We are generally looking for two types of projects:
1: a STEREOTYPICAL topic/genre that is approached from a completely new angle, shedding a new form of light on the topic/genre.
2: stories so far away from the norm that no-one else aside from a very specific set of "nerds"/"individuals with very focused interests" would be interested in it. "The outer fringes of creativity". Our company is designed to adapt FOR the 'nerd-esphere', and FROM the 'nerd-esphere'.
1 hour genre samples
Not interested in acquiring westerns, historical, supernatural detective, dating-app, or gangster-thriller projects.
That said, interested in READING SAMPLES for anything listed above, including the things we aren't acquiring, as we will be staffing a few different projects by the end of the year.
Michael K. Dwyer is a Hawaiian, Chinese, and Irish Producer-and-Screenwriter with over a decade of film industry experience. A native of San Francisco, California, Michael graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts on the Dean’s List as well as the literary honors program Thematic Option.
In 2012, Michael began working for former Columbia Pictures and Sony Chairman Mark Canton, who he assisted on seasons 2 through series finale of the hit show Power, as well as tentpole films like The Last Witch Hunter. Michael also worked briefly as an assistant at the film/music/tech crossover company MX Productions for Christina Aguilera and Matthew Rutler, who had a television deal at Lionsgate Television.
Michael returned to working for Mark Canton as a Creative Executive at his new independently financed venture Cinelou Films, where he associate produced independent films like Robert DeNiro’s The Comedian, Jennifer Aniston’s The Yellow Birds, Ridley Scott’s Phoenix Forgotten, and Joe Dante/Mick Garris’s fan-favorite horror anthology Nightmare Cinema. During this time, he also managed the active slates of Mark Canton’s multiple film and television ventures.
In 2019, Michael left Cinelou as Director of Development, and found a home as the Head of Screenplay and Business Development at Atlanta’s Blackhall Entertainment Ventures, and then at Los Angeles’s Ravendesk Entertainment.
Michael is currently Head of Development at Ravendesk, where he has set up trans-media Comic and Table-top RPG projects across the industry in television, feature, videogame, and podcast spaces. During Michael’s tenure at Ravendesk, he has overseen the company’s growth as it purchased 15+ comic and tabletop-RPG titles, set up an independent first-look development and production deal, as well as secured agency representation for the Company’s slate of IP. Now Ravendesk has a television project fully independently financed for production, and several IPs in deep development across all mediums.
As a screenwriter who operates in the sci-fi/fantasy sphere, Michael is an absolute joy to work with. He understands these genres inside and out, and because of that was able to find exactly where my TV pilot was coming up short. He continued to communicate with me regularly on my rewrite and not only greatly improve the main character thread of the story, but better tie it to the overall setting and mythos and leave me with a pilot that provided a far stronger read. If you like to write science fiction and fantasy stories with loads of myth and world-building, I highly recommend collaborating with him if you can.
~ Daniel McNaught, Screenwriter
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Immediately after registering, you will receive an Order Confirmation email that serves as the receipt for your registration. In the Order Summary section of this email, you will find a link reading "CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS" that will take you to instructions on how to submit your contact info or written pitch via the Material Submission Form.
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Your material/contact submission is due as soon as you are ready, but no later than 8:00am PT the day of the session.
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You will receive this exec's written feedback on your pitch via email within 10 to 12 business days following the session unless otherwise notified.
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Need some general guidelines on pitching? Check out our Hitchhiker's Guide to Pitching!
What Is "IP?"
Pitch your Intellectual Property in under 8 minutes to reps & producers looking to develop and adapt IP. YOU SHOULD NOT ALREADY HAVE A SCRIPT FOR THIS. THIS IS NOT A PITCH FOR ANYTHING ALREADY SCRIPTED. This means you have either already acquired and optioned this published IP or you have created and already had published one of the following:
- books
- novels
- video games
- graphic novels
- life rights
- optioned true stories
- news articles
- podcasts
- narrative albums
- social media narratives or characters with substantial following
To repeat, you MUST ALREADY be in control of the IP you are pitching. NOTHING SELF-PUBLISHED WILL BE ACCEPTED. THIS IS NOT FOR SCREENPLAYS OR TELEPLAYS. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ONLY.
Cancellation Policy
You may cancel for a full refund up to 72 hrs. prior to the start of the session. Cancellations requested after this deadline will be ineligible for refunds.
Questions?
If you have any questions at all about this program, email coordinator@roadmapwriters.com!