ScriptShark's Out of the Computer/Into the Industry event
Never take a meeting unprepared! Once the writing is finished, the hard work begins. The Out of the Computer/Into the Industry all-day seminar will prepare you for your Take a Meeting sessions by teaching you the inner-workings of the industry, as well as how to present, position and promote yourself and your screenplay effectively.

This event is presented by ScriptShark and requires paid registration separate from the Take A Meeting event.
www.scriptshark.com/seminar_LA.cfm

9:00am - 5:00pm
Take A Meeting sessions
Meetings occur throughout the day. Be sure to check your registration receipt for your scheduled meeting times with your executives.

9:00am - 5:00pm — Michelle Paquette
15-minute motivational coaching sessions
15-minute coaching sessions that will help you discover your key to success. Receive individual attention and learn how to turn your passion for screenwriting into a reality. Whether you need advice on goal setting, accountability, time management organization, career focus or effective communication skills, coaching helps you get unstuck and stay on track.

10:00am - 11:00am — Syd Field
Pitching Your Project
How are you preparing to pitch your project? Are you going to lead with an action or a character? Do you know your story line well enough so you can improvise on it if need be? These topics and more are the subject that’s going to prepare you to pitch and sell your project.

11:00am - 12:00pm — Ken Rotcop
Secrets of a Studio Executive
Ken is former creative head of Embassy Pictures, Hanna-Barbera, Cannon Films, and Trans-World Productions. He will talk about:

1. What really happens to your screenplay when you make a submission?
2. Why scripts under 100 pages get read faster?
3. The secret underground.
4. Payoff from production companies and networks for MOW’s.
5. How to guarantee your book is a best seller.
6. Why best scripts never win writing contests.
7. Presents to the story editor.
8. Stock piling scripts.
9. One great scam.
10. What they mean by a hanging elevator.

1:00pm - 2:00pm — William C. Martell
High Concept Hollywood
How to find and develop ideas that Hollywood is looking for and you are passionate about. A great script with a dull idea is a dull script. Learn tools like Magnification, Flipping, Substitution, Cousins, Word Association, why High Concept is *Your* Concept, and finding your personal themes in high concept ideas.

3:00pm - 5:00 pm — Blake Snyder
Featured Speaker!
Blake Snyder, author of the Save the Cat! books, gives writers the latest information to succeed with his talk titled "Pitch. Write. Repeat." What are the keys to selling in the booming spec market? What are the latest expectations of the studio or indie to best tell that winning story? And how can you build on success to have the career of your dreams? Plus Blake will give you four new fixes for wobbly loglines in his sneak peak at his latest book, Save the Cat! Strikes Back! More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into... And Out Of.

8:00am - 10:00am
Morning Workout with Cinestory
(SEE SATURDAY SCHEDULE FOR DESCRIPTION)

9:00am - 5:00pm
Take A Meeting sessions
Meetings occur throughout the day. Be sure to check your registration receipt for your scheduled meeting times with your executives.

9:00am - 5:00pm — Michelle Paquette
15-minute motivational coaching sessions
15-minute coaching sessions that will help you discover your key to success. Receive individual attention and learn how to turn your passion for screenwriting into a reality. Whether you need advice on goal setting, accountability, time management organization, career focus or effective communication skills, coaching helps you get unstuck and stay on track.

10:00am - 11:00am — Ken Rotcop
The Perfect Pitch: The Workshop
Ken will work one-on-one with each writer on his or her pitch.  “A good story badly pitched is a bad story.”  The pitch is an executive’s first impression of you.  He must decide whether he likes your story, likes you, and sees infinite possibilities to become rich.  All within two minutes! Rotcop’s sure-fire tips on pitching will show you how to grab an executive by the throat and not let go until he or she agrees to read your script!

11:00am - 12:00pm — Pilar Alessandra
Pitch Yourself
Producers and agents want to know that you’re as interesting and original as your screenplay.  Learn ways to break the ice, get their attention, and keep them engaged as you segue into a script sale.

1:00pm - 2:00pm — William C. Martell
Guerrilla Marketing Your Script
No agent? No problem! How to make your own connections, find producers interested in your script, get readings and studio meetings, and sell without an agent or manager. Instructor has sold over 20 scripts without an agent, 17 were filmed. You don't need an agent to sell, just a great script!

3:00pm - 4:00pm — Pilar Alessandra
Pitch in a Minute
Pitch quickly and avoid producer tune-out.  Screenwriting instructor Pilar Alessandra provides a written template to help writers define the key elements of their screenplay or television series.  Writers learn to pitch their ideas in a brief, concise and entertaining manner that emphasizes the hook and eliminates "writer-babble."

Speaker Bios:

Pilar Alessandra
Writing Instructor/Script Consultant:  On the Page www.onthepage.tv
Pilar Alessandra is the director of the popular writing program On the Page.  Her screenwriting podcasts - with guests from within the industry - regularly appear in the film and TV top 100.  She’s worked as Senior Story Analyst for DreamWorks and Radar Pictures and first caught the “teaching bug” as an instructor with the UCLA Writers Program. Since creating On the Page in 2001, she’s trained writers and story analysts at ABC/Disney, Nickelodeon and MTV and has taught at numerous writing conferences around the country.  Students and clients have sold to Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., and Sony and have won prestigious competitions such as the Open Door Competition, Fade-In Competition, and Nicholl Fellowship.  “On the Page: the DVD,” a collection of Pilar’s ten-minute writing tools, can be found at the Writers Store, Biz Books, and on Amazon.

Syd Field
Syd Field is acclaimed as the “guru of all screenwriters” by CNN and “the most sought after screenwriting teacher in the world,” by the Hollywood Reporter. The internationally celebrated author of eight books on screenwriting, his classic Screenplay is considered “the bible” of the film industry, and is published in 23 languages and used in more than 400 colleges and universities. He has conducted screenwriting workshops all over the world, and commissioned by the Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and the Nike Corporation and annually conducts The Visual Art of Storytelling for the scientists of JPL and NASA. He was inducted into the prestigious Final Draft Hall of Fame in 2006.

William C. Martell
William C. Martell has written 19 produced films, plus been on several film festival juries, including Raindance in London, twice - once with Mike Figgis and Saffron Burrows, once with Lennie James and Edgar Wright. He returns to jury duty in October 2008. Roger Ebert discussed Martell’s work with Gene Siskel on his 1997 If We Picked The Winners Oscar show.  Last year he had 2 films released on Feb 20th, one from Lion's Gate, one from Sony- both landed on the Top Ten DVD chart (originals). His 20th film shoots in Hawaii in September.

Ken Rotcop
Award-winning writer Ken Rotcop’s latest feature-length film Baby On Board is presently in post-production in Chicago.  Cast includes Heather Graham, Jerry O’Connell, John Corbett, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Ian Ziering. His book The Perfect Pitch- 2nd Editionis scheduled to be released at the end of the year. His musical Mama Cass is in pre-production to be performed this summer at the Secret Rose Theatre in Hollywood, California.His latest DVD Let’s Sell Your Script!is available at the Writer’s Store in Los Angeles and may be purchased online at Amazon.com.His fourth DVD soon to be released is called Secrets of Animation.Rotcop is the recipient of the Writer’s Guild Award, the Image Award, and the Neil Simon Award for producing and writingFor Us, The Living; The Story of Medgar Evers. He also produced the musical review Feifer’s People starring John Ritter.Rotcop was creative head of four Hollywood studios: Joe Levine’s Avco Embassy Pictures, Hannah Barbera, Transworld Productions, and Cannon Films.A complete bio may be found in “Who’s Who in Entertainment.” Rotcop may be reached at PitchMart@Juno.com

Blake Snyder
In his 20-year career as a screenwriter and producer, Blake Snyder has sold dozens of scripts, including co-writing Blank Check, which became a hit for Disney, and Nuclear Family for Steven Spielberg. His book, Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need, was published in May, 2005, and is now in its eleventh printing. It has prompted "standing room only" appearances by Blake in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Vancouver, Toronto, and Barcelona. Apparently it is not quite the last book on screenwriting you’ll ever need, as the eagerly awaited sequel, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told,was published in October, 2007 – shooting to #1 in the “Screenwriting,” “Screenplay,” and “Movies History and Criticism” categories on Amazon.com. Blake's method has become the "secret weapon" of many development executives, managers, and producers for its precise, easy, and honest appraisal of what it takes to write and develop stories that resonate. Save the Cat! The Last Story Structure Software You'll Ever Need has codified this method in an easy to use CD-Rom. Blake is a member of the Writers Guild of America, west. Please visit www.blakesnyder.com for more information.

Michelle Paquette
Michelle is a career/business advisor and motivational speaker. She is the owner of All Ways Consulting in Agoura Hills, CA. She offers motivational techniques for aspiring screenwriters and members of the entertainment industry.

Questions? Please check out our Legal Disclaimer and Take A Meeting FAQ pages.
Need more info? E-mail support at tam@finaldraft.com or call 800-231-4055 x135 (available 9:30am - 4:30pm PST, Mon-Fri.)

New York date/location subject to change.