Page 92 – NYFA

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Australia Students Participate in VIVA Surfers Paradise Parade

Last month, New York Film Academy (NYFA) Australia students participated in a street parade as part of VIVA Surfers Paradise, a week-long festival held in Australia’s Gold Coast.

VIVA Surfers Paradise is described as Australia’s ultimate tribute artist festival, and consists of multiple live performances and other events over the course of a week, including tributes to Elvis, Elton John, Queen, and The Beatles. This year’s event had an overall attendance of more than 132,000 visitors.

For the VIVA Surfers Paradise street parade, there were around 50 different groups and floats, including New York Film Academy, which has a campus on the Gold Coast. Additionally, six student actors from NYFA played zombies as part of a “fest-evil” float. The NYFA float included three students, representing two actors and a director, from NYFA-Australia’s Diploma and Advanced Diploma programs.

The parade was a huge hit, with large crowds filming and photographing the various artists and floats that passed by.

“The team’s professionalism, punctuality, and dedication to ensuring they remain in character for the whole duration of the parade is a testament to the students and mentors at the Academy,” says Ian Maclachlan, NYFA-Australia Operations Manager.

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New York Film Academy (NYFA) Alum Sam LaFrance Featured in Road Theatre Company’s Summer Playwrights Festival

Lost Boy, a play written by New York Film Academy (NYFA) Acting for Film alum Sam LaFrance, was recently featured in Road Theatre Company’s Summer Playwrights Festival.

LaFrance attended the 1-Year Acting for Film conservatory at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus in 2008. He currently works as the building manager for NYFA-LA’s Barham building.

Lost Boy tells the story of a man being released from prison after kidnapping several children 22 years earlier. The play was previously part of NYFA’s 2019 Winter Series of Student Directed plays. LaFrance directed the production, mentored by full time instructor David Robinette.

“I saw a few Student Directed Plays and figured this would be a good opportunity to workshop one of my own projects,” LaFrance told NYFA. “It’s a great opportunity for anyone who loves theatre. You are completely immersed in it and that’s an amazing feeling.”

The tenth annual edition of the Road Theatre’s Summer Playwrights Festival staged nearly 40 staged readings of new plays in just eight drama-packed days. The festival concluded on August 4, after staging readings at both the Historic Lankershim Arts Center Theater and Gallery and the Road Theatre’s 77-seat venue in the NoHo Senior Arts Colony. The fest is considered one of the largest playwright festivals in the nation.

New York Film Academy congratulates NYFA Acting for Film alum Sam LaFrance on the success of his play Lost Boy and looks forward to future productions!

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Filmmaking Alum Dhruv Sachdev Continues Winning Awards

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Filmmaking alum Dhruv Sachdev has been very successful since taking the 1-Week Filmmaking Workshop, winning several awards for Redrum and A Gift of Love: Sifar.

Both films adapt classic American authors; Redrum is based on a story by Edgar Allen Poe while Sifar is based on The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. Sachdev’s next film will be an adaptation of O. Henry’s The Last Leaf.

Sachdev, who originally hails from New Delhi, India, attended the Filmmaking Workshop in 2016 at NYFA’s New York campus. “At NYFA we were taught a basic rule,” says Sachdev, “that every scene, every shot, or every dialogue has to strike a chord with the audience—and that can only be done by a filmmaker who understands which emotion is to be captured. Thus, we not only learned the technicalities of filmmaking, but in the process also learned to observe the complexity of emotions.”

Sachdev took that lesson to heart, and his work has been recognized at multiple festivals for its strong craftsmanship. Here is a list of the awards and nominations won so far by A Gift of Love: Sifar:

Winner – CKF International Film Festival, England – Best Feature
Winner – Crown Wood International Film Festival – Best Indian Feature
Winner – Cult Critic Movie Awards – Best Debut Director
Winner – Calcutta International Film Festival – Best Debut Director
Winner – Mahul Woods International Film Festival – Outstanding Achievement Award – Best Feature
Winner – Mahul Woods International Film Festival – Outstanding Achievement Award – Best Debut Director
Winner – L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival
Winner – Virgin Spring Cinefest
Winner – Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela – Best Independent Feature
Winner – Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela – Best Actress in a leading role
Winner – Five Continents International Film Festival, Venezuela – Background Score
Winner – Gold Movie Awards – London – June 2019 – Best Producer
Winner – Los Angeles Film Awards
Winner – Druk International Film Festival – Best Debut Director
Winner – Druk International Film Festival – Best Feature
Winner – Druk International Film Festival – Best Actress
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Drama Feature
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Screenplay Honorable Mention
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Lead Actress in a Feature Film
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Cinematography Honorable Mention
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Editing Honorable Mention
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Production
Winner – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Best Art Direction Honorable Mention
Winner – Bacalar International Film Festival, Mexico
Finalist – Oniros Film Awards (award pending)
Semifinalist – Near Nazareth Festival – Israel
Official Selection – Rome Independent PRISMA Awards
Official Selection – Miami Independent Film Festival (award pending)
Official Selection – Berlin Flash Film Festival (award pending)
Official Selection – New York Aphrodite Film Awards (award pending)

“Once you start understanding human emotions,” Sachdev adds, “your journey towards being a filmmaker begins.”

New York Film Academy congratulates Filmmaking alum Dhruv Sachdev on his growing list of accolades and looks forward to his upcoming projects!

Gen-Z Chooses This Year’s Winners at the Teen Choice Awards

The Teen Choice Awards ceremony aired on August 11, giving out its trademark surf board trophies to a slew of fan favorites, including Robert Downey, Jr. for his role as Tony Stark in Marvel’s epic crossover, Avengers: Endgame.

The film also picked up Choice Action Movie, and co-stars Scarlett Johansson and Josh Brolin won Choice Action Movie Actress and Choice Movie Villain, respectively. Other big winners of the night included Spider-Man: Far From Home, Aladdin, After, and television shows Supernatural and Shadowhunters.

Television series Stranger Things and Riverdale also earned multiple awards. Stranger Things, the Netflix nostalgic hit that is still going strong after its recent third season, has starred New York Film Academy (NYFA) master class instructor and board member Matthew Modine as well NYFA alum Matty Cardarople. Additionally, NYFA Filmmaking alum Eric Demeusy worked on the iconic opening credits of Stranger Things, for which he won an Emmy.

Stranger Things won Choice Summer TV Show while Riverdale picked up Choice Drama TV Show. Last year, Riverdale stars Ashleigh Murray and Casey Cott spoke with NYFA students at our New York campus.

Noah Centineo, who co-starred with NYFA alum Lana Condor in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, won Choice Comedy Movie Actor for The Perfect Date, alongside co-star Laura Marano who won Choice Comedy Movie Actress. The Perfect Date was co-produced by Matt Kaplan, who recently spoke with our high school campers as a NYFA guest speaker at our Burbank-based campus.

New York Film Academy congratulates this year’s winners of the Teen Choice Awards! Here is the full list of this year’s winners:

MOVIES

Choice Action Movie
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Endgame – WINNER
Bumblebee
Captain Marvel
Men in Black: International
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Choice Action Movie Actor
Chris Evans, Avengers: Endgame
Chris Hemsworth, Avengers: Endgame, Men in Black: International
John Cena, Bumblebee
Paul Rudd, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Endgame
Robert Downey Jr., Avengers: Endgame – WINNER
Samuel L. Jackson, Captain Marvel

Choice Action Movie Actress
Brie Larson, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame
Evangeline Lilly, Ant-Man and the Wasp
Hailee Steinfeld, Bumblebee
Scarlett Johansson, Avengers: Endgame – WINNER
Tessa Thompson, Men in Black: International
Zoe Saldana, Avengers: Endgame

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie
Aladdin – WINNER
Aquaman
Dark Phoenix
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Mary Poppins Returns
Shazam!

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actor
James McAvoy, Dark Phoenix
Jason Momoa, Aquaman
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns
Mena Massoud, Aladdin
Will Smith, Aladdin – WINNER
Zachary Levi, Shazam!

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Actress
Amber Heard, Aquaman
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
Katherine Waterston, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Keira Knightley, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Naomi Scott, Aladdin – WINNER
Sophie Turner, Dark Phoenix

Choice Drama Movie
After – WINNER
Bohemian Rhapsody
Breakthrough
Five Feet Apart
The Hate U Give
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Choice Drama Movie Actor
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Cole Sprouse, Five Feet Apart
Hero Fiennes Tiffin, After – WINNER
Noah Centineo, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Choice Drama Movie Actress
Amandla Stenberg, The Hate U Give
Chrissy Metz, Breakthrough
Haley Lu Richardson, Five Feet Apart
Josephine Langford, After – WINNER
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Lana Condor, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Choice Comedy Movie
Crazy Rich Asians – WINNER
Instant Family
Isn’t It Romantic
Little
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
The Perfect Date

Choice Comedy Movie Actor
Henry Golding, Crazy Rich Asians
Kevin Hart, Night School
Liam Hemsworth, Isn’t It Romantic
Mark Wahlberg, Instant Family
Noah Centineo, The Perfect Date – WINNER
Ryan Reynolds, Pokémon Detective Pikachu

Choice Comedy Movie Actress
Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians
Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians
Laura Marano, The Perfect Date – WINNER
Marsai Martin, Little
Rebel Wilson, Isn’t It Romantic
Tiffany Haddish, Night School

Choice Movie Villain
Johnny Depp, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Josh Brolin, Avengers: Endgame – WINNER
Jude Law, Captain Marvel
Mark Strong, Shazam!
Marwan Kenzari, Aladdin
Patrick Wilson, Aquaman

Choice Summer Movie
Late Night
Murder Mystery
Spider-Man: Far From Home – WINNER
The Last Summer
Toy Story 4
Yesterday

Choice Summer Movie Actor
KJ Apa, The Last Summer
Corey Fogelmanis, Ma
Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Far From Home – WINNER
Charles Melton, The Sun Is Also a Star
Himesh Patel, Yesterday
Adam Sandler, Murder Mystery

Choice Summer Movie Actress
Jennifer Aniston, Muder Mystery
Selena Gomez, The Dead Don’t Die
Zendaya, Spider-Man: Far From Home – WINNER
Mindy Kaling, Late Night
Maia Mitchell, The Last Summer
Yara Shahidi, The Sun Is Also a Star

Choice Drama TV Show
Good Trouble
Marvel’s Runaways
Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists
Riverdale – WINNER
Star
The Resident

Choice Drama TV Actor
Adam Huber, Dynasty
Cole Sprouse, Riverdale – WINNER
Justin Hartley, This Is Us
K.J. Apa, Riverdale
Oliver Stark, 9-1-1
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Choice Drama TV Actress
Camila Mendes, Riverdale
Cierra Ramirez, Good Trouble
Lili Reinhart, Riverdale – WINNER
Maia Mitchell, Good Trouble
Ryan Destiny, Star
Sofia Carson, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show
Charmed
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Legacies
Shadowhunters – WINNER
Supernatural
The 100

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actor
Aubrey Joseph, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger
Bob Morley, The 100
Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters
Harry Shum Jr., Shadowhunters
Jared Padalecki, Supernatural – WINNER
Ross Lynch, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress
Danielle Rose Russell, Legacies
Ellen Page, The Umbrella Academy
Katherine McNamara, Shadowhunters – WINNER
Kiernan Shipka, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Melonie Diaz, Charmed
Olivia Holt, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger

Choice Action TV Show
Arrow
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Gotham
MacGyver – WINNER
Supergirl
The Flash

Choice Action TV Actor
Ben McKenzie, Gotham
Brandon Routh, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Brenton Thwaites, Titans
Grant Gustin, The Flash
Lucas Till, MacGyver
Stephen Amell, Arrow – WINNER

Choice Action TV Actress
Candice Patton, The Flash
Danielle Panabaker, The Flash
Emily Bett Rickards, Arrow
Gabrielle Union, L.A.’s Finest – WINNER
Jessica Alba, L.A.’s Finest
Melissa Benoist, Supergirl

Choice Comedy TV Show
Black-ish
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Fuller House
Jane the Virgin
One Day at a Time
The Big Bang Theory – WINNER

Choice Comedy TV Actor
Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Daniel Radcliffe, Miracle Workers
Jaime Camil, Jane the Virgin – WINNER
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Marcel Ruiz, One Day at a Time

Choice Comedy TV Actress
Candace Cameron Bure, Fuller House
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Kaley Cuoco, The Big Bang Theory
Nina Dobrev, Fam – WINNER
Sarah Hyland, Modern Family
Yara Shahidi, black-ish

Choice TV Villain
Adam Scott, The Good Place
Cameron Monaghan, Gotham – WINNER
Jon Cryer, Supergirl
Luke Baines, Shadowhunters
Sarah Carter, The Flash
Sea Shimooka, Arrow

Choice Reality TV Show
America’s Got Talent – WINNER
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Lip Sync Battle
Queer Eye
The Masked Singer
The Voice

Choice Throwback TV Show
All That
Beverly Hills, 90210
Friends – WINNER
Moesha
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Office

Choice Summer TV Show
Cobra Kai
Nailed It!
So You Think You Can Dance
Stranger Things – WINNER
The Bold Type
Younger

Choice Summer TV Actor
Gaten Matarazzo, Stranger Things
Caleb McLaughlin, Stranger Things
Luka Sabbat, Grown-ish
Noah Schnapp, Stranger Things – WINNER
Diego Tinoco, On My Block
Finn Wolfhard, Stranger Things

Choice Summer TV Actress
Chloe Bennet, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things – WINNER
Hilary Duff, Younger
Jessica Marie Garcia, On My Block
Rose McIver, iZombie
Yara Shahidi, Grown-ish

MUSIC

Choice Male Artist
Ed Sheeran
Khalid
Lil Nas X
Post Malone
Shawn Mendes – WINNER

Choice Female Artist
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish – WINNER
Cardi B
Halsey
Lauren Jauregui
Taylor Swift

Choice Music Group
5 Seconds of Summer
Jonas Brothers
Panic! At The Disco
PRETTYMUCH
The Chainsmokers
Why Don’t We – WINNER

Choice Country Artist
Brett Young
Dan + Shay – WINNER
Kacey Musgraves
Kane Brown
Kelsea Ballerini
Thomas Rhett

Choice Latin Artist
Bad Bunny
Becky G.
CNCO – WINNER
Daddy Yankee
J Balvin
Maluma

Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Artist
Cardi B – WINNER
Drake
Nicki Minaj
Normani
Post Malone
Travis Scott

Choice Rock Artist
AJR
Cage the Elephant
Imagine Dragons
lovelytheband
Panic! At The Disco – WINNER
twenty one pilots

Choice Song: Female Artist
Ariana Grande, “7 rings”
Billie Eilish, “bad guy”
Lauren Jauregui, “Expectations” – WINNER
Taylor Swift (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco), “ME!”
Katy Perry, “Never Really Over”
Halsey, “Nightmare”

Choice Song: Male Artist
Khalid, “Better”
Shawn Mendes, “If I Can’t Have You”
Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road”
Travis Scott, “SICKO MODE”
Louis Tomlinson, “Two of Us” – WINNER
Post Malone, “Wow”

Choice Song: Group
Imagine Dragons, “Bad Liar”
Blackpink, “DDU-DU DDU-DU” – WINNER
5 Seconds of Summer, “Easier”
Panic! At The Disco, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”
Jonas Brothers, “Sucker”
Why Don’t We, “8 Letters”

Choice Pop Song
Sam Smith & Normani, “Dancing With A Stranger”
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber, “I Don’t Care”
Taylor Swift (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco), “ME!”
Jonas Brothers, “Sucker”
Ava Max, “Sweet but Psycho”
Ariana Grande, “thank u, next” – WINNER

Choice Country Song
Maren Morris, “Girl”
Kane Brown, “Good as You”
Thomas Rhett, “Look What God Gave Her”
Kelsea Ballerini, “Miss Me More”
Kacey Musgraves, “Rainbow”
Dan + Shay, “Speechless” – WINNER

Choice Electronic/Dance Song
Zedd & Katy Perry, “365”
The Chainsmokers & Bebe Rexha, “Call You Mine”
Ellie Goulding, Diplo, & Red Velvet, “Close to Me (Red Velvet Remix)” – WINNER
Mark Ronson (feat. Camila Cabello), “Find U Again”
Marshmello & Bastille, “Happier”
The Chainsmokers & 5 Seconds of Summer, “Who Do You Love”

Choice Latin Song
Ozuna, Daddy Yankee & J Balvin (feat. Farruko, Anuel AA) [Remix], “Baila Baila Baila”
ROSALÍA, J Balvin & El Guincho, “Con Altura”
Daddy Yankee & Katy Perry, “Con Calma (feat. Snow)”
Bad Bunny (feat. Drake), “MIA”
CNCO, “Pretend” – WINNER
Nicky Jam & Ozuna, “Te Robaré”

Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Song
Meek Mill (feat. Drake), “Going Bad”
Lil Nas X (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus), “Old Town Road [Remix]” – WINNER
Mustard & Migos, “Pure Water”
Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)”
Khalid, “Talk”
Post Malone, “Wow”

Choice Rock Song
AJR, “100 Bad Days”
Panic! At The Disco, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” – WINNER
Bastille, “Joy”
Imagine Dragons, “Natural”
Cage The Elephant, “Ready To Let Go”
lovelytheband, “These Are My Friends”

Choice Breakout Artist
Billie Eilish – WINNER
HRVY
Juice WRLD
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
ROSALÍA

Choice International Artist
Blackpink
BTS – WINNER
CNCO
EXO
Little Mix
NCT 127

Choice Collaboration
BTS (feat. Halsey), “Boy With Luv” – WINNER
Sam Smith & Normani, “Dancing With A Stranger”
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber, “I Don’t Care”
Lil Nas X (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus), “Old Town Road [Remix]”
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, “Shallow”
Julia Michaels (feat. Niall Horan), “What A Time”

Choice Song From A Movie

A Whole New World (End Title) (from Aladdin), ZAYN & Zhavia Ward – WINNER
Broken & Beautiful (from UglyDolls), Kelly Clarkson
Carry On (from Pokémon Detective Pikachu), Kygo & Rita Ora
Don’t Give Up on Me (from Five Feet Apart), Andy Grammer
Shallow (from A Star Is Born), Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga
Sunflower (from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), Post Malone & Swae Lee

MISCELLANEOUS

Choice Fandom
Ariana Grande, Arianators
Blackpink, Blinks
BTS, BTSArmy
CNCO, CNCOwners
Selena Gomez, Selenators
Taylor Swift, Swifties

Choice Ship
Katherine McNamara & Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Lana Condor & Noah Centineo, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Laura Marano & Noah Centineo, The Perfect Date
Lili Reinhart & Cole Sprouse, Riverdale – WINNER
Madelaine Petsch & Vanessa Morgan, Riverdale

Choice Comedian
Ellen DeGeneres
Ethan & Grayson Dolan – WINNER
James Corden
Kevin Hart
Lilly Singh
Tiffany Haddish

Choice Male Athlete
AJ Styles
James Harden
Lionel Messi
Patrick Mahomes
Stephen Curry – WINNER
Tiger Woods

Choice Female Athlete
Katelyn Ohashi
Serena Williams – WINNER
Simone Biles
Sky Brown
The Bella Twins
Tobin Heath

Off-Broadway Show by New York Film Academy (NYFA) Documentary Instructor James Lecesne Available on Audible

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, the Off-Broadway show by New York Film Academy (NYFA) Documentary Filmmaking Instructor, is now available to listen to on Audible, Amazon’s audiobook platform.

Both written and performed by Lecesne, the story unravels around Leonard Pelkey, a tenaciously optimistic and flamboyant 14-year-old boy who goes missing from a small town on the Jersey Shore. Leonard becomes an unexpected inspiration to the townsfolk, who begin to question how they live, who they love, and what they leave behind. Sound design for the production was done by Christian Frederickson, with original music by Duncan Sheik.

The New York Times says that The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey will “leave you beaming with joy … a superlative solo show … Mr. Lecesne is a writer of wit and keen observational skills, who here unfolds a dark tale that shimmers with the needling suspense you associate with the best police procedurals.”

Much of Lecesne’s work focuses on LGBTQIA+ themes, including his screenplay for the Academy-Award winning short, Trevor. That film directly led to his founding of The Trevor Project, an American non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. Lecesne also wrote for Further Tales if the City, Will and Grace, and Vicious, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey by NYFA Documentary Filmmaking instructor James Lecesne can be found on Audible here. New York Film Academy encourages the NYFA community to check it out today!

Q&A with ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ Producer Matt Kaplan

On Tuesday, August 6, New York Film Academy (NYFA) hosted a special Q&A with esteemed producer Matt Kaplan for our high school campers, following a screening of the Netflix all-time most-viewed original film, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Tova Laiter, Director of the NYFA Q&A Series, curated and moderated the event.

Matt Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Ace Entertainment, focused on making feature films, television series, and digital content for youth audiences. Kaplan has produced incredibly buzzy YA films including the runaway success recent rom-com hit The Perfect Date, Spontaneous, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, starring NYFA alum Lana Condor. He is also behind the upcoming Are You Afraid of the Dark TV reboot based on the 1990s Nickelodeon television series. Kaplan’s past credits include features such as Before I Fall, The Lazarus Effect, and Viral. He is currently working on and next year’s sequel, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 2.

Laiter started by asking Kaplan how he started in the industry. Kaplan talked about how he started making short form content after graduating film school. “YouTube was just getting popular, and so I started making short videos with my friends,” he told the audience. From there, he started as an assistant at Lionsgate, a job his YouTube videos earned him, and worked his way up to an executive position in charge of YA content. During his time at Lionsgate, he was a part of the team that made The Hunger Games. “But I knew as a younger executive,” said Kaplan, “that I wanted to be the one making the final decisions.”

One student asked about where to start when producing a movie. Kaplan replied, “First, try to figure out what kind of movies you’re passionate about telling … typically we will option a book or buy an article or whatever it is, and then hire a writer—or sometimes you’ll ask a friend to write the script on spec. And then once we have the script, that’s kind of the jumping off point. Once you have a good script, amazing things can happen.”

Another student asked how Kaplan had figured out that he wanted to be a producer. “I like putting things together. I just looked at what I was good at. When I was your age, I took writing classes, and directing classes … but I knew I was good at assessing material, and I knew I had an instinct for what I could sell, and market. And so I spent a lot of my time making relationships with great writers and great directors.”

One student asked about how to make connections in the film industry. Kaplan said, “Someone gave me this advice: it’s follow-up … As long as you are passionate about seeking that out, people in this business want to help. Start off by trying to get experience under mentors, don’t just watch—try to make friends with these people, and be helpful. And I think once you start to do that, good things can happen.”

New York Film Academy would like to thank To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before producer Matt Kaplan for sharing his producing insights with our high school campers.

New York Film Academy (NYFA) MFA in Producing Student Phoebe Wang Awarded Movie Magic Scholarship

New York Film Academy (NYFA) MFA in Producing student Xiaoxiao (Phoebe) Wang was recently awarded the Entertainment Partners’ Movie Magic Scholarship Producer Award Certificate. At the ceremony, Wang was also presented with a check for the amount of $1,450.

The Scholarship is provided by Entertainment Partners, a company that puts technology front and center for the entertainment industry. Movie Magic is a software program for production professionals, helping with film budgeting and software, and is an industry-standard.

Wang, who originally hails from China and is currently enrolled at the producing school in NYFA’s Burbank-based campus, demonstrated a comprehensive understanding and skillful use of the software’s features and earned the Producer Award Certificate. Wang plans to invest the award money in her current production project, entitled The Beauty.

Wang isn’t the first NYFA student to pick up the prestigious scholarship; last year MFA in Filmmaking students Katherin Hussein and Robert (Bobby) Gutierrez each picked up the Movie Magic award.

New York Film Academy congratulates MFA Producing student Phoebe Wang on winning the Entertainment Partners’ Movie Magic Scholarship Producer Award Certificate and looks forward to seeing the completion of The Beauty!

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Acting for Film Joshua Morel To Appear In ‘Spenser Confidential’

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Acting for Film alum Joshua Morel will appear in Spenser Confidential, an upcoming film by director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day).

Spenser Confidential is based on the novel Wonderland of the same name from the detective series, Spenser, created by Robert B. Parker. The film is being distributed by Netflix and will be released on March 6, 2020, as well as in select theaters.

Mark Wahlberg stars as the title detective, and the film boasts an impressive cast, including Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Bokeem Woodbine, Colleen Camp, Iliza Shlesinger, Marc Maron, and Post Malone.

Morel completed the 1-Year Acting for Film Conservatory at NYFA’s New York campus in 2013. Spenser Confidential is his first supporting role, and is a speaking role; he will be featured in four scenes, completing some very impressive stunts. On top of that, Morel is now eligible to join SAG-AFTRA.

New York Film Academy congratulates Acting for Film alum Joshua Morel on his role in Netflix’s Spenser Confidential and encourages everyone to check it out when it is released in March 2020!

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Game Design Welcomes Veteran Writer & Game Designer John Zuur Platten

On July 18^, 2019, New York Film Academy (NYFA) hosted veteran writer and game designer John Zuur Platten.

Zuur Platten came to speak at NYFA as part of the school’s Masters of Game Design program, a speaker series in which distinguished members of the gaming industry visit for an informal chat with NYFA Game Design instructor Scott Rogers and NYFA students about their careers in gaming.

The event was attended by over 50 students and industry professionals who have been invited to the school. Zuur Platten and Rogers talked about Zuur Platten’s 26-year career, including his transition from the movie VFX industry into gaming.

Also discussed was Zuur Platten’s work on the Fear Effect and Ghostbusters video games, the mobile game Ingress, the mega-hit Pokemon Go, and his latest work on Jurassic World Evolution. After the hour-long conversation, students and audience attendees were then invited to ask Zuur Platten questions.

New York Film Academy thanks veteran writer and game designer John Zuur Platten for taking the time to share his expertise with our students!

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