*Please note new time (12-5 pm) and price reduction ($40)!*

Voyage Media & The Writers Junction present:

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career Strategy for Writers

March 6, 2011

12pm-5pm

At The Writers Junction

1001 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica 90401

Space is Limited!

• In-person seminar on selling a project and building a career 
• Learn the unspoken rules and “secret handshakes” straight from Hollywood insiders
• Shows how to move out of the amateur pool and start working

Establishing a career as an entertainment professional requires much more than just talent—it requires strategy.  Step out from behind that computer and approach the industry as a business person with a product to move and no time to waste. 

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro offers Insider knowledge on the strategizing, selling, politicking, self-agenting, reputation-building, and other business skills you need to establish a paid, lasting career in the industry.

Taught by the executives and producers of Voyage Media, a company that has helped writers, producers, and directors package, polish and pitch over 1,100 high-profile entertainment projects in film, TV, and branded entertainment, this course provides a fresh-from-the-field perspective on building a career in an exclusive, seemingly impermeable industry.  It teaches you how to:

• Avoid wasting time on the wrong ideas (and start spending time on the right ones)
• Stop going it alone.  Choose supporters and delegate the way the pros do
• Be your own agent – and use their best tricks to your advantage
• Get ready to pitch and sell so you don’t blow it when your moment comes
• Build a reputation that will get you hired again and again
• Spot and avoid the common mistakes everyone seems to keep making

You’ll get frank and honest instruction – stuff you’ll never read in the trades or the how-to books – on creating strategy and selling your work from the course speakers, including:

Nat Mundel – Founder / CEO of Voyage Media

Nat is a consummate adventurer and storyteller. After a successful career as a professional mountain climber, Nat formed Voyage in 2002 to help filmmakers develop, market and sell their projects. Notable projects the company has helped develop include BROTHERS (Lionsgate), THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Warner Bros), PET SEMATARY (Paramount), THE FORGOTTEN (ABC), MIAMI MEDICAL (CBS), LE REV (Wynn Las Vegas), MILLE MIGLIA (Ferrari World) and others. In addition to entrepreneurialism Nat enjoys surfing, flying, and personal growth. He lives with his wife in Topanga, California.

Jesse Israel

Jesse Israel is a feature film producer living in Los Angeles and a consultant at Voyage Media.  His upcoming projects include AARON & SARA, starring Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson and directed by Neil Patrick Harris.  Jesse also spent many years as an executive and Vice President at Alcon Entertainment, where he worked on movies such as THE BLIND SIDE, THE BOOK OF ELI, LOTTERY TICKET, and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2.  He has also worked at Warner Brothers Pictures, Silver Pictures, Village Roadshow and Circle of Confusion. Before moving to Los Angeles, Jesse was a producer for Dateline NBC.   Jesse has an MFA from The Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California and a BA in History from Dartmouth College.

Elizabeth Kushman

Elizabeth Kushman is a 10-year veteran of the entertainment industry who got her start as an office Production Assistant on Wes Craven’s DRACULA 2000. She continued working with Craven as his Creative Executive, developing such films as PULSE, CURSED and THE HILLS HAVE EYES.  Elizabeth went on to work at Kadokawa Pictures USA, where she rose to the rank of Vice President of Production.  For Kadokawa, Elizabeth was Associate Producer of Takashi Miike’s MASTERS OF HORROR: IMPRINT (infamously banned as too shocking for broadcast) and of the TV series MASTERS OF HORROR: DREAM CRUISE. She was also a Co-Producer of the Warner Bros. feature ONE MISSED CALL which was a box office success grossing $45 million worldwide.  From 2008-10, Elizabeth was Vice President of Development & Production at Dimension Films, where she supervised a diverse slate including HALLOWEEN 2, YOUTH IN REVOLT, THE ROAD and SCREAM 4 for Bob and Harvey Weinstein.   She is now an independent producer in LA and a consultant at Voyage Media.

Nance Rosen

A media commentator on CNBC, Nance Rosen has been named “America’s Top Job Coach.” Investor’s Business Daily featured her in its Managing for Success column. Over 420 media outlets cover Nance on Personal Branding, Social Media, Business Communication and Success. She’s a former marketing executive with The Coca-Cola Company, the number one most recognized brand in the world. She founded a division for Bozell Advertising and Public Relations, now Omnicom. She delivers keynotes and training, and coaches clients on marketing themselves to media and other high visibility positions. Her latest book is The Ugly Truth About Your Reputation: How to Create and Manage Your Personal Brand. Her last book is Speak Up! & Succeed: How to get everything you want in meetings, presentations and conversations. Nance is now CEO of NanceSpeaks! and Executive Publisher at Pegasus Media World. In 2009, she produced a Wall Street Journal bestseller, BusinessWeek bestseller and the number one sales book on Amazon. Nance is a world-class speaker and a faculty member at UCLA Extension. Her websites are NanceSpeaks.com and NanceRosenBlog.com. Nance is on the nominating and judging committees for the Personal Brand of the Year Award, a global competition. She is also the Tuesday columnist for PersonalBrandingBlog.com, with 104,000 followers.

Victoria Foster

Victoria Foster has worked in film development since 2004.  She assisted a senior agent in the Motion Picture Literary Department at Creative Artists Agency, and pitched projects in the agency’s Creative Group, to clients such as Hilary Swank, Cruise-Wagner, Flower Films, and many others, and served as Director of Development for two CAA motion picture directing clients.  She was involved in the development of SEASON OF THE WITCH, PATHFINDER, and most recently helped package SHRINK, which debuted at Sundance in 2009, and she is now VP of Development & Production at Voyage Media.  

In addition, we are pleased to announce that at the end of the day we will also be including a special guest speaker who produced The Blair Witch Project.

It’s harder than ever to break in to entertainment in a real way, but those that do reap richer rewards than ever.  Sign up for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro now to find out how you can employ the right strategies to drive your career powerfully forward.    

Tuition – purchase tickets here:

New, Reduced Price! : $40

Space is limited, and seats will be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis.