WINTER FESTIVAL
WORKSHOPS
Demystifying the Entertainment Business with Helena Vilaplana
Date: Monday, February 22, 2021Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST or Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Limit 10 participants per workshop
Ask Me Anything: bring your BIG question about your career in film. Let’s talk training, barriers of entry and entry-level jobs, Hollywood, managers and agents, film festivals, what makes a story great, building your support system, and more. Join me in this interactive Q&A group session tailored to your needs where we'll demystify the entertainment business.
Helena Vilaplana is a film and television executive with over fifteen years of experience both in the US and internationally. With a knack for the story, particularly script development and content curation, she has collaborated with festivals like Fantastic Fest, the LA Latino Film Festival, Scout Film Festival, and DocsBarcelona; she has worked for the European Commission, Audible, and WarnerMedia; and for producers and talent like Roy Lee, Casey Affleck, or John Middleton. Originally from Barcelona, Helena moved to Los Angeles to attend the Peter Stark Program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. She’s a recipient of the prestigious “laCaixa” Foundation scholarship and holds an MFA in Film Production. Passionate about discovering emerging talent, she is currently part of HBO’s Content Acquisition team.
The Future Is Yours: Filmmaking & Distribution In The Digital Age with Kris Meyer and Vinca Jarrett
Date: Tuesday, February 23Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST
Join Producer Kris Meyer, and Entertainment Attorney & Exec Producer, Vinca Jarrett, in a lively discussion on how to get your films made and distributed in the most diverse and exciting time period in history with more opportunities than ever before. While budgets are coming down, technology is making it is easier to be innovative, and there are more streaming opportunities than ever before. How do you capitalize your projects? What should your proposals look like? Are there hot subject matters for creatives to pursue? If Netflix, Amazon, and HBO are making projects in-house, how do you step up your game to the next level? We’ll talk about making a 5 year and 10-year plan to jumpstart your career, and what your future might hold in the entertainment business.
Kris Meyer. Producer / Based in Boston, MA
Kris is an Emmy nominated and award-winning producer who has worked for the past 20 years with the comedic duo The Farrelly Brothers under their production banner, Conundrum Entertainment. He has worked as a creative executive, production executive and producer on such blockbuster hits as “There’s Something About Mary,” “Me, Myself & Irene,” “Shallow Hal,” “Fever Pitch”, “Hall Pass”, “The Three Stooges” and “Dumb & Dumber To”. Conundrum’s body of work has resulted in over $2 billion in box office sales. He continues to work with The Farrelly Bros. on joint ventures. Kris has independently worked on a number of films and tv shows ranging from the Sports Emmy nominated ESPN/THE LOST SON OF HAVANA to PLIMPTON! which aired on PBS/American Masters.
Under his own banner, BlackEagle, Kris’s most recent movies THE DO OVER starring Adam Sandler was released on NETFLIX, and most recently SUPERTROOPERS 2 was released nationwide.
His next film LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE stars Neil Brown Jr., Jeremy Sisto, and Nicky Whelan. The film is balancing "The Covid Cloud" for distribution, etc. Kris is also the CEO and Co-Founder of MuddHouse Media, a diverse podcast network launched in 2020. www.MuddHouseMedia.com
Vinca Jarrett. Entertainment Attorney, President FilmPro Finance / Based in Boston, MA
Vinca L. Jarrett, Esq. is an entertainment lawyer and president of FilmPro Finance, a financial consulting service for investors and producers for funding one-off films and building film slates. Her top-tiered clients have included Icon, Focus Films, CosmicEntertainment, APG, and the producers of Catch Me if You Can and I Robot. Filmpro has served as the holding company for financing the distribution of studio films that include DIE HARD 4, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and ALIENS VS. PREDATORS. Vinca has provided legal services for and consulted to investors, producers, writers, directors, talent, performers, musicians, composers, authors, film offices, and festivals around the world, and counseled and represented various tax incentives including Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and Arizona, and helped develop the tax incentives in Massachusetts. Vinca is currently writing the non-fiction work SHOW ME THE F#©K!NG MONEY (SMTFM): HOW TO INVEST, RAISE AND RECOUP MONEY IN THE FILM INDUSTRY.
Say More with Less!: Dynamics of Dialogue in a Script with Mary Conroy
Date: Wednesday, February 24Time: 9:00 AM EST - 11:00 AM EST
Limit 12-15 Participants
As writers, we know every word counts, and this is especially true in writing dialogue. We will hone in on skills needed to write dialogue that engages the reader, pushes the story forward, and uses as few words as possible. We will review the “dos and don'ts” of writing dialogue and incorporate a practical generative exercise that will challenge the way you write dialogue.
Mary Conroy. Writer / Based in Boston, MA
Mary Conroy teaches Screenwriting at Boston College. She was awarded a graduate fellowship and earned an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University. In 2017, her play Every Piece of Me was produced at the Boston Playwrights Theatre. For three years she served as the Dramatists Guild of America's regional representative for Boston Metro. Her original television pilot, Proud Mary, was runner-up for the prestigious Cinestory Retreat. In 2014, Mary was invited artist at the Nantucket Film Festival with her co-written television pilot, Good Morning Detroit, and she was an attendee at the BANFF World Media Festival. Previously, she has been an invited participant at the Kennedy Center's Playwriting Intensive. She has had numerous productions of her short plays in the New England area as well as New York and California. Mary reads and judges for a variety of festivals and screenwriting competitions including ITVFest and Catalyst Content. She continues to write in all three genres of visual storytelling: film, television, and theatre. She also holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a BS in Court Reporting. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.