega successful Toy Story will provide strategies and guidance on how to develop authentically fun films for all age groups, what the industry is looking for in today's market place, how to pitch a new concept for mass audiences.

ALEC SOKOLOW
Writer

ALEC SOKOLOW is an Oscar nominated & original screenwriter of "Toy Story" whose movies have topped one billion dollars in world wide box office. A Hollywood lifer who has written and written on "Money Talks," "Goodbye Lover," "Cheaper By the Dozen," "Garfield," "Garfield; A Tale Of Two Kitties," "Evan Almighty" among dozens of other major studio projects. Sokolow has also written the story and meta mythology for Activision's massive "Skylander's" video game franchise that has topped one billion dollars in global sales.


The New York City born and raised native has worn many hats in his illustrious career. Producer. Animation Director. Late Night Comedy writer. Radio talk show host. Children's book author. Documentarian. Public speaker. NYU Professor.


He currently resides in NYC with all of his imaginary friends.

A pitch deck is possibly one of the most important tools in presenting your script or proof of concept to a studio, producer, agent, manager or potential investor. The goal of an effective pitch deck is to clearly communicate the creative elements, such as your story, key plot points, and character development, as well as the aspects of the project that will be most important to investors, such as a potential cast, marketing plan, PR campaign and budget.



In this session veteran producer and manager Elissa Friedman will identify the elements that make a successful pitch deck, how to structure your pitch deck and strategies for grabbing the attention of industry executives.



MENTOR

Elissa Friedman

Literary Manager, Zero Gravity Management



Elissa Friedman is a manager, producer, and former development executive with over fifteen years of industry experience. Before becoming a literary manager at Zero Gravity Management and NEER Films, Elissa ran production and development at Covert Media and QED International, the company behind such as films as "Fury", starring Brad Pitt, 'Dirty Grandpa" starring Zac Efron and Robert DeNiro and Peter Jackson's "District 9", available on HBOmax and Hulu. She produced such films as Ophelia starring Naomi Watts and Clive Owens, Rock the Kasbah starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Zooey Deschanel and Kate Hudson and The Secret: Dare to Dream starring Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas. She has an MBA from USC and was named one of Variety Magazine's New Leaders in Film. Elissa is based in New York.

Aspiring creators often have unique and innovative concepts for new TV/streaming series, including scripted series, reality shows, or docuseries. However, the challenge is how to find the right financiers, TV/streaming networks, showrunners, producers, or studios who would be willing to take a chance on a new show.

In this session, producer and director Whitney Ransick provides strategies, advice and feedback on how to organize their concept into a complete package, how to find producers, networks and agencies that might have an interest in your material, how to successfully package your concept, prepare an effective pitch deck and more...

MENTOR
Whitney Ransick
Producer/Director

Whitney executive produced the critically acclaimed series The 12th Victim, a true crime docuseries at Showtime, with partners Morgan Neville and Submarine Productions. A member of the DGA, Whitney has directed over 40 hours of episodic TV including ER, Homicide, Cracker, Smallville, Supernatural, Jerry Bruckheimer's Soldier of Fortune and Steven Spielberg's High Incident. He also directed the feature films Handgun, Shock TV, and the documentary Misfire. Projects he has set up include his script Thieves at RKO, his police procedural The Precinct at CBS, the book adaptation of The Intruders at Focus Features, and The 12th Victim at Showtime.

Professional screenwriters share their career journey, and provide valuable advice to aspiring writers, at the Big Apple Film Festival Screenwriters Conference. Hosted by Big Apple Film Festival moderator, Craig Price.  

JOSE RIVERA 

José Rivera's screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar— making him the first Puerto Rican writer ever nominated for an Academy Award—as well as a BAFTA and Writers Guild Award and received top screenwriting awards in Argentina and Spain. Other films include On the Road, Trade and The 33. Rivera co-created and produced Eerie, Indiana, (NBC) and was a consultant and staff writer on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (Showtime). He has written 18 episodes of the Netflix series based on One Hundred Years of Solitude.  Rivera wrote and directed the short films The Fall of a Sparrow and The Civet, both of which were official selections of the Big Apple Film Festival. His latest screenplay is A Song for the Recycled Orchestra. He has served on the boards of TCG and the Sundance Institute and was a Creative Advisor at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan and India. Jose is a recipient of two Obie Awards for Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced by the Public Theater. Plays seen at the Goodman include Cloud Tectonics, Boleros for the Disenchanted, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), Another Word for Beauty, Sueño and The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, which appeared as part of New Stages.  

JAMIE NASH 

Jamie Nash optioned his first screenplay in 2004 to Haxan Films . That script then turned into his first produced film, the horror-feature Altered. distributed by Universal Home Entertainment and Rogue Pictures. It also started a decade-long collaboration with Eduardo Sanchez, co-director of famed found-footage flick The Blair Witch Project.

Lovinder Gill moderates this conversation as part of the Big Apple Film Festival Producers Conference, featuring Reinaldo Marcus Green and Kent Sanderson.

REINALDO MARCUS GREEN has been honored with the Breakout Director Award from the African-American Film Critics Association for his work on King Richard, starring Will Smith, which earned 6 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; he has also been nominated for his direction from the Black Reel Awards and the Image Awards, and the film received audience awards from the Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, and Heartland Film Festivals. He previously directed "Joe Bell" starring Mark Wahlberg, as well as all 6 episodes of the HBO limited series WE OWN THIS CITY, written by George Pelecanos and David Simon. His first feature film, Monsters and Men, was awarded Outstanding First Feature at Sundance. He is currently in prep on Paramount's Bob Marley biopic.

Kent Sanderson is the Head of Acquisitions and Ancillary Distribution at Bleecker Street Films.

Agent Danny Alexander (APA Agency) provides career advice to aspiring filmmakers, screenwriter and series creators, at the Big Apple Film Festival Agents and Managers Conference.



Danny Alexander works in the TV literary department at APA, working directly with writers such as John Carpenter (Halloween), Derek Kolstad (John Wick) and Mike Le (upcoming Patient Zero with Natalie Dormer and Stanley Tucci). Prior to working at APA, Danny was at Kaplan Perrone Entertainment where he worked with a wide array of comedy and drama writers.  Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) is the fourth largest talent agency in Los Angeles with offices in Beverly Hills, New York, and Nashville. Clients include Adam Sandler, Sam Elliot, Amy Acker, Jason Momoa, Jesse McCartney, Kim Basinger, Mena Suvari, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Emily Deschanel, Louis C.K., Chevy Chase, Eva Longoria and many, many more. They've also packaged movies and television series with virtually every major network and Hollywood studio.