Hi Everyone,
It’s August! Hope you are having a terrific summer (or winter) as the case may be for those Down Under.
Creative Convergence just celebrated its 6th anniversary! We incorporated in July 2004 when the company evolved from its original incarnation as the management company Mason Burgess Lifschultz. I co-founded that company in the 1999, so I’ve got 10 years in as an entrepreneur.
What’s really struck me lately is that I have been working in entertainment & media for 20 years now. I got my first internship with The Paltrow Group, Gwenyth’s dad Bruce Paltrow, when I was 15 in NYC in the summer of 1990. I also worked as a PA on an ABC Afterschool Special that summer and I remember seeing my first credit on TV when it aired that Fall.
I went from NYC to USC to ICM and then into management. As the business and technology evolved, so did my interests. I am someone who loves to learn and share. I am always interested in solving marketing and creative challenges and bringing people together. Along the way I found a passion for events, technology, and business consulting, and this was important because I loved to help people and the tasks presented to me were much more complex and well outside the scope of traditional management services.
I also found a love for teaching as when it was management, we couldn’t take them on as clients without them having something that was market ready with a real understanding of industry, its history, the game and how to play it. In reality a lot of writers are really looking for support, direction and some new insights about how to best approach the business while still in the developmental stage and these courses offered that in spades. This also got me in and out while providing great value without the serious long term and ongoing commitment that is part of a management relationship.
I now see myself as an entertainment professional having personally jettisoned the identity of a literary manager that I’d held for five years after I’d left ICM before and Creative Convergence was founded. The whole name implied that we wanted to support that management was part of the company’s role, but that we had a larger vision of what we wanted to do in the entertainment space.
To be clear, we do represent clients and all representation inquiries, should be directed to Brad Kushner at query@creativecvg.com. Or as I recommend to all writers, get someone we know to make the call on your behalf. Professionals always listen when if comes from someone they know at an agency, production company or coverage service such as ScriptPipeline, ScriptShark or Coverage Ink.
As the technology has expanded to allow more people into the system, so have our need to have things filtered. The good news is that there are great, low cost and reputable services to do that while protecting the interest of the writer. We know that when writers and projects are really ready for market they always get “discovered”.
These types of services are just some of the hundreds of things we’ve seen change over the past ten years in business and technology as we’ve moved from in-person meetings and hard-wired phones to email, web, smartphones, social media, online marketing and digital technologies. We’ve watched, and are still watching the film, tv, publishing, media and tech industries transform with old business models and opportunities falling away and new ones emerging.
Any ideas about selling to Hollywood that is written in a book published five years ago is well outdated. It’s been my personal crusade to help bridge that knowledge gap — so that writers and content creators are operating with 21st century information and tools. I also believe that it is important for writers to think of themselves as content creators and make their own inroads into film, tv, publishing and media while seeing them as entirely separate businesses and cultures.
This past year we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of clients and projects that we’re very excited about, many that fit our passion for cross-platform and working with new technologies. We have more then a few things still under wraps that we’ll look forward to sharing as they progress.
We’ve also been active on the conference scene and with our teleseminar courses. I know many of you get our newsletters have connected with us this year through our regular course of business and at NATPE, San Francisco Writers Conference, FTX, The Cable Show, New Media Film Festival, Great American Pitchfest, PitchMart, Produced By Conference, UCLA Vision Awards, LATVFest, LA Shorts Fest, Steve Kaplan’s Comedy Intensive and in my Screenwriting Career Intensive and my weekly Media Brand & Marketing Workshop.
One of our bigger projects for Fall 2010 is producing the New Media Film Festival-SF Bay Area Nov 5 – 7. We’re really excited about bringing together industry professionals and content creators across film, tv, publishing, games, web, mobile and technology to honor stories worth telling and look at what’s new and what’s next. Follow on Twitter @nmfilmfest_sf and on Facebook and LinkedIn at New Media Film Festival.
One of the projects that recently came out of my Signature Story Media Brand & Marketing Workshop is writer/producer Alexis Niki’s web series “My Bitchy Witch Paris Vacation.” This series will be coming out this Fall and in addition to being a Consulting Producer on the project I am looking forward to being on the marketing team. Follow on Twitter @bwthefilm and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MBWPV
Here’s what Alexis Niki says about the Workshop: “When I decided to produce my own web series, I brought the project into Philippa’s mentorship workshop. Thanks to Philippa, I’m in the wonderful position of having producers and distributors seeking me for possible collaborations –and the series has yet to launch! While so many talk about ‘thinking outside the box,’ Philippa actually does it. She sees connections and possibilities where others raise their hands in despair, and she’s not afraid to reach across branches of the industry to create fruitful and mutually-satisfying opportunities. I’m inspired by her generosity, her intelligence, her energy, and how she never shies away from a learning curve. If you have the opportunity to include Philippa on your team, grab it!”
Another thing to look out for is that we’re expanding our Media Brand & Marketing Workshop industry guest interview calls and we’ve got some great ones coming up I’ve also got a Screenwriting Career Q&A in the mix in advance of my upcoming Fall Workshop. Wednesday Calls are at 5:30PM PT Saturday Calls are at 10AM PT.
Wednesday, August 11 – Steve Kaplan – Comedy Teacher Extraordinaire
Saturday, August 14, Q&A on Screenwriting Career
Wednesday, August 18 – Colleen Nystedt – Movieset.com
Wednesday, August 25 – Ed It (aka Ralph Scott) – Credit the Edit
Wednesday, September 1 – Jay Maharjan – 4Entrepreneur.net
Saturday, September 4 – Alexis Niki – Writer/Producer “My Bitchy Witchy Paris Vacation”
Wednesday, September 15 – Rick Polizzi, Producer on The Simpsons
You can stay posted on this and more about the Workshop and our Industy Guest Interviews
Follow us on Twitter @yourmediabrand and on Facebook at Philippa Burgess’ Your Media Brand Mentor
We meet every Monday night at 5:30PM PT and on Thursdays at 4PM PT.
Learn more at http://www.yourmediabrandmentor.com So as you can see there’s got quite a bit going on this Fall & Winter. I want to share it will you now so that you can get it into your calender.
Our friend Pilar Allesandra (check out her great podcasts at http://www.onthepage.tv) is having her book signing for The Coffee Break Screenwriter at the Writer Store’s new location in Burbank
Thursday – September 2nd Wednesday, September 8 – Live Event Screenwriting Career Q&A and Mixer in Los Angeles at The ShowBiz Store & Cafe at 7:30PM 500 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in Brentwood near Getty Musuem
If you’re in LA come out and join us. Mixer starts around 8PM. Tuesday, September 21 – October 20 Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 5:30 – 8:30PM PT of Lecture plus Q&A Screenwriting Career Intensive 8 Teleseminar Sessions, PDFs, MP3s, and More Super Summer Special only $97 for this entire course before August 15th at http://www.screenwritingcareer.com
This class sums up what I’ve learned about screenwriting career success from over 10 year (actually 20!) in the business and is a course that Chris Soth recommends to all of his mentees! Follow @scriptcareer Facebook Philippa Burgess Screenwriting Career Intensive
Tuesday – Friday, October 5 – 8 CTIA Wireless in San Francisco We’ll be joining our friends from Producers Guild of America, New Media Counsel for Mobile
Friday, October 8 – 10 Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles http://www.screenwritingexpo.com Last year several I brought several of the participants from my Screenwriting Career Intensive attending Expo to an after party at Shane Black’s house! I also go to this event to support our friends from ScriptPipeline, ScriptShark, Script Magazine, Final Draft, Writers Store, Great American Pitchfest, Pilar Allesandra, ScriptCoach, Steve Kaplan, Julie Gray & Danny Manus among others… If you love comedy – don’t miss Steve Kaplan’s Comedy Intensives this Fall
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 – 16 Steve Kaplan’s Comedy Intensive Just for Actors
He’s in Chicago with his regular Intensive Saturday – Sunday, November 6 – 7
He’s in Los Angeles with his regular Intensive Saturday – Sunday, December 4 – 5
I took this course last December and highly recommend it. He’s brilliant, funny and right on the mark about what makes us laugh! http://www.kaplancomedy.com
Follow @skcomedy Find on Facebook at Steve Kaplan’s Comedy Intensive
Friday – Sunday, November 5 – 7 New Media Film Festival-SF Bay Area Sponsor & Partner Invite: bit.ly/bDyLe1 We’re still putting this together and looking forward to it being a great event. We welcome your input as we’re still in the planning stages.
Friday, November 12 – Digital Publishing Producing by San Francisco Writers University in association with San Francisco Writing for Change Conference I will be speaking at this event on eBooks, eReaders, iApps and IPads
Saturday – Sunday, November 13 – 14 San Francisco Writing for Change Conference http://www.sfwritingforchange.orgThis is a terrific event for non-fiction writers, authors, experts and content creators who want to make a difference.
We’ll also be at:
NATPE in Miami
Monday – Wednesday, January 24 – 26, 2011
This last year we were on the team that produced NATPE Navigator and it was a great success! Look forward to doing more with them in 2011.
San Francisco Writers Conference
Friday – Sunday, February 18 – 20, 2011
This is one of my favorite writers conferences and is very focused on both the art and business of writing. It’s a great way to connect with agents, publishers, authors and book marketing professionals. –
– That’s the news for now. We hope that we’ll have the opportunity to catch up with you at a few or more of these events.
And as always, love to hear from you!
To your success, Philippa —
Twitter @creativecvg @yourmediabrand @nmfilmfest_sf @skcomedy @onthepage
Facebook Creative Convergence Philippa Burgess Course Philippa Burgess’ Screenwriting Career Intensive Philippa Burgess’ Media Brand Workshop
LinkedIn Philippa Burgess – newsletter@creativecvg.com Group – Screenwriting Career Intensive —
Your Signature Story: From Content Creator to Media Brand 
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