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Anita Tovich --- Chair of the Producing Program
Anita Tovich has received a daytime Emmy award, another two Emmy nominations, a Peabody Award for electronic journalism, and a Cable Ace Award for Nickelodeon's "Nick News" hosted by Linda Ellerbee.
She has functioned as a producer/consultant, supervising producer, and/or executive producer for CBS, NBC, Lifetime, Viacom, PBS, MSNBC, among many other television networks, creating documentaries of varying form.
What makes our One-Year Producing Program unique?
The New York Film Academy's Film and Television Producing Program is housed within our film school and is designed to illuminate one of the most important and misunderstood jobs in film and television. Students eager to control their own destiny in the business world of film and television will flourish in this intensive hands-on program. It is geared to students with little or no experience in producing, but who recognize that an intensive and demanding program, much like the job of producing itself, will provide them with the knowledge they seek.
Students are treated as producers throughout the duration of the course, and are challenged at each step of the way. Students are encouraged, but not required; to bring a piece of intellectual property — a book, screenplay, show concept or treatment — at the beginning of the course. Throughout the year students will take this project through the various stages of development — pitch, treatment, script, talent search, budget, schedule, and plans for marketing and distribution. Students will learn the real-word strategies for successful producing and have opportunities to make the actual contacts needed within the film and television industry. Students must be prepared for full-days of intensive work five to six days a week, throughout the entire year. They must be committed to a fast-paced, intensive learning and production schedule, and willing to work collaboratively with our Film School and Acting School students. The program is offered at our film schools in New York and Los Angeles. |
BACK TO TOP
The first semester of the Producing Program lays a foundation for students to realize their producing goals. They get hands-on experience producing a series of their own projects. They will be immersed in the ins and outs of the logistical and creative demands of producing for film and television through their core class, Producer's Craft. In special workshops, students get hands-on experience producing for film, reality television, music video, commercials, and broadcast journalism.
Classes include an intensive sequence of seminars in the "Business of Producing," where students learn how to option intellectual property, get rights clearance, and negotiate contracts. Line producing class will prepare students for the day-to-day responsibilities of the producer on the set from working with budgeting and scheduling software to the do's and don'ts of craft services. Students apply the lessons learned when they become the line-producers for the advanced One Year Filmmaking Students. Additionally, students will develop the creative insight they need as producers through classes in Screenwriting, Directing, and Editing. Each student will write, direct and edit his or her own short project in order to understand the creative process of motion picture production. As producers they will learn how to identify and discuss the dramatic effectiveness of a screenplay or teleplay and how to guide the director and ultimately the editor in order to make the best possible film or television show. Perhaps the most important element in the first semester is the initial development of the student's own feature film and television pilot projects. Through Producer's Craft and a weekly development meeting, students will come out of the first semester ready to push their projects forward in the second semester. |
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• Produce a reality show pilot segment.
• Produce at least one short film by a first semester New York Film Academy filmmaking student.
• Produce a short documentary, or begin work on a longer documentary.
Begin work on a fiction or documentary feature film or television pilot project, which will move from concept to package over the course of the full year program. (This is a project on paper. No student is expected to produce a feature film or television show during the program.)
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• Become familiar with what different producers actually do in the world of film and television, i.e. what is an Executive Producer, what is a Line Producer etc.
• Analyze the workings of Hollywood Studios vs. Independent productions.
• Understand property acquisition and learn to evaluate potential projects in light of the current marketplace.
• Practice the art of the pitch using the concept of good storytelling as a guide.
• Study the basics of entertainment law - contracts, deals, points, negotiations, deal memos etc. |
| PRODUCER'S CRAFT I |
PRODUCER'S ROUNDTABLE I |
This class serves as the core of the program and is essential in conveying fundamental producing skills including optioning and developing material, film festivals, networks and ratings, pilot season, studio distribution and marketing, independent film financing, and the pitch. This introduction outlines the essential roles, tasks, and obstacles faced by film and television producers in Hollywood and in independent production.
As part of producer's craft, you will screen a new release the way it was meant to be seen - in a movie theatre filled with "real people." Then, in the weeks to come, you track the marketing and box office performance of these films in your Producer's Craft class. This experience provides exposure to the exhibitor mind and an understanding of how movies are distributed.
| This is a forum style class meeting in which students discuss production and story development strategies and needs of student projects, with specific attention given to the year-end Thesis project.
Using a combination of lecture, readings, screenings, research and writing assignments and in-class discussion, each student develops the necessary creative and practical skills to prepare his or her feature film package or television show. The group functions like a studio or production company development meeting, where ideas are tried out, investigated for their entertainment value and marketability and fostered to the presentation stage. |
| FILMMAKING FOR PRODUCERS: DIRECTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING |
SCREENWRITING FUNDAMENTALS |
Even if you never plan to direct anything you need to know how directors carry out their vision. As a producer you will need to create production environments that enhance each director's skills and provide the support they need to make the best possible film or television show.
Here you'll learn about using the camera, and working with actors - the two central tools of any director. In hands-on sessions you will break down a short script into a shooting plan and direct a scene with actors on digital video.
You will have the opportunity to edit the scene and present it at your final class meeting. |
This class will help you get inside the screenwriting process. Essential elements of story telling are covered including classic three-act story structure, the hero's journey model, and classic myth. You will write your own short script as a way to learn the basics of dramatic structure, and study feature film and dramatic television writing. The instructor will help the students design strategies for their individual projects, whether it involves optioning an existing feature script, hiring a screenwriter to work with them on an idea, developing a concept for a reality television pilot or any other producing project they wish to pursue. |
| HANDS-ON PRODUCING #1: PRODUCING REALITY TELEVISION / DOCUMENTARY |
FILM ANALYSIS |
Reality is the hottest genre in television and the most diverse. You come up with the concept and this class will help you figure out how to package it, pitch it and produce the teaser or the pilot that can get you on the air.
Alternatively, working in small groups, students can create a short documentary focusing on personal stories. They will cast, scout, shoot, and edit their projects for presentation and critique. |
The best producers are creative entrepreneurs who take projects from an idea to the distribution of a finished film. Taking the principles you learned in screenwriting you will study scripts, and the films they became, to learn the most important aspects of successful filmmaking - how to structure a script dramatically and how to tell a good story. We will use three very different films - a low-budget, independent feature, a medium budgeted studio project and a Hollywood blockbuster - as case studies. |
| PRODUCING THE SHORT FILM |
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A survey of production management and line producing a short film between three and four minutes in length. Producers will choose a screenplay from submissions made by NYFA filmmakers. They will then engage in all preproduction activities including script development, casting and script breakdown from a producing as well as directing perspective. Producers will then direct and shoot the film as a group project. Producers will then experience the post production process including editing and scoring the film which will then be screened for all of those who participated in the making of the film. |
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In the second semester you will line produce a final film directed by a student in the NYFA One Year Filmmaking Program. Your coursework will continue and become more specific to the needs of your particular medium -- film or television.
Students will complete a special hands-on workshop and produce a commercial or music video. Also, in the second semester you will begin to make the real-world contacts you need |
to turn your full-length project into a reality. During this period you will be required to keep a producer's log of all query letters, emails and faxes you send out, all phone calls you make and receive, and all meetings with talent, agents, managers, production companies and attorneys about your project. This log will enable you and your mentor to track the progress of your project and to keep on top of all developments. |
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• Acquire the skills of the Line Producer - script breakdown, budgeting, scheduling and resource acquisition and management (i.e. crewing, locations, equipment etc.)
• Study the up-to-the-minute information on finance, marketing and distribution for film and television projects.
• Continue the study of entertainment law with an emphasis on law for television
• Study producing for television
• Learn to write a business plan
• Master the art of the pitch with regular pitching sessions to peers and faculty. |
• Produce a music video, and a commercial
• Complete editing on the short documentary (from semester on, or continue work on a longer documentary.
• Produce one thesis short film by a second semester New York Film Academy student.
• Complete the development of your film or television project from concept to completed package. The package, which is submitted to the Chair of the Program in early April, is comprised of a logline, synopsis and treatment, a business and marketing plan including a list of potential sources of financing and distribution, a budget and schedule, a potential cast or subject (for documentaries or reality TV shows) list and a prepared verbal pitch. |
| PRODUCER'S CRAFT II |
PRODUCER'S ROUNDTABLE II |
| This class continues where Producer's Craft I left off, and will take students through the end of the year.
| Here you continue to develop your yearlong producing project and cover the topics of production, post-production, marketing and distribution and much more. |
TELEVISION PRODUCING AND
PILOT DEVELOPMENT |
ENTERTAINMENT LAW |
| This class will cover the entire gamut of television pilot possibilities including sitcoms, dramas, educational shows, reality series, news magazine programs, documentaries and cable specialty shows such as sports, cooking, decorating etc. Key issues in concept development, scripting, talent, product placement, budgeting, scheduling and any other production issues for television pilots will be discussed. |
Introduction to areas of law and forms and terms of agreement, essential to theatrical motion picture and television program development, production and distribution. Legal areas to be covered include general concepts of property, contracts and employment, and in depth study of intellectual property, credits, permission and clearances; personal and publicity releases, securities, tax and location issues. Business affairs areas to be covered include structure of the industry product delivery system, independent and major studio theatrical financing, theatrical and television development and issues in formation of producer and writer employment agreements, production-distribution agreements, domestic and foreign distribution, profit participations, underlying literary acquisitions and negative pickup deals. |
| FINANCE, MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION |
PITCHING |
| These three aspects of film and television are intimately woven together. Access to distribution drives finance. Marketing strategies spring directly from the type of project you are producing and on whom your audience is. Without finance you will not have a project to market or distribute but without understanding and planning for marketing and distribution up front it is almost impossible to secure finance. Using case studies of actual films and television shows this workshop will focus on successful strategies for each of these vital aspects of producing. By the end of the semester you will develop plans for the finance, marketing and distribution of your own project, which will help you turn your one-year producing project into an actual film or television show. |
You'll begin with a tutorial from some seasoned pitch masters. By the end of the semester you will graduate to pitching your own ideas to a room of captivated future filmmakers (your fellow NYFA students) who hope to pick up tips on effective pitching technique. |
| PRODUCING THE SHORT FILM II |
EDITING FOR PRODUCERS |
| This class will be a continued survey of production management, in which students will line produce another short film between three and four minutes in length. Producers will choose a screenplay from submissions made by NYFA filmmakers. They will then engage in all preproduction activities including script development, casting and script breakdown from a producing as well as directing perspective. Producers will then direct and shoot the film as a group project. Producers will then experience the post production process including editing and scoring the film which will then be screened for all of those who participated in the making of the film. |
The person who gets final-cut has the final creative say on which scenes, shots, and even characters will stay in the released version of the film and which end up on the cutting room floor. Only a handful of directors, like Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, are powerful enough to get final-cut on their films. Most directors work with the editor to offer the producer a Director's Cut early on in post -production. From then on, it is up to the producer to ask for changes and ultimately decide when the film is finished. In order to take on this responsibility, you will learn the basic principles of editing and put them into practice on Final Cut Pro. You can edit the scenes from Directing Class or edit dailies from a feature film. This workshop will help prepare you to make intelligent suggestions and decisions when you get final-cut. |
| LINE PRODUCING |
HANDS-ON PRODUCING #2 |
| Budgeting & Scheduling - In this class you will begin with budgets and schedules of already-produced films and shows to gain an understanding of these two key elements in preparing a project for shooting. In later sessions, you will prepare a budget and a schedule from scratch and learn how these two elements interact and drive the production of projects. |
Students will continue to work in small groups to produce two more short projects — a commercial and a music video. Students will have to create the concepts for each of these exercises and take care of all preproduction, production and post-production needs. |
| INDUSTRY SPEAKER SERIES |
CREATING THE BUSINESS PLAN |
| These special lectures are fantastic information sessions featuring producers of American independent, foreign and Hollywood films, and network and cable television, as well as directors, actors, agents, managers, lawyers, foreign sales representatives and many others. These sessions may be coupled with screenings of new films or television shows brought by these guests. |
This class teaches students the steps necessary to start their own production company. Topics covered include outline and formats of a business plan, how to create projections and tailor a plan for a target audience, realistic scheduling and production budgets, revenue projections and marketing tactics. |
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