Newsletter 26 – September 2013
“HOLLYWOOD PLAYER” WINNER UPDATE

“Three and a half months ago, when I first learned about the NATPE conference (Pitchcon), I never imagined I would have a national deal on the table and an agency representation offer from one of the top three agencies in the country (UTA), but that’s exactly what I have!
“Like most independent producers looking to make the ultimate connection, I had reached my limits, what I could actually do on my own. We worked to put together our pitch materials, to the best of our ability, and we connected to those we could reach.
“The ultimate opportunity came after winning the Hollywood Player contest and scoring 6 major meetings with powerhouses like Lionsgate, The CW and United Talent Agency. Another source of great information came from Mark Simon, owner of Sell your TV Concepts Now. As a part of our Hollywood Player contest winnings, we won the TV Pitch School home course. We listened in-depth to all courses to learn the industry. We really felt like we were in TV 101.
But, the information was invaluable. Another part of the winnings was a one- hour consultation with Mr. Simon. Incredible!
“Now, here we are today with two contracts in hand!!!! One from a media group that would put us in dozens and dozens of markets throughout the United States with a new studio, new administrative space and a new team that I can call my own! We also have a contract from a mega-talent agency in Beverly Hills! You can’t see me now, but I’m turning cartwheels. MORE POWER TO CHANGE is in our future, and I couldn’t be more excited! Thank you for to NATPE for helping to make my dreams come true!”
– Charla Young, President & CEO, “Power to Change” Communications

Jeanne, Charla Young and Mark celebrate her “Hollywood Player” victory at Pitchcon
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WHAT’S HAPPENING

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/blog/2013/08/simon-says-watch-for-my-movie-credit.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRIk-7BBuc
The Ovation channel series “The Art of …” featured the art of animation this past Thursday and profiled our client Rick Solomon and his company Animate for the Cel of It. If you watched (or do a search for encore showings), you will see our logo featured in the background. Thanks, Rick! Nice product placement.
Also, if you see some familiar faces in the Africa-based animated feature “Khumba” when it’s released next year, look no further than Mark’s book, “Facial Expressions.” Mark was talking to the director, who was surprised to learn Mark was the author of the book, and later emailed:
“I just realized that I own a book that you published called “Facial Expressions.” We used this book all the time during face shape sculpting and animation on Khumba. So you had some influence in the making of our film as well 🙂 Great book!”
– Quentin Vogel, Director, “Khumba”
Check out a trailer from the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWJx_UCMQlU
(Click on image or use link)
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
“House of Cards” star Kevin Spacey made some comments about the Netflix model and his take on the future of series television while speaking at the Edinburgh Television Conference that we felt worth relaying an excerpt of to our readers:

He warned the traditional broadcast networks to learn these lessons, or risk losing a huge opportunity.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Emmy ceremony airs September 22, at 8 p.m. on CBS.
ACCELERATE… NOW
One of the primary beneficiaries of those techniques are clients in the Accelerate Program, which is our TV series development intensive where Jeanne works closely with you to develop your raw idea into a TV series that the networks would want.
Accelerate is a virtual group program that you can join at any time. So far, Jeanne has led training sessions on show genres, how to create unforgettable characters, how to prepare an awesome overview of your show, what it takes to be an executive producer, and she’s done an in-depth review session of everyone’s work so far.


The next Accelerate training session focuses on how to create episode descriptions that prove your show can last multiple seasons.
So, it’s never too late to come aboard, get the full development process you need, plus have access to all prior training sessions.
Find out more about the Accelerate Program here:
https://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/accelerate/
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
(Photo right is of Wayne’s wife Danette with Jesse- er, Aaron Paul at the Las Vegas Film Festival).
Here’s a show that many people came to the table late on, binge-watching on DVD or Blu-ray, but no one is waiting for the DVDs or even the DVR to watch these final eight episodes as they air on AMC at this point.

Jeanne’s all over the “Inside Man,” airing Sundays at 10 p.m. on CNN (is there anything worth watching NOT on Sunday night?). This is documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s unique first person investigation into such hot button topics as Immigration, Marijuana, Gun Control, Unions, and the Drought. This is the guy who sacrificed his health eating nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days in the hit documentary “Supersize Me,” so we hope he got out of the weed episode intact.
Mark is ‘blown away’ by the new Hulu original, “Quick Draw,” an improv comedy western, which we believe is officially a new genre. We’ve talked about online companies like Netflix and Hulu stepping up to produce original series, and this one certainly fits the description, ‘original.’ Script outlines are developed, but the actors never see one, and the director tells them what the scene is about moments before they shoot it. The comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO worked in a similar method to “Quick Draw,” but it’s probably lucky there were no holsters with guns around when Larry David was doing his usual job of messing someone up. Not pretty pretty pretty.
Summer programming also has us all checking out “Hollywood Game Night,” hosted by Jane Lynch hyped up on Red Bull or some other super-caffeinated beverage. She runs celebrity friends through charade-like games to help contestants win cash prizes up to $25k. Our favorite bit is watching usually sedate celebs such as Rose Byrne (Damages) jumping up and down to wildly clue their teammates into popular song titles just by singing the words “doo doo” over and over to the tune.
“Drunk History” on Comedy Central: Actors in historical costumes and scene settings lip-syncing mangled dialogue, obsenities, belches and comments from a drunk narrator telling the story behind a historical figure or event. Genius! Hysterical.
VIDEO BITES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgPAiUimr9A