The January Broadcast Journalism students at the New York Film Academy had been in class for a little more than a week when they got their first assignment. They went out with TAs to shoot cover footage for a 30-second voiceover segment they scripted that morning.
If you’re interested in enrolling in NYFA‘s Broadcast Journalism program, CLICK HERE for more information.
It’s a new year and we’re quickly becoming accustomed with fresh faces and new talent at the New York Film Academy. The motto of our film school is students receive a “hands-on education” and our new crop of students can tell you, this is certainly the case. Make no mistake, the film school courses are very intense. From day one, students quickly become familiar with our helpful TAs in the equipment room, as they’re checking in and out film equipment to shoot their own short films. While instructors and TAs are on set, guiding individuals and teaching them proper filmmaking tactics, students will deal with similar pressures faced by professional filmmakers.
Given NYFA’s location in Union Square, the heart of New York City, students don’t have to look far to find the perfect set for their film. Just take a walk around Union Square Park if you’re in the area, you’ll be sure to catch a NYFA T-shirted film school student capturing his or her first ideas onto film. Yes, film. The New York Film Academy is one of the only film schools left who still uses the ArriFlex to create 16mm films. We feel it’s important to learn the roots of cinema before entering the world of digital filmmaking. Though, our students are not deprived in the digital arena at all. NYFA provides access to the RED Epic, Canon 5D, and HDSLR. Plus, students have access to editing suites, at their own convenience, to edit each of their projects. So, our students are well versed in all aspects of filmmaking.
Just recently, The Huffington Post recommended readers to check out NYFA’s film school workshops as a way to “Change the world using new media.” Perhaps you’d like to change the world or your New Year’s resolution is to learn the craft of filmmaking. If so, be sure to check out our short term workshops or Degree Programs that we have to offer.
As an example of what you can expect coming out of our film school programs, last September we compiled some of 1 Year Filmmaking students’ films into an impressive reel. Have a look.
Tuesday night, we had a packed house at New York Film Academy Los Angeles for our guest speaker — brought in by Producer Tova Laiter — Literary Manager, Linne Radmin. Radmin spent seven years at ICM as a senior literary manager before founding the Radmin Company, a boutique literary management and production company based in Beverly Hills that represents screenwriters and directors. She has worked with a diverse range of clients which include Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Leslie Dixon (Mrs. Doubtfire), and Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street). The Radmin Company’s current clients include Student Academy Award winner Shawn Wines, who is working on a comedy pilot for Warner Bros, Cinco Paul and Ken Saurio (Despicable Me), Todd Alcott (Antz), and several more.
When Linne was asked by Tova how she decides whom to represent, she responded, “I have to be in love with the work and believe that I can help the writer.” Tova then asked her to expand on how the writer/manager relationship works and how it’s formed; Linne responded, “Crafting a query! The initial letter – and it needs to be intelligent, clear, creative, decisive. Be bold, but not obnoxious.”
The film school students, many of which were screenwriters, had very specific questions for Linne. Lawrence, a writer, wanted to know where in a screenplay does Linne expect to find the inciting incident. Linne, without hesitating, responded, “page 12 or 13!”
She also admitted that although good writing is often timeless and just plain good, there are definitely topical trends which affect or are affected by the marketplace. Currently? “Rom-coms are out, emotional sci-fi is in!”
Linne admitted that today’s market is tough for film school students and emerging writers, encouraging them to have both an agent and a manager. “Agencies have so scaled back – so better to have more voices in the marketplace by having both an agent and a manager, ideally a manager first. Eventually, also, a lawyer!”
Linne added that in all of this, branding is highly important! When asked by a student how she sifts through all the material she examines she said, “Passion for the material coupled with an idea, notion, plan about how I can use this is the marketplace. Branding matters.”
Asked by Diego, an MFA Filmmaking student from Columbia, how directors carve themselves out when looking for representation, she said, “Shoot, shoot and shoot! Put it online, do a webseries. Just keep shooting!” Having a reel is obviously of utmost importance for directors, whereas screenwriters should be more concerned with GOOD WRITING.
Stephanie, a Swedish screenwriting student asked Linne what is important to think about for those looking for a manager. “Hopefully you will have choices here. You want to feel that the manager listens to your ideas. Also, what feels right is probably the way to go!” She also said it’s okay to be your own advocate, “If you feel your manager’s involvement is too little or too much, speak up!”
About the influx of lucrative quality television, Linne said, “Now some managers are strictly working in TV, but less are only in features. There is some great programing on TV now, so it’s good to be open.”
Asked by a student about getting into a TV writing room, Linne admitted this is highly competitive and usually the Showrunner (Executive Producer of TV show) hires his or her writers.
Some general tips that came out during the evening:
1. Become a writer’s assistant if you can
2. Agents and managers should take 10%
3. Enter legitimate writing contests
4. Brand yourself! Once you have a hit, you will have more freedom to write something within a different genre
Linne also noted that the Radmin Company is always looking for interns!
Today, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released their nominations for Best Documentary Feature. We were thrilled to find the documentary film The Square, shot by New York Film Academy graduate Muhammad Hamdy, has been announced as one of the 5 nominees at the 86th Oscars.
Congratulations to Muhammad as well as Director Jehane Noujaim and Producer Karim Amer!
We all dream of someday having our own Oscar nominations, but for now let’s see which talented artists and films were nominated for this year’s 86th Annual Academy Awards…
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Nominees:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:
A few years back, New York Film Academy Instructor Cheryl Bedford was asked to be a part of the documentary Dark Girls, directed and produced by Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry. Even with deferred pay, Cheryl immediately jumped on board as Line Producer and her decision couldn’t have been more right. The bracing new documentary was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award. “The material spoke to me,” said Bedford. “Dark Girls is about ‘colorism’ and how it affects women. Basically, the darker you are, the less attractive you are perceived to be.”
Skin bleaching products are a billion dollar business worldwide. Dark skinned women in Africa are using these products and doing horrible damage to their skin. In China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, etc., you can’t buy a moisturizer without a skin bleaching component in the product. “As a dark skin black woman, who has been called pretty — ‘even though I was dark skinned’ — I felt that the project had to be part of my filmmaking legacy,” added Bedford.
When Dark Girls premiered on OWN in June 2013, the film was the number one trending topic on twitter for three hours worldwide. “I am so proud of this project and the entire Dark Girls team. As a filmmaker, when you have a passion project, you hope and dream of this kind of success. I feel quite lucky and blessed that people feel connected to this movie.”
Filmmaker Jeremy Xido will be premiering a live performance/film production The Angola Project. New York Film Academy students can buy discounted tickets to this unique live event.
as part of Performance Space 122’s COIL 2014 Festival
The Angola Project playfully straddles the worlds of live performance and filmmaking – constructing a movie in real time from fragments of film and narrative, only to have it crumble into disarray. A trilogy of solo performances tearing apart the tradition of Travel Lectures from the 19th century, Jeremy Xido leads the audience on a very personal journey into real-life attempts to finance a film and confront the truth of mortality.
Where: The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen Street in Brooklyn
Bring your NYFA ID!
“Eye-opening, overwhelming, and very humbling.” These were three adjectives given by the long time movie fanatic from Fredericton, New Brunswick to describe New York Film Academy’s Advanced 1-Year Screenwriting Program. “I came into my first class at NYFA thrilled with the idea that I could now actually be part of a world that I loved, but also with a naiveté thinking that I knew everything I needed to know about film just because I had spent all of my money growing up on popcorn and movies,” says NYFA graduate, Jon Mann. “NYFA quickly gave me confidence that my passion and hobby could be translated into a craft that I can continue to humbly learn and work on every day.”
With the skills under his belt, Jon took to documentary filmmaking, completing his first documentary, Project Power. Jon’s film documents how the people of New Brunswick came together to oppose the attempted sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec. Jon says the most important aspect of Project Power is the fact that ordinary people can still play a critical role in impacting economic and social policy; and that those in positions of governance, like our elected officials, need to be cognizant of that and show leadership in terms of inclusionary democracy.
“We’re at an interesting point of human history, and the fact that a grassroots campaign like the ‘No to the Sale of NB Power’ worked in a Canadian province like New Brunswick is a huge boost to the confidence of citizens everywhere — their views, ideas, and values matter.”
Jon recently edited a trailer for Project Power and will be pushing the documentary at this year’s film festival circuit.
“As a documentary filmmaker, the most important goal of any documentary film you can hope for is that people will see your film, and hopefully learn from it. With Project Power, there are lessons to be learned from all aspects of life, whether it is private sector and public, government and the people it represents, race relations, language relations, etc.”
Jon hopes to continue his career in the field of documentary filmmaking, with his next project focusing on birth order and how it affects people’s lives. His father’s wisdom — “Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” — is what inspires him to work in a field that he feels is a privilege and not a job.
New York Film Academy Instructor of English and Comparative Literature, Julie Oni’s new play Bunk opens this Wednesday, January 8th, at Son of Semele Ensemble for the Company Creation Festival.
Synopsis: A job interview tasks two would-be construction workers — one Nigerian, one African-American — with building a bunk bed. To succeed, they must confront the misconceptions they have about each other’s cultures and work together toward their common goal.
For more information, CLICK HERE.
