ADAPTATION for Film, TV, Books, Streaming & More
$10 for WIFSFBA Members / $20 for Non-members / On ZOOM
Content providers and publishers are always searching for the next great story, but not all writers start from scratch. Their ideas often come from things they see, read, write and hear. The challenge is to reshape this material from its original book, article, podcast or story form into a viable screenplay or adaptation material for another medium.
Please join our virtual panel of award-winning producers, directors, consultants, and creative representatives for a lively interactive discussion about working with adaptation projects in various entertainment forms.
OUR INDUSTRY PANELISTS
Jennifer S. Wilkov (Moderator/Story Consultant) is a multi #1 international best-selling award-winning author, producer, an award-winning freelance writer, The Literary Agent Matchmaker™ and a respected book, business and entertainment creative consultant for nearly 20 years. Jennifer was selected as the Top Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant and Best-Selling Author of the Year for 2024 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP). She supports first-time writers and creators and seasoned authors, screenwriters, scriptwriters and playwrights with the essentials to become a bestseller: a great project, a strong platform and a well-polished pitch, presentation and hook for their book, television project, film, or theater project. She passionately teaches and educates writers as a speaker and program producer at writers conferences including Writer’s Digest Conferences, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Crimebake, ThrillerFest, Women in Publishing Summit, California Creative Writers Conference, and others and for groups such as the Writers Guild of America – East, Motion Picture Association and New York Women in Film & Television where she leads the Writers Group as a platinum member and teaches online for writers’ resources such as Writer’s Digest. She is a member of Women In Film in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is the creator and producer of The Next Bestseller™ Workshop (virtual), a safe space that provides writers with exclusive access to the dream team to help writers learn to talk effectively with industry professionals about their projects. Her keen eye for stories that sell for both books and in Hollywood is trusted by industry professionals who appreciate her savvy in seeing the many possibilities a subject can lend itself to. www.YourBookisYourHook.com
Maria C. Miles, Esq. (Entertainment Attorney) is the founding partner of an entertainment law firm with offices in New York. Maria’s practice focuses on all areas of entertainment and media law, including film (both documentary and narrative), television (scripted and non-scripted), literary publishing and new media. Her clients consist primarily of independent film producers, directors, writers and talent. Prior to this, Maria was associated with a large law firm where she served as counsel to numerous award-winning actors, writers, producers, television hosts and multi-platinum recording artists, sports teams, and corporations in the fashion and retail industries related to their entertainment and intellectual property matters.
Mark DeGasperi (Scout) has been a writer, lecturer and professional story analyst in New York for many years. He has read and scouted screenplays, plays and books for film and TV adaptation, most recently for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tribeca Productions, LBI Entertainment, Centropolis Entertainment and the Johnson Production Group. He has also covered potential movie and TV material for Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, the William Morris Agency (WME), International Creative Management (ICM Partners), and past companies like Miramax Films, Jonathan Demme’s Clinica Estetico and Stanley Jaffe`s Jaffilms. He teaches Advanced Film and Television Writing at New York University-SPS.
Lane Shefter Bishop (Producer/Director/Showrunner) is a multi-award-winning Producer and Director who has received numerous accolades for her work including an EMMY and the DGA Fellowship Award for Episodic Television. Currently Ms. Bishop is the CEO of Vast Entertainment, THE go to book-to-screen company since in an online interview, CNN dubbed her “The Book Whisperer” of Hollywood. Ms. Bishop has numerous projects, both completed and in active development including: Producing Feature Films, The Duff for CBS Films & Lionsgate and Assassination Games for MPCA (both based on books). She is also Producing and Directing the feature The Trouble With Dreamers for (based on the book) as well as the Backdoor Pilot for Series, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein for Sony Pictures Television and Tristar (based on the Kiersten White novel) with Lizzie Mickery. Ms. Bishop has also been Executive Producing and Directing Christmas Movies for UPtv and Superchannel, as well as numerous Thriller Movies for Lifetime. Ms. Bishop is also a published Author of the book SELL YOUR STORY IN A SINGLE SENTENCE, ADVICE FROM THE FRONT LINES OF HOLLYWOOD. She is a director-member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Jill Michelle Williams (Producer) is a working television producer and writer who has created content for Broadcast Networks (NBC’s Biggest Loser), Streamers (HBO Max Ellen’s Next Great Designer), and Cable Networks (Lifetime’s Project Runway All Stars and A&E’s Confession of a Serial Killer: BTK). She has sat on panels for the Chelsea Film Festival, been a guest lecturer at Chapman University and a Judge for the Emmys.Jill has been developing for as long as she’s been producing working also as a development consultant creating concepts in the true-crime, lifestyle and docu-soap genres including the Bravo series Southern Charm.Throughout the years, she’s created hundreds of hours of content across unscripted specials, competition shows, as well as documentary and scripted series including a stint as Head of Development. She offers development consulting services through her website hollywoodconsultingstudio.com.
Kelly Thomas (Literary Agent) is an Associate Literary Agent with Serendipity Literary Agency and a Certified Copy Editor with a bachelor’s degree in English from Pace University. She is an associate member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and a member of the Editorial Freelance Association. She co-runs the monthly “8 Simple Steps to Writing a Successful Synopsis Workshop” alongside Jennifer S. Wilkov through the publishing and entertainment consulting company Your Book Is Your Hook. Prior to joining Serendipity Literary Agency, she provided part-time manuscript analysis for the D4EO Literary Agency’ Kelly has participated in Pitch Slams for writing conferences, including ThrillerFest, Crimebake, Writing Day Workshops, and The Writer’s Digest Conference. She has sat on ‘Ask the Agent’ panels for the AWP Conference and Writing Barn’s ‘Courage to Create’ program, and she has participated in the ‘First Pages Critique’ panel for the Carnegie Center for Literary and Learning’s Books-in-Progress Conference and for the Women in Publishing Summit.
