The Biola Media Conference is coming up on May 5, 2012 at CBS Studios in Hollywood!  This is one of my favorite events every year.

The Biola Media Conference attracts more approximately 700 industry attendees – making it the largest national event for people of faith working in the entertainment industry.  It is known for its intimate and practical conversations with Hollywood leaders, and professional training and instruction from some of the most influential individuals in Film, Television, PR, Media Marketing, Management and Digital Media. Conference topics cover every aspect of media related careers, technologies, and ministries from the creative, to the financial, to the production process.

I just got the updated Workshops list so here’s a sneak peek:

FINDING YOUR CREATIVE BREAKTHROUGHS:  HOW TO GET PAID

Simon Swart and Ray Rodriguez team up to lead each table through an interactive exercise to help you learn how to think about the business of show and how to get paid.  Take Simon’s 12 Windows of Distribution and push a project through to see how you would pay back your investors.  It’s fun and new and hopefully the first of many we do in the future.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS AS A FAITH & FAMILY FILMMAKER

Cindy Bond, Chevonne O’Shaugnessy and Travis Mann have put together a company unlike any in the world.  They have found a way to sell Family and Faith-Based content all over the world.  Now they are adding funding and development to their studio and you will want to get to know this world class team.  Getting face to face with three Biola family members who want to help you roll your project out to a world of screens should excite the biggest introvert among you.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS IN A WORLD OF NEW CONTENT

Hulu is signing exclusive deals with short form content producers. YouTube is handing out a hundred thousand dollars to dozens of short form content creators.  Disney is hiring executives to repurpose their library into short form segments in anticipation for an international blitz of online sales.  Every once in a while an entirely new window of distribution opens and those who get there first often create a niche that continues to pay for years.  Three experts will help you understand how they tapped into this new world of content.  The reason they share their secrets is they want to invest into your life and help you fulfill your call.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS BY BEING GREAT IN A ROOM

There is an art to getting your finished project in the right hands and getting the check.  One of the key elements you must master is how to interact with the Studios, Networks, Agencies and big Production Houses where you are supposed to know how to pitch yourself and your work without seeming to pitch at all.  Dan and Rajeev have given pitches all over town and have produced many projects with leaders in the industry who went from strangers to partners.  They will show you how to prepare for your inevitable date with destiny.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS USING THE MORAL PREMISE

Stan Williams understands Story.  He has used his understanding to write one of the best books ever on the subject.  He has also launched a career where he is seen as part of the team that develops Will Smith’s projects.  It all revolves around a non-intuitive but easily mastered concept called the Moral Premise.  This workshop sells out all over the country, so go early and get a front row seat to one of the masters.

PITCHFEST

If you pre-registered for this Add-On Module you will sit face to face and one on one with industry pros who will help you move your finished project forward.  You will learn, network, and perhaps get a follow-up meeting to pursue the conversation that begins in this Speed Dating format.   If you weren’t able to get a spot this time, keep looking for our follow up events.  We want to get every qualified project in front of someone who can help move it toward development.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS AS A VISUAL ARTIST    

What elevates cinema From Good To Great?  Our humble artists presenting their process will probably wince when they read this workshop intro, but they have learned skills that have set them apart.  Dean Yamada creates film after film receiving the highest honors from the world of short film jurors.  Kevin T. Wilson has had his last three Doritos SuperBowl submissions chosen over tens of thousands of worldwide competitors striving for the million dollar first prize in comedy commercial creation.  What is the process a director uses to make award winning cinema?  Moderator and filmmaker Camille Tucker will try to help these visual artists find the words to help us understand how to find our breakthroughs and create works we can be proud of.

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS BY BRAINSTORMING

 McNair Wilson “HATCH!  Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer”

Most brainstorming sessions are NOT brainstorming. More likely they are playful arguing with snacks on the table. Some one has an idea and everyone else has three reasons it won’t work: too expensive …we tried that two years ago …or that’s dumb! That is NOT brainstorming. These simple principles can be assist any team in designing, planning, inventing, launching, remodeling, or expanding (or condensing) anything.

Keynote speaker, McNair Wilson first developed his process as Artistic Director of a successful, for profit, street theatre company—SAK Theatre—producing 42,000 performances at EPCOT. He refined his creative problem solving tool during his years as a Disney Imagineer. McNair was on concept & design teams for five new Disney theme parks and scores of other projects. He also lead the “first team” that wanted to strap Disney guests into a rusty old elevator and drop them off the thirteenth story of a haunted hotel. “TOWER of TERROR” is now one of the top three attractions in FOUR Disney parks.

McNair will teach you how to enlist his powerful “7 Agreements of Brainstorming” to re-imagine anything …everything. This is the subject of McNair’s new book: HATCH! Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer – Available NEXT month through McNair’s blog: “Tea With McNair.”

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS AS A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR

If it was just good looks.  If it was just networking. If it was only learning how to spot a great story on the written page.   If it was just quality headshots.  If it was just learning how to really listen.  If it was just dedication.  If it was just perseverance.  If it was just learning how to audition.  If it were just developing a career that allows you to develop your real career.  “If it were only…”.

Acting is perhaps the hardest job in the world.  Yet every month dozens of new faces find their way onto screens and into the hearts of fans.  How do you become a professional Hollywood actor as a person of faith?  How do you navigate and stay afloat in a world of rejection and disappointment?  Can you find fulfillment in the journey?  Actors…find your mark…

FINDING YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS IN REAL LIFE HOLLYWOOD

A couple of months ago three of our sharpest alum came to us and said “We were not ready!”.  Generously they had developed a workshop they wanted to produce for our current students so others would be more prepared when the reality of working in Hollywood began.  Chris Herzberger, Laura Falcinelli and David Jacobson have all had significant career advancements in just the time it took to schedule the conference event for them.  They know how to climb the ladder.

Register for the conference online.