Hollywood Insider Help by Nancy Fulton: Recent Episodes
Nancy Fulton
This podcast features expert interviews and how-to podcasts designed to help writers, producers, and actors master the unique skills they need to earn a good living from their work. We currently support well over 50,000 entertainment industry pros with a wide variety of workshops and resources. To get 140+ Workbooks, Videos, and Attend Live Events sign up at nancyfultonmeetups.com
Remember you can always find videos, workbooks, and live interactive events designed to help you earn a good living doing what you love at NancyFultonMeetups.com. In this podcast I provide four strategies I think every creative pro needs to know in order to fund projects both large and small. They include raising money from investors using Regulation D or Regulation CF, presales, donation-based crowdfunding through sites like IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, and swiftly selling your creative work directly to customers through services with few if any start up costs.
This is the perfect podcast to listen to if you want to produced one or more projects with a friend or family member. It provides very specific advice and step-by-step guidance that will help you avoid specific risks and stumbling blocks in forming businesses that incorporate on these relationships.
Over time most of us working in the entertainment industry develop close personal, professional, and creative relationships with people who seem to share our vision for the kinds of projects we want to produce. Some of us are even fortunate enough to have family members in the industry who want to work beside us to bring common dreams to fruition. And, indeed, one can point to some very long term production partnerships like the Coen Brothers, the Wachowskis, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller & Andrew Form, that have turned out to be incredibly profitable and creatively powerful over many decades.
Having said that, one of the most dangerous things you can do from a financial, personal, and a creative perspective is to commit to producing a project with a friend or a family member without carefully weighing the risks and taking significant steps to limit them. It would be a shame if deciding to produce a film with someone you love and love to work with resulted in the termination of an important relationship and an expensive financial disaster. It’s also true that even people love you can make expensive mistakes that cause you significant personal, professional, and financial harm.
In this episode filmmakers learn what executive producers look for when funding films. Note this is a posting of an interview which is a couple of years old. I'm making it available now because it helps those seeking executive producers and/or co-producers understand what stage a deal should be in before they approach.
This is a great interview to listen to if you feel stuck and need help moving your career in the entertainment industry forward. Jim Jermanok (jimjermanok.com) is an award-winning writer, director, stage and film producer based in New York who started his career as a beloved agent at ICM representing leading lights like Alan Arkin, E.L. Doctorow, Helen Hayes, Ben Kingsley, Shirley MacLaine, Arthur Miller, Dudley Moore, Andy Rooney and Henry Winkler, among many others. He is also an entrepreneurship expert and speaker who actively works with creative pros to help them earn more from their work. His recent bestseller, BEYOND THE CRAFT: What You Need to Know to Make A Living Creatively! (http://amzn.to/2hmx6YQ), and the workshops he delivers worldwide help entertainment industry creatives master the skills they need to achieve their personal, professional, and financial objectives.
In this podcast we are going to talk about how to become profitably famous when you are a writer, actor, producer, or other entertainment industry pro. The mechanics of creating your own fame, and earning a great living while you do it, are something anyone can learn quickly. In fact, by the end of this podcast you will realize you already understand how fame is profitably manufactured. What this podcast will do is help you see how to apply this insight to your own work.
This is an important podcast for you if you feel like people only ever get famous or wealthy by accident, or if it seems that nothing you do really moves your career toward the kind of success you would like to achieve.
Sometimes the most talented and best loved comedians end their lives without money, without recognition, without new opportunities. Sometimes the comics that bring down the house at comedy clubs every time they perform have an incredibly hard time booking gigs and always end up working for bottom dollar.
What makes it possible for other comedians to get the recognition and remuneration they deserve? Why do some thrive when others starve?
In this episode you learn what financially successful standup comics do differently to ensures they earn a lot more from their work than their competitors do. Talented standup comics who master their craft are in the unique position of being able to learn quite a lot of money specifically because they can perform anywhere, and their content can easily be packaged and sold in many formats. But being talented and prolific isn't enough. In this podcast they learn 4 specific things they need to do to actually be financially successful. The same tips will prove useful to those who wish to earn a living as professional speakers, lecturers, etc.
Remember to find events to attend live online or face to face, visit nancyfultonmeetups.com.
A quick shout out to Burt Teplitzky who asked me to address this topic before one of his shows. Burt runs one of the best clean open mic's in Hollywood at the Kibitz Room in Canter's Deli which has been a Hollywood Hotspot for almost a hundred years. If you are looking for a place to try out your work, and you want to go where the pros go, this is a great open mic to sign up for.
In this in-depth video interview, Scott Hadley Morgan reviews his decades writing, co-writing, ghostwriting, and pitching screenplays here in Hollywood while working with Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros, Universal, and Chinese Studios/Production Companies etc. He also addresses how indie producers can find the content they want, and why sometimes screenwriters need help to tell the stories they most want to tell.
Questions: If you have questions about this interview, please email me at nancy@nancyfultonmeetups.com. Visit NancyFultonMeetups.com to find more resources, online events, and face to face workshops designed to help build your career as a media professional.
This interview is designed to review good business practices that can help you side step a lot of legal hassles.
Justin Sterling is founder of The Sterling Firm, a full-service civil litigation and transactional law firm devoted to Business Law, Entertainment Law, and Personal Injury cases. The Sterling Firm is dedicated to helping clients obtain maximum compensation, achieve cost-effective legal solutions, and resolve legal conflicts efficiently. You can learn more about Justin at www.TheSterlingFirm.com and www.linkedin.com/in/justinsterlingesquire/
Topics addressed in this interview include.
- 3 Myths People Believe About Litigation
- 5 Mistakes People Make that Often Lead to Litigation
- What to Do Business Deals Start to Fall Apart
- Things to Say (and Avoid Saying) When Someone Offers to Sue You
- Preparing to Win the Court Battles You Hope You Never Have
- What to Do When Litigation (or Arbitration) is Inevitable
Questions? Email nancy@entertainmentindustryevents.com.
Bridget Fitzgerald is an actress, comedienne, and model. She is also a member of National Lampoon's sketch comedy team, making a sketch comedy podcast heard by half a million monthly listeners. Her web series SmileyBridgeTV has had 1/4 million views, and she attributes some of that success to two audiobooks: "How I Exiled My Inner B*tch” which she acted in and "iHumpty" which she produced as well as acted in. You can learn more here: http://www.bridgetfitzgerald.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2804002/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm
Her investment in producing audio content and a SAG New Media web series has helped her get more and better acting roles and writing gigs. It’s also allowed her to establish herself as a producer, co-producer, and director. She’s been asked to work as a judge in writing contests and consults with those producing web series, podcasts, and audiobooks.
Topics addressed include . . .
- Why Hollywood Now Favors Actor/Writer/Producers, Actor/Producers, and Writer/Producers
- Using Podcasts and Audiobooks to Generate Revenue
- Hiring Union Actors for Podcasts and Audiobooks
- The Process of Producing a SAG New Media Web Series
- Finding and Creating New Business Relationships and Business Opportunities
Remember you can find more resources for creative pros at www.NancyFultonMeetups.com.
Only people have money to buy things. Whether it’s an independent producer with funds to purchase your screenplay, an investor with money to put into your film, a studio exec shopping for a book or podcast to license, or a director looking to hire an actor . . . only humans ever pull the trigger on purchasing things.
That means you need a business network within the entertainment industry that will actively help you find the people who actually want to buy what you sell. In this event you learn the art and science of building and entertainment industry network swiftly, comfortably, and cost effectively.
Topics addressed:
- Where and how to find networking events that lend themselves to making real connections.
- How to very comfortably meet people at events
- What to do with their business cards
- How to introduce yourself to a group, and one-on-one, so people remember you well
- How to reach out to people after an event comfortably
- How to give people leads on potential opportunities
- How to accept leads from others graciously and without obligation
This is the perfect podcast to listen to if you really struggle with networking, building professional relationships, and using those relationships as a springboard to great opportunities. You can find written lecture notes and a video with slides covering this material at https://gumroad.com/l/wJbwL
Nancy Fulton, founder of NancyFultonMeetups, interviews professional producers rep Ben Yennie.
As Founder and CEO of Guerrilla Rep Media, Ben Yennie helps producers sell the rights to their films before, during, and after production. He's represented projects directed Sacred Blood by Christopher Coppola, Black Gold starring Marvel's Luke Cage, etc. He’s attached well known stars to projects, including Jodelle Ferland of Twilight: Eclipse and Claudia Christian of Babylon 5.
He is author of The Guerrilla Rep: American Film Market Distribution Success on No Budget, currently used as a text in film schools, and now available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon and independent bookstores, as well as two other titles. He has been featured nationally in many places including CNN Money, IndieWire, Indie Film Hustle - The #1 Filmmaking Podcast on iTunes, Cinesource magazine, etc.
He is also the Founder and Executive Director of Producer Foundry, has served as advisor to the Film Angels, and is the former chapter leader for the San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Vancouver Chapters of the Institute for International Film Financing. Most recently he has co-founded ProductionNext, a new set of tools and an ecosystem that helps filmmakers with scheduling, budgeting, and shot listing, and connects the people involved in every stage of creating a film project.
Writer/Producer Nancy Fulton brings you an audio recording of her interview with Organized Crime Expert Christian Cipollini.
Award-Winning author Christian Cipollini is a freelance journalist, book author (https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Cipollini/e/B00CP95F4K), organized crime historian and collector. A frequent guest lecturer at universities and a consultant to movie and television producers, Cipollini has also appeared as a consultant on episodes of Reelz Channel Series "Gangsters: America's Most Evil," History Channel Series "United Stuff of America" , AHC's 'America: Facts vs. Fiction', and served as a consultant & Location Producer on National Geographic Channel’s critically-acclaimed series DRUGS, INC. You can learn more about Christian and his work at www.GangLandLegends.com.
Topics covered include:
- An overview of organized crime. What it is and isn’t, the problems it “solves”, and the problems it causes.
- A quick but important timeline for organized crime in America from the 1900’s through to the modern day. The Mob, versus the Mafia, versus the Drug Cartels, and why distinctions matter.
- A primer on the origin, temperment, and tactics of organized criminals. What Hollywood usually gets right and what it gets wrong.
- Organized crime in America today. Major conflicts, major players, and major impacts we see every day.
If you have questions about this event, please contact me via the podcast home page at www.AudioIron.com.
Have you worked with a toxic person or business that has made you really rethink your work as a writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, or other creative pro? Does all of Hollywood feel like a den of thieves and difficult people? If so, you'll find this interview with Dr. Rhoberta Shaler important to hear.
As a relationship consultant, mediator, and speaker, Rhoberta Shaler, PhD (ForRelationshipHelp.com) helps the partners, employees, exes, and adult children of the relentlessly difficult people she calls "Hijackals®."
Her work has been featured on FoxNews, PsychCentral, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, The Good Men Project, eHarmony, Care2, Greatist, Pulse, and The Needs, among many others. She is the author of sixteen books, including Escaping the Hijackal Trap: The Definitive Guide to Dealing with Relentlessly Difficult People. Even the US Marines have enlisted her help.
You can learn more about Dr. Shaler’s work at ForRelationshipHelp.com and via her YouTube channel, ForRelationshipHelp. She is also host of two podcasts: Emotional Savvy: The Relationship Help Show and Save Your Sanity: Help for Handling Hijackals®!
In this video Dr. Shaler discusses:
- Why she uses the term Hijackals (R) to describe predatory and abusive people instead of more clinical terms like Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Psychopath.
- Why some people seem to attract and be attracted to Hijackals and others never seem to encounter them at all.
- How and why Hijackals destroy careers, relationships, projects, and people and why those witnessing their behavior so frequently don’t step in to stop it.
- Why trying to help a Hijackal be a better person usually results in more damage rather than an end to the abuse.
- An initial understanding of how to work with, or live with, a Hijackal when walking away is too expensive.
- Why most people who have had to cope with Hijackals for prolonged periods of time need professional help to recover.
If you have questions about this podcast, please email nancy.fulton@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you. You can find more online and face to face events at www.NancyFultonMeetups.com.
Bridget Fitzgerald (smileybridge.com) is an actress, comedienne, and model. She is also a member of National Lampoon's sketch comedy team, making a sketch comedy podcast heard by half a million monthly listeners. Her web series SmileyBridgeTV has had 1/4 million views, and she attributes some of that success to two audiobooks: "How I Exiled My Inner B*tch” which she acted in and "iHumpty" which she produced as well as acted in. You can learn more here: http://www.bridgetfitzgerald.com/
Her investment in producing audio content and a SAG New Media web series has helped her get more and better acting roles and writing gigs. It’s also allowed her to establish herself as a producer, co-producer, and director. She’s been asked to work as a judge in writing contests and consults with those producing web series, podcasts, and audiobooks.
This interview with Nancy Fulton discusses how writers, actors, and producers benefit from generating independent media.
Larry Jordan has amassed more than 45 professional credits, working on successful films such as Fallen, Assassins, Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo and television series including CSI: Miami and NYPD Blue. . Larry has worked with many of the top creatives at the world’s largest entertainment companies, including Time Warner, Sony, Fox, MGM, HBO, Netflix and Disney. Larry recently Master the Workflow (www.MasterTheWorkflow.com), a game-changing online course that teaches the practicalities of a career in film editing to a new generation of up and coming filmmakers and professional film editors.
Topics addressed in this interview include:
- Why a professional editor is key to the success of an independent feature film.
- When in the process of development/pre-production producers should start looking for their film editor.
- How to foster a productive, streamlined, relationship between DP, Director, and Editor
- The relationship between Film Editors and Post Production Supervisors
- Collecting, storing, protecting, and editing digital images in a 4K+ world
- What to look for when assessing film editors for your feature
- Why some indie filmmakers elect to edit their own productions and how to do it well
Remember you can find more support for your work at www.EntertainmentIndustryEvents.com.
Producer Patti Pelton has worked with CBS, Paramount, Walt Disney Studios among many others to arrange deals which make projects easier to produce and more profitable. You can learn about Patti's background and work here: www.PattiPelton.com
Product placement and brand integration deals can significantly reduce your costs and increase your revenues. They can also make your project more attractive to investors.
Tip: Reach out to Patti, or anyone else you want to work with to do product placement, brand integration, and/or sponsorship before funding and production if you want to maximize the value of your production. Minor tweaks to the script may have a huge impact on who you can work with and what you can earn.
Topics addressed in this recorded interview include
- Acquiring filming locations, props, and other elements required for production through product placement.
- Brand integration deals and how they can generate revenue for a film.
- Why companies sponsor projects or invest in product placement
- How business use their involvement in a project to promote their products and services to customers and their company to investors.
- Necessary Clearances and Standards & Practices Compliance
If you have questions about this interview please send me an email at Nancy.Fulton@yahoo.com. I look forward to being of service to you. Patti can be reached at patti.pelton@gmail.com
Dinah Perez graduated from Loyola Law School and has been in the practice of entertainment law since 1996. As a full service entertainment attorney she supports screenwriters, producers, talent management companies, production companies, publishers, recording artists, and creators of new media content.
Her work has been published in Story Board Magazine, Release Print, Surfview.com, Legalserviceindia.com, Mecfilms.com, and Findlaw.com, and she's been quoted in Entertainment Weekly, Wired Magazine, Wired.Com. She was interviewed by John Scott Lewinski for his books, Alone In A Room and The Screenwriters Guide to Agents and Managers. She's spoken at the Screenwriters World Conference, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Scriptwriters Network, Writers Digest Conference West, and Cinewomen. Ms. Perez is fully bi-lingual in Spanish and services clients from Spain, South America, and Mexico.
She is publisher of
- The Legal 411 for Screenwriters – The Legal Information Screenwriters Need to Work Smart and Succeed in the Film Industry
- The Legal 411 for Producers – The Legal Information Producers Need from Script to Screen.
In this podcast Dinah Perez addresses:
- How Writers Sell Screenplays
- Submitting Your Work to Agents, Managers & Producers
- Understanding Submission Releases & Shopping Agreements
- How Entertainment Lawyers Work with Writers to Close Deals
- 5 Mistakes Most Writers Make When They Negotiate Their Own Deals
If you have questions, please email nancy.fulton@yahoo.com. I look forward to being of service to you.
Dr. Rebecca Roy has built a successful practice helping entertainment industry professionals reach their goals, manage their stress, and deal with the natural ebb and flow of creative careers. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY 28773) with both a Ph.D. and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology (MFT 45901) and she has 12 years experience as a psychotherapist licensed to treat both individuals and couples. She uses evidence-based treatment approaches which are both solution-focused and long-lasting which help her patients reach their goals while remaining grounded, sane, and creative.
She is a former coach of Olympic athletes and has over 20 years of experience helping people reach their goals, including many writers. She has been featured in the New York Times, LA Times, Reuters, CNN and many other major media.
Topics addressed include:
- Frequent Causes of Writers Block and other forms of Severe Creative Inhibition
- How these Inhibitions Creep into the Lives of Creative Professionals
- How External Forces Can Exacerbate Creative Inhibition
- Entertainment Industry Specific Challenges for Creative People including Drugs, Alcohol, Untreated Organic Mental Illness, etc.
- The Impact of Creative Inhibitions on the Work and Well Being of Creative People
- Self Help Solutions that Don’t Help at All for Those “Blocked” in Creative Pursuits
- How Psychologists Understand and Treating Creative Impairments
- The Unexpected Benefits of Working Through Creative Blocks
- Carl Jung, CBT, and Other Therapeutic Lenses through which Creative Blocks can be understood and treated.
If you are a creative professional working to write, produce, act, etc, you can find the support and active community you need at www.NancyFultonMeetups.com.
In this podcast by writer/producer Nancy Fulton, founder of NancyFultonMeetups, you learn how to get lots of good Amazon reviews legally and for free for your books. You also learn how to acquire Amazon reviews more quickly and with less effort if you have a little money to spend. You learn how to promote your books through Amazon author pages and contests, and how to promote your books on Facebook so it drives sales on Amazon. This podcast also discusses how to sell your work through iBook, Nook, Scribd and other bookstores that offer better royalties than Amazon.
In this interview writer/producer Marilyn Anderson addresses tools and techniques writers and producers can use to:
- Entertain potential business associates, partners, and investors with style and grace
- Dress themselves and performers well
- Travel well cheaply to domestic and international locations
Writers and Screenwriters frequently find themselves living a long time between paychecks, pitching projects to decision makers in face-to-face meetings, and paying for the travel and other experiences that turn into the stories, articles, books, and screenplays they tell. Marilyn's techniques help writers save money while enjoying a better and more productive life.
Producers entertain constantly. When they aren't inviting writers, agents, actors, investors, and key crew to lunch, dinner, or drinks they are providing catered meals throughout production. They have to dress well to convey confidence and an air of success, and they are paying for travel all the time.
Marilyn's How to Live Like a Millionaire When You're a Million Short is a funny, savvy, empowering book derived from her many years as a working writer and producer in the entertainment industry.
She frequently consults with producers to help them reduce costs and solve problems as they develop their projects and works with writers to improve their screenplays.
If you have questions about this event, please email nancy.fulton@yahoo.com.
Topics covered in this interview include:
- How writers should approach literary agents and how to find the agents most appropriate for their work.
- What fiction and non-fiction writers should have in hand before they reach out to an agent about their work.
- What an author platform is and why writers should start building one before they approach agents.
- How authors can work with an agent most effectively.
- Whether screenwriters who want to author print books should mention their work in creating film and television content.
- How self-publishing on Amazon can be part of building author platform.
- Three kinds of author/agent relationships, and the one you most want to build.
- How to know when an agent/author relationship isn't working and how to legally, professionally, and comfortably let an agent go.
- The work you need to do in order to be able to support your career (appearances, blogging, creating more content to sell, etc)
- How to approach your agent about opportunities or publishers you'd like your agent to pursue.
This is an excellent interview for you to listen to if you are currently looking for a literary agent, or you have an agent but the relationship doesn't seem to be working well for you.
About Megan Close Zavala
Megan Close Zavala is a literary agent at Keller Media. Her passion lies not only in getting great books published, but in working closely with the authors who write them. Nothing is more exciting than a great new idea or story!
A bibliophile for as long as she can remember, Megan has found her dream job working in the world of publishing. Prior to her agenting career, Megan read, reviewed, edited, rejected and selected thousands of book and script projects for agencies, film companies and publishing companies. She uses her background in entertainment and legal affairs in negotiating the best deals for her clients and in helping them think outside of the box.
While she represents books in all genres, she is currently most interested in the following genres: Self-Help, Relationships, Pop Culture, Pop Psychology, Parenting, Management, Career, Entrepreneurship, Business, Personal Finance, and Fiction (especially Crime, Mystery/Suspense, and Literary).
Note, Megan represents books but not screenplays. If you have a book that would make a good movie after publication, she can work to sell those rights, but she's not the right agent for a screenwriter who wants to sell a script to Hollywood.
Some of her clients include:
Mark O’Connell, prolific film and television writer: https://www.amazon.com/Close-Encounters-Man-World-Believe/dp/0062484176
Natalie McCain, photographer and body image thought leader: https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Body-Project-Untouched-Portraits/dp/1510720936
It is impossible to run a profitable business or build a successful career if you don't know how to deal with difficult people. You'll encounter them as partners, customers, co-workers, and employees. Failure to correctly identify them early, and resolve the issues they present correctly, can derail your career or business completely, or even land you in legal hot water.
This guide helps you figure out how to analyze and approach problematic people in a way that protects you and your work going forward.
If you are struggling to find work in Hollywood, this resource will help. There is a culture you have to understand in order to thrive
You will learn: How to find paying work, how to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are great at what you do so you can float to the top of your profession, how to persuasively ask for a job and get it. how to avoid getting burned by users, abusers, and incompetent people who don't know what they are doing and find out about mistakes people make that make them permanently unemployable. Finally you'll learn the surest way to ensure you can make a good living doing what you want to do.
You can find an 8 page workbook that supports this lecture at NancyFultonVideos.com.
Dr. Sean Young, is a UCLA Medical School professor, and executive director or the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior, and the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology will discuss how to stick with the changes that will help you achieve your personal and professional objectives. His research has received more than $10M in funding from organizations like The National Institutes of Health, Facebook, and Intel, and well as leading hospitals.
In this interview he discusses what he's learned about how people, and businesses, can change their own behavior and the behavior of others.
As an agent at William Morris and CAA, Marc Pariser represented leading writers, directors, producers, production companies, comedians, actors, executives, and two past WGA Presidents while enjoying is his own extremely successful 25+ year career.
In this interview he discusses what it takes to get a good agent or manager to represent you. You'll learn what they need to see, how to approach them, and what not to say and do.
You can learn more about Marc Pariser on his website at MarcPariser.com and more about Writer/Producer Nancy Fulton on her website for writers, screenwriter, producers, and other creative minds at NancyFultonMeetups.com
It's completely possible to spend many years and many thousands of dollars working to produce a film that never gets made. You can also struggle to get a film made only to discover you've just purchased an expensive legal and financial nightmare for your family.
There's an order in which things must be done in order for a film to be a successful creative, professional, and financial endeavor.
Christina Jo Leigh is a working producer and active line producer who has helped many projects go from script to screen. In this interview she helps new filmmakers understand how to build a project from the ground up.