For the perpetually impecunious (see: poor) indie filmmaker, a well-executed short or feature project can often be your best passport to the larger world. Left to our own scant devices, our calendars are unlikely to fill up with myriad jaunts to such exotic locales as Cannes, Venice, Locarno or, erm, Arkansas. But with a piping hot Dcp in hand, you not have not just an excuse to visit such places but an invitation. And few American cities are quite as dreamily summoned in the mind as day-glow Miami. After all: if it’s good enough for LeBron James, it’s good enough for us.
For 41 years, the Miami Film Festival has been showcasing innovative, inclusive work from new and emerging independent creators worldwide. Unsurprisingly, many of said creators are our own beloved Film Independent Fellows. In fact, a whopping 38 Fi Fellows will be in the Magic City next week to show new work,...
For 41 years, the Miami Film Festival has been showcasing innovative, inclusive work from new and emerging independent creators worldwide. Unsurprisingly, many of said creators are our own beloved Film Independent Fellows. In fact, a whopping 38 Fi Fellows will be in the Magic City next week to show new work,...
- 3/28/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Writing a feature film is easy. All you need is one gimmicky logline, as cheap and single-serving-disposable as a coffee pod from the complimentary hotel room K-Cup spinner. Once you stumble upon one of these so-called “high concept” ideas, the script practically writes, sells and produces itself. It’s creative work for stupid babies, as all filmmakers will surely agree–totally unlike, in other words, the act of conceptualizing an entire episodic series, a demonstration of storytelling virtuosity so complex and adult it straddles the border between ancient Euclidean geometry and New Age witchcraft.
Okay, so maybe that’s a little extreme. But for aspiring series creators and showrunners, structuring a workable, potentially long-running television concept requires imagination and problem-solving on both the micro- and macro- levels–a mastery of tone, plot and characterization across variable interlocking units of temporal storytelling: scenes, dramatic acts, full episodes, multi-episode arcs and complete seasons.
Okay, so maybe that’s a little extreme. But for aspiring series creators and showrunners, structuring a workable, potentially long-running television concept requires imagination and problem-solving on both the micro- and macro- levels–a mastery of tone, plot and characterization across variable interlocking units of temporal storytelling: scenes, dramatic acts, full episodes, multi-episode arcs and complete seasons.
- 2/15/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Film Independent has set the participants and projects for its sixth annual Episodic Lab — an intensive program, designed to provide individualized story and career development for emerging television writers with original pilots. The list includes Christopher Au (Cloak & Data), Miguel Orozco & Boris Rodriguez (East Los Aliens), Terry Dawson (Makeba) Gg Hawkins (Murder Podcast), Sarah Mokh (Room 099), and the duo of Ben Gonzales & Erica Bardin (The Deed).
This year’s Lab will be a two-week virtual program helping to further the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to industry veterans who can offer guidance on both the craft and business of writing episodic content. Through personalized feedback from experienced showrunners, creative producers and executives, Fellows will gain the tools to revise and refine their pilots and navigate a changing industry landscape. A final networking and pitch event will then offer participants the opportunity to introduce themselves and their work to studio and network executives.
This year’s Lab will be a two-week virtual program helping to further the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to industry veterans who can offer guidance on both the craft and business of writing episodic content. Through personalized feedback from experienced showrunners, creative producers and executives, Fellows will gain the tools to revise and refine their pilots and navigate a changing industry landscape. A final networking and pitch event will then offer participants the opportunity to introduce themselves and their work to studio and network executives.
- 9/20/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Film Independent has selected six women from underrepresented communities for its fifth annual Episodic Lab, also naming the recipient of this year’s grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The writers selected, who will hone their original pilots during their time in the Lab, are Carmen Brie, Marissa Díaz, Razan Ghalayini, Steph Ouaknine, Lisa Sanaye Dring and Anna Vecellio.
Vecellio is also the recipient of the $10,000 Alfred P. Sloan Episodic Grant, and will use these funds to support the development of her pilot, Mary Mallon, uncovering the true story of the Irish-born cook otherwise known as Typhoid Mary.
This year’s Episodic Lab will be a two-week virtual program helping to further the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to industry veterans, including showrunners, creative producers and executives, who can offer guidance on both the craft and business of writing episodic content. A final networking and pitch event...
The writers selected, who will hone their original pilots during their time in the Lab, are Carmen Brie, Marissa Díaz, Razan Ghalayini, Steph Ouaknine, Lisa Sanaye Dring and Anna Vecellio.
Vecellio is also the recipient of the $10,000 Alfred P. Sloan Episodic Grant, and will use these funds to support the development of her pilot, Mary Mallon, uncovering the true story of the Irish-born cook otherwise known as Typhoid Mary.
This year’s Episodic Lab will be a two-week virtual program helping to further the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to industry veterans, including showrunners, creative producers and executives, who can offer guidance on both the craft and business of writing episodic content. A final networking and pitch event...
- 8/26/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Stars: Masumi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Eijiro Ozaki, Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Written by Vicente Amorim, Kimi Lee, Tubaldini Shelling, Fernando Toste | Directed by Vicente Amorim
Based on Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel Samurai Shiro, Yakuza Princess takes a familiar story and gives it a new twist by setting it in São Paulo Brazil. Why there? Because it’s the home to over 1.6 million Japanese and Brazilians of Japanese ancestry, the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. It’s also, like most Brazilian cities, overcrowded and rife with poverty, crime and corruption. What better place to set a film about the Yakuza?
Twenty years ago in Osaka Japan we watch as a family photo session turn into a massacre as a gunman opens fire, killing everyone. In Present day São Paulo Shiro wakes up in the hospital. Badly injured and with no memory of his past. His only possession an ancient katana.
Akemi...
Based on Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel Samurai Shiro, Yakuza Princess takes a familiar story and gives it a new twist by setting it in São Paulo Brazil. Why there? Because it’s the home to over 1.6 million Japanese and Brazilians of Japanese ancestry, the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. It’s also, like most Brazilian cities, overcrowded and rife with poverty, crime and corruption. What better place to set a film about the Yakuza?
Twenty years ago in Osaka Japan we watch as a family photo session turn into a massacre as a gunman opens fire, killing everyone. In Present day São Paulo Shiro wakes up in the hospital. Badly injured and with no memory of his past. His only possession an ancient katana.
Akemi...
- 8/19/2021
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
We enter 20 years into the past at a birthday party in Japan. This wealthy family spared no expense for the celebration but no amount of money can stop what’s coming. Swords are drawn, guns are fired, and soon enough everyone is dead—save a little girl taken from her mother’s lifeless arms. The assumption is that the victors have stolen her to nurture as their own before the inevitable discovery of her real heritage and subsequent desire for revenge. Learning the opposite to be true is thus a confusing hiccup once we fast-forward to present-day Brazil and find Akemi (Japanese singer-songwriter Masumi) mourning the death of the man who raised her: a man she calls Grandfather. How did she get there? We’ll find out soon enough.
Director Vicente Amorim and fellow screenwriters Tubaldini Shelling, Kimi Lee, and Fernando Toste have no qualms with Yakuza Princess—based on...
Director Vicente Amorim and fellow screenwriters Tubaldini Shelling, Kimi Lee, and Fernando Toste have no qualms with Yakuza Princess—based on...
- 8/19/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired U.S rights to “Yakuza Princess,” an action thriller starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Japanese American singer Masumi. The film is directed by Vicente Amorim (“Motorrad”) and is adapted from Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel “Shiro.
Magnet will release “Yakuza Princess” later this year.
The film unfolds in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo in Brazil — the largest Japanese diaspora in the world. It follows Akemi (Masumi), an orphan who discovers she is the heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate. After forging an uneasy alliance with an amnesiac stranger (Rhys Meyers) who believes an ancient sword binds their two fates, Akemi unleashes war against the other half of the syndicate who wants her dead.
“’Yakuza Princess’ is a wild ride of a movie,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “The Brazilian backdrop infuses the action...
Magnet will release “Yakuza Princess” later this year.
The film unfolds in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo in Brazil — the largest Japanese diaspora in the world. It follows Akemi (Masumi), an orphan who discovers she is the heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate. After forging an uneasy alliance with an amnesiac stranger (Rhys Meyers) who believes an ancient sword binds their two fates, Akemi unleashes war against the other half of the syndicate who wants her dead.
“’Yakuza Princess’ is a wild ride of a movie,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “The Brazilian backdrop infuses the action...
- 4/5/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
XYZ Films has boarded action thriller “Yakuza Princess,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Japanese-American singer Masumi. The film will be shopped to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in early March.
XYZ will sell worldwide rights save Latin America for the English-language feature, directed by Vicente Amorim, whose previous film, “Motorrad,” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. The film is written by Amorim, Fernando Toste, Kimi Lee and Tubaldini Shelling.
Based on the graphic novel “Samurai Shiro” by Danilo Beyruth and set in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo in Brazil — the largest Japanese diaspora in the world — “Yakuza Princess” turns on orphan Akemi (Masumi), who turns 21 and finds out she is the heiress to half of the Yakuza (Japanese crime syndicate) empire. The other half, however, wants her dead, and her one hope is an amnesiac gaijin who awakes in hospital believing that an ancient...
XYZ will sell worldwide rights save Latin America for the English-language feature, directed by Vicente Amorim, whose previous film, “Motorrad,” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. The film is written by Amorim, Fernando Toste, Kimi Lee and Tubaldini Shelling.
Based on the graphic novel “Samurai Shiro” by Danilo Beyruth and set in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo in Brazil — the largest Japanese diaspora in the world — “Yakuza Princess” turns on orphan Akemi (Masumi), who turns 21 and finds out she is the heiress to half of the Yakuza (Japanese crime syndicate) empire. The other half, however, wants her dead, and her one hope is an amnesiac gaijin who awakes in hospital believing that an ancient...
- 2/10/2021
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Breaking Through The Lens (Bttl), the initiative set up to promote female and non-binary filmmaking voices, has selected the 10 projects that will take part in its 2020 edition during this week’s Cannes virtual market.
For the event’s third edition it will partner with producer Kathryn M. Moseley’s One Two Twenty Entertainment, which has recent credits including Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter and Body Brokers with Michael Kenneth Wiliiams.
Run by Daphne Schmon, Emily Carlton and Elpida Stathatou, Bttl would have taken part during the physical Cannes festival in May but had to pivot to online as per the rest of the market and fest.
The 10 projects hail from seven countries and include Tokyo Talents fellow Janus Victoria’s debut feature Kodokushi, and queer ensemble buddy comedy Let’s Do This from non-binary Canadian Screen Award-nominated director Lora Campbell.
Each project will benefit from development investment from One Two Twenty Entertainment,...
For the event’s third edition it will partner with producer Kathryn M. Moseley’s One Two Twenty Entertainment, which has recent credits including Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter and Body Brokers with Michael Kenneth Wiliiams.
Run by Daphne Schmon, Emily Carlton and Elpida Stathatou, Bttl would have taken part during the physical Cannes festival in May but had to pivot to online as per the rest of the market and fest.
The 10 projects hail from seven countries and include Tokyo Talents fellow Janus Victoria’s debut feature Kodokushi, and queer ensemble buddy comedy Let’s Do This from non-binary Canadian Screen Award-nominated director Lora Campbell.
Each project will benefit from development investment from One Two Twenty Entertainment,...
- 6/22/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Breaking Through The Lens, an initiative launched three years ago to promote emerging female directors, has unveiled the shortlist of projects vying to participate in the 3rd edition of its pitching platform set to take place during the Cannes Film Festival.
The selected projects, which will be pitched to over 100 financiers and key industry people during Cannes, were announced during the European Film Market on Feb. 25.
Spanning 13 countries, this year’s shortlist of 20 titles includes Tamika Guishard’s African dance-driven feature “Rhythm in Blues;” Daresha Kyi’s U.S. documentary “Mama Bears” which follows conservative Christian mothers whose lives are transformed as they accept their Lgbtq children; Ahd Kamel’s Saudi Arabian feature “My Driver and I” set in 80s and 90s and centering on an unlikely friendship between a privileged Saudi girl and her Nubian driver; and Laura Moss’ feature debut “Birth/Rebirth,” a female-driven Frankenstein adaptation.
Set to be announced in early April,...
The selected projects, which will be pitched to over 100 financiers and key industry people during Cannes, were announced during the European Film Market on Feb. 25.
Spanning 13 countries, this year’s shortlist of 20 titles includes Tamika Guishard’s African dance-driven feature “Rhythm in Blues;” Daresha Kyi’s U.S. documentary “Mama Bears” which follows conservative Christian mothers whose lives are transformed as they accept their Lgbtq children; Ahd Kamel’s Saudi Arabian feature “My Driver and I” set in 80s and 90s and centering on an unlikely friendship between a privileged Saudi girl and her Nubian driver; and Laura Moss’ feature debut “Birth/Rebirth,” a female-driven Frankenstein adaptation.
Set to be announced in early April,...
- 2/25/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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