Workshop to help aspiring film industry artists make connections
NORMAN — The Actor Factory, 3750 W Main St., will offer a full-immersion, intensive workshop for aspiring screenwriters, directors, producers, actors and editors on Feb. 24-25.
Film industry insiders Greg Coolidge, a Norman native known locally as Greg Kullich, and Kirk Ward will lead “Tap Into: Hollywood.”
The event is designed to educate aspiring film industry artists in Oklahoma and elsewhere and connect them to industry insiders in Los Angeles. It will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 24 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 25.
The cost is $425, which includes a Feb. 24 mixer, workshop sessions on Feb. 25 and a copy of Final Draft 10, the industry leader of screenwriting software. Those already owning Final Draft will receive a free upgrade to version 10 or be given the opportunity to donate the software to a friend or upand-coming film artist. Final Draft is a co-sponsor of the event.
After 40 years of combined success in Hollywood, writer/director/ producers Coolidge and Ward have discovered the connective tissue to everything in Hollywood, Coolidge said.
“It’s the one thing that connects all the players,” Coolidge said. “Whether you’re a writer, actor, director, editor or composer — everything is connected through story. Both yours and the ones told on screen.”
Coolidge and Ward started as production assistants on indie movies before moving on to selling a $1.25 million pitch to Paramount, writing and directing “Employee of the Month” and creating “The Troop” series for Nickelodeon. They also collaborated in adapting “The Expendables” franchise into a television series and creating the “Ride Along” franchise for Universal Studios.
‘Inside information’
The event will begin with an industry mixer on Feb. 24. Participants will meet with Coolidge and Ward and other invited guests for a meet-and-greet. They will get to know each participant and learn their goals, hopes and progress.
The workshop on Feb. 25 will be a presentation by Coolidge and Ward with participation from the attendees. The team first will break down the Hollywood family tree; charting how the industry really works, who the real players are, whom to gravitate toward and whom to avoid.
During a lunch break, participants will partake in an industry teleconference with one of the working professionals in the Coolidge and Ward network. This will be a familiar name or face speaking with participants via Skype. After lunch, they will interact directly with participants: a writer, actor, director, etc., to simulate what their project or path would look like from beginning to end, demonstrating how to navigate the ups, downs, curve balls and pitfalls of the Hollywood machine.
Using select participants as examples, Coolidge and Ward will give them techniques, tools and inspiration to help them strategize their particular career path. “This will empower participants to have a clear understanding of where they fit in and how the business works,” Ward said. “You’ll finish the day connected not only to the community of participants in the workshop, but also to us and our peers, who are part of their personal, professional network,” he said.
Actor Factory director/ founder Chris Freihofer, a 2016 recipient of the Oklahoma Film Icon Award, called the workshop “a rare opportunity to get inside information and to connect directly to working professionals in this industry.” For more information, go to TheActorFactory.com or call 701-1673.