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Students at the Academy’s Producing School receive an immersive, hands-on education in the creative and business sides of producing for film, television, and new media. This section supplements what our students learn in class with essential how-to guides, in-depth Q&A’s and interviews, and articles on the current trends in the field of producing.
How to Craft the Perfect Movie Pitch
August 25, 2017A moving, persuasive pitch can be the difference between seeing your story idea come to life on the big screen or leaving it in your ...
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A Quick Guide to Movie Production Incentives
August 25, 2017Sometimes movie producers are encouraged to film their projects in specific areas for reasons that go beyond the gorgeous scenery. To help stimulate economies and ...
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How to Produce a Super Soundtrack for Your Low-Budget Film
June 2, 2017The soundtrack sets the tone of your film, and connects with your viewers on an emotional, if often unconscious, level. But if getting the rights ...
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10 Great Pieces of Advice for Beginner Producers from Filmmaking Veterans
April 21, 2017Low budget to blockbuster, getting a film produced is a huge endeavor. As PTA says, “It’s a miracle every time a film gets made.” Whether ...
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How To Option The Film Rights For A Book
October 5, 2015Spotted a great book which hasn’t been made into a film yet, but really needs to be? Are you the filmmaker or producer for the ...
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Micro-Budget Filmmaking: Are You Making These 5 Mistakes?
September 8, 2015A little while back, we covered some of the finest indie movies ever to be produced on a tiny budget—superb features like The Castle and ...
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How To Get Your Movie Soundtrack Onto iTunes/Spotify
July 28, 2015If you’ve got a soundtrack for your movie, chances are you’re looking to distribute it as a separate entity from the film itself.
Even if you’re ...
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Producing Movies? Produce Your Own Music, Too
June 12, 2015Aside from writing up a comprehensive film business plan, acquiring the rights to music is often the one job that filmmakers dread the most.
And it’s ...
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Film Production Toolbox – Apps & Gadgets Every Producer Should Own
June 12, 2015It’s ll-in weird and wonderful world these days, isn’t it?
From self-driving cars to personal computers so small you can wear them as a watch, we’re just ...
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Becoming a Producer – Tried and Tested Career Paths
June 12, 2015In previous posts, we’ve discussed the nature of what a movie production—specifically, how to become a movie producer, which continues to be a difficult role ...
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How To Self-Distribute Your Film
February 10, 2015Producing and filming an independent movie is laborious work, though not impossible. And while bringing your vision to life outside the studio system might seem ...
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How To Make The Most Of Pre-Production
January 15, 2015A producer’s job is never finished, even after their movie has a definitive, final cut. But it does have a start—at the very beginning of ...
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Green Filmmaking: Producing Carbon-Neutral Movies
September 19, 2014Historically speaking, the movie industry doesn’t have a fantastic reputation when it comes to creating art in an environmentally friendly manner.
It probably comes as no surprise ...
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Get Your Independent Movie on Netflix: What You Need to Know
July 11, 2014Netflix is seen as the golden goose of film distribution these days, and many hold the opinion that if your movie isn’t on Netflix, it’s ...
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How To Become A Film Producer
June 11, 2014Although a film is a collective creation of actors, writers, editors, and artists, the producer is the one who initiates the creation of a film ...
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How Can I Own My Producing Project?
May 28, 2014Author: Neal Weisman, Co-Chair, Producing Department, New York Film AcademyIt is a core principle that producers must own their projects. In order to move successfully ...
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4 Things Students Should Know About the Movie Production Industry
June 16, 20171. Successful people never make it alone.How many times have we heard ad nauseam that it’s all about who you know? Those who are at the ...
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What Does a TV Producer Do?
June 16, 2017Do you have excellent organizational skills and a head for numbers? Are you also creative and able to see projects through from the planning stages ...
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4 Lessons to Learn from Major Film Producers
May 19, 2017A producer is the person most involved in any given project, all the way from pre-production to post-production, whether it’s a film, new media, or ...
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Pilot Season 2017 Part 2: Here’s What’s Coming Your Way
May 12, 2017Pilot season is a secret peek into TV’s future, when broadcast network execs decide which pilots go to series and which get scrapped. That trend ...
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Projects That Made the Most of Their Monstrous Production Budget
March 24, 2017The amount of new movies hitting the market continues to grow every day, and each new film uses more exotic filming locations, special effects and ...
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Celebrating Female Film Producers
March 17, 2017With this year’s Best Picture going to producer Dede Gardner for “Moonlight” and the top-grossing “Rogue One” produced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, you’d think ...
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4 Films That Won Both The PGA and The Oscar
January 25, 2017It’s mid-January and the award-season excitement is palpable. Which is exactly why you must tune in to your television on Saturday Jan. 28 to watch ...
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5 Actresses Who Became Successful Producers
December 15, 2015Patricia Arquette’s call for wage equality during her Oscar acceptance speech earlier this year; Emma Watson being appointed by the UN as a Goodwilll Ambassador, ...
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Producing Movies in 2015: Subcultures and Niches
September 22, 2015As mentioned the last time we covered the role of the producer, it’s a very fluid role that is extremely hard to sum up with a ...
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So What Exactly IS A Film Producer?
June 16, 2015Of all the jobs in film that we’ve covered so far, there’s one in particular that seems to cause a lot of confusion. Namely, we’re ...
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Top Indie Producers Shaking Up Hollywood
June 16, 2015To an outside observer looking in, it would appear that the film industry of late is comprised solely of gigantic corporate entities churning out endless, CGI-laden ...
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No, Not Lenny!: 5 Ways The Simpsons Can Keep Harry Shearer
May 14, 2015Simpsons fans around the world woke up this morning to news that veteran comic actor Harry Shearer may be leaving The Simpsons at the end ...
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Most Successful Female Producers In Hollywood
February 2, 2015The film industry is notoriously male dominated, to such an extent that only 25% of Hollywood producers are female. Other professions within Hollywood are even ...
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What Does Amazon Studios Mean for Hollywood?
January 21, 2015
This week, corporate juggernaut Amazon.com announced it would be producing feature films for theatrical release, a huge if not all-that surprising move for the company ...
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The Interview And The Demand For On Demand
January 6, 2015When Seth Rogen first pitched The Interview to his buddy and future executive producer James Franco, he likely didn’t expect the film to eventually become ...
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What Are Best Picture Winning Producers Working on Now?
December 17, 2014In the field of producing, the highest honor Hollywood can bestow is the Academy Award for Best Picture. When the final Oscar of the night ...
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12 Massively Over-Budget Films That Every Film Producer Can Learn From
December 10, 2014When students at film school study producing, one of the first things they learn is how to make a budget film. That practice seems to ...
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6 Great Reasons For Shooting In LA
November 12, 2014If you’re in a top LA producing school or have ever shot a film in Los Angeles, you’ll no doubt be already aware of the ...
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Why is China Investing in LA Movie Production?
November 12, 2014LA production companies are struggling to raise capital within their own ecosystem, and have been for some time now. The issue isn’t a lack of financially ...
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Hey Marvel – Here’s Five Ways to Make a Solo Hulk Movie
October 31, 2014Everybody’s talking about what’s on Marvel’s docket after they released their slate of upcoming movies for the next five years. The core of their cinematic ...
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Back to the Drawing Board: Hollywood’s Fastest Reboots
October 24, 2014Reboots have been a key cornerstone in Hollywood’s Reduce-Reuse-Recycle policy of the past decade and a half. With bigger budgets to recoup and more competition ...
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Gone Girl Reviews Herald Brighter Times For Hollywood Production
October 17, 2014After hitting a home run with The Social Network back in 2010 and following on with the remarkably well-adapted Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, director ...
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Vimeo as a Distribution Service – Is Google’s Monopoly Under Seige?
October 15, 2014Despite having been among the top five most-visited websites for some time now, the Google-owned YouTube has gone through numerous changes over the years while ...
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A Tale Of Two Ellisons: The New Generation Of Movie Producers
October 3, 2014When your father’s a billionaire, you can pretty much spend tons of money on anything you please and do anything you want, whether it’s racing ...
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From Cops To Pirates: Inside Jerry Bruckheimer’s Blockbuster Career
September 24, 2014There are only a handful of producers in Hollywood who utterly dominate their field, whether they are box office champions or MVPs of television ratings. ...
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Pittsburgh Producer’s Path To Success
September 22, 2014Scott Ferguson almost missed his calling as an award-winning producer. He began his adolescent career as an engineering student at Cornell. Self admittedly, he said ...
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An Introduction To Chinese Films And TV Co-Productions
September 22, 2014Author: Brendan Davis, Instructor, Producing Department, New York Film Academy; Co-Founder, Kilin International
There is an old joke that goes something like this: “How do you make ...
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What’s In A Movie Poster?
September 16, 2014A Collector’s Guide to Movie Poster Terminology
Although many of us spend 90% of our time knee-deep in the technicalities of producing films, the marketing of ...
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Self-Distribution In Today’s Marketplace
May 28, 2014Author: Neal Weisman, Co-Chair, Producing Department, New York Film AcademyThe world of film distribution has literally blown up in the last few years. The traditional ...
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A Q&A With NYC- based Independent Producer Jane Applegate
April 14, 2017There’s more than one way to break into the film industry. We’re curious about how other people are making it work, and eager to gain ...
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A Q&A With NYFA Producing Alumna Yuxiao Wang
April 7, 2017New York Film Academy Alumna Yuxiao Wang had a long road to get to NYFA. After three countries, two degrees, and a ton of work, she’s ...
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Staying A Step Ahead: Interview With Producing Grad Dorottya Mathe
July 28, 2014NYFA: Would you mind giving us some background information and what drew you to the producing program at NYFA?
Dorottya Mathe: After working in the television ...
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Q&A With Cheryl Bedford, Chair, Diversity Development, New York Film Academy
July 21, 2014NYFA: What is your personal background and how did you get your start in filmmaking?
Cheryl Bedford: My mother took me to see my first Broadway ...
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Never Waste A Second: An Interview With Diego Foyo
July 21, 2014NYFA: Would you mind sharing with us a little bit about your background and what drew you to producing initially?
Diego Foyo: The initial factor ...
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Interview With Julie Pacino: Co-Founder Poverty Row Entertainment
July 15, 2014NYFA: Would you mind telling us a little bit about your background and what drew you into film production?
Julie Pacino: I’ve always had a passion ...
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Culture of Collaboration: Interview With Producer Sal Irizarry
June 20, 2014NYFA: Would you mind telling us a bit about your background and what drew you to NYFA and its producing program in particular? Were you ...
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Q&A With Nick Yellen, Producing Dept., New York Film Academy
May 27, 2014Q: What are some lessons to learn in order to become a successful producer?
NY: Realizing that this isn’t a 9 to 5 job: it is ...
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