“Successful Project Preproduction. How to” PITCH UA Education Platform master–class for filmmakers.

John Wynn will discuss his experience making this Ukrainian film and how pre-production was the secret to success. We will go deep into the fundamentals of a great prep that include proper script visualization and analysis, workflow process, critical communication, and other critical preparation strategies. We will give an honest review of the strengths and weaknesses of Ukrainian production as well as best practices that can be applied by local filmmakers.   

John Wynn is the director, editor, and producer of the historical war epic THE RISING HAWK, starring Robert Patrick, Tommy Flanagan, Poppy Drayton, and Alex MacNicoll. The film was nominated for seven and won three Ukrainian Academy Awards and was nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award for Best Action in a Foreign Film. It was released globally in October 2020.

Wynn's past narrative works include the award-winning short films Pillow Talk, Escape, and The Passing, a finalist in the Legendary Pictures and YouTube House of Horrors contest with Guillermo del Toro. He's also directed content such as Call to Heroes for Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment and Hellhole: Repossession for Blumhouse Productions and SyFy and directed award-winning commercial spots for brands such as Motorola, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Bosch.

Josh Weinstock is an award-winning producer; Josh Weinstock is owner of Sea Smoke Entertainment which has produced feature films and television both in the studio and independent space including HBO’s Emmy and Golden Globe Nominated film Nightingale with David Oyelowo and Brad Pitt which was recognized in September’s The New York Times list “10 Unusual Streaming Movies for Unusual Times.” He is currently in post-production on the Netflix Original thriller Intrusion with Freida Pinto and Logan Mar- shall-Green that will premiere worldwide in October. Other projects produced include Chop Shop for Paramount Studios, Netflix, and Bandito Bros (Act of Valor), and Sleepwalker for Mar Vista starring Richard Armitage which premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. 

He currently has multiple active projects set up with major studios including HBO’s Thirst with Matt Damon, Sony’s Rumplestiltskin with Peter Dinklage, Universal’s Cutting Numbers with Rosa Salazar and Josh Hutcherson, The Shepherd with Tom Shadyac and Anonymous Content, and The Diabolic TV series with Gary Oldman at e-One. 

Adam Sigel is the content strategist, writer, and producer from Los Angeles (USA), Adam Sigel has more than 20 years of experience in creating original content for TV and cinemas, digital projects, mobile apps, VR, and video games for world-famous companies and social organizations. Together with Josh Weinstock, he has been a consultant and a jury member of the PITCH UA contest for the third year in a row.

The Hollywood producers will hold the masterclasses from the PITCH UA Educational Platform: Emmy Awards nominee Josh Weinstock and content strategist, writer, and producer Adam Sigel. With many years of experience in creating successful content for the film and TV industry in the US, they are also well informed of the Ukrainian AV industry. They have been consulting the participants of the PITCH UA contest for socially important content for several years now.

Masterclasses within the KIFF “Molodist” mark the official launch of the PITCH UA Educational Platform, which is an educational project from the organizers of the PITCH UA contest. Its main goal is to provide the Ukrainian AV content creators with free access to the best international practices of socially important topics integration into the film, TV and digital segments. During the year, it is planned to conduct a number of educational events featuring international AV industry experts.

Organizers: Media consulting company Media Resources Management (MRM), with the support of the Transformation Communications Activity (TCA) Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

Language of the event: English. 

Guests with Industry accreditation are welcome to attend the event. 

For Press, Student and Partner accreditations, access is subject to seat availability.