What Happens to Material When Submitted to a Studio or Production Company

Event Date: Saturday, September 19, 2015 || Speakers: Rona Edwards & Monika Skerbelis || Check-in: 12:30 pm ||

Producers/authors/development execs Rona Edwards and Monika Skerbelis (“I Liked It, Didn’t Love It: Screenplay Development from the Inside Out” and “The Complete Filmmakers Guide to Film Festivals”) present an inside look at what happens when your material is submitted to a studio or production company. Learn about all the players involved, their job function and how they all fit together – from producers, agents and managers to studio creative executives and story analysts. By understanding this process, you will see that time and effort is put into assessing whether to move forward or pass on a project.

Rona and Monika’s new book, The Complete Filmmaker’s Guide to Film Festivals: Your All Access Pass to Launching Your Film on the Festival Circuit is now available in Bookstores & Amazon along with I Liked It, Didn’t Love It: Screenplay Development from the Inside Out.

Important!

For security purposes, you must REGISTER before 10:00 pm on Thursday, September 17, 2015, or you will not be admitted.

**Please note that each guest and/or attendee needs to REGISTER individually.

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Pay at the door:  $40.00

Admission:

FREE for SWN members! (Join Now!)
$30.00 for non-members (Please Pay Online)
$40.00 – pay at the door

RONA EDWARDS, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts, was VP of Creative Affairs for Emmy-winner John Larroquette, Academy Award-winner Michael Phillips, & Emmy winning Producer Fern Field before becoming an indie producer. Producing Credits & Experience include: Killer Hair, Hostile Makeover, Blind Trust (Lifetime), One Special Victory (NBC), The Companion (USA/SCI FI CHANNEL), I Know What You Did (ABC), Out Of Sync (VH1) Der Morder Meiner Mutter (Sat.1), Selling Sex in Heaven (CBC), which won the Beyond Borders Award for Best Documentary. She produced another award-winning documentary, Unforgettable, the story of a man who can remember every day of his life. She has served as a film consultant and story editor for numerous film commissions and production companies worldwide including Film Victoria, Screen Queensland, Stewart-Hall Productions, Enjoy Entertainment in Australia and Pilgrim Pictures in Singapore.

Edwards has had projects made and/or in development with many of the major networks and studios including a script deal at ABC, movies at CBS, ABC, NBC, Hearst Entertainment, VH1, HBO, Phoenix Pictures, Edward R. Pressman, Lifetime, Motor City Films, Warner Bros., Alan Landsberg Productions, The David Wolper Organization, Lifetime, Incendo Media, All Girl Productions and Wilshire Court, to name a few.

With Monika Skerbelis, a former VP at Universal Pictures, she wrote the critically acclaimed book, I Liked It, Didn’t Love It (Screenplay Development From The Inside Out!), the quintessential book on the development process soon to be in its 3rd edition and The Complete Filmmakers Guide to Film Festivals (Your All Access Pass to Launching Your Film on the Festival Circuit), which are used as textbooks at various universities worldwide. Edwards and Skerbelis are also the founders of ESE Film Workshops Online, a series of global online classes that teach the ins and outs of the film industry. Classes include: Creating a Production Company, Maneuvering Film Festivals, Screenplay Development from the Inside Out, Finding & Developing New Ideas, Starting a Film Festival, Basic Screenwriting from the Inside Out, Basic Screenplay Format with more classes being added every year.

In addition, Edwards was Assistant Professor at Chapman University Singapore’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts, teaching Creative Producing & Development, Screenwriting, Transmedia Producing for Creative Producers and Storytellers, Producing for TV & more, and is currently developing several books, true-life stories, animation and fictional tales into feature films and television projects.

For more information, contact: [email protected].

MONIKA SKERBELIS(Producer/Author/Teacher/Film Festival Programmer) is the co-author (with Rona Edwards) of “I Liked It, Didn’t Love It: Screenplay Development from the Inside Out” and, “The Complete Filmmakers Guide to Film Festivals: Your All Access Pass to Launching your Film on the Festival Circuit,” published by MWP, and is a co-founder of ESE Film Workshops Online (ESEntertainment.net). She is the programming director for The American Pavilion’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival and was the artistic & programming director for the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival where she programmed films for 14 years. She is a former Vice President of Creative and Executive Story Editor for Universal Pictures’ story department. Prior to Universal, she was Story Editor for 20th Century Fox and began her career as an assistant in the Story Department for Paramount Pictures. She is a producer with ES Entertainment (ESE) and was an Associate Producer on two movies, “Killer Hair” and “Hostile Makeover” based on the Crimes of Fashion mystery novels that aired on Lifetime Television. She teaches feature film development at UCLA Extension, Riverside City College, and also taught a Basic Screenwriting course at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America.

Join us on the Third Saturday every month at:

CBS Studio Center
4024 Radford Avenue
Studio City, CA 91604

Free Parking — Enter the CBS lot at the main gate & inform security you are there for the Scriptwriters Network event.

You’ll be asked for your government issued photo ID, and then given directions to the meeting location. You may park in any available space on the lot (unless they direct you to a parking structure during special events).

As this is a professional event, we ask that you please arrive prior to the event start time.

Meeting Timeframe: 1:00 pm to approximately 3:00 pm

Please remember to bring a picture ID and your SWN Membership Card!

Any questions, email us at [email protected].