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Tune into live conversations with authors, editors, and literary agents sharing their journeys and expertise in the world of publishing.

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Watch live panels featuring screenwriters as they break down their techniques for crafting compelling scripts and navigating the entertainment industry.

Filmmaking

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Finding Your Niche: Buck Trends to Build a Career with Purpose

June 24, 2026
Zach Bandler will offer a practical framework for identifying the thematic lane you’re uniquely positioned to explore, and connecting that work to communities, institutions, and ecosystems that are actively seeking those stories. Attendees will learn how to move beyond chasing traditional industry pathways and instead build a personal storytelling identity that attracts collaborators, funding, and audiences. Because the goal isn’t to do everything. It’s to do something that only you can do, and build a career around it.

Book Pipeline

Book Pipeline connects writers to publishers, agents, and the film industry through competitions and workshops, providing hands-on support to bridge the gap between emerging authors and the industry since 2014.

Script Pipeline

Script Pipeline connects writers with producers, agents, and managers, facilitating over $8 million in sales through competitions and ongoing industry support, helping launch major films and secure high-profile representation since 1999.

Film Pipeline

Film Pipeline connects filmmakers and writers with agencies and executives, focusing on diverse storytelling and playing an active role in developing and promoting projects, reviewing thousands of submissions annually since its launch in 2018.

10 Questions to Figure Out What Your Memoir is REALLY About

Recorded

March 11, 2026

Duration

2 Hours

Cost

$35

Subject

Publishing

Topic

Craft

Memoir is a deeply challenging genre for any writer seeking to parlay real-life events into a story that connects with total strangers. As Mary Karr observes, “a fiction writer starts with meaning and then manufactures events to represent it; a memoirist starts with events, then derives meaning from them.” Deriving meaning is a lengthy, complex process and not at all obvious to any writer who attempts it.

One big challenge at the outset is figuring out the “container” for your book: Where to begin, where to end, what to include, what to exclude, and how to tell a compelling story about your transformational journey.

This is a tall order! This symposium explores a framework of 10 essential questions to help you make critical choices about your book’s structure and to see the big picture.

This presentation will cover:

  • A step-by-step overview of the 10 questions addressing a range of considerations, including your “why” for the book, its point, the archetype shaping your story, nailing your book’s concept, defining the ideal reader, and more.
  • Brief analysis of how well-written memoirs are put together.
  • A chance to work on one or two of the 10 questions and receive group feedback.

You will learn:

  • Strategies for putting your story into a deeper, broader context
  • To understand the strengths and weaknesses of your approach to your story
  • To recognize common pitfalls of the memoir genre
  • Factors to consider when deciding the scope of your story, including the beginning and ending.

What attendees have said ...

"As with a good author, a good speaker is one you can connect to; one who can bring feelings bubbling to the surface, and one who leaves you satisfied with the content covered but also wanting to know more. In this webinar, Amy L. Bernstein covered familiar topics in a way which seemed to carry more weight, more meaning and more impact than other presentations I have attended on the same topics. I am grateful for the time invested. I will be on the look-out for more of her work, as well as more offerings from SYMPOSIUM. I trust them to find speakers with equal impact as Ms. Bernstein. Thank you for this offering."

"Very informative. Redirected my thinking related to several ideas related to my memoir story 'plot.'"

Host

Amy L. Bernstein
Amy L. Bernstein writes award-winning, genre-crossing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Her most recent book is Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration, a hybrid work for self-doubting creatives, shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize. Her fifth novel, Tent City, is forthcoming from Running Wild Press. Amy is also a professional book coach, helping nonfiction writers to […]

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Upcoming Events

Finding Your Niche: Buck Trends to Build a Career with Purpose

June 24, 2026
Zach Bandler will offer a practical framework for identifying the thematic lane you’re uniquely positioned to explore, and connecting that work to communities, institutions, and ecosystems that are actively seeking those stories. Attendees will learn how to move beyond chasing traditional industry pathways and instead build a personal storytelling identity that attracts collaborators, funding, and audiences. Because the goal isn’t to do everything. It’s to do something that only you can do, and build a career around it.

The Plot Wheel: More than Just Structure

July 15, 2026
The Plot Wheel is more than a structure—it’s a storytelling engine designed to create connection, momentum, and reader satisfaction. In this engaging presentation, Court Stevens breaks down the eight essential movements of story into a clear, repeatable framework that helps writers move from idea to fully realized narrative. Writers will gain the power to intentionally shape both the emotional journey and the commercial appeal of their work.

Commercially Driven Decisions: Being Intentional with Story Choices

July 22, 2026
The Commercially Driven Choices session by Court Stevens reveals what separates stories that are simply well-written from those that truly connect and sell. This dynamic session unpacks the strategic decisions writers must make to increase reader engagement—focusing on transformation, satisfaction, opposition, scope, and consumability as the core drivers of commercial storytelling.

Latest Streaming

The Art of the Thrill: Essentials for Writing Exciting Thrillers

June 17, 2026
In this session, thriller-award-winning author Lauren Nossett will break down the architecture of a gripping story. She’ll discuss how to raise the stakes, design layered characters, and craft suspense. 

Beyond the Happy Ending: The Psychology of the Rom Com

June 10, 2026
This course digs into the psychology behind why romantic comedies work so well on us—the attachment science behind the slow burn, the dopamine hit of the first kiss, and what our favorite on-screen relationships say about what we actually want in real life. This journey through the tropes and the psychology of the genre will aid the way you write and cause you to think twice about the lessons we have taken away about love.

The Anatomy of Representation: Everything You Need to Know

June 3, 2026
Screenwriting career coach Lee Jessup explores the representation landscape to determine what type of representation is right for you, and identify the requirements and all-important next steps you should take to build a lasting career-spanning relationship with the right rep that will help make the difference in your career. 

Symposium, presented by Pipeline Artists, is a year-round virtual conference empowering creatives with honest, no-nonsense guidance across the arts. Through seminars, industry panels, and Town Hall discussions on screenwriting, filmmaking, publishing, and career-building, Symposium offers grounded advice from working professionals to help you forge your own unique path.

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