Master Classes are in-depth, interactive learning experiences focused on craft and career building and led by renowned industry experts. Topics include fiction and documentary filmmaking, TV writing and production, and navigating and succeeding in the entertainment industry.


To maintain a fulfilling career in the entertainment industry as a writer or director, you need to surround yourself with a team that supports your work and helps you get exposed to the most opportunities. If you’re trying to break in, how do you choose when to bring on a talent agent and a manager? What are the key elements to finding the collaborators that will represent you as your career progresses? Who can you trust and turn to when there are many important decisions to be made? This three-hour Master Class provides a unique opportunity to learn when to seek representation, what are the key roles to fill, how to find them and other essential information you need to know before building your team. The Hollywood Reporter’s Rebecca Sun shares her insights from the field and moderates in-depth conversations with managers Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall from Management 360, literary agent Christina Chou from CAA and entertainment attorney Elsa Ramo.

Resources:

Download the list of resources from Rebecca Sun, Elsa Ramo, Adam Marshall, Melissa Breaux, Christina Chou and Sundance Collab


Topics Covered Include:

    00:00 - Welcome and Introduction from Sundance Collab

    04:58 - Introduction to Hollywood Representatives with Rebecca Sun and Elsa Ramo

    08:50 - The Different Types of Representation

    26:26 - An Overview of Agents, Lawyers and Managers

    43:15 - Q&A with Elsa Ramo

    1:03 - The Benefits of Having a Manager with Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall

    1:17 - How Managers Find New Clients

    1:36 - How and When Managers Act as Producers

    1:50 - Q&A with Melissa Breaux and Adam Marshall

    2:06 - How To Connect with an Agent with Christina Chou

    2:19 - The Right Time to Find an Agent

    2:42 - Q&A with Christina Chou

    2:53 - Final Thoughts

    2:56 - Closing Announcements


    Past classes have included Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams on Documentary Storytelling, Finding Dory’s Victoria Strouse on Comedy Writing, Emmy-nominated director Lesli Linka Glatter on Blocking a Scene, The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara on TV Writing and more.

Rebecca Sun
Moderator
Rebecca Sun is senior editor of diversity and inclusion at The Hollywood Reporter, where she oversees equity and representation for the publication. She previously covered the agency business for THR. In 2019, the nonprofit collective Gold House named her to the A100 list of the most impactful Asians and AAPIs in culture, and she won a National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for her feature about a Black woman TV writers’ collective. more...
Melissa Breaux
Panelist
Breaux’s clients include many Sundance alum filmmakers, including Nicole Kassell (CLAWS and WATCHMAN pilots, THE LEFTOVERS), Sean Durkin (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, THE NEST), Antonio Campos (SIMON KILLER, THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME), Josh Mond (JAMES WHITE), Nicolas Pesce (EYES OF MY MOTHER, PIERCING), Eliza Hittman (BEACH RATS, NEVER RARELY SOMETIME ALWAYS) and Nia DaCosta (LITTLE WOODS, CANDYMAN). more...
Adam Marshall
Panelist
A graduate of Syracuse University, Adam Marshall started his career at Brillstein Entertainment and Bruckheimer Films. Transitioning to management full-time, he worked for boutique management firm Energy Entertainment for 6 years. After a short stint with Caliber Media, he joined Management 360 as a literary manager in 2014. more...
Elsa Ramo
Panelist
At the dealmaking intersection of where content makers meet buyers, financiers and distributors, Elsa Ramo is often at the forefront of first-time deals with emerging and established streamers, guiding her clients into innovative terms that optimize their reach and prevalence in today’s flattened marketplace. Ramo works with established content-creating powerhouses such as Imagine Entertainment, Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud and Hartbeat Productions, Hello Sunshine, Skydance, Boardwalk Pictures and Scout Productions. She also represents independent prolific producers such as Yale Entertainment (recently completing Katie Holmes’ directed “Rare Objects” and Mayim Bialik’s “As They Made Us”) and Unified’s Keith Kjarval, as well as talent such as choreographer JaQuel Knight, producer Anne Clements, and female directors Amber Sealey and Vera Miao. more...

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