Page 290 – NYFA

Film Executive Ruth Vitale Discusses Creativity & Anti-Piracy

Noted film executive and anti-piracy advocate Ruth Vitale participated in a “Conversation with…” as part of the New York Film Academy Producing Department’s Industry Speaker series recently at NYFA’s Battery Campus.

Moderated by Producing Department Co-Chair Neal Weisman, students from various programs listened as Ruth intimately discussed her career as a producer and distributor. From the early days of basic cable, working as an acquisitions executive at the Movie Channel, Ruth has gone on to witness dynamic changes in the creation, financing, and distribution of film content for over thirty years.

Sharing her experiences as President of Vestron Pictures, Ruth walked students through the producing process that led to one of that company’s most successful films, Dirty Dancing. She discussed her tenure as President of Fine Line features, where she distributed a number of notable films including Academy Award winner Shine. As the founder and Co-President of Paramount Classics, Ruth was involved in such seminal films as Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Mad Hot Ballroom (frequently discussed in NYFA Documentary classes), and Hustle and Flow which garnered an Academy Award nomination for lead actor Terence Howard (currently starring in the television series Empire).

Ruth shared insider details on the actual purchase of Hustle and Flow, which set the record for the largest sale ($9M) in the history of the Sundance Film Festival.

As the current Executive Director of the organization CreativeFuture, Ruth has been on the forefront of battling film piracy. Students saw a dynamic video presentation describing the importance of protecting creativity in various mediums including film, television, music, new media, and fine art.

In a spirited question and answer session, NYFA students offered valuable suggestions on how to fight this industry wide problem. We look forward to an ongoing discussion with Ruth and her CreativeFuture colleagues in the effort to conquer this important issue.

We’d love to hear from you as well. How can we prevent this ongoing problem of piracy in our industry? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

DuckTales Set to Return in 2017

Get ready to solve some mysteries, or rewrite history, or just go diving head-first into a pile of gold coins.

Disney is planning on rebooting DuckTales, the animated series that lasted through 100 episodes from 1987-1990.

The series followed the adventures of rich tycoon Scrooge McDuck and his rascally grandnephews Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Donald Duck. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, a film based on the series, was also released in 1990.

It was also the inspiration for one of the most popular platformers of all time. The DuckTales video game, designed by Capcom, went on to sell millions of copies for the NES and Game Boy.

DuckTales was a staple of The Disney Afternoon, a block of syndicated cartoons. And the series is such a significant part of Disney’s television animation history, that they are bringing it back to life.

This will also mark the return of DuckTale’s regular cast of characters, including Duckworth, Gyro Gearloose, Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge’s arch-nemesis Flintheart Glomgold, Magica DeSpell & Poe, Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys (Burger Beagle, Bouncer Beagle), Mrs. Beakley and Webbigail “Webby” Vanderquack.

The adventures that happen in Duckburg will be featured on Disney XD. Although the channel is targeting the 6-14 year old age bracket, it’s safe to say that plenty of adults are getting excited about the return of everyone’s favorite animated duck family.

While the series relaunch is still a ways off, you can still relive the memories with the series theme song:

‘Better Call Saul’ Co-Creator Developing HBO Movie

With the instant success of Breaking Bad spin-off series, Better Call Saul, co-creator and producer Peter Gould has Hollywood knocking for more ideas. Now, he’s currently developing an untitled HBO movie about hedge fund fraud and the secret forces that control the world’s banks, according to a recent Variety article.

Gould has his hands full with this project, as he will write, direct, and executive produce the movie, which is based on Guy Lawson’s 2012 nonfiction book Octopus: Sam Israel, The Secret Market And Wall Street’s Wildest Con. The book is about Bayou Hedge Fund manager Samuel Israel III, famous for faking his own death after being convicted in a $450 million Ponzi scheme. The failed fake out not only resulted in an international manhunt, but set a new standard for creativity in suicide notes.

This is familiar territory for Gould, who also wrote the 2011 HBO movie Too Big To Fail, which focused on the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the resulting global financial crisis.

Given the interest in the often corrupt world of Wall St. and hedge fund fraud, attracting audiences over years with films like Wall St., The Wolf of Wall St., Boiler Room and more, we think this has potential to be huge hit.

Telltale Is Making an Interactive TV-Video Game Hybrid

Telltale Games, a premier video game studio known for its choose-your-own-adventure titles, announced it will be merging its specialty product with a live-action television show. It’s a potentially big step for both media, though a natural one for the company, which has found huge success adapting popular works like The Walking Dead, Fables and Game of Thrones.

Their games, like the television shows some of them are based on, are structured and released episodically, each costing a small fee and consisting of a few hours of the overall story. Telltale’s The Walking Dead has so far released two seasons of five episodes each, which can also be purchased in bulk with season passes. Their games consist of top-end graphics and numerous cut scenes,–in effect, a TV show you watch but also control, making conversation and action choices for a playable protagonist. Telltale is known for making some of these choices strong moral dilemmas, sucking the player/viewer into a storyline against their will. Likewise these choices typically carry from episode to episode, season to season.

Telltale’s new project will be both a video game and a live-action television series, with the same characters and storylines. Both will be released an episode at a time and depending on the choices made in the game, the television show may lead down a different path for the viewer. Conversely, watching the show first will affect the storyline of the game.

Combining two separate media into a single interactive experience could be a groundbreaking event for visual storytelling, and only time will tell how successful it is executed and received. Plot details are unknown, but with Lionsgate producing the project, there’s a good chance it will see the light of day sooner than later. With mainstream Virtual Reality just around the corner, it might not be too long before people are living out entire fictional storylines from the comfort of their couch.

Now is the time to get into game design. Check out our game design school programs here.

NYFA Grad Marisol Tudela: The Fashionista Chica

Successful fashion, lifestyle and event journalist, as well as New York Film Academy alum, Marisol Tudela will be the guest speaker this Friday at the graduation ceremony of the February 4-week Broadcast Journalism students. A native of Lima, Peru, Marisol has created the online persona of The Fashionista Chica, and regularly covers red carpet events including New York Fashion Week and the Miss America pageant for the PressroomVIP website.

The Fashionista Chica series incorporates celebrity styles, fashion education, and real-world use, by spotting upcoming trends, finding why they intrigue the present culture, and showing viewers how to make those trends part of their lifestyle.

Following her graduation from NYFA in 2013, Marisol was the Associate Producer of the Emmy Award winning CUNY-TV magazine series Nueva York.

The graduation ceremony takes place this Friday, February 27, at 12:30pm at the NYFA Battery Park campus.

Latest Edition to Oliver Stone’s Snowden Project Sends Internet Into Uproar

The story of Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents and sent the world of international politics into a tailspin, is hot right now. Citizenfour, which covers a reporter’s meetings with Snowden, just won the Oscar for best feature documentary. And there is a lot of buzz over Oliver Stone’s biopic, simply titled Snowden.

While Snowden’s story is polarizing (he is considered a hero in some circles and a traitor in others), controversial topics are not unfamiliar territory for Stone. The story seems tailor-made for a man who likes to make political statements with his films. There is also no shortage of actors who want to work on the project.

The film began production this month in Munich with a star-studded cast. Reportedly acting in the project are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Tom Wilkinson, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, and Timothy Olyphant.

It is the latest addition to the cast, however, that is sending the internet into an uproar. Nicolas Cage is joining the cast of Snowden in a supporting role as a former U.S. Intelligence Official.

Cage’s recent stretch of performances have been hit-or-miss, but there are few actors (or people in general) that have such a rabid internet following. Bordering on a weird obsession, Cage even has his on sub-Reddit called “One True God.”

Whatever the reason for the fandom, it’s hard to deny that Cage can be captivating in a film when he is on his game. So a story of this nature, combined with the current cast, and now Nicolas Cage, is surely something to get excited about.

Snowden is set to release on December 25th, 2015.

NYFA Participates in Interview with Denzel Washington at Pan African Film Festival

On Saturday, February 14, Industry Lab students and others—through the Diversity Development Department—participated in the filming of three major events in a row at the Pan African Film Festival.

The first two events were produced by Kim Ogletree, NYFA Producing Instructor, and executive produced and directed by Neema Barnette, the first black woman to win an Emmy directing comedy. The Director of Photography was Tommy Maddox Upshaw who is a Cinematography Instructor at NYFA. NYFA provided some of our hard-working students and equipment.

The first interview was the Power Broker discussion with Sony Executive, Producer DeVon Franklin. He is also a film producer and has worked on projects like The Karate Kid, Not Easily Broken, Hancock and Heaven Is for Real.

Next, the students helped document a conversation with Denzel Washington. Having directed Denzel in Devil In a Blue Dress and Out of Time, director Carl Franklin (House of Cards) was the one who interviewed Mr. Washington.

Lastly, the students took stills for DGA Panel Event, hosted by NYFA Instructor, Jeff Byrd, Co-Chair of the African-American Steering Committee of the DGA. The Director’s Panel consisted of Ernest Dickerson (Bosch, Walking Dead), Charles Stone (CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, Friday Night Lights), Princess Monique (Seasons of Love, The Call), Janice Cooke (Jane The Virgin, Pretty Little Liars) and Charles Murray (Sons of Anarchy, Castle).

Emmys Announce New Rules for TV Awards

Not content to let the Oscars get all the press, the Academy of Television has announced new rule changes and categories to their award ceremony, shaking up the game for some of the most buzzed about TV shows. The rule changes are a response to a diversifying mediascape as well as rumblings of discontent with perceived loopholes and miscategorization in previous years’ ceremonies.

Six major rule changes were announced:

The number of series allowed in Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Drama Series has been increased from six to seven. This is a response to the greater number of content coming from more and more sources, though seven still may be not enough for some.
The definition of “comedy” and “drama” are no longer based on content, but on running time. Any show over the length of thirty minutes is classified as a drama while any show less than thirty minutes is considered a comedy. This is seen as a blow to hour-long comedies like Orange is the New Black as well as dramas in general, as it expands the competition. Petitions can be submitted to move a show into another category, but it must be approved by an appointed Industry Panel.
The Variety Series category is now split into two—between Outstanding Variety Sketch and Outstanding Variety Talk—to differentiate shows like The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. In effect, this doubles the nominees, and could be a boon to smaller shows in both categories like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Portlandia.
The field of voters in each category’s final round has been expanded and requires voters to watch the content online before submitting their votes.
The definition of a “Guest Actor” has been specified to be actors who appear in less than 50% of a season’s episodes, excluding many shows’ tendencies to have a recurring guest star all season long. Roles such as these would now be considered in Lead or Supporting Actor categories.
“Mini-Series” has been redefined as “Limited Series” and excludes shows whose characters or storylines carry over into subsequent mini-series or seasons. This will affect shows like Sherlock, which are currently considered mini-series, as well as anthology seasoned shows like True Detective and American Horror Story, which fit the new Limited Series parameters.

Craig Ross, Jr. Advises Directors to Utilize Social Media

After graduating from film school, New York Film Academy Directing Instructor Craig Ross, Jr. moved to Los Angeles, where he formed his own production company Asiatic Associates (ASA). From there he went on to direct a number independent films, his first being the film Cappuccino (1998). His other film credits include Blue Hill Avenue (2001), Ride or Die (2004), Motives (2004) and The Mannsfield 12 (2007), the first film that was released through MySpace.com.

Since 2004, he has also had a career in television, directing episodes of Strong Medicine, Cold Case, Standoff, Crossing Jordan, The 4400, Lincoln Heights, K-Ville, Prison Break, Bones, Numb3rs and NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Coming from such an extensive background in directing for both film and television, Ross’ on-set knowledge enables him to provide answers and solutions to a number of problems or difficulties that may arise on student film sets. “My work history makes it virtually impossible for me not to be able to answer, from a place of first hand knowledge, any question the students may have,” says Ross. “I’ve done just about everything they’ve thought of doing. So I can definitely help guide them down certain paths from a place of confidence.”

As experienced as Ross is in the world of directing, he admits that teaching at the New York Film Academy and working with students has been eye opening in terms of his own learning experience. “It may sound like a cliché, but I get as much education from my students as they get from me. So the experience has expanded me as a filmmaker and as a human being.”

In addition to his work in the classroom and on students’ sets, Ross runs NYFA’s Industry Lab, which provides students with real world experience while still in school. The production entity utilizes instructors and students to produce projects outside of the school for clients that are in need of a production services. The lab is the brainchild of the Chair of Diversity, Cheryl Bedford, who first introduced Ross to the Academy.

To date, the Industry Lab has worked with Warner Bros. to film a concert series. We were hired as the production company to shoot the summer concert sessions for the record label’s new artists. We’ve also filmed a music video for top selling Uk artist DJ Rusko. Just recently, we shot an interview with Denzel Washington at the Pan African Film Festival, and are currently working on several other commercial projects for outside clients.

Ross’ strongest piece of advice for his students and others looking to break into television is more clear today than ever before — social media!

In the digital age, everything is about branding, and today branding can be done for very little money. Simply put, my advice for anyone wanting to be in TV, is to build an audience (crowd funding is a great way to do that) and create a web series. Create partnerships with the project — if it has a social issue attached to it, partner with a corresponding organization.

Market through social media using your partners social media marketing as amplifiers to get your product seen. The more hits you get, the more visible you are to Hollywood. Web series are a direct path to tv series — all you need is the branding.

For starters, you can share your projects with us by tweeting @NYFA or using #NYFA. We’re always catching some fantastic projects from students and alumni, and are never shy in sharing your incredible work!