NYWIFT Blog

Remembering Joan Rivers

Born in Brooklyn in 1933, Joan Rivers had a long and varied career in the entertainment industry before passing away on September 4, 2014, at the age of 81. Rivers’ began her career in New York City, performing stand-up in Greenwich Village. She was first introduced to a national audience when she appeared on The...

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Acting Up: Tips for Creating Your Website

As a producer, one of the things I look for online when I’m hiring actors is an up-to-date, easy-to-navigate website. I want to see their work and what they’re contributing to the business.  It is important to have an online presence, even if it’s just a single web page with your headshot and contact info Here...

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Notes from a Screenreader: Don’t Whimper

Photo via Go Into the Story. Your ending needs a bang. Settling gently down to Fade Out from the end of Act Two does not an Act Three make. Don’t hold back. Act Three is a balloon you keep inflating until it explodes. Push it as far as it will go. Tie up loose ends...

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NYWIFT September Programs: Member Party, Art of the Pitch & Safety on Set

Nancy Malone NYWIFT’s Annual Cocktail Party – 2014  September 8, 6:30 PM It’s time for one of the most popular events of the year – the Annual Cocktail Party celebrating our fabulous members! Join us as we kick off the new program year, welcome new colleagues and raise a toast to everyone who is part...

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Weekly Roundup: Emmy Wins & a ‘World News’ Loss

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/454184348?et=RqGBiht9TChLSo26NFbjTw&sig=cARkM_aeV3Mb3BNO_V-6n6l0wbrp0gEwsf5JsThv7HY= Moira Walley-Beckett was the first solo woman to win in her category SINCE 1994! Congratulations to her and the other female Emmy winners. AFI announced a major expansion to its Directing Workshop for Women. Working on your “scriptment” this weekend? (Yeah, I’d never heard the term either.) After five years, Diane Sawyer leaves World News. True Blood author Charlaine Harris...

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Drive Your Own Career: Producers of ‘The Kids Menu’ Talk Collaboration

Photo credit: Shane Maritch. A common frustration for many actors is the constant grind of looking for work, auditioning, and then waiting for the phone to ring (or the email to appear). So, ten women and myself decided to take our careers into our own hands and independently produce projects together. Our first collaboration is...

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Notes from a Screenreader: Size Matters

Photo via Go Into the Story. Your page count is the first thing that happens to a reader after your title. Somewhere in the 90s is ideal, but a good script at 110 is fine. How can you tell if you need 110? I will give you a thousand dollars for every page you can...

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Terry’s Picks: Women’s Equality Day, Film Preservation & Goodbye to Linden

U.S. women demonstrating for the right to vote (1913), via Wikipedia. Wishing you all: a Happy Women’s Equality Day, celebrating the passage of the 19th Amendment recognizing women’s right to vote. Congratulations to: NYWIFT member Sandra Shulberg, whose Indie Collect just received a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to catalogue and find archives for orphaned independent films. NYWIFT’s Women’s Film...

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Weekly Roundup: ‘OITNB’ Wins Big, ‘Chelsea Lately’ Says Goodbye

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/453741390?et=FfzKTpGUTfp8O-XlqtdAvg&sig=l5sniaB5XsRt9t6-hSJ6IyF35mW62s1iWGs-J2tkdZI= OITNB wins big at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. On Tuesday, August 26, Chelsea Handler will host her epic series finale. Life After Beth actor Molly Shannon discusses the zombie apocalypse and becoming Sally O’Malley. Are you Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy from Oz in your decision-making? If I Stay star Chloe Moretz is really a “very goofy” Hillary Clinton admirer....

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Notes from a Screenwriter: Entitlement

Photo via Go Into the Story. A good title tells a story for you, honing in on the theme and tone. When a reader scans a list of titles, a strong one puts them in an optimistic mood. Keep it short. A short title suggests that you know exactly what your story is. A long...

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Terry’s Picks: NYWIFT Members Win Creative Arts Emmys, Helen Mirren Shines & CBS Says Yes to Female Sports Anchors

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/453185496?et=xUDgzoWrT1h3lQ9PQXtAcQ&sig=Sbb8SSyxF2jdd3v2GYPygEHQLfvQjqRCHrkN_hCofdg= Helen Mirren at New York premiere of The Hundred Foot Journey. Congratulations: to NYWIFT members Sheila Nevins, who won TWO Creative Arts Emmys (one for One last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp and one for Life According to Sam) and Susan Lacy, whose final season at American Masters won in the Outstanding Documentary...

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Social Media for Film & TV: Engagement Is the Magic Word

If your social media accounts have largely been for personal use, the words “engagement” and “metrics” likely haven’t peppered your vernacular. But they are truly the magic words in trying to define the success of your social media strategy. More followers mean more buzz when you’re promoting your project — and being able to quantify...

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Weekly Roundup: ‘OITNB’ Showrunner on Hollywood, Women Directors ‘Flip the Script,’ Remembering Bacall & Williams

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/453186152?et=o9NkiCh-TK1tizzWkP_gvg&sig=SRE6KUelvaAjhLqoevg-gQilY_muFxOiLBPH9h9poGk= “We all want our f— you money,” ‘OITNB’ showrunner Jenji Kohan. Six powerhouse women directors who are “flipping the script” in Hollywood big time! Writers, are you developing a marketable screenwriting brand? Christina Hendricks brings 1960s sensibility into the present day (Video). Disney announces its 2014-2016 Directing Program participants. Judy Greer loves to audition and never feels like she’s...

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#TBT Flix Not to Miss: ‘Gas Food Lodging’

Gas Food Lodging (1992) by Allison Anders is one of those films that has stayed with me over the years. It resonated at the time I saw it as well as years later when I decided to revisit it. Anders has directed a few gems, but this is my favorite. It’s gritty without being mean, hopeful...

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Notes from a Screenreader: Bonsai for Beginners

Photo via Go Into the Story. It looks like it grew naturally, its boughs and crown pleasingly asymmetrical in the way wild things grow, but you can hold it in your hands. Bonsai looks entirely wrought by nature and time, but it’s a painstaking process of complete artifice. Constant bending, pruning, grafting, wiring and clamping...

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Social Media for Film & TV: Follow, Like, Share, Repeat

Image by Paola Peralta, via Wikimedia Commons. By now you should know how to set up your social media accounts and who your target audience is. But once you’ve created that Facebook page or Tumblr blog, your presence needs to be more than just your film’s teaser or a selection of production stills. A good...

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Advice from an Indie Producer: What You Need for Filming

The CameraThere are many things you need to actually make a movie. The most important one is the camera. Without one there’s no movie. Here are some key questions you need to ask yourself when choosing a camera: What type of look are you trying to achieve? Each camera’s output has a different look and...

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Weekly Roundup: E!’s New Talk Show Host, Vieira Returns to TV & Some Things Last Forever

//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/174392904?et=bVzMogZPR3ZK4M71gbYeNw&sig=oaM3P7tNujyof9jRndxT1GZbdZ1J-wjPs4ZBo9udBes= 1.8 million YouTube subscribers agree, Grace Helbig will be a hit for E! Cinderella makes history on Broadway. After a few career stalls, “the road is good” for OITNB’s Uzo Aduba. Meredith Vieira returns to daytime television. Writer-director Jennifer Lee goes from making Frozen history to penning A Wrinkle In Time screenplay. Before you sign that contract, remember “in perpetuity” means forever....

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