It’s hard being a producer. Schmoozing with the rich and
famous and driving around in sportscars.
However, these are just stereotypes seen in the movies that
producers themselves develop behind the scenes. The mystery still
remains as to what a producer really does.
That’s where the new fall 2002 class called
“De-mystifying Feature Film Development: From Story Analysis
to Pitching” comes in. Sponsored by the UCLA School of
Theatre, Film, and Television, the class is being offered in part
as a three quarter workshop series inside the Professional Program
in Producing. Upon completion of all three workshops, a certificate
of producing will be given out.
Originally only a segment within a producing workshop over this
summer, “De-mystifying” has become a more in-depth
expansion on film development over the course of 10 weeks. More of
an introductory class into what producing entails, the class is
open to the public, which is anyone with a bachelor’s degree
and $675.
Taught by Lisa Buono, who worked her way up from the intern
level to vice president of development with Jodie Fosters’
production company, Egg Pictures, the class will be based upon her
experience there.
Working with both the president of Egg Pictures, Meg LaFoe, and
Foster for eight years, Buono will do a run down on what it takes
to be a producer. The course subjects range from meeting with
producers to working with writers and story editing.
“I walk them through from start to finish one of the films
I’ve worked on so they can see the whole process,”
Buono said. “So it was trying to give them some introductory
experience, this is what it is, this is what “˜development
hell’ is as it’s commonly called.”
The class covers all the basic skills to be a producer in how to
get an idea started and especially how to pitch it.
“You need to know the characters, you need to know a
little bit about their psychology, why they’re doing what
they’re doing,” Buono said. “You need to know the
basics of what this story is, somewhat of the thematics of the
story, why you want to tell the story, and you need to be able to
tell the story from start to finish but do it in about 10 minutes
and get someone really excited about this idea.”
The students will be paired together as a writer/producer team.
They will continue to develop story ideas and pitch them to
high-profile executives in the film industry (Buono is currently
booking specific people for the class).
The first five weeks will allow each duo to try a role, and then
there will be a switch in writer/producer roles for the following
five weeks.
“Everyone will get to see what it’s like to wear the
shoes of a producer and wear the shoes of a writer. So when they
really get out there, and if they really do pursue this
they’ll just have that perspective,” Buono said.
“All of them will have created and owned their own idea, and
if it’s an idea they truly are excited about then
that’s hopefully what they’ll work on. Then they have
something that they can take out there with them and work on
further.”
Enrollment deadline is Sept 30. Tuition is $675. Register
online: http://www.tft.ucla.edu under certificate programs. Contact
Mike Behrens at (310) 825-6124 or mbehrens@tft.ucla.edu with any
questions.