Best in Fest

In this very special episode, Leslie is on the hot seat as she answers questions from Producer Phil about everything from the origins of LaFemme to how filmmakers should properly submit to a festival, common mistakes, what to expect at a festival, networking tips, how and why films are chosen, how the right festival can launch your career and much more.

More About Leslie:

For the past fifteen years Leslie La Page has produced, directed and line produced for Film, TV, Music Videos, commercials and Theatrical productions.

Ms. La Page has produced features nationally and internationally in both the independent and commercial markets.

Ms. La Page has over eight years of production background in independent films, and has served as producer, line producer and film production coordinator on numerous independent feature films for independent production companies as well as Black Entertainment Television Action Pay Per View (BET). While at BET she line produced their entire slate of original programs which aired on their network and received international and domestic video releases. She line produced commercials and promos for the HBO, Lifetime TV and BET, MTV and Nickelodeon.

Her production experience also involves her in the areas of marketing, developing scripts, creating promotional copy as well as promotional feature spots and trailers.

Streaming and the pandemic are inextricably linked, so let's jump on the bandwagon!  In this episode Leslie and Bridget dive into developing a storyline for streaming networks, trends in television, the rise of Sci-fi and women, finding your way into a pitch and behind the camera, ageism in Hollywood (ignore the elderly at your peril), made for TV movies, Ed Asner AND MUCH MORE!

Bridget Terry has produced, written or directed a variety of award-winning television, including productions honored with the George Foster Peabody Award, ACE award, Christopher Humanitarian Award, Video Hall of Fame inductee, Action for Children's Television, three Emmy nominations, and a Writers Guild Award nominee.

 Terry joined actress Shelley Duvall to create and produce three award-winning TV anthologies: "Faerie Tale Theatre," "Tall Tales and Legends" and "Nightmare Classics," adapting age-old stories with lush period design coupled with an eclectic, creative roster, including Robin Williams, Francis Coppola, Eric Idle, Tim Burton, Jules Feiffer, Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, Susan Sarandon, and Vanessa Redgrave.

 Active in the indie film world, Terry most notably wrote and produced “Shadrach,” starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, adapted from a William Styron short story about an ancient ex-slave’s journey back to his Depression-era plantation birthplace. Critically acclaimed internationally, “Shadrach” was an official selection at the Venice Film Festival, the Ghent Festival and opened the Los Angeles Independent Festival.  

 A film history buff, Terry produced, directed and co-wrote "Without Lying Down," an indie documentary feature about early women filmmakers.  It premiered on Turner Classic Movies and was an official selection at the Edinburgh, London and Sydney film festivals and was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award.

 As a writer-producer, Terry continues to be active in television movies, series and limited series having written and/or produced for Netflix, ABC, CBS, PBS, Showtime, Lifetime, TNT and Hallmark.   

Terry served as VP of Publicity and Marketing for director Robert Altman, helming promotions for his films Three Women, Quintet, A Wedding and Popeye – about which she authored a definitive behind-the-scenes book. She began her career as a publicist on features such as "Rich Kids," "An Officer and a Gentleman," “HEALTH” and "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." She has written several articles on feature filmmaking.

She currently serves as an adjunct Professor, teaching film producing at UCLA and Columbia College Hollywood – as well as lecturing at North Carolina State University and, in China, at Beijing’s Yan Ze University. 

Terry is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and a member of the Writers Guild of America, a fellow at Los Angeles’ Film Independent and a Member Emeritus of the Publicist’s Guild of America.  She lives in Santa Monica, Ca.

Ellen Gerstein is an award winning actor/filmmaker.  She is a member of: Women In Film, The Alliance of Women Directors, LA Film Team, Film Independent and is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio.

As an actor Ellen has worked with talented directors including Martin Scorsese, Mark Rydell, Mimi Leder, Rob Marshall and Danny DeVito to name a few. She was honored with the Robert Proski Character Actor Award and the Roy W. Dean Screenwriters Grant. 

Ellen can be seen on the acclaimed FX show, Better Things as well as the award-winning show on Apple+, The Morning Show. She plays, Cherub in the feature Turnover that is winning awards on the festival circuit. She was seen in the Marvel film Venom, Liza On Demand, as a regular, Mrs. Moorehouse in the sit-com Hotel Du Loone, recurring as Aunt Rande on Shameless  and Lillian in Fresh Off The Boat and many more. Sylvia Just Sayin’ is a popular comedy webseries that Ellen created and stars inas Sylvia.

She has acted in, as well as produced and directed theater in LA. She originated characters including: Ruthie in Potroast,  Shirley in Sit and Shiver, a play by Steven Berkoff, Rosalie in Angel Share and The Traveler at The Mark Taper Forum. My Psychotherapy Comeback Tour, a one women show, written, directed and performed by Ellen, that won semi-finalist in the Samuel French short play festival and was performed in Los Angeles and The Harold Clurman Theater in New York. Ellen has worked with incredible actors like James Franco, Eamonn Walker, Danny Divito, Cuba Gooding, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Kathy Bates, Jason Bateman and Ted Danson to name a few. 

She is an international award winning filmmaker, Waiting For Ronald (with a blended cast of actors with disabilities and without) and Come Away With Me (with Charlie Robinson).  She is a judge at Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase Program: Black Lives Matter, Roy W. Dean Film Makers Grant, Film Consortium San Diego and SD Film Awards. She has coached and taught actors of all ages at her acclaimed Ellen Gerstein Acting workshop.

In this episode Leslie and Ellen discuss script analysis, sub-text and specificity to bring your film from great to extraordinary.  Do not miss this episode, it's just too good!

Julie Janney has been a working actress for more than 30 years in film, television, and theatre. She has trained with world renowned producers, directors, and educators like Lee Strasberg and Nikos Psacharopoulis. She has also acted as Meryl Streep’s stunt double on seven feature films, and has performed on Broadway. Ms. Janney is a member of the several acting guilds and organizations and has taught acting and choreography for more than 30 years.

In this episode, Leslie sits down with Julie to discuss being on stage both on and off broadway, her work on films like Popeye, Scream 3, James Dean and others, bringing authenticity to a performance, how to work in an ensemble, the core of improvisation, the value of the hybrid model for women in entertainment, inside stories from the Actor's Studio and much more.

Contract negotiations got you down? Listen in as Leslie talks to Entertainment Attorney Nina Ameri the founder of the highly respected boutique law firm Ameri Law. Together, they discuss the ins and outs of drafting and negotiating talent agreements, Copyright law, development production and distribution deals, story rights and intellectual property, corporate selection and formation, investor agreements and much more.

More About Nina

The entertainment industry is in my blood. My father was an editor and cinematographer who worked on some of the most groundbreaking films in the horror gore genre. I did not inherit his talent, but I did acquire the same passion for the film and television industry. As such, while I was a student at UCLA I decided I would pursue a career in entertainment law. I attended Pepperdine Law School where I served as the President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. After graduation I took the untraditional path of working for a tax relief company where I learned the ins and outs of negotiating with the IRS. This background served as an entry into entertainment law.

Ameri Law, PC focuses on entertainment, intellectual property and business transactions in the entertainment, beauty and health and wellness industries. In addition, the firm handles tax controversies for individuals and businesses in various industries including but not limited to entertainment and sports.

In the realm of entertainment law I represent independent film producers, production companies, writers, actors, and directors in a variety of transactions ranging from: acquisition of intellectual property and life story rights, corporate formation, talent agreements, writer agreements, producer agreements, director agreements, music licensing agreements for independent motion pictures, sales agency and distribution agreements.

Within the sphere of intellectual property law I have substantial experience assisting clients in prosecuting, protecting and defending trademarks and copyrights. I regularly counsel clients on trademark selection, clearance, registration and licensing. My client's are in various industries including but not limited to, entertainment and media, apparel and footwear, real estate, beauty and cosmetics, health and wellness and technology and direct marketing.

In addition to my entertainment and intellectual property practice I have extensive experience in tax compliance and controversy having successfully resolved several hundred tax controversy cases for business and individual clients. In addition, I have a special focus on assisting entertainers and athletes with tax collection issues.

Janeane Bernstein is a writer, speaker, radio host/producer at KUCI 88.9fm, and host of the new series, OUTSIDE THE BOX. She earned a doctorate from Boston University in Educational Media & Technology and graduated from Syracuse University with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Education & Communications.  She is a 2021 Age Boom Academy Fellow with the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center in partnership with Columbia Journalism. 

She first started writing at age 15 when her creative writing teacher told her, "There are no wrong answers." Her love of all things creative has helped her throughout life's ups and downs. Her first book, GET THE FUNK OUT, %^&* Happens, What to Do Next! about creating resilience and strength through life’s curveballs was published by Post Hill Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster and Audible.com. She currently speaks to students and adults about finding resilience in challenging times, making mental, physical, and emotional health a priority, and the power of mentorship.  

Janeane's short script, WYLE, was a Finalist in the Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition November 2020. Her TV pilot, FINDING MS. KATEY, was an Official Semi-Finalist in the 2020 LA Femme International Film Festival October 2020, and her feature screenplay, BIRDIE, was a Finalist in the 2018 LA Femme International Film Festival,  and an initial selection in the 2018 Black List / Women In Film Feature Lab. As of July 2021, she is a Semi-Finalist in the Rhode Island International Film Festival for her two short scripts, WYLE and LOW BATTERY. She is currently working on comedic short screenplays and pilots, and sees screenwriting as an incredible way to capture the unexpected, funny and touching moments of what life looks like now.

In this episode Leslie and Janeane discuss her writing process, shorts vs. features, character development, exposition, soliciting for your film and writing a proof of concept.

How do you get Hollywood interest in you script? Leslie's guest Attorney and Literary Agent Paul S Levine says, one very interesting way is to reverse engineer a book from your script, get it published creating the IPO and then go to the studios and distributors. The best part about it is that you get paid multiple times instead of just the $100K as a first time independent script writer. Leslie and Paul also discuss how and why to set up a writing partnership, necessary legal agreements to avoid future problems and much more.

Paul S. Levine ”wears two hats”–he is a lawyer and a literary agent.
Mr. Levine was born in New York City and was raised and educated in
Montreal. He received a Bachelor of Commerce, Magna Cum Laude from Concordia
University in Montreal and went on to earn a Master of Business Administration
from York University in Toronto. In 1978 he came to Los Angeles for the sunshine
and to start law school; he received his Juris Doctor from the University of
Southern California Law School in 1981.

He began his entertainment law career straight out of law school, as an
associate with the Law Offices of Stephen F. Rohde, where he specialized in
entertainment litigation and entertainment transactions for almost seven (7)
years. While there, he had the great fortune to represent Price/Stern/Sloan
Publishers (Roger Price created “Mad Libs”, Leonard Stern created television
series such as “The Honeymooners” and “Get Smart”, and Larry Sloan invented book
stores in airports in the 1970s); to represent the “King of Comics”, Jack Kirby
(creator of “Captain America”, “Spiderman”, “Incredible Hulk”, “Fantastic Four”,
“X-Men”, “Black Panther”, etc.); and to represent Elysium Institute, then the
only nudist colony in all of Los Angeles County.

Answering a “blind” advertisement in the Hollywood Reporter, he went to work
for the Business & Legal Affairs Department of Warner Bros. Television, where he
spent almost five (5) years. He then moved to Hearst Entertainment, where he
spent two (2) years as Resident Counsel. In October, 1992 he established his own
law practice in Santa Monica and in December, 1995 moved his office to the garage
next to his home in Venice, where he specializes in the representation of
authors, writers, producers, actors, directors, composers, musicians, artists,
photographers, galleries, publishers, developers, production companies and
theatre companies in the fields of motion pictures, television, interactive
multimedia, live stage, recorded music, concerts, the visual arts, publishing,
and advertising. He still practices as both a “transactional” lawyer and as a
litigator; for litigation, he practices civil, probate, and family law
litigation, and has yet to have to take a case all the way to trial. He settles
disputes before they need to be filed as lawsuits, sometimes directly with
opposing counsel and sometimes with the help of a good mediator. If litigation
does result, he settles the cases the same way.

In 1998, Mr. Levine opened the Paul S. Levine Literary Agency, specializing
in the representation of book authors and the sale of motion picture and
television rights in and to books. Since starting his literary agency, Mr. Levine 
has sold over one-hundred fifty (150) fiction and non-fiction books to at least
fifty (50) different publishers and has had many books developed as movies-fortelevision and feature films.

Dr. Rosanne Welch is the Executive Director of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting, a program whose goal is to bring more female and underrepresented voices and female-focused stories into mainstream media. Her current books include Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture (McFarland Publishing, 2017) and Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection (ABC-CLIO, 2017), which she co-edited with her CalPoly Pomona colleague and officemate, Dr. Peg Lamphier. 

In her previous life, Welch was a television writer/producer with credits that include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences and Touched by an Angel and ABC NEWS/Nightline. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild.

In this episode, Leslie and Rosanne discuss 10 things Hollywood writers must know. For example, how to write what you emotionally know, how to work in a writer's room, the do's and don'ts of pitching, when to use a pitch deck and when it's a horrible idea and much more.

"Actors are writers" says Leslie's guest Actor, Writer, Director, Producer, Rebekah Miskin. In this episode, Rebekah discusses her short film "Night Owl" as well as how to create a show bible and then a really strong pitch... and there's a difference between pitching to networks and pitching to streamers.

More About Rebekah

Actor/Director/Writer/Producer, Rebekah Miskin created the web series, NIGHT OWL which had its World Premiere at SXSW to stellar reviews & sold out screenings. John Doyle of The Globe & Mail said of NIGHT OWL: 

“It has the layered richness of long-form storytelling in its brief, considered response to life. (We’re talking more heft than TikTok and more substantial than whatever Quibi is doing.) Night Owl is a beauty of a little series, an exquisite study of a small slice of life, loneliness and social awkwardness. It’s funny, too. Night Owl is one of those jewels that can leave you smitten with all the characters…”

Miskin won the Alan Sawyer Award for Excellence for her work on NIGHT OWL which was Official Selection at many other film festivals worldwide. Previously, Miskin received Bell Media’s BravoFACT grant for CHECKING OUT, a short she wrote/co-directed/produced/acted in. She completed her Masters in Media Production at Ryerson University, was awarded the Graduate Fellowship Scholarship, and won the graduate short film competition. Miskin was also awarded the Netflix Diverse Voices Fellowship at BanffWMF, 2019. Catch her in KIM’S CONVENIENCE on Netflix/CBC and NINE FILMS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY on Hulu & FX as the cringey but lovable WENDY. 

Want to get paid for your Sci-FI or Horror short film?  Perhaps you can even get it made into a feature! In this episode, Leslie talks with Sophie Carrol the Senior Manager of Acquisitions at Gunpowder & Sky.  She drops some serious knowledge about what this groundbreaking short film platform is looking for from its content creators. Don't forget to have your materials prepared, you just might get tapped for success. Do not miss this episode!

Gunpowder & Sky is a fast-growing indie studio known for larger-than-life stories about groundbreaking music and musicians, pop culture and issues that are overtaking the world. The studio creates and distributes feature films, series, short form content, podcasts and channels, bridging digital and traditional entertainment.

Since its inception in 2016, Gunpowder & Sky has released more than 40 feature films and series, more than 1000 short films in theatres, on TVOD and on leading services such as HBO, Netflix, MTV, Hulu, Sky, Showtime, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Audible and Discovery and has premiered 4 podcast series.

With a collective audience of more than 75M monthly unique viewers, Gunpowder & Sky also owns and operates content brands that include DUST, the number one free sci-fi channel; ALTER, a leading horror brand, and CUT, an unscripted & comedy brand. 

If you'd like to submit your film to the LaFemme Int'l Film Festival click on the link below.
https://filmfreeway.com/LaFemmeInternationalFilmFestival