Hollywood Insider Help by Nancy Fulton

This presentation is a practical guide to making a first film that becomes a useful career credit rather than an expensive disaster. Many first films fail because new filmmakers choose projects that are too large, too expensive, legally messy, or impossible to finish. A “disaster” film is one that drains money and time, never gets completed, creates legal problems, looks amateurish, or makes the f...

Production Insurance, Completion Bonds, E & O Insurance are something every producer needs to know about, and they are life-and-death for anyone making a multi-million dollar project with investor and/or bank support.  Why? Because banks and savvy investors won't fund projects that can't get a completion bond, production insurance, and E&O insurance.  In this workshop expert Ed Rowin walks...

Ray Ellingsen, Founder of Moving Pictures Media Group, has been an active sponsor for Nancy Fulton Meetups over the years. His support has helped us provide more events for more filmmakers, and his appearances and the guests he's brought with him, have helped our members understand how to develop films with budgets over $1M. You'll enjoy this interview if you have film you're struggling to produce...

In this episode of Hollywood Insider Help, we dive into the multi-award-winning book "Games People Play" by Eric Berne, a pivotal guide to understanding human interactions. Particularly relevant to the entertainment industry, this workshop explores the fundamental concepts of transactional analysis, shedding light on the "drama" often encountered in Hollywood. We review common "games" people play...

Welcome to the Hollywood Insider Help podcast! In this episode, we delve into the detrimental thought patterns that can hinder your success as a media creator in the entertainment industry. We'll explore how these negative habits can affect your creativity, collaboration, and career progression. Discover practical strategies to identify and change these patterns, ensuring you can consistently crea...

When people come to Hollywood with dreams of making it big, they often encounter perplexing behaviors and responses. Many of these can be traced back to Hollywood's turbulent history and the monumental mistakes made by Studios, Directors, and Producers. These blunders have not only ended careers and destroyed studios but have also resulted in financial losses amounting to hundreds of millions of d...

In today's workshop, we're going to be talking about cultivating a robust attitude so you can thrive in the media business.  And specifically, I'm going to review some practical advice on surviving and thriving in what is an incredibly competitive industry. I think most people that work in the entertainment industry, at one point or another, find themselves thinking, Oh, my God. Why is this so dif...

As creatives, we invest time, effort, ideas, intellectual property, and our reputation in the projects we do. A project that goes well becomes a stepping stone to other great projects. Failed projects, or projects we fail on, are thus damaging from many perspectives. Our work is more or less collaborative, based on our desire or willingness to collaborate. Working with the "right" collaborators le...

Writers, actors, filmmakers, artists, designers, and other creatives are taught young that choosing to be a creative professional is risky business. It doesn't have to be.  In this workshop you'll learn:  Why earning a living as a creative looks like luck or magic from the outside.  Why it is not the tight-rope walk you've been told it is since you were born.  How to understand exactly what you ne...

Only people have money to buy things. Whether it’s an independent producer with funds to purchase your screenplay, an investor with money to put into your film, a studio exec shopping for a book or podcast to license, or a director looking to hire an actor . . . only humans ever pull the trigger on purchasing things. That means you need a business network within the entertainment industry that wil...

This interview is designed to review good business practices that can help you side step a lot of legal hassles.  Justin Sterling is founder of The Sterling Firm, a full-service civil litigation and transactional law firm devoted to Business Law, Entertainment Law, and Personal Injury cases. The Sterling Firm is dedicated to helping clients obtain maximum compensation, achieve cost-effective legal...

This is the perfect podcast to listen to if you want to produced one or more projects with a friend or family member.  It provides very specific advice and step-by-step guidance that will help you avoid specific risks and stumbling blocks in forming businesses that incorporate on these relationships.  Over time most of us working in the entertainment industry develop close personal, professional,...

This is a great interview to listen to if you feel stuck and need help moving your career in the entertainment industry forward.  Jim Jermanok (jimjermanok.com) is an award-winning writer, director, stage and film producer based in New York who started his career as a beloved agent at ICM representing leading lights like Alan Arkin, E.L. Doctorow, Helen Hayes, Ben Kingsley,  Shirley MacLaine, Arth...

Bridget Fitzgerald is an actress, comedienne, and model. She is also a member of National Lampoon's sketch comedy team, making a sketch comedy podcast heard by half a million monthly listeners. Her web series SmileyBridgeTV has had 1/4 million views, and she attributes some of that success to two audiobooks: "How I Exiled My Inner B*tch” which she acted in and "iHumpty" which she produced as well...

Writer/Producer Nancy Fulton brings you an audio recording of her interview with Organized Crime Expert Christian Cipollini. Award-Winning author Christian Cipollini is a freelance journalist, book author ( https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Cipollini/e/B00CP95F4K ), organized crime historian and collector.  A frequent guest lecturer at universities and a consultant to movie and television producers...

Have you worked with a toxic person or business that has made you really rethink your work as a writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, or other creative pro? Does all of Hollywood feel like a den of thieves and difficult people? If so, you'll find this interview with Dr. Rhoberta Shaler important to hear.  As a relationship consultant, mediator, and speaker, Rhoberta Shaler, PhD (ForRelationshipHelp.com...

Bridget Fitzgerald ( smileybridge.com ) is an actress, comedienne, and model. She is also a member of National Lampoon's sketch comedy team, making a sketch comedy podcast heard by half a million monthly listeners. Her web series SmileyBridgeTV has had 1/4 million views, and she attributes some of that success to two audiobooks: "How I Exiled My Inner B*tch” which she acted in and "iHumpty" which...

Larry Jordan has amassed more than 45 professional credits, working on successful films such as Fallen, Assassins, Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo and television series including CSI: Miami and NYPD Blue.  . Larry has worked with many of the top creatives at the world’s largest entertainment companies, including Time Warner, Sony, Fox, MGM, HBO, Netflix and Disney. Larry recently Master the Workflow (...

  Dr. Rebecca Roy has built a successful practice helping entertainment industry professionals reach their goals, manage their stress, and deal with the natural ebb and flow of creative careers. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY 28773) with both a Ph. D. and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology (MFT 45901) and she has 12 years experience as a psychotherapist licensed to treat both i...

In this interview writer/producer Marilyn Anderson addresses tools and techniques writers and producers can use to: Entertain potential business associates, partners, and investors with style and grace Dress themselves and performers well Travel well cheaply to domestic and international locations Writers and Screenwriters frequently find themselves living a long time between paychecks, pitching p...

It is impossible to run a profitable business or build a successful career if you don't know how to deal with difficult people.  You'll encounter them as partners, customers, co-workers, and employees.  Failure to correctly identify them early, and resolve the issues they present correctly, can derail your career or business completely, or even land you in legal hot water.  This guide helps you fi...

If you are struggling to find work in Hollywood, this resource will help. There is a culture you have to understand in order to thrive  You will learn: How to find paying work, how to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are great at what you do so you can float to the top of your profession, how to persuasively ask for a job and get it. how to avoid getting burned by users, abusers, and in...

Dr. Sean Young, is a UCLA Medical School professor, and executive director or the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior, and the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology will discuss how to stick with the changes that will help you achieve your personal and professional objectives. His research has received more than $10M in funding from organizations like The National Institutes of...

As an agent at William Morris and CAA, Marc Pariser represented leading writers, directors, producers, production companies, comedians, actors, executives, and two past WGA Presidents while enjoying is his own extremely successful 25+ year career. In this interview he discusses what it takes to get a good agent or manager to represent you.  You'll learn what they need to see, how to approach them,...

It's completely possible to spend many years and many thousands of dollars working to produce a film that never gets made. You can also struggle to get a film made only to discover you've just purchased an expensive legal and financial nightmare for your family.  There's an order in which things must be done in order for a film to be a successful creative, professional, and financial endeavor.  Ch...