KMW at OIFF: Speakers from Vancouver Film School on pre-production of TV-series and development of “Chernobyl” characters

On July, 16 within the framework of “Master-Classes & Q&A” section of 10th Odesa International Film Festival well-known screenwriter and showrunner Michael Baser and TV producer Barbara Stoll will held workshops on important aspects of making of TV series. 

The speakers are invited to Odesa by information partner of the festival – international media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK (KMW). This was made possible thanks to a partnership between KMW and Vancouver Film School, one of the most reputable educational institutions for audiovisual industry specialists in the world. 

 

“We hope that guests and participants of OIFF, film and TV industry professionals will find the workshops interesting and useful. The workshops will deal with the basics of creating a high-quality product: script development and pre-production”, – noted Victoria Yarmoshchuk, CEO of Media Resources Management, organizer of KMW. “Michael Baser will explain how to create and improve strong and convincing stories. Barbara Stoll will tell about the most efficient way of the organizing of work on a film or series.”  

Michael Baser is scriptwriter and showrunner, for many years he has been the head of screenwriting and producers faculty of Vancouver Film School. During  his long career he has worked with such big companies as 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Disney, Columbia TriStar and Warner Brothers. 

Michael Baser’s workshop’s theme is “Chernobyl: Creating and Designing the Characters That Tell The Story That Needed to Be Told”. 

For his workshop Mr. Baser choose the case of the most successful TV project of the year, HBO series “Chernobyl’. It is the top rating series in the history according to IMDb. Right now rating of “Chernobyl” is 9,6 of 10 (other world hit from HBO “Game of Thrones” rated 9,4 points). One of the key ingredients of phenomenal success of the project is incredibly authentic characters based on real people, who took part in the events. Mr. Baser will analyze mechanisms and secrets of creation of these characters and explain how to tell important stories with their help.    

“The most interesting thing for me as a scriptwriter is to tell stories, driven by characters” says Michael Baser. “The workshop at OIFF will be dedicated creation and designing the characters that are able to lead the story. By the way, in screenwriters course of Vancouver Film School we spend a lot of time learning about this”.

Mr. Baser have been a speaker of KMW multiple times, he follows development of Ukrainian audiovisual industry and encourages Ukrainian professionals of different fields to join world experience of audiovisual content production via joining various programs of Vancouver Film School. Studying there is a great practical and reputational advantage for any specialist in the field. 

Michael Baser’s worksop “Chernobyl: Creating and Designing the Characters That Tell The Story That Needed to Be Told” will take place in the festival centre Rodina in Cosy Hall on July 16 at 13:00. 

Barbara Stoll is TV producer, the most famous project she worked on is TV series “Roseanne”. The sitcom form ABC was aired for 9 years (from 1988 to 1997) and was rebooted for one more season last year. It received 25 Emmy nominations and 4 wins, a Golden Globe and was at the top of the TV ratings since 1989 until 1990. For six seasons it was among the top 4 most popular TV shows. After “Roseanne” Barbara worked as producer for different companies, such as Sony, Universal/Comcast, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, CBS, NBC and Lifetime. This spring she was working on comedy series “The Kenan Show” starring Saturday Night Live actor Kenan Thompson. Now she is the second executive producer for a new prime-time NBC and Sony Pictures comedy “Indebted”.

Barbara Stoll’s workshop “Pre-Production! The Unsung Star of a Hit Television Series!” will be held in the festival centre “Rodina” in Cosy Hall on June 16 at 15:30. 

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to visit Odesa International Film Festival and tell about important nuances of pre-production – they are the guarantee of further success of any project. Also I will tell about peculiarities of work of a woman in the TV industry. Everything I’m going to tell is from my own experience” explains Barbara. It’s hard to overestimate her experience, she has been working in the field for over 40 years.  

You may find information on access to the vents here. The tickets will be available on June 8. 

Vancouver Film School is a leading Canadian postgraduate school in field of film, television and related areas. 13 directions of postgraduate education are represented in the school, including acting and screenwriting, TV and film production, sound design, game design, etc. Many of Vancouver Film School graduates have become successful in TV and film industry. Kevin Smith (director of Clerks, 1994 and Dogma, 1999) and Neill Blomkamp (director of District 9, 2009) are among them. 

KYIV MEDIA WEEK is the biggest media forum in Central and Eastern Europe, that includes international content market, exclusive B2B events, educational and networking events for audiovisual professionals. KMW is held since 2011 and every year it gathers hundreds of participants from more than 35 countries. Program of KMW includes all the spheres of contemporary media business: film, television, formats, series, animation, digital-technologies, content for children, communications, legislation, unique opportunities of Ukrainian media industry, ect. 9th international media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK will take place on September 16-19. You may see the program at the web-site www.kyivmediaweek.com and official Facebook page of the event.