Last month, literary manager/producer Michael Klein of Dobré Films sat down with NYFA’s Business of Screenwriting class, charming them with his story of how this River Edge, New Jersey-native wound up becoming a rising literary manager and film producer in Hollywood. Turns out, it all began in Miami, Florida.

Klein attended the University of Miami and got his Bachelor of Science in the Motion Picture Business. He started off as a production intern on the soap opera, Ocean Ave., a Swedish-American soap filmed in Miami for Dolphin Entertainment, which was filmed both in English and Swedish simultaneously about Miami cops on the case of a prostitute-murdering serial killer. “It was Megan Fox’s claim to fame,” Klein said with a smirk. “I think the Pussy Cat Dolls’ Jessica Sutta also got her start on the show. We had a lot of models on as well.” Not bad for a first job.

Klein bounced around Miami for a while as a PA and got to work on some pretty impressive movies filming there, including Bad Boys II. “My job was crowd control, making sure people on the streets stayed out of the shots.” Klein explained it was pretty cool. “You know that epic shot where Will Smith is shooting out the window as the car is spinning around out of control in Bad Boys 2? I got to see them shoot that. Turns out the whole thing was done on a massive turn table.” Klein explained the lessons he learnt early on about cultivating relationships. Part of the reason Klein got these jobs, he explained, was because he had worked with them before. “Crews bounce around from shoot to shoot, like a family.”

However, after a few years, Klein realized it was time to move on from PA’ing. He wasn’t sure if he should head to New York or Los Angeles, but he knew he much preferred the west coast weather and that most of the business was out there. While yearning to get into the creative end of developing stories and working with clients on new material, Klein also knew that a solid pathway into that world was to work in an agency mailroom. So Klein took a job at the now defunct Broder Webb agency (which was acquired by ICM in 2006), a small boutique literary firm. He became an assistant and served as the liaison between clients and their agents.

“What I learnt very quickly is that assistants have real power,” Klein explained. “They are the first line of defense at agencies and field calls from all over the world.” Klein also remarked about the ‘class phenomena’ with assistantships. “All your fellow assistants at your company and the places around town you interact with, become your class. You come up together; you grew up together. I can’t tell you how many assistants I knew then are now real power players today. So treat assistants well. It sounds cliché, but today’s assistants really are tomorrow’s studio heads.”

After working at Broder, Klein knew he didn’t want to be an agent, but that representation and management sounded very interesting to him. Plus, management was a path towards producing, Klein’s other professional goal. So he took a job at BenderSpink, which in 2006 was the powerhouse management company in the spec world, with multiple high six-figure spec sales in any given year. “It was a different time then,” Klein recalls, “specs not only sold often, but for big money.”

While at BenderSpink, Klein began hip-pocketing a few clients — that is, unofficially representing a few clients of his own, while still assistant. One of these clients was the writer Tim Tori, a genre scribe on the rise. Klein developed and packaged his script Prowl and ended up producing it alongside AfterDark Films. The film was later shot in Bulgaria and starred Josh Bowman from the hit-series Revenge.

Soon after, Klein went off to form his own production and literary management company, Dobre Films in 2009. He partnered with his close filmmaker friend and collaborator Christopher D’Elia and they have been working together ever since. Klein works with a variety of different writers. While his client Tim Tori went onto write the Joel-Silver produced Dragon Eyes. Klein then found writing team Julie Sagalowsky & Alex Diaz and sold their tween series What’s Up Warthogs to Disney XD, where it aired for two seasons and sold internationally to multiple territories.

In 2012, Klein discovered the writing team of Richard Tanne & Travis Baker. Klein helped develop their epic Caesar script, The Roman, which Mark Wahlberg is now producing. In 2013, Klein introduced Rich & Travis to Mythology Entertainment, where they’re currently developing a TV series alongside Academy Award Winner Mark Andrews (Brave). In addition, Travis wrote and directed the indie-horror Mischief Night, which was released through Lionsgate in May 2014. Richard also wrote the romantic drama Southside With You, which is going into production in 2015 and is being produced by Stephanie Allain (Hustle & Flow). Most recently, Klein introduced the team to Radar Pictures, who ended up acquiring their crime thriller spec, Midnight.

In the summer of 2014, Klein signed writer, James Breen. In the short time Klein has worked with Breen, he helped Breen get signed to The Gersh Agency, and he was hired by Blumhouse Pictures to write a thriller for Gwyneth Paltrow to star.

Klein offered a variety of advice for NYFA’s writing students. “There’s no shortcut to being a good writer other than reading scripts… There’s also something I call ‘relationship currency’. I can’t tell you how valuable good relationships are out here; it’s almost everything. Start making them now — at your internships, and out there in town. It’s essential.”

Klein went onto talk about what he looks for in scripts. “A unique voice, commercial appeal, specificity, and subtext — that’s super important.” But the other thing Klein looks at is the person themselves: “Can they take criticism? Are they good in a room? Do they take their time with their craft or do they rush it? Are they too married to their first draft and unable to change? All of this is just as important. Writers need to be flexible collaborators,” Klein explained. What turns Klein off to new clients? “When every character sounds the same, and when I can put the script down after 30 pages, then you have a real problem.” Klein closed out with some expert advice for all of the students — “Passion drives projects. What speaks to you? You need to find that voice deep inside and hang onto it tight.”

In addition to managing, Klein successfully balances a full slate of feature films. After producing Prowl, Klein co-produced The Philly Kid, executive produced by Joel Silver. Currently, Klein’s in pre-production with Millennium Films on the action/thriller Point of Violence, as well as the cerebral horror, Spell with Radar Pictures. Klein’s also developing the art-house drama, This Is Your Death, alongside Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito. Klein lives in Los Angeles, CA and teaches Pitching classes at NYFA. He can be reached through his company website – www.dobrefilms.com.

The post Literary Manager Mike Klein Joins Business of Screenwriting Class appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

MA in Film & Media Production
Sichen Ai
Hanaa Saleh Alfassi
Obisesan Allen Bobola
Hongyi Cao
Luciana F Capela
Zhuo Chen
Konstantin Frolov
Zalikha Harun
Meghan Mildred Hooper
He Huang
Jiang Jiang
Minghang Jiang
Srinivasa Jonnavithula
Aditya Patwardhan
Nadeen Salam Said
Lisa Schulz
Dimitrios Tranos
Fei Fei Wang
Xurui Wang
Jiaduo Wu
Yining Yan
Liang Zhao
Yucheng Zhao

BFA in Filmmaking
Eskil Brattgjerd
Hang Cheng
Noé Miguel Obregón Escobar
Rachel Karen Gallagher
Georgy Gorshunov
Lu He
Junyao Hu
Joelle Kahn
Oscar Benjamin Lyons
Akshay Pradeep
Hao Zhang
Qihuan Zheng
Tong Zhou
Camila Varela Zolezzi

AFA in Filmmaking
Darío Navarro Anzaldúa
Rory Butcher
Jamie Deacon
Christopher Dyrell Dickerson
Matthew A Escobedo
Shantal Lenya Freedman
Adam Gomez
Michael James Gros
Bruno Paolucci
Christian Smith

MFA in Acting for Film
Cody Lyle Asher
Jovanna Avila
Parvane Baharian
Pamela Oma Belonwu-Ifedi
Lixuan Geng
Jean Hyppolite
Keaton Kaplan
David Grant Kuskie
Tamara Kvashilava
Kevin Chua Peng Liang
Phoebe Ray McHenry
Adam Wayne Ohl
Laura Anna-Katariina Ollikainen
Amir Abdul Rahim
Cesar Ramirez
Kathleen M. Roy
Sally Shepard
Leandro Manuel Vargas Simoza
Jeremy Sykes
Klement Tinaj
Amanda Anne Vannucchi
Nina Ce’Mone Wright
Han Xing
Xinwan Yu

BFA in Acting for Film
Gianlorenzo Albertini
Diana Salazar Arias
Adam El-Manawy
Jonghoon Han
Deniz Kara
John Franklin Karbousky II
Monique Oberholzer
Elena Petrukhina
Randall Julian William Stanley
James Earl Surman Jr
Kris Swinnen

AFA in Acting for Film
Morgan Elese Aiken
Sonia Gonzalez Arrieta
Luis Facci
Maxine Foreman
Amber Greene
Molly Kelly
Sebastian Mayer
James Millot
Candace Rachelle Morris
Shaquann Nesbitt
Nehal Patel
Nicolas Puorro
John Reeve
Arkan Satrio
Jeremy Harris Shechtman
Milbelynn Soto
Megan Leigh Wright

MFA in Producing
Cynara Aziza Cherry-Cary
Yiling Du
Gabriel Amora de Farias
Faustino Felix Figueroa
Xingyu Gao
Alessandra Micol Ghisolfi
Li Guannan
Yingshan Jiang
Omar Ahmed Tariq Murad
Yuki Naito
Charles J. Pass
Mariana Patricia Pineda M.
Lifen Ruan
Chun Shen
Xuewei Yang
Leying Zhang
Qingqing Zhang
Tianhui Zheng

BFA in Producing
Mariana Mendez Alejandre
Aida Mamezhanova
Diego Del Rio Toca

MFA in Screenwriting
Eric J. Arias
Edward E. Arnold
Livia Azzolini
Kevin André Easley Jr.
Michael E Madvedoff
Eshan Parikh
Kalei Sue Pipczynski
Rohan Sunil Thakkar
LeeMar Turner
Rebecca Verdia
Zachary Alan Xanders
Dongjing Yuan

AFA in Screenwriting
Chris Arneson
Samira Elhidmi

MFA in Photography
Casey Landon Asher
Donald Hoffman
Li Sun
Qiang Ye
Lishabai Yi
Qian Zhe

MFA in Cinematography
Loai Ibrahim A Khalifah
Ora Tiffany Littlejohn
Robert McIntosh
Gaofei Zheng

The post Congratulations to Degree Program Graduates at NYFA Los Angeles! appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

Benny Gao pitches to Director/Exec. Producer Michael Grossman.

Last week, New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles Producing Department held our September, 2013 Advanced Producers Pitch Fest at The Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood. It was a lively and enjoyable night for all who attended. The students pitched in a round-robin format to industry professionals, including veteran producers Tova Laiter, Jim Pasternak, Dana Lustig, veteran television director and executive producer Michael Grossman, and a host of other industry professionals.

Jennifer Zhang pitches to Producer Dana Lustig.

Some details on a few of the industry professionals at the Pitch Fest:

• Michael Grossman is a freelance TV director who has worked on shows for all networks, and was an executive producer for Drop-Dead Diva for Storyline Entertainment for 5 seasons.
• Roz Jordan is a producer and senior casting director for Freemantle Media.
• Will Dickerson is a freelance director who just directed Don’t Look Back for television.
• Bob DiNozzi is a freelance producer who produced Flightplan.
• David Bartlett is a freelance producer with Provoka films.
• Dana Lustig is a freelance producer currently in post-production on a feature film titled The Frontier.

Our industry reps were very impressed with many of the projects that were pitched and offered valuable feedback for our soon-to-be graduating Producers. A good time was had by all!

Tova Laiter hears a pitch from Benny Gao.

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Janek Ambros (far left) with Emile Hirsch and the producers

One of the most desired destinations for a filmmaker on the rise is The Sundance Film Festival in Utah. It’s a festival that has launched the career of so many filmmakers who are now considered household names. This year’s festival welcomed one of our very own, Producing graduate Janek Ambros. Janek came to the New York Film Academy in 2011 to gain a better understanding of how to produce a film — with the eventual hope of producing his own films.

“My experience with NYFA was very useful,” said Ambros. “Professors like Lydia Cedrone, Jaime Burke, and Adam Finder educated me on the importance of digging for good content to be a part of, investor relations, and a general knowledge of the craft of producing.”

This past Friday at Sundance, Janek’s film Ten Thousand Saints, which he was a co-producer along with Celine Rettray (The Kids Are All Right), premiered at the Eccles. Janek initially got on board with the project by raising equity for the film and its producers.

Based on the acclaimed novel, Ten Thousand Saints follows three lost kids and their equally lost parents as they come of age in New York’s East Village in the era of CBGB, yuppies, and the tinderbox of gentrification that exploded into the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988. The cast includes three time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Emily Mortimer, Julianne Nicholson, Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld, and former NYFA guest speaker Emile Hirsch.

The film is in the process of finding the right distributors, and Janek believes the film will get the most attention during next year’s award season.

For now, Janek is focusing on selling a documentary he directed that was executive produced by Academy Award nominee James Cromwell. The documentary is looking at a 2015 release and is about the War on Terror and the importance of Civil Liberties.

The post Producing Grad’s ‘Ten Thousand Saints’ Premieres at Sundance appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

Executive Producer John Giura with NYFA Producing Co-Chair Neal Weisman

The Producing Department’s Industry Speaker program recently hosted John Giura, Executive Producer of Academy Award nominated film Foxcatcher. Students from various New York Film Academy departments participated in a wide ranging conversation and Q&A session moderated by Producing Co-Chair Neal Weisman, covering everything from the genesis of the project though it’s current release. John brought a unique perspective on the film, as he was one of the champion wrestlers participating in the real events portrayed in the movie. Involved in the development of the script from its earliest stages, students discussed the evolution of the story from real life through numerous draft screenplays to the screen. John graciously provided a link to the screenplay in advance of the session, enabling students to fully appreciate his insights to the development process. A discussion on the casting and eventual financing of the film by Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures followed.

NYFA Producing Class at Battery Park

John was able to give NYFA students an inside look at the shooting of the movie, as he also served as wrestling consultant. Training actors Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, and Mark Ruffalo, as well as choreographing sequences with director Bennett Miller, provided a close appreciation of the filmmaking techniques employed in the creation of this acclaimed film. John commented on a variety of clips from the movie, and shared some exclusive “behind the scenes” footage that he personally shot on set.

Foxcatcher is currently in theaters nationwide, and has been nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Make Up and Hair. John Giura is currently producing and directing a feature documentary about a high school wrestling team in Oak Park, IL.

The post NYFA Welcomes Exec. Producer of Academy Award Nominated ‘Foxcatcher’ appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

(from left to right) actress Michelle Rodriguez, producer Mohammed Al Turki, director Nicholas Jarecki and co-star Nate Parker

Last night, Thursday, January 29th, students gathered in the New York Film Academy Los Angeles Theater to view a screening of the financial thriller Arbitrage (Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Time Roth), for which its star Richard Gere was nominated for a Golden Globe, and participate in a Q&A with film’s executive producer Mohammed Al Turki. Making impressive moves in the very competitive Hollywood scene, Mohammed Al Turki is quickly cementing himself as an ambitious producer, actor and philanthropist in the industry. Born in Saudi Arabia and educated in London, Al Turki’s call to film caused him to move to Hollywood and launch his career from there. His executive producing credits also include What Maisie Knew (Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan), Adult World (Emma Roberts, Evan Peters, John Cusack), and At Any Price (Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens). His newest film, Desert Dancer, that follows an Iranian dancer who risks everything to start a dance company amidst his home country’s politically volatile climate and the nation’s ban on dancing, is set to release on April 10th. The Q&A was moderated by producer and NYFA instructor Saga Elmotaseb.

The event was advertised as a Q&A with Mr. Al Turki alone, however, to the audience’s surprise Mohammed brought a couple of friends with him. Added first to the Q&A panel was Arbitrage‘s director Nicholas Jarecki and co-star Nate Parker. Nicholas Jarecki, a prodigy who graduated college at age 19, is a director, producer, and writer best known for directing the film The Informers and documentaries The Outsider and Tyson, in addition to Arbitrage. Nate Parker is an actor and musical performer who has appeared in Beyond the Lights, Red Tails, The Secret Life of Bees, The Great Debaters, and Pride. Mr. Jarecki announced that he is a New York Film Academy alumnus himself, having attended a filmmaking workshop as a young man at the Princeton campus. Nicholas raised his fist in the air and yelled “Go NYFA!” as the students applauded and cheered.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. Shortly before the Q&A Mohammed Al Turki notified NYFA that he was bringing yet another special guest with him but wanted to keep their identity a surprise for everyone. Moments before stepping on stage NYFA was notified and the announcement was made during the Q&A panel’s introduction that the secret guest was, in fact, actress Michelle Rodriguez! Known mostly for playing tough-girl roles in Hollywood blockbusters, Michelle Rodriguez, has starred in Resident Evil, S.W.A.T., and the Fast & Furious series, of which the latest installment, Furious 7, will be release on April 3rd. A trailer for Furious 7 is set to air during the Super Bowl.

What followed was an all-star panel of artists who engaged in exciting discussion on filmmaking from every angle. After all there was a Hollywood mogul, genius director, and two A-list actors on stage. Mohammed Al Turki proved to be a man of many resources, much generosity, and alot of surprises! Like his films he seeks to satisfy, and then some. There’s no doubt that Mohammed Al Turki is the man to watch as he continues his mission of producing meaningful and relevant stories in Hollywood.

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Executive Director of the PAFF, Ayuko Babu with actor Denzel Washington

On Saturday, February 14, Industry Lab students and others—through the Diversity Development Department—participated in the filming of three major events in a row at the Pan African Film Festival.

The first two events were produced by Kim Ogletree, NYFA Producing Instructor, and executive produced and directed by Neema Barnette, the first black woman to win an Emmy directing comedy. The Director of Photography was Tommy Maddox Upshaw who is a Cinematography Instructor at NYFA. NYFA provided some of our hard-working students and equipment.

The first interview was the Power Broker discussion with Sony Executive, Producer DeVon Franklin. He is also a film producer and has worked on projects like The Karate Kid, Not Easily Broken, Hancock and Heaven Is for Real.

Next, the students helped document a conversation with Denzel Washington. Having directed Denzel in Devil In a Blue Dress and Out of Time, director Carl Franklin (House of Cards) was the one who interviewed Mr. Washington.

Lastly, the students took stills for DGA Panel Event, hosted by NYFA Instructor, Jeff Byrd, Co-Chair of the African-American Steering Committee of the DGA. The Director’s Panel consisted of Ernest Dickerson (Bosch, Walking Dead), Charles Stone (CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, Friday Night Lights), Princess Monique (Seasons of Love, The Call), Janice Cooke (Jane The Virgin, Pretty Little Liars) and Charles Murray (Sons of Anarchy, Castle).

The post NYFA Participates in Interview with Denzel Washington at Pan African Film Festival appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

Film Executive Ruth Vitale with NYFA Producing Co-Chair Neal Weisman

Noted film executive and anti-piracy advocate Ruth Vitale participated in a “Conversation with…” as part of the New York Film Academy Producing Department’s Industry Speaker series recently at NYFA’s Battery Campus.

Moderated by Producing Department Co-Chair Neal Weisman, students from various programs listened as Ruth intimately discussed her career as a producer and distributor. From the early days of basic cable, working as an acquisitions executive at the Movie Channel, Ruth has gone on to witness dynamic changes in the creation, financing, and distribution of film content for over thirty years.

Sharing her experiences as President of Vestron Pictures, Ruth walked students through the producing process that led to one of that company’s most successful films, Dirty Dancing. She discussed her tenure as President of Fine Line features, where she distributed a number of notable films including Academy Award winner Shine. As the founder and Co-President of Paramount Classics, Ruth was involved in such seminal films as Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Mad Hot Ballroom (frequently discussed in NYFA Documentary classes), and Hustle and Flow which garnered an Academy Award nomination for lead actor Terence Howard (currently starring in the television series Empire).

Ruth shared insider details on the actual purchase of Hustle and Flow, which set the record for the largest sale ($9M) in the history of the Sundance Film Festival.

As the current Executive Director of the organization CreativeFuture, Ruth has been on the forefront of battling film piracy. Students saw a dynamic video presentation describing the importance of protecting creativity in various mediums including film, television, music, new media, and fine art.

In a spirited question and answer session, NYFA students offered valuable suggestions on how to fight this industry wide problem. We look forward to an ongoing discussion with Ruth and her CreativeFuture colleagues in the effort to conquer this important issue.

We’d love to hear from you as well. How can we prevent this ongoing problem of piracy in our industry? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Film Executive Ruth Vitale Discusses Creativity & Anti-Piracy appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

Shirley Escott, John Dahl and Dan Silver

This past Tuesday, the New York Film Academy proudly hosted the Producers Guild of America’s PGA East Documentary & Non-Fiction Committees “Meet the Networks” panel with ESPN Films. The panel, moderated by Chair of the PGA East Documentary & Non-Fiction Committee Shirley Escott, included Dan Silver, Senior Director of Development and John Dahl, Vice President and Executive Producer of ESPN Films.

The two ESPN executives have been at the forefront of the award-winning 30 for 30 series on ESPN.

Silver is an Emmy Award-winning producer who manages the development of ESPN films and Exit 31’s short film series. He oversees the Peabody and Emmy winning series 30 for 30 Shorts, and the Nine for IX shorts series and is also now supervising the development and production of FiveThityEight.com’s two original short form documentary series, Signals and The Collectors, as well as the recently launched Spike Lee’s Lil’ Joints, and announced Versus (executive Produced by Eva Longoria), and Marvel and ESPN Films 1 of 1 – Genesis” and “1 of 1 – Origins.

Dahl has overseen production on all documentaries produced by ESPN Films since its launch in 2008, including the Peabody and Sports Emmy award-winning 30 for 30 series. He has produced and supervised documentaries for over 15 years going back to ESPN’s Peabody-winning “SportsCentury” initiative. Prior to the creation of ESPN Films, Dahl created the concept and oversaw production for the Baltimore Colts/New York Giants 50th anniversary documentary, The Greatest Game Ever Played, which was nominated for a Sports Emmy. He oversaw production for ESPN Films on the Peabody-winning two-part/four hour documentary Black Magic and the Spike Lee-directed film Kobe Doin’ Work. From 2002 to 2005, Dahl was Executive Producer for ESPN Classic and the company’s 32-hour programming initiative ESPN25, responsible for overseeing production and personnel for both entities. That work garnered a total of eight Sports Emmy nominations (two winners).

Speaking to a full house of producers and filmmakers alike at New York Film Academy’s Union Square theater, the main focus of the evening boiled down to the all important pitch. What stood out as the most prominent piece of advice was for filmmakers to be able to pitch their idea in one sentence. Having your idea delivered in the most concise and compelling manner is the most effective way to bring your show to life.

Considering the overall success of the evening, we look forward to hosting similar PGA events in the near future!

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A husband and wife team from Kazakhstan, who are both New York Film Academy MFA alumni, Askar Bissembin and Bayan Yerimbet have just released their feature film, romantic comedy Bridenapping (Svadba Na Troih). Bissembin was the writer/director of the film while Yerimbet produced.

In the film, Azamat agrees to kidnap his best friend’s bride Alia, according to Kazakh ancient tradition. But when his family mistakenly believes Alia Azamat’s wife-to-be, he has to marry his best friend’s fiancée.

The film was their final project that they developed while at NYFA — Askar in Filmmaking and Bayan in Producing.

“Thanks to NYFA teachers, Bridenapping developed into a solid story,” said Yerimbet. “After returning to Kazakhstan, I was able to produce the feature.”

Bridenapping was released all over Kazakhstan on March 5th, 2015.

The husband and wife team are already in pre-production on a sequel.

The post Husband & Wife Grads Release ‘Bridenapping’ in Kazakhstan appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

It’s no secret that networking is one of the most essential parts of becoming a successful filmmaker. At the New York Film Academy, we encourage students to find like-minded individuals who want to collaborate and are truly passionate about their craft. After all, you can’t create a film entirely by yourself. It’s a team effort.

Recently, a team of NYFA students put their efforts together and filmed the feature film Waves. The film was written by Scott Acornley, directed by Don Frasco, edited by Adrian Morales Ramos, and produced by Anna Skrypka and Don Frasco, all of whom graduated from NYFA.

“NYFA’s intensive hands-on approach worked well for me,” says producer and MFA Filmmaking alumna Anna Skrypka. “We were pushed to wear so many hats that we had no choice but to learn fast and figure our way out.”

The film, which will be Waverly Pictures first feature film, is about intimate friendship, love and heartbreak, revolving around two old friends who test their boundaries on a secluded island in the Philippines.

“Waves is mainly about a man in his later 20s, drowning in his own life, in his own indecision, in his own lack of focus,” says screenwriter and MFA Filmmaking alumnus Scott Graham. “The ocean is a great metaphor for the human subconscious, so I always thought that the main character should be consumed by it, overwhelmed by it. But with the appearance of the whale shark, he kind of starts finding his way. There is beautiful potential inside all of our minds, and sometimes we need to drown and struggle a little bit to find that potential.”

Waves is now available on Vimeo on Demand, and will be theatrically released this June in the Philippines by the Distribution Company Viva. The team is also in the process of getting US and worldwide distribution.

Frasco and Skrypka are currently working on a number of other projects, including a feature that they intend to shoot early 2016. Through the film, Frasco hopes to explore Cebu youth culture from the perspective of two fresh medical representatives tasked to introduce family planning products to rural towns.

“I hope to make films that have a sincere impact on society and its culture,” says director and cinematographer Don Frasco. “I believe that principles can be influenced and shaped through cinema in ways that ignite passion and a resilient interest in contributing to the world.”

There will be a screening and Q&A with the filmmakers at NYFA Los Angeles on March 27th.

Have a look at the trailer below, where you’ll also have the option of purchasing the film to view in its entirety.

The post NYFA Filmmakers Making ‘Waves’ in the Philippines appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

With more than 80 films to his credit, Director/Producer Harrison Engle came to New York Film Academy to share his vast experience with our Los Angeles campus students. Harrison has directed documentaries for nearly every broadcast and cable network. Among his many films are Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs (A&E), The Lost Kennedy Home Movies (History Channel), They Came to Play (PBS) and Obsessed with Vertigo (AMC). He has created tributes for seven Academy Awards telecasts and is a past president of the International Documentary Association.

Harrison screened his Emmy nominated film, “The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt,” which he directed for ABC. Recently the documentary has been re-released as a boxed set with Roosevelt memorabilia.

Harrison reminisced about studying film before there were film schools, and hiring the young Philip Glass to score his first short film. Engle’s main message to the students was “perseverance” – “Do what you love because you love it and never give up on your dreams.”

The post Documentarian Harrison Engle Speaks at NYFA Los Angeles appeared first on New York Film Academy Blog.

It’s been 10 years since the seminal film Hustle & Flow hit theaters (earning the Audience Award at Sundance, Oscar for Best Original Song and Best Acting Nomination for Terrance Howard) but the movie is just as impactful now as it was then. Just ask the students who attended the screening of Hustle & Flow in the New York Film Academy Los Angeles Theater this week, followed by a Q&A with producer and champion of the cultural relic Stephanie Allian.

As Senior Vice President at Columbia Pictures, Stephanie helped launch the careers of filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and John Singleton. She shepherded Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood, which garnered two Academy Award nominations. Following her tenure at Columbia, she was named President at Jim Henson Pictures.

Stephanie Allain

Stephanie formed Homegrown Pictures and produced Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, which earned the Audience Award at Sundance, Oscar for Best Original Song and Best Actor nomination for Terrence Howard. Since then, she’s produced the directorial debut film of Sanaa Hamri and of Tina Gordon Chism. Stephanie worked again with Craig Brewer, producing his film Black Snake Moan. She’s produced Tim Story’s Hurricane Season and most recently Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Beyond the Lights, and Justin Simien’s directorial debut, Dear White People. In addition to her prolific producing endeavors, Stephanie is Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival, Producer of the Spirit Awards, where she sits on the board of Women In Film and Film Independent as a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and of the Producer’s Guild of America. Producer Tova Laiter and NYFA producing instructor Lydia Cedrone moderated the discussion.

NYFA students were hanging onto Stephanie’s every valuable word as she described her rise through the Hollywood ranks, and important lessons she learned along the way. Soon after college she became a script reader when she discovered she could make up to $50 for every screenplay she wrote coverage for. Stephanie described the ability to write good coverage as essential in starting a producing career. This skill is what got Stephanie recognized by studio execs and working in their offices. And it’s the skill that gave her continued success in pinpointing quality material as a studio exec herself. She recommended that students read every script they can get their hands on and write coverage for it, if not only for practice. Her advice to those seeking to hone their screenwriting skills was to read 1,000 scripts and write coverage for them. This, she told students, would help them most in mastering their craft. Stephanie can now spot a bad script from page one. She’ll know if a screenplay is something that she’ll want to get behind because the feeling it gives her is very much like falling in love.

Stephanie described how she shepherded the very unconventional Boyz N’ The Hood script through the studio system. John Singleton, the young genius who wrote the script and would later direct it, was a script reader at the time hired by Allain. John convinced Stephanie to read his script and she was floored. She said to herself, “This is what I’m here to do.” One-by-one she convinced her studio colleagues to read the script as well. This took a few weeks, but when she finally made known her burning desire to champion the film, it was already ingrained into everyone’s consciousnesses. To Stephanie’s surprise her boss green-lit the film and she was promoted to VP, since only VP’s could supervise production and it was clear to everyone only she could supervise this film. Stephanie revealed that one of the determining factors in her success within the studio system was that she was never afraid to give her exact opinion on things. It is these types of people, Allain said, that rise to the top.

Allain described the exciting experiences of discovering directorial sensations such as Robert Rodriquez” (Desperado) and Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow). By the time Stephanie made Hustle & Flow, however, she had become independent with her company Homegrown Pictures. A true believer in one’s power to create their own reality, Stephanie has adapted to the changing times to continue to make the kinds of movies she wants to make and also champion them via the Los Angeles Film festival that she is heading and intending it to become the most diverse festival yet.

We sincerely thank Stephanie Allain for visiting the school and look forward to her next groundbreaking project.

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Neal Weisman with Richard Hankin

A standing room only crowd welcomed The Jinx Supervising Editor Richard Hankin to New York Film Academy Producing Department’s latest Industry Speaker series session. After screening Episode 3 of HBO’s groundbreaking series, Richard participated in a “Conversation with…” and Question and Answer session with Producing Department Co-Chair Neal Weisman. NYFA students from various departments heard Hankin discuss his early career, learning the Avid editing system (now the industry standard, used by NYFA students school wide), and parlaying his technical expertise to gain employment on a number of important documentary projects. He went on to describe his role working with various directors and producers, including editing and co-producing Andrew Jarecki’s Academy Award nominated film Capturing the Friedmans.

The Jinx garnered unprecedented media attention, thrusting it into the limelight. Richard Hankin gave great insight into the development, production, and most notably, the post production of Jarecki’s six part documentary series exploring the strange case of Robert Durst.

Various production, legal, and ethical issues confronted by the filmmakers were discussed; especially noteworthy as the filmmaking process revealed incriminating evidence used to reopen murder charges in Los Angeles.

The Jinx is currently available on HBO GO.

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Today, the New York Film Academy (NYFA) welcomed Rachel Maddow, the popular American television host, political commentator, and author, as a guest speaker at NYFA’s New York City campus.

Ms. Maddow hosts the nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name also aired on Air America Radio.

Rachel Maddow at New York Film Academy Battery Place

NYFA’s Senior Executive Vice President, David Klein, led the lively and informal discussion with Ms. Maddow to a standing room crowd of more than 100 NYFA students, including those enrolled in the broadcast journalism, documentary filmmaking, producing, and directing departments.

The educational setting allowed for the unique opportunity for students to engage with—and learn from— an industry luminary in a wonderfully unfiltered way. Ms. Maddow described her rather circuitous route to her current place in broadcast history and brought laughter by telling the audience about the roster of myriad jobs that she took to survive after earning a doctorate at Oxford in political science.

She sympathetically gave the American paleoconservative and politician, Pat Buchanan, just-dos for helping to launch her career when he chose her to be his on-air adversary for primetime political debating. She shared with the broadcast journalism students the ingredients that she feels helped her to build her career and gave an honest appraisal of the current state of the television news industry.

“I think in broadcast journalism, the camera is a little bit like an x-ray,” said Maddow. “And you can tell if the person on camera has done their own work, has done their own reading, has come up with their own ideas or if they are just reading something that somebody else wrote for them.”

Of keen interest to many is Ms. Maddow’s engagement in current political and societal issues from her perspective as a longtime activist, and her passion for numerous causes shone through in today’s discussions.

Ms. Maddow provided students with invaluable professional and personal wisdom, and the New York Film Academy is grateful to her for taking the time out from her busy schedule to impart it to our students.

Before departing, Ms. Maddow left our students with some words of advice: “You have to block yourself off from your audience in a way so you make sure you do a good job. But don’t tell people how you feel, create a feeling in them and let it be their own experience.”

The Rachel Maddow Show airs on MSNBC at 9:00 pm Eastern, Monday through Friday, and is rebroadcast at midnight Eastern.

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Executive Producer Michael Rauch

A packed room welcomed successful Television Showrunner Michael Rauch to New York Film Academy’s Producing Department’s latest Industry Speaker Series session. Mr. Rauch participated in a “Conversation with…” and Question and Answer session with Producing Department Co-Chair and Screenwriting instructor Nick Yellen.

Rauch has been an executive producer on a number of television series, including Love Monkey, Beautiful People, Life is Wild, and most recently, Royal Pains.

Royal Pains has been one of the USA cable networks most successful shows the past six seasons as well as one of its most expensive — $3 million per episode.

NYFA students from various departments heard Rauch discuss his early career. He advised students how to break into TV as both a writer and producer. He broke down the responsibilities of various TV producers on set, and took us through the day of a Hollywood Showrunner.

Mr. Rauch also shared how students breaking in can expand their industry networking. Michael explained in great depth how a scripted TV show’s writer’s room works, and the fast paced schedule and steps to creating each episode. He guided students with what to do with their original pilot ideas and how to get them into the right hands and what a Showrunner looks for in a writer. He spoke of how important product integration has become to television and the challenges that presents to a TV producer.

Rauch’s Royal Pains has been renewed for a 7^th and 8^th season and can be currently seen on the USA Network as well as 50 other countries worldwide.

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Gideon Raff

On Wednesday, May 14th students gathered in New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles Theater to view the pilot for the recently released TV series Dig followed by a Q&A with Gideon Raff, the show’s co-creator. Gideon “Gidi” Raff is a film and television director, screenwriter, and executive producer. He is best known for the award-winning 2010 Israeli television drama series Prisoners of War (which he created, wrote and directed) and its acclaimed US adaptation, Homeland (for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2012). Raff executive produced and co-created the highly-anticipated series Tyrant in 2014. Gideon directed the award-winning film The Babysitter, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003, and he is also a bestselling fiction author in Israel. His latest TV project, Dig, a ten-episode archaeological thriller about an American FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem, aired recently on the USA Network. The Q&A was moderated by NYFA’s screenwriting instructor Eric Nelson.

Despite having three shows currently on the the air, Gideon Raff admits that he’s still plagued by the same frustrations and insecurities in writing that he had in film school. Starring at a blank page still intimidates him. He starts to doubt his greatness. Maybe the fact that he’s made a number of hit TV shows is just a fluke… But Mr. Raff does not believe in divine inspiration when it comes to screenwriting; he believes in hard work and perseverance. Gideon pushes those doubts away and ignores the constant stream of excuses his mind makes up to avoid the writing process: “I should go to the gym,” or “I really need to get groceries at Whole Foods.” It’s refreshing to hear that Gideon Raff grapples with the same issues that every writer does and that achieving his level of success is just a matter of… well, hard work and perseverance.

Eric Nelson and Gideon Raff

Gideon starts out with an idea and let’s the story dictate the genre and format. By being sensitive to the needs of the story he’ll know soon if he has a drama or comedy, feature film or TV series on his hands. He often writes alone however on Dig Gideon worked with a co-creator because he was busy also creating his most recent show Tyrant at the same time. Gideon compared the process of writing in a TV show “writer’s room” to group therapy. It’s a very “intimate” process, which can make for an incredible experience or a horrible one. You may spend the day hammering out themes for the season or hearing about a writer’s childhood. Either way it all works to generate ideas.

A very important element of a good story, according to Gideon, is “delicious characters.” When a student asked Gideon how she too could make her characters “delicious” he said to make them HUMAN. By “human” he further explained that they should be complex and flawed. As an example of this, Gideon referenced Claire Danes’s character in Homeland who has bipolar disorder. What makes her interesting is that she’s an unreliable narrator. We never know which version of her is speaking or if that same version will appear again when it’s time to follow through with what she said before.

The students were thrilled to gain such valuable knowledge from an entertainment industry heavyweight. We sincerely thank Gideon Raff for visiting NYFA and wish him the best of luck on future projects!

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New York Film Academy’s graduating Fall Producing class participated in their first annual NYFA Pitch Fest in New York City.

Similar to the PitchFest that our Los Angeles students have been doing for several years now, students pitched their thesis projects to various faculty and notable industry professionals throughout the afternoon on two consecutive days.

Among the many notable guests was Dan Hank, formerly VP of Production for the AMC Network (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead).

Dan was recently hired as President of Production at Marvel Film Studio’s (Avengers, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy) New York office where he is now heading production on all of Marvel/Netflix NYC based new franchises (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, The Defenders).

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Instructor Darren Dean, actor Karren Karagulian and Producing Co-Chair Neal Weisman

Costume designer Shih-Ching Tsou, director and co-writer Sean Baker, actor James Ransone (THE WIRE) and Instructor Darren Dean

Sean Baker signing autographs for NYFA students

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Edward Klau

Recently, screenwriter and reality TV story producer Edward Klau visited with New York Film Academy Business of Screenwriting students to talk about his unique path in the entertainment business–from working on a variety of reality TV shows over the years to most recently having his thriller screenplay Brights win the Table-Read My Script Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Originally hailing from Miami, 13-year-old Klau loved to make short movies. “I always loved storytelling,” Klau explained. He attended school in upstate New York, with a major in Cinema & Photography. While there, Klau wrote, directed and produced a half-hour TV show that aired on the campus-wide TV station ICTV, entitled Tracy Malis, a crime-thriller web series in the vein of La Femme Nikita. “It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot doing it.”

While a student, Klau knew that most of the job opportunities in entertainment were in Los Angeles, and while still in school, took an internship over the summer as a set PA on the Nicholas Hytner film The Object of My Affection.

After college, Klau held assistant jobs working for producer Steve Tisch (FORREST GUMP, AMERICAN HISTORY X), who had a first look deal with DreamWorks at the time. But Klau knew he had other ambitions than working in development; he wanted to write and wanted a job that afforded him some time to do so. He soon found a niche that better suited him when he got a job as a logger/transcriber on LAW AND ORDER: CRIME & PUNISHMENT. “The job was pretty easy. I had to take notes on what was on the footage, that is, its content basically. I was a fast typist, and I also knew how to edit.”

After graduating, Klau was able to land a job as a logger on The Amazing Race. And from there, he began a long and successful career working his way up the creative reality TV producing ladder, as an associate producer, a story editor, and then a story producer.

Klau has worked on over 30 shows—everything from Project Runway, a reality TV series exploring the fashion world, to Project Greenlight, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of movies. He was a story producer for Trading Spaces, a reality TV series about carpenters who compete against each other to redecorate a room in each other’s homes, and the cooking competition show Ultimate Cake Off.

As Klau explained to the students, part of his job is to comb through all of the footage that is taken and start finding episodes. “It’s a lot of puzzle-solving,” Klau explained. Essentially, he has to help find “problems of the week” that can become episodes, which is challenging especially on non-competition shows. He then has to find other problems that have come up (B and C stories from footage) and string them all together and make sure they work with another and have a creative coherence.

As for whether reality TV is really written and scripted, Klau explained, “It depends on the show, but all really come together in the editing. Some shows still basically just shoot documentary-style, and see what they can get, and we have to really create the show in post. That’s challenging, but rewarding. On some shows, the producers intervene with ideas or directions about where the show might go or what a character might say, blurring the lines a bit more. And on some, yes, it’s almost scripted reality, almost like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

A lot of what Klau enjoys about his work is through osmosis of just being a part of the team. “One of the things I love about what I do is how much I get to learn about niche topics, things I would have never gotten a chance to learn. On Sons of Guns, I learned everything there is to know about building guns. On Flipping Ships, it was building boats, on Kentucky Justice, it was learning about people who manhunt for arsonists.” Klau worked on the ghost-hunter show Paranormal State, and while he claims not to not believe in the paranormal, he did say there was once a very strange “electric glitch” on an episode that gave him the willies….

“Every show is completely different and is an entirely new world, which is really cool. It helps my writing as well, not only as a research tool, but in coming up with new ideas,” Klau explained.

Klau taught the students that some producer and editor positions are known as a “PrEditor” gigs, though it’s not a title that entirely fits his job description, and that reality TV shows are filled with like-minded individuals, many of whom have scripted film and TV aspirations as well, but it’s a great community of individuals who get to create every day. “It’s not a bad day job at all.”

As for screenwriting, Klau is also beginning to make a name for himself in that arena as well. His script Brights recently won the “Table Read My Screenplay” at the Sundance Film Festival, a great honor. Klau has developed many other projects with producers over the years and shared some closing advice for NYFA’s writing students as well. “I think there are two types of people in the world: those who can and those who can’t, those who will and those who won’t. With writing, you have to remain proactive, because this is not an easy profession and you can’t ever give up.”

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