Award-winning author and filmmaker Bryan Young will teach a number of techniques on how to quickly generate ideas for stories and put them through a litmus test until you find one concept (or a few) worth your blood, sweat, and tears. We'll cover how to come up with ideas to pitch or write on spec, and how to decide what type of media an idea should be written for.

Maya Zivkovich will walk you through the importance of this document and break down the different components needed for your deck to truly stand out from the rest. No design experience necessary—you’ll get plenty of her best tips and tricks from her many years and expertise as a graphic artist.

How do you hook the reader? Our Pipeline staff dig into the significance of those often-troubling first 5 pages—really the first impression of a script as a whole—and how to stand out to industry reviewing your material.

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman dives into a candid discussion with multi-award-winning producer/director Lane Shefter Bishop, who CNN dubbed "The Book Whisperer." Lane wrote Sell Your Story in a Single Sentence: Advice from the Front Lines of Hollywood and is also the CEO of Vast Entertainment—the go-to book-to-screen company, with numerous projects, both completed and in active development.

Our panelists share the hard truths about filmmaking at our Symposium Town Hall. Whether an indie production or within the studio system, bringing a screenplay to life requires a multitude of mental and creative talents.