Metro Screen provides a range of professional services to assist you at all stages of your project. Development is key to a great end product and so we offer script editor services, producer consultations and pitching consults that can assist your production to run smoothly. We also provide skills training in a one-on-one environment, tailored group training and professional crew to work with you on your next project.

Professional consultations in one of three areas:

SCRIPT | PRODUCER | PITCHING

Choose from our list of qualified professionals who will read and work through your script before they meet you for an intensive one hour.

Note:

Pitching consults are charged at a flat $70 rate, with details below.

• Short

  – Defined as up to 35 pages $200 for members which includes assessment of the script and a one hour face to face meeting with an industry professional. $250 for non-members

• Short Feature

  – Defined as over 35 pages and up to 55 pages $260 for members which includes assessment of the script and a one hour face to face meeting with an industry professional. $310 for non-members

• Feature

  – Defined as over 55 pages and up to 100 pages $340 for members which includes assessment of the script and a one hour face to face meeting with an industry professional. $390 for non-members

• Epic Feature

  – Defined as over 100 pages and up to 140 pages $400 for members which includes assessment of the script and a one hour face to face meeting with an industry professional. $450 for non-members

• Long Feature

  - Defined as over 140 pages and up to 200 pages $450 for members which includes assessment of the script and a one hour face to face meeting with an industry professional. $500 for non-members 
• Subsequent consultations for the same project are charged at a 10% discount.

Pitching consults

For 1.5hrs VIA Skype. $70 flat rate, Skype is not provided by Metro Screen.
Presented by Georgia Clark [bio below] or check out her blog here 

Online, one-on-one coaching to help new and emerging screenwriters construct a perfect five minute pitch for their film, television or web series. Pitching is the art of verbally communicating your story idea. If you're serious about making or selling your screenplay, you'll need to be able to succinctly and powerfully explain it, and yourself, in a short period of time, over and over and over again. If you've invested time in your screenplay, you can't afford not to invest time in learning how to write the perfect pitch to give yourself the best headstart to getting it made. A professional pitch is essential if you want to be treated [and paid] like a professional writer.

The consult runs for 1.5 hours. During this time, you will learn all the basic elements of a perfect pitch with specific reference to your own work. We will use popular films as reference points to help explain concepts, as well as your individual screenplay ideas.

Covering:
1. Writing and pitching a logline.
2. Your story's premise: Communicating the theme and point-of-view of your story.
3. Expanding the summary: Characters, obstacles, dramatic turning points
4. How to discover your screenplay's unique selling point.
5. A knock-out one-liner and grab: How to win them over in under 15 seconds.
6. The power of YOU: how to make your life experience sell your script.
7. Audience and market: Realistically identify who will pay to see your idea
8. What you need and what you have: Why are you pitching in the first place?

These services are an excellent opportunity for filmmakers and screen practitioners to be given sound advice on what does and doesn’t work. Gain tips, insider knowledge and give your next project whether it’s a short documentary or a feature film the best chance of achieving success. Advice is always worthwhile especially when it comes from those who are working successfully in the film and screen industries.

See below for our list of industry professionals for you to choose from.
If you would like to become a Metro Screen Industry Professional and believe you can provide the services of a Script, Producer or Pitch consult please contact us.

To book in for a consultation please contact us on 9356 1818 or metro@metroscreen.org.au 

Script and producer consultants

SCRIPT EDITORS

Simon Bennetts

Simon has a BA [honours] in Drama from Flinders Uni in South Australia, Majoring in Scriptwriting and Direction for Documentary and Drama. He assessed scripts for Universal Pictures and read numerous feature length screenplays for Beyond International. He taught Scriptwriting at Macquarie University and was Script Editor on Hunt Angels the AFC funded Feature length doco-drama directed by Alec Morgan about Australian con man and filmmaker Rupert Katner. His Metro script assessments include the AFC funded short Brother Boys. Recently he was script consultant on early drafts of Prey the soon to be released horror feature.

Luke Eve

Luke formed his production company, More Sauce in 1999. He is a graduate from the AFTRS in Producing. In 2004 Luke was invited to pitch a feature film project as a finalist at the SPAA annual conference. He recently returned from an AFC funded internship with This is That productions in New York City and his film Australian Summer was the winner of Tropfest 2005. He also has a number of feature films in development both as a producer and a director.

Karel Segers

Producer and story analyst Karel Segers is a former international movie buyer who blogs, teaches and consults on screen story. Among his clients are writers, producers, the AWG and government agencies locally and overseas. Karel headed Programming and Acquisitions at the Digital Broadcasting Company in London, bought films for Europe's biggest pay-tv Canal Plus and was a movie show host for MTV Europe. Karel has an outstanding success record both as a teacher and a story consultant. He ranks in the world's Top 10 most influential people on Twitter for screenwriting and is recognised as an authority on the Hero's Journey and story structure. details

Jonathan Wald

Jonathan received his MFA in Film Directing from UCLA Film School and spent a year in the MA Directing program at AFTRS, as well as receiving a certificate in documentary making from Metro Screen. As part of his degree, Jonathan directed 5 short films, most of which he wrote, produced, and edited as well. These films have been accepted at over 200 festivals around the world, including Slamdance, Hof, and Montreal World. They have aired on the Sundance Channel in the U.S., been included on DVD collections in France and Germany, and won numerous awards, including Best Short at the Mardi Gras Film Festival; two Silver Remis at Worldfest/Houston; Best Direction, Cinematography, and Acting from the International Student Film Festival/Chile; and many others. Jonathan brings his diverse skills to his work as a script editor and consultant. He has been a script editor for short films at the AFTRS and recently edited Robin de Crespigny’s feature script Intersection, which received development funding from the AFC and is currently a finalist in the IF Awards for Best Unproduced Screenplay. Jonathan has taught writing and directing at AFTRS, Metro Screen, and UCLA Film School, and has won UCLA’s Jim Morrison Directing Award, a Motion Picture Association of America Award, and a Fulbright Scholarship in film.

PRODUCER CONSULTANTS

Carolyn Johnson

Carolyn Johnson produced, script-edited, and co-distributed the highly-acclaimed feature film SON OF A LION: winner of the IF Independent Spirit Award, nominated for Best Film by IF and the Film Critics Circle of Australia; it screened at numerous festivals including Berlin, Edinburgh, HK, Pusan, Seattle, Sydney and Melbourne.   She has also produced five award-winning short films which between them have screened at Cannes, Mill Valley, Sao Paulo, Clermont-Ferrand, Flickerfest, Dendy Awards, St Kilda, Brisbane and have screened on ABC, SBS, Qantas and thecomedychannel.  Her hands-on production experience ranges across drama and documentary, as a producer, script editor, and freelance line-producer. 

Luke Eve

Luke formed his production company, More Sauce in 1999. He is a graduate from the AFTRS in Producing. In 2004 Luke was invited to pitch a feature film project as a finalist at the SPAA annual conference. He recently returned from an AFC funded internship with This is That productions in New York City and his film Australian Summer was the winner of Tropfest 2005. He also has a number of feature films in development both as a producer and a director.

Louise Smith

Louise Smith has been working in the production of television commercials and feature films for more than ten years. She has gained an international reputation for her collaborations with stellar directing talents including Nash and Joel Edgerton, renowned actor Rachel Griffiths, and internationally recognised commercials director Derin Seale.  Her work has screened at festivals such as SXSW, Sydney International Film Festival [In Competition], Telluride, Sundance, Aspen and Berlin and has been awarded honors by the Toronto Short Film Festival, Palm Sprints and Puchon.  In 2002 she co-produced the feature film THE RAGE IN PLACID LAKE staring Ben Lee, Rose Byrne, Garry McDonald and Miranda Richardson.
 
In 2008, she produced the feature film THE SQUARE, directed by Nash Edgerton and written by Joel Edgerton & Matthew Dabner which was nominated for 7 AFI Awards and is currently released in cinemas across the USA.

Karel Segers

Producer and Story Analyst Karel Segers, a Licentiate of Germanic Philology [University of Louvain, Belgium] has produced two short dramas and co-produced a documentary and a feature film. Before moving to Sydney, Karel was the Head of Production and programming at the Digital Broadcasting Company in London [Sky, UK], a film buyer for Europe's largest Pay TV Group Canal Plus and a movie show host for MTV Europe. Alongside his screen development work, Karel is in post-production with a short animation and a feature film. Over the past few years Karel has consulted to award-winning writers, directors and producers on films in development as well as post-production. His views are published in The Story Dept. www.ozzywood.com and 'Karel's Feedback Forum' on the AWG website. Both nominees for last year's AWG Monte Miller Award were Karel's clients.clients.

Jonathan Wald

Jonathan received his MFA in Film Directing from UCLA Film School and spent a year in the MA Directing program at AFTRS, as well as receiving a certificate in documentary making from Metro Screen. As part of his degree, Jonathan directed 5 short films, most of which he wrote, produced, and edited as well. These films have been accepted at over 200 festivals around the world, including Slamdance, Hof, and Montreal World. They have aired on the Sundance Channel in the U.S., been included on DVD collections in France and Germany, and won numerous awards, including Best Short at the Mardi Gras Film Festival; two Silver Remis at Worldfest/Houston; Best Direction, Cinematography, and Acting from the International Student Film Festival/Chile; and many others. Jonathan brings his diverse skills to his work as a script editor and consultant. He has been a script editor for short films at the AFTRS and recently edited Robin de Crespigny’s feature script Intersection, which received development funding from the AFC and is currently a finalist in the IF Awards for Best Unproduced Screenplay. Jonathan has taught writing and directing at AFTRS, Metro Screen, and UCLA Film School, and has won UCLA’s Jim Morrison Directing Award, a Motion Picture Association of America Award, and a Fulbright Scholarship in film.

PITCHING CONSULT

Georgia Clark

Georgia is a published teen fiction author and screenwriter with a passion for pitching. In 2007, she won the most prestigious pitching competition in Australia, the Holding Redlich Pitching Competition, with semi-finals at the National Screenwriters Convention, and grand finals at the Screen Producers of Australia's national conference. The prize was $2,000 and a return flight anywhere in the world: she chose New York City, where she is now based. Her pitch was for a vampire-related TV drama show, which Fremantle Media took to Foxtel with Posie Graeme Evans attached [They passed, having just acquired True Blood]. Georgia has also won state-wide pitching competitions, and regularly [and successfully] pitches story ideas to various magazines, and book ideas to her publishers. She is currently writing two teen fiction novels for an international market.

Tips

We suggest you send in a few questions with your material to make sure your assessment targets the areas you need the most assistance with.

Script editors can assist you with:

• Character development
• Developing a documentary idea
• Dialogue
• Dramatic structure
• Industry contacts
• Reference material
• Script conventions - if, when and how to break the rules
• Script feedback and development
• Script format including: outlines, treatments, layouts for film, layouts for television
• Script timing
• Taking an idea or script to the next stage
• Where to find more information

Producer consultants can assist you with:

• Copyright issues and basic legal information
• Establishing business structure
• Festival strategies
• Film vs. video – what to shoot on
• Finding the right people for the project including: key crew, writer, producer, director, casting and investors
• Industry contacts
• Industry trends
• Marketing, distribution and publicity
• Post production options
• Preparing an application for funding
• Preparing a budget
• Preparing a schedule
• Preparing a proposal for investors
• Production implications for your project including: budget, length, locations and market
• Sample contacts
• Script feedback and development
• Tips for low budget productions
• Where to find more information

Tailored training

We create tailor-made courses for industry, community and corporate groups, covering technical production and postproduction. We can assist in multiskilling media professionals; provide team-building packages for corporations and creative outlets for communities. Please contact our Learning and Development department for a competitive quote on your organisation’s training needs: 02 9356 1818 or email us.

Crew for hire

Metro Screen provides skilled industry camera, lighting and sound operators and editors who can be booked through our facilities department. Please contact our Hire and Post Production department on 02 9356 1818 or email us.

"Despite working on my screenplays for several  years I always felt I feel short when it came to  concise and spontaneous way of describing my stories to industry professionals. In just a few hours, Georgia not only helped me come up with a format for delivering a great "pitch," but also helped clarify my screenplay's strongest points and focus my rewrite." 
Carolina Starin