The Author As Producer

The business of Storytelling for creative professionals

What you'll learn

Understand the business side of storytelling

Improve networking skills in the creative industries

Understand how projects are created, developed and purchased by the media industries

Understand how films and series are funded and how they generate revenue

Identify and access different sources for project funding

Understand what are author rights and how they apply to your stories

Understand the panorama of the stakeholders in the film business: producers, distributors, sales agents, funding boards.

Requirements

There are no prerequisites. This course is designed to anyone that likes to tell stories and would like to see their stories transformed into films, series, videogames, virtual realities, theatre plays… or any form of storytelling still to be invented.

Description

Unlock the secrets of storytelling business and media production! This course bridges the gap between creativity and industry, teaching you how to develop, pitch, and sell your ideas in a professional context. Understand the business landscape of the media industry, learn the fundamentals of production, networking, and project development, and gain the skills to transform story ideas into viable media projects.Learn to think like a producer and get your ideas made!Great stories deserve to be told—but how do you turn your creative vision into a successful media project?This course is designed for writers, filmmakers, and creative professionals who want to bridge the gap between storytelling and production. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s seminal text The Author as Producer, this course provides the business, financial, and strategic knowledge necessary to develop, pitch, and produce your own projects.Led by Rafael Leal, an experienced writer-producer behind international projects for Netflix, Disney+, and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, this course goes beyond the creative process to teach you how the media industry works, how to secure funding, and how to make your ideas production-ready.This course is your guide to thriving in the global storytelling market.What You’ll Learn:Think Like a Producer – Understand the role of producers and how they turn ideas into reality.Pitch & Sell Your Project – Master the art of presenting your work to investors, studios, and decision-makers.Navigate the Media Industry – Learn how the industry operates and how to position yourself within it.Career Development – Build your network, organize your creative career, and explore opportunities worldwide.This course combines real-world case studies, industry insights, and practical exercises to ensure you gain actionable skills that help you succeed in the media business. Whether you’re a writer looking to sell your first script or a creative professional seeking to produce your own projects, this course will give you the tools to make it happen.Your story is your business—learn how to produce it!

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Welcome!

Lecture 2 Story as a business

Lecture 3 The word of Benjamin

Section 2: Film as a business

Lecture 4 What does it take to produce a film?

Lecture 5 How does a film profit?

Lecture 6 Arthouse vs Mainstream: creation, distribution and funding

Lecture 7 Stakeholders: streamings, producers, festivals - How to read credits

Lecture 8 Target and audience design

Section 3: Producers: what do they eat and how they reproduce?

Lecture 9 What does a producer do?

Lecture 10 The different types of producers: creative, development, executive, associate

Lecture 11 Thinking your projects as a producer

Section 4: Intellectual Property

Lecture 12 Very basic intro on author rights

Lecture 13 Types of contract - Purchase vs options vs service contract

Section 5: Career Strategies

Lecture 14 Career goals and the means to reach them

Lecture 15 Agents, Lawyers, Managers

Lecture 16 Packaging and Project Strategy

Section 6: Story development and Creative Process

Lecture 17 How stories become projects, projects become scripts and scripts become films

Lecture 18 Finding and refining your creative voice

Lecture 19 Developing strong projects

Lecture 20 Laboratories, residencies, development grants

Section 7: Networking & Pitching

Lecture 21 I have a project now what? Where to Network

Lecture 22 Organizing industry contacts/How to approach players

Lecture 23 Networking Materials - business cards, pitch deck, website

Lecture 24 How to create and deliver a strong pitch

Section 8: Career Development

Lecture 25 Next steps

Screenwriters for film, series, games or XR,Dramatists, novelists and other writers interested in explore film & series,Storytellers trying to break in the film & series industry,Directors interested in developing their personal projects,Film and Media students,Creative professionals interested in navigating the international film & media industry,People from different backgrounds curious about how the film & series industry work at an international level,Actors, acting students and people from the arts