The Business of Adaptations for Film and TV – 2017

Agents, Hollywood producers and publishers are always searching for the next great story, but not all writers start from scratch. Oftentimes, ideas come from the things we see, read, write and hear. The challenge for many is how to transition these materials from their original form of a book, article, and story into a full-fledged viable screenplay and adaptation material for another medium.

Savvy industry professionals love to leverage their time and efforts by capitalizing on a story that can be adapted into many forms. Learn from this experienced panel about ways to locate common sources for your story or script and the power and pitfalls of working with adaptations for your project.


PANELISTS

Jenevieve Brewer, a 15-year veteran talent manager, works with a select pool of adult clients in her company Jenevieve Brewer Talent Management. Her clients have booked guest star roles for numerous episodics such as Law and Order SVU, Power, Mr. Robot, Orange Is The New Black, Gotham and Blue Bloods. Currently, Brewer has clients recurring in Billions,The Outsiders, Bull, Nightcap and The Deuce. Her clients have booked supporting and lead roles in the feature films such as Southpaw, The Life and Death of John Gotti, and First Kill. Her clients also currently appear in national and regional on camera and voiceover spots for Verizon, Coke, Swiffer, PNC Bank, Merrill Lynch, Nike and Lyrica.

Mark DeGasperi is Executive Director of Media Development International. He has worked as a writer, script doctor and professional story analyst in New York for over fifteen years, reading screenplays, plays and books for film and TV adaptation. He has worked most recently for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tribeca Productions, Paramount Pictures and Engage Entertainment. He has also covered and scouted movie material for Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, Miramax, the William Morris Agency (WME/IMG), International Creative Management (ICM Partners). DeGasperi teaches Advanced Screenwriting at New York University, and has received an NYU-SPS Award for Service. He is the Associate Producer of the feature documentary Rescuing the Stolen River, the 2017 winner of “Best Green Film” at the LIFFT film festival in India. His novel The Lazarus Experiment was published in 2014.

Louise Fury is a literary agent at The Bent Agency in NYC. She has sold books to traditional and electronic publishers and represents many successful self-published authors. A huge advocate for exploring secondary rights,  she has sold audio, film and foreign rights for her clients. A native South African, Fury lives in Manhattan, but travels to Cape Town every year, where she spends time educating South African writers and meeting with international publishers.

Maria C. Miles, Esq., is the founding partner of an entertainment law firm with offices in New York. Miles’ practice focuses on all areas of entertainment law including, film, music, publishing, fashion and new media. Most recently, she served as general counsel for a multimedia start-up overseeing a diverse range of matters including technology licensing and intellectual property (trademarks, copyrights and patents) both in the US and abroad. Prior to her role as in-house counsel, Miles was counsel to award-winning actors, writers, producers, television hosts, multi-platinum recording artists, and corporations in the fashion industry related to their entertainment matters.

Jennifer S. Wilkov (Moderator) is a #1 international best-selling award-winning author, an award-winning freelance writer, and a respected book, entertainment & business consultant in her business called “Your Book Is Your Hook!” She supports book writers, screenwriters and playwrights by teaching the essentials to writing a bestseller: a great project, a strong platform and a well-polished pitch, presentation and hook for their book or project. Wilkov teaches at the Writers Guild of America East, NYWIFT, the School of Visual Arts in New York, The Writers Store, Writers Digest, and speaks at other conferences and events. Her keen eye for stories that sell and their many possibilities is trusted by industry professionals.

Produced by Jennifer S. Wilkov