NYWIFT Blog

Destination Co-Star! TV Tips for the Emerging Actor

Are you an actor transitioning from theater, independent film, background work, or just starting out? This workshop is for those seeking practical advice in booking their first television co-star role, and more importantly, building a life-long career. We’ll cover casting directors, agents, creating a network vs. networking, audition best practices (and managing those audition nerves), and more! Please note: If The Secret-power-of-attraction-manifesting approach is your thing—great! But this program offers its polar opposite and might not be for you. Though we will touch upon a few science-based items to maintain a healthy mindset, this will be a simple, no-nonsense primer to get you started on your career.

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Lunchtime Skills Workshop: Owning Your Power

Looking to have a lot more say in the way things are handled in your entertainment career? Tired of giving decisions over to your agent, manager, producer or collaborator? Feeling intimidated about money and talking a deal? This interactive  workshop will give you NYWIFT Member/Certified Career Coach/TV Packaging Agent Jim Arnoff's take on how to reclaim the decisions in your career. Learn the  most effective ways to build your confidence, communicate with conviction and ask for what you want. Gain the skills to negotiate in a way that minimizes the fears and maximizes the results. Hear the insider's tips on how to network that sets you apart  and creates the most memorable connections. You will hear the best ways to collaborate with ease, claim your authentic voice and honor your creativity. This workshop is all about claiming your power, leveraging your strengths and being fully expressed.

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Bite Me: A Truly Independent Journey

Join the team behind the independent feature film Bite Me for a case study on the film’s journey and the upcoming Joyful Vampire Tour of America that will feature screenings, capes, and Vampire Balls! Bite Me is a unique, while universally relatable, story about outsiders and an edgy, whip-smart, funny, heart-felt update to the rom-com genre. Naomi McDougall Jones (Writer/Actor/Producer), Sarah Wharton (Producer), Joanne Zippel (Executive Producer/NYWIFT Member) and Jack Lechner (Executive Producer) are inventing a fully democratic, filmmaker-empowered model of release that will change distribution from something you “get” into something you “do.”

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Final Draft: Diversity & Inclusion at the Script Level – Who Are Your Characters?

The entertainment industry is committed to diversity and inclusion in ways it never has been before and FINAL DRAFT has created a tool to help measure the results.  Developed with consultation from the Geena Davis Institute, the current update to Final Draft 11 now includes an Inclusivity Analysis feature that makes tracking and measuring character...

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New Date – Destination Co-Star! TV Tips for the Emerging Actor

Are you an actor transitioning from theater, independent film, background work, or just starting out? This workshop is for those seeking practical advice in booking their first television co-star role, and more importantly, building a life-long career. Mellini Kantayya, actor, writer, and humorist, will cover casting directors, agents, creating a network vs. networking, audition best practices (and managing those audition nerves), and more!

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SOLD OUT – Writing the Half-Hour Television Pilot Treatment – March 2019

Whether you are writing a half-hour drama, comedy or a dramedy, a good treatment helps you identify and prevent important structural and character mistakes. The treatment helps as a diagnostic tool once you’ve completed your draft to foolproof your story. It is also a useful selling tool in a marketplace where, in a practical sense, no one reads it until you have an insider’s attention. Attendees will learn: A foolproof method for the half-hour structure; An easy way to create compelling character arcs within an episode; How to organize your act breaks and your A & B stories with ease; and Participants will create an outline for a script that can then be turned into a treatment. Presented by Marilyn Horowitz.

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Lunchtime Skills Workshop: Jim Arnoff Coaching Group

With the start of a new year, join NYWIFT Member/Certified Career Coach/TV Packaging Agent Jim Arnoff in a highly interactive coaching group with fellow NYWIFT members for one-on-one coaching, group coaching, networking and resourcing to supercharge your entertainment career. Bring any areas of your career where you feel stuck, need support or want to brainstorm new possibilities. You’ll learn coaching techniques to envision your ideal career with precision, release those career blocks and create a powerful action plan to create the passion career you deserve. Free and open to NYWIFT members only.

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Advancing Your Negotiation Skills: Live Roleplay Workshop

Join NYWIFT and Shushana Jachobov, entertainment deal-maker, for a hands-on, live roleplay workshop where attendees will practice, first-hand, how to prepare for and negotiate a deal to acquire intellectual property rights for development. Jachobov will provide a a detailed scenario that will involve a production company negotiation with a rights holder to develop a project for the screen. The scenario will involve a first, introductory meeting. Next will be a scenario for a more involved negotiation meeting. Attendees will work in groups to strategize and run two meetings in real time. Jachobov will then review the meetings, offer feedback, provide recommendations and answer questions.

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Directing Actors: Ten Essential Tools for Getting Great Performances

Directing actors can be a challenge. How do you get the best out of your actors? How do you fix a performance that’s off? Adrienne Weiss, Founder of DirectingActors.com developed a method that gives directors the skills they need to diagnose what’s wrong with performances and quickly make them great. Distilled from decades of practical experience, Weiss' technique - The Tools for directing actors - teaches the essentials of how to get great performances, in a method that’s fun and easy to learn. In this evening talk Weiss will share highlights of her acclaimed technique followed by a demonstration with actors and a q&a session.

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Can I Deduct It on My Taxes? – 2019

The new tax laws will have a significant impact on all taxpayers, but particularly entertainment industry personnel. Join CPA Nancy Adams for a discussion on the changes in the law, and how it affects deductions available to you. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the basic rules on deductions, including new limitations, and potential options available to you going forward.

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The Business of Entertainment

Wouldn’t you love to turn your hobby into a career? Could your passion be something that defines you? We were all given talent to share with the world. Do you know how to turn yours into a career? If you’ve ever dreamed about quitting your survival job and pursuing a creative career full-time, but don’t...

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Adaptations: The Business of Translating Source Material to the Screen – 2018

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.

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Can I Deduct It on My Taxes? – January 2017

Join CPA Nancy L. Adams for a discussion on the rules for tax deductions, including deductions specific to the film and television industry. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of limitations on your deductions, why certain expenses are deductible, and how to protect yourself in the event of an audit. Nancy L. Adams is...

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Lunchtime Skills Workshop: Claim Your Power to Create the Entertainment Career You Deserve

Looking to have a more powerful say in the way things are handled in your entertainment career? Tired of giving decisions over to your agent, manager, producer or collaborator? Feeling intimidated about money and talking a deal? This interactive workshop will give you the agent's/life coach's take on how to reclaim making bold decisions in your career and claim your true creative/business voice. Learn the most effective ways to build your confidence, communicate with conviction and ask for what you truly want. Gain the skills to negotiate in a way that minimizes the fears and maximizes the results. Hear the insider's tips on how to network with results. Also, learn the most effective ways to pitch yourself and your projects. This workshop is all about claiming your authentic voice, honoring your creativity, leveraging your strengths and being fully expressed.

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Writing the Half-Hour Television Pilot Treatment

Whether you are writing a half-hour drama, comedy or a dramedy, a good treatment helps you identify and prevent important structural and character mistakes. The treatment helps as a diagnostic tool once you’ve completed your draft to foolproof your story. It is also a useful selling tool in a marketplace where, in a practical sense, no one reads it until you have an insider’s attention.

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Writing the Half-Hour Television Pilot Treatment

Writing the Half-Hour Television Pilot Treatment  Event: Wednesday May 16, 2018 Whether you are writing a half-hour drama, comedy or a dramedy, a good treatment helps you identify and prevent important structural and character mistakes. The treatment helps as a diagnostic tool once you’ve completed your draft to foolproof your story. It is also a...

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A Practical Plan to Creating Podcasts – Packaging a Podcast: How It Works

After creating a podcast, what’s next? Join podcast producer Christina Kotlar and actor/blogger/host/producer Frances McGarry for the third and last installment of the series A Practical Plan to Creating Podcasts – Packaging a Podcast: How It Works. This workshop will go “under the hood” of the dashboard demonstrating the mechanics and components necessary for your podcast packaging. The workshop will...

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Lunchtime Skills Workshop: Owning Your Power… Taking Charge of Your Career!

Looking to have a lot more say in the way things are handled in your entertainment career? Tired of giving decisions over to your agent, manager, producer or collaborator? Feeling intimidated about money and talking a deal? This interactive workshop will give you the agent’s/career coach’s take on how to reclaim the decisions in your...

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