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‘The Gratitude Diaries’ Partners with New York Film Academy

The New York Film Academy partnered with acclaimed author Janice Kaplan, whose upcoming book The Gratitude Diaries is an inspiring memoir backed by pioneering research. What started as an intriguing idea—to spend a year living gratefully—became a life-changing experience. Getting advice at every turn from psychologists, academics, doctors, and philosophers, Janice used gratitude to improve her marriage and get a new outlook on money, ambition, and career. She discovered why the stuff we buy doesn’t make us grateful and learned how to raise grateful kids.

Through interviews with experts, friends, and celebrities like Matt Damon and Daniel Craig, Janice learned the role of gratitude in everything from our sense of fulfillment to our children’s happiness. Research proves that gratitude makes us healthier and happier, improves sleep, lowers stress, and lessens depression. With warmth, humor, and appealing insight, Janice’s journey will empower you to think positively and start living your own best year ever!

In alliance with her initiative to help spread this positive outlook globally, Kaplan approached the New York Film Academy to produce a short video that asks the question “Why don’t your kids say thanks?” While the kids in the video are adorable, their message is also a reminder that children need to be taught about gratitude. The children’s attitude toward their moms is amusing—but likely hits home for many mothers watching.

To further the conversation even more, the New York Film Academy and The Gratitude Diaries is opening up a worldwide Father’s Day Competition to students, alumni, faculty and filmmakers in general to show how they truly appreciate their fathers.

While there are no restrictions on the videos, we expect submissions to be thoughtful, professionally shot, and most of all – expressing your gratitude in an entertaining way!

Want to learn more about the contest? CLICK HERE to get started!

Photography Lecture from Resource Magazine

The latest event in our New York Film Academy Photography Guest Lecture Series brought the editors of Resource Magazine to our main studio. Editor in chief, Alexandra Niki founded Resource Magazine at the age of 22, in 2007. She got into the industry working as a prop stylist at the age of 17, and owns a production company representing prop stylists on both coasts. She was joined in conversation by managing editor Billy Murray and editor/ photographer/writer Adam Sherwin.

The team brought gifts of photo accessories from Fujifilm, Vanguard Photo and Joby. There were free copies of Resource Magazine for all.

“These two really connected with our students, and the timing with three sections graduating in a few weeks was perfect,” said NYFA Photography Co-chair, Paul Sunday.

With their fingers on the pulse of every trend in the photography industry — from gear to on-set culture and marketing strategies — they had a treasure trove of practical, down-to-earth advice for emerging photographers. They broke it down and they didn’t pull any punches. We heard powerful insider tips from experts on the front lines of the photo industry. They challenged us to be creative and stay determined by zeroing in on the strategies that separate good photographers from great ones.

‘Inside Man’ Screenwriter Russell Gewirtz Talks Inside Hollywood

This Tuesday, the New York Film Academy in Union Square New York City welcomed Hollywood screenwriter Russell Gewirtz. Gewirtz is best known as the screenwriter of the Universal Studios hit film Inside Man, starring Denzel Washington, Jodi Foster and Clive Owen, and directed by Spike Lee. He also wrote the Lionsgate film Righteous Kill, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

Moderated by Producing co-chair Nick Yellen, Gewirtz discussed his life as a screenwriter and his unorthodox way of breaking into the business. Originally, Gewirtz was working for his father’s clothing business in New York, but had a movie idea gelling in his head for so long that he “couldn’t take it anymore.” After reading a few screenplays of his favorite films, Gewirtz spent a year fleshing out his idea into a properly formatted screenplay. Once he had the draft ready to go, he was able to get it to the top 5 agencies at the time. Three of the agencies passed. However, CAA saw promise in the story and decided to work on selling his screenplay. After flying out to Los Angeles for a few meetings, Gewirtz discovered that his screenplay had been passed on by all of the major studios — except Universal. They bought it and eventually turned it into the smash hit we know as Inside Man.

His story is proof that talent and a great idea could lead to anything. However, he admits how fortunate he was at the time, which he hadn’t realized until later in his career. “Eighty percent of what I wrote made it to the screen,” said Gewirtz. “You have to be very lucky for that to happen. I was lucky.”

Gewirtz seemed to recognize and appreciate the success he’s garnished thus far in his career, but understands that the business never gets any easier. With tent-pole and comic book features hogging studios’ slates, it’s very difficult to get a film like Inside Man made again. In fact, he already wrote the sequel to the film, but it has yet to see a green light.

In the end, Gewirtz left our students with a piece of advice that seems to have worked with so many screenwriters who have made it in the industry: “At the end of the day, you have to write what you love.”

NYFA AUSTRALIA MASTERCLASSES WITH X-FILES WRITER GLEN MORGAN

As a college that continually challenges itself on being current and relevant in today’s entertainment world, the New York Film Academy not only provides the most state-of-the-art equipment to its students but also frequently invites Hollywood insiders and elites to its campuses to provide invaluable insight into the industry.

As our Australia campus in Queensland continues to grow, we’ve recently started a new Showrunner Masterclass Initiative, in conjunction with Screen Queensland and Screen Australia. The first of these presented television Showrunner and X-Files Executive Producer and Writer, Glen Morgan, for a week at NYFA Australia in Queensland, which concluded in a public four-hour seminar and Q&A session on Saturday, May 2 at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Fortitude Valley.

Glen Morgan is an American television producer, writer and director known for his screen work with long-time writing partner James Wong, including Millennium, Space: Above and Beyond, and the Final Destination series. Morgan is also the Creator and Executive Producer of Intruders, which premiered on BBC America in 2014.

Perhaps most known for his work on the beloved 1990s television series The X-Files, Morgan returns to his work for the popular franchise, as the series is being re-launched with six new episodes. The Los Angeles-based writer, who is returning as an executive producer, worked on X-Files scripts while he was residing in Queensland.

During the four days spent on campus, Glen led in-depth workshops with selected talented writers and producers, where they were given first hand, insider knowledge on the television industry as it stands currently in the United States. Participants were encouraged to pitch their own television concepts to Glen for feedback, and then shown how to strengthen their pitch considerably — an incredible opportunity.

All participants and seminar attendees were excited to have access to Glen’s experience and knowledge. Glen was exceptionally giving of his time and insight, and the overwhelming comment was inspirational his visit truly was.

The attendees weren’t the only ones who were thrilled. Glen enjoyed his stay immensely, and was impressed by the commitment and level of ability shown by those he worked with, expressing his opinion that “there is some outstanding talent coming out of Australia that needs to be seen in the U.S.”

The Academy hopes the Showrunner Masterclass Initiative will provide our Australian students with instrumental writing and producing knowledge as they seek to explore and develop their own content for the television medium.

During the public event and the Masterclass workshops, Mr. Morgan covered such topics as:

– The Development Process
– Creating Content
– Pitching
– The Writers Room
– The State of the Market
– Engaging Networks & Studios
– Production Partnerships
– The Art & Craft of The Showrunner

MFA Filmmakers Bound for Greatness

As we all know, networking is an essential element in becoming a success in the entertainment business. But how do you begin networking when you have no connections or resources to begin with? That’s often where the New York Film Academy comes into play. Many of our students come from locations all around the world and end up establishing and maintaining lifelong relationships, both personally and professionally. Juan (JMR) Luna and Kane Senes met in their MFA Filmmaking program in 2008 and became very close friends. They began supporting each other’s writing and producing each other’s directorial works. Since graduating less than five years ago they have earned immense success. Their latest feature film, Echoes of War, starring Ethan Embry, William Forsythe, James Badge Dale and Maika Monroe will be released May 15, 2015. Their future is limitless.

We had a chat with these two graduates about their film, and how they have successfully navigated the industry thus far.

Can you tell me what Echoes of War is about?

Kane: Echoes of War is about a soldier returning from the Civil War to his family in the remote Texan countryside. There he discovers that the neighbors have been stealing from his family while he’s been gone and so he takes matters in to his own hands, sparking another senseless and tragic war. It’s a film about loss, really.

Where did the idea for Echoes of War come from?

Kane: My thesis short film at NYFA in 2010 was called A Relative Stranger. Juan was the cinematographer and co-producer. Echoes of War began as a feature adaptation of that short and grew into something else. The short came from my own relationship to my family, coming home every now and then from living in the States and feeling like things have changed while I’ve been gone. Obviously coming home from war is a whole other matter that I have never experienced and would never pretend to understand, but we spoke to as many veterans as we could and tried to ground it in a universal, human story that we can all understand and relate to — no matter our experiences.

When did you two first start collaborating, and ultimately begin writing the script for Echoes of War?

Kane: Our directing instructor was Adam Nimoy, who taught me everything I know. Juan directed some of his own stuff but gravitated towards cinematography, so he began shooting most of my projects, starting with my Year One Film and then my thesis. From there, we worked on each other’s films throughout school.

The script I began writing with my writing and producing partner John Chriss, who produced my thesis. He didn’t go to NYFA but he was basically an honorary student as he worked on a lot of our films. I graduated NYFA at the end of 2010, and we were writing by mid-2011. A year later the script was done and Juan came onboard to help produce.

Juan: My relationship with Kane can’t just be contained on Echoes of War. We have been friends all throughout, and we support each other constantly. When I was directing my movie Kane was there helping out too — emotionally and giving me notes and helping out with whatever he could.

Can you tell me a little bit of how this film came together? Raising funds, attaching talent, etc.

Kane: Juan and I were going door to door in Australia, meeting with film investors I knew there and trying to raise funds. It didn’t go as well as we were hoping, and Juan brought in some producers he knew from LA who graduated from AFI the same year we graduated NYFA. They had a connection to Emily Schweber, a wonderful casting director. A few weeks later, I was flying back to LA and meeting with actors every day for six months. We were fortunate enough to put together a great cast, which Juan was able to use to land the rest of the money we needed, and we shot the movie.

Would you say your training and education at NYFA was useful in terms of writing / directing / producing this film?

Kane: 100%. People often ask whether or not to go to film school. I always say the same thing: for me, I needed to know I could do this and school gave me the confidence by encouraging me to make films and seeing that they worked. They started bad and got better and I could see the pieces coming together. I could see I was improving and that was a direct result of film school: being in that environment, with good teachers and a great class room of participating students.

Juan: I always felt that film school is what you want to make out of it. I feel being in class with Kane defined our careers. We both realize very early on that we had similar objectives, and the same passion for movies. I believe we always had a healthy competition going on. And it has been very stimulating and we both challenged and encouraged each other. We are better filmmakers because we both grew together. I feel film school gave us that safe environment and working structure to achieve it.

Are you currently working together on another project?

Kane: We’re always throwing ideas around but nothing is in place just yet. Maybe Juan thinks I’m one of those crazy directors he doesn’t want to work with again. You should ask him!

Juan: I am working on different things right now. The Runaround, which will star Emile Hirsch and J.K. Simmons (two former NYFA Guest Speakers) was announced yesterday on The Hollywood Reporter, and it’s my next movie.

We are currently working on THE SAME film together, as we have to distribute it still. People think that after you shoot the movie, you are done with it. But we are still working daily on it. The moment we are both done, I would love to find something else we could do together. I feel we both have grown a lot in the last three years, and our friendship has changed and evolved. So this movie would surely be very different from the first one and hopefully much better!

JMR and Kane will be hosting a special “How to Make it in Hollywood” lecture at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles on May 14, 2015.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Speaks at NYFA Battery Place

Today, the New York Film Academy (NYFA) welcomed Rachel Maddow, the popular American television host, political commentator, and author, as a guest speaker at NYFA’s New York City campus.

Ms. Maddow hosts the nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name also aired on Air America Radio.

NYFA’s Senior Executive Vice President, David Klein, led the lively and informal discussion with Ms. Maddow to a standing room crowd of more than 100 NYFA students, including those enrolled in the broadcast journalism, documentary filmmaking, producing, and directing departments.

The educational setting allowed for the unique opportunity for students to engage with—and learn from— an industry luminary in a wonderfully unfiltered way. Ms. Maddow described her rather circuitous route to her current place in broadcast history and brought laughter by telling the audience about the roster of myriad jobs that she took to survive after earning a doctorate at Oxford in political science.

She sympathetically gave the American paleoconservative and politician, Pat Buchanan, just-dos for helping to launch her career when he chose her to be his on-air adversary for primetime political debating. She shared with the broadcast journalism students the ingredients that she feels helped her to build her career and gave an honest appraisal of the current state of the television news industry.

“I think in broadcast journalism, the camera is a little bit like an x-ray,” said Maddow. “And you can tell if the person on camera has done their own work, has done their own reading, has come up with their own ideas or if they are just reading something that somebody else wrote for them.”

Of keen interest to many is Ms. Maddow’s engagement in current political and societal issues from her perspective as a longtime activist, and her passion for numerous causes shone through in today’s discussions.

Ms. Maddow provided students with invaluable professional and personal wisdom, and the New York Film Academy is grateful to her for taking the time out from her busy schedule to impart it to our students.

Before departing, Ms. Maddow left our students with some words of advice: “Don’t tell people how you feel, create a feeling in them and let it be their own experience.”

The Rachel Maddow Show airs on MSNBC at 9:00 pm Eastern, Monday through Friday, and is rebroadcast at midnight Eastern.

A Conversation with ‘Royal Pains’ Producer Michael Rauch

A packed room welcomed successful Television Showrunner Michael Rauch to New York Film Academy’s Producing Department’s latest Industry Speaker Series session. Mr. Rauch participated in a “Conversation with…” and Question and Answer session with Producing Department Co-Chair and Screenwriting instructor Nick Yellen.

Rauch has been an executive producer on a number of television series, including Love Monkey, Beautiful People, Life is Wild, and most recently, Royal Pains.

Royal Pains has been one of the USA cable networks most successful shows the past six seasons as well as one of its most expensive — $3 million per episode.

NYFA students from various departments heard Rauch discuss his early career. He advised students how to break into TV as both a writer and producer. He broke down the responsibilities of various TV producers on set, and took us through the day of a Hollywood Showrunner.

Mr. Rauch also shared how students breaking in can expand their industry networking. Michael explained in great depth how a scripted TV show’s writer’s room works, and the fast paced schedule and steps to creating each episode. He guided students with what to do with their original pilot ideas and how to get them into the right hands and what a Showrunner looks for in a writer. He spoke of how important product integration has become to television and the challenges that presents to a TV producer.

Rauch’s Royal Pains has been renewed for a 7^th and 8^th season and can be currently seen on the USA Network as well as 50 other countries worldwide.

NYFA’s Kenneth Johnson Provides Students with 40 Years of Film & TV Experience

johnson on mike douglas — NYFA LA Instructor Kenneth Johnson on “The Mike Douglas Show”

The New York Film Academy believes that a crucial element toward maintaining its intensive hands-on programs is having instructors with industry access and real life experience in the field he or she teaches. Los Angeles Filmmaking instructor Kenneth Johnson knocks those requirements out of the park. Johnson has been a successful writer-producer-director of film and television for over 40 years. Creator of the landmark original miniseries V, he also produced The Six Million Dollar Man and created such iconic, Emmy-winning series as The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation.

Referred to as Kenny by those who know him well, Johnson trained in classic theater at Carnegie Mellon University, and had early success as a producer-director of live TV in New York. At only age 25, he became Executive Producer and Showrunner for the legendary, talk-variety program The Mike Douglas Show, which won an Emmy under his leadership.

bixby johnson — Kenneth Johnson with Bill Bixby

Moving to California, Kenneth produced and directed several TV specials including Vincent Price in an Evening of Edgar Allan Poe and two top-rated documentaries for ABC: Alan King in Las Vegas. He became the youngest writer-producer-director at Universal Studios when he joined The Six Million Dollar Man where he created the Emmy-winning Bionic Woman. He was Showrunner of both Top Ten bionic series simultaneously. He then created The Incredible Hulk, yet another iconic, long-running Emmy-winner for which he penned Bill Bixby’s now-famous line, “Don’t make me angry…you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

In the 1980s, Kenneth continued to cement his place in television by unveiling his epic alien invasion miniseries V. It was critically acclaimed and he received a Writers Guild Nomination. His original miniseries V stands as the highest-rated work of science fiction in television history.

In the 90’s Kenneth created the Alien Nation TV movie-pilot which became an Emmy-winning series and five subsequent Emmy-nominated TV movies. Throughout his career, Kenneth has directed notable television movies for all the major networks including the top-rated Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and Don’t Look Under The Bed for Disney.

Other TV movies include Sherlock Holmes Returns for CBS, which brought him a nomination for the Edgar Allen Poe Award from The Mystery Writers of America.

Kenneth also directed the feature films Steel and Short Circuit 2. Beyond his film and television work, he has written the novels An Affair of State, V The Original Miniseries and V The Second Generation, published in four editions.

Needless to say, it’s an honor to have Mr. Johnson teach filmmaking at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles for the past six years—his insight is invaluable.

“Having had the opportunity to present my seminar at numerous other film schools and universities, I have continually been most impressed by the students at NYFA” says Johnson. “The majority of them have a strong desire and determination to succeed in this very tough business. Their attentiveness is always good and their questions probing and thoughtful. Plus we have fun together.”

Johnson initially contacted NYFA Los Angeles Director Dan Mackler about being a resource for NYFA LA because he believed he could provide students with something that is often missing in academic settings: what it’s like to actually be in “The Trenches” of filmmaking. As Johnson puts it, he can provide, “What it’s like to be boots-on-the-ground doing the work. Including the prep necessary, a wealth of smart insights from my career producing and directing TV and features, plus useful tools I’ve created over the years that can benefit them. And I do it with gusto, laughs (often at myself) and a gazillion visuals: miles of behind the scenes footage, storyboards, etc., to show exactly how we accomplished the finished work.”

Johnson’s advice begins as soon as you walk into his first class. The very first thing he asks his students is if they love this business. Of course, every student will nod affirmatively, but then he makes it clearer: “Do you REALLY LOVE IT?! —because if you don’t love it like breathing, you can’t succeed and you’d be wise to step away.” At the end of the final session, Johnson gives his students a multi-page handout called “Getting a Gig,” which contains every bit of advice he’s amassed on that important subject over the span of his career.

When asked about today’s landscape, Johnson says, “I think there are more opportunities in TV simply because there is far more product necessary to feed the TV (read cable, web, streaming, etc.) audience’s infinite appetite. Far more TV and video projects get made every year than features. They also happen faster. TV is also a great place to learn your craft. When I started producing, writing and directing on the Bionic shows at Universal it was like grad school…with pay. TV is the greatest training in the world for making movies — or for waging war. If you can survive through the making of under-scheduled, under-budgeted, restrictive TV schedules, making a theatrical movie becomes a piece of cake. Just ask Joss Whedon or Steven Spielberg.”

Johnson admits that the biggest challenge in our business is the constant rejection. “All of us in the arts get told no far more often than yes. Or even worse, we get told yes and then no — when the studio or network management changes while you’re in the midst of writing, prepping or even sometimes shooting. Francois Truffaut said he always tried to have at least three to five projects in development simultaneously —because he knew the odds were against more than one ever happening— and that one only if he was lucky.

A filmmaker has to develop a thick skin and a determination (as Fred Astaire sang) “to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”

Those who are true survivors will indeed survive to try another day. Where there’s life there’s always hope.

Johnson has three upcoming guest sessions for the MFA Producers group on July 9, 16, and 23 of 2015.

NYFA Hosts Transmedia Panel with Final Draft

On Thursday, April 9th, the New York Film Academy, in cooperation with Final Draft, hosted a “Life In Transmedia” Panel. The panel was arranged as part of NYFA’s Final Draft Fellowship, a 12 week Writing Fellowship for the finalists and winners of Final Draft’s Big Break Contest. The fellows were in attendance at the panel, as were NYFA students and alumni. The Panel, the first in a series, will soon be followed by a “Life In Television” Panel and a “Life In Features” Panel.

The “Life In Transmedia” Panel, moderated by Adam Finer, NYFA’s Associate Chair of Screenwriting and architect of the school’s groundbreaking Transmedia track and Media Studies Program, explored the life of content creators, writers and producers in the new and expanding field of Transmedia. Also examined were the individual mediums that play a role in Transmedia, such as comics, videogames, podcasts, blogs, and webseries.

Some notable words from the panel included:

“Whatever your platform is: if it’s the web, if it’s comics…write every day. Even if you’re posting it, even if it’s garbage, just something, write something every day. And keep doing that and you will have something.” – Josh Eiserike

“Transmedia, or multi-platform narratives, it’s telling a story in a way that asks the audience to lean in as opposed to just leaning back for the story. It’s asking the audience, hey, we’ve got a bigger world here. You don’t just have to watch it you can poke your head in and interact with it a little bit.” – Margaret Dunlap

“I think transmedia takes you beyond ‘but’ and ‘so’ as solutions, and it’s much more ‘this happens, and then over here this other thing happens’. When you’re in transmedia, you want us to ask ‘what’s behind that door? What’s in that safe?’ …You want the fans to ask ‘what’s the combination to the the safe?’ And you want the fans to find out what’s in it.” – Nunzio DeFilippis

Adam engaged the panelists in a spirited discussion of the avenues that led them to the Transmedia world. The panelists explored what makes a Transmedia project and debated the definition of Transmedia. Panelists ultimately defined Transmedia story telling as building story worlds that have unique story components in various different storytelling platforms. The panelists delved into the growing nature of Transmedia itself, how to build and engage an audience in various media forms, the virtues of each respective medium, and storytelling across all media. Panelists discussed the unique ability of Transmedia storytelling to truly engage an audience and even have the audience expand the story world. A conversation about how to use crowd-funding to activate an audience to support a project examined how to access the community to finance projects and even a career.

“You need to be able to embrace the chaos. You kind of have to hug it and expect it and if you’re not rattled by it then you can look at it as something kind of amazing. And really cool stuff happens.” – John Zuur Platten

“I’m not sure you can always start out with a transmedia project. It’s really big and complicated and overwhelming. You have to start with the story you want to tell, the character you want to explore, a thing you want to do and figure out which is the best medium for it.” – Christina Weir

“For everyone here there’s a pinpoint moment, maybe five, that lead down the road to whatever amazing thing they’re doing today.” – Jennie Josephson

The Transmedia panelists (all of whom teach, or have guest lectured, at NYFA) included:

John Zuur Platten, writer/producer of video games (Google’s INGRESS, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, FEAR EFFECT) and co-author of the book THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO VIDEO GAME WRITING DESIGN
Jennie Josephson, producer, blogger, and podcaster (CBS Interactive, Yahoo!, Daily Tech News Show with Tom Merritt)
Margaret Dunlap, writer on the Emmy Award Winning webseries THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES, Executive Producer of the webseries WELCOME TO SANDITON, and writer on the TV series EUREKA and THE MIDDLEMAN
Josh Eiserike, writer/artist for MAD MAGAZINE, and the comics (ANYONE BUT VIRGINIA, ANNA AND PAT)
Nunzio DeFilippis (chair of the Screenwriting Department) & Christina Weir, writers of the comics X-MEN, BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL, BAD MEDICINE, FRENEMY OF THE STATE, as well as the TV series ARLISS and KIM POSSIBLE.

At the end of the discussion, the audience was invited to ask questions, which ranged from how-to advice to specific questions about the writing work and preferred medium of each panelist. The ultimate message imparted was to find the medium that works best for the story you want to tell and go out and do it. Create. Write.

Adam Finer left the audience with these final words of inspiration: “You guys can create content. You guys have access to an audience. You can steer the ship easily and not have to worry about having a giant battleship block you. You have the ability to create these worlds and engage that audience in a way we’ve never had before.”

Led by DeFilippis, Finer and Weir, New York Film Academy’s Screenwriting Department offers a cutting edge Transmedia Track in the MFA and BFA Screenwriting Programs.