The Water Bottle Tour

Online Classes
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$449.00
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Sold Out - Waitlist Available!

At Roadmap, we believe in putting writers in real-world environments and showing them what the industry is really like. Enter: The Water Bottle Tour!

Water Bottle Tour is the term for when agents and managers set their clients up on a string of meetings in a short period of time. The phrase refers to the litany of water bottles one collects at each of these meetings! 

In this Water Bottle Tour, writers learn what executives really look for in their pages, pitches, and general meetings. Full of immersive opportunities to network and learn from executives, writers will be put to the test in virtual meetings with multiple execs each and every week to sharpen their general meetings skills. This is a fast-paced, fully immersive experience to push you from good in the room to owning the room. 

Session Formats

Virtual Meetups: Following an intro from the exec, each writer will give a brief overview of their projects and brand. Following each 5-minute introduction, the rest of the time will be used for a group Q&A with the exec so writers can ask any industry-related questions and put their chit-chat skills to the test. Your host will be provided with your loglines and bios beforehand so they will already be familiar with you before we get started.

Verbal Pitch Prep: Learn the art of delivering your verbal pitch, including how to pitch conversationally (without reading!), how to efficiently incorporate all of the necessary elements of a pitch (tone, characters, plot), and how to make your pitch relatable and universal. Then, deliver your verbal pitch for practice and notes.

30-Minute General Meetings: Each writer will take the skills they learned so far and apply them to a full private 30 Minute Mock General Meeting with an executive specifically interested in their genre. This will be an opportunity for an executive to get to know your writing and help you develop your career trajectory. Can you own the room? For General Meeting #3, the executive will receive the first 20 pages of your script for review prior to the session. Each writer will receive written feedback from the executive on each General Meeting. 

Researching Target Homes/Next Steps: Knowing how to pitch is just half the battle - now it's time for some tools & tricks for figuring out who to pitch your projects to! The art of researching target homes is luckily one that can be taught - in this session, we'll walk you through the process of researching target homes for your project on the internet. We will also look at your bio and loglines and give you guidance on what the next steps for your career can be! 

Final Recap: In this final hour, Roadmap's CEO will go over recurring feedback given during this Water Bottle Tour, do's and don't's on following up with execs they made relationships with during the program, plus a tutorial on how to properly research target homes for your projects! 

Week One - Orientation

Date / Time
Summary

Joey will go over the structure and best practices for the Water Bottle Tour and answer any questions you may have before getting the month started!

Host:
Joey Tuccio - CEO & Co-Founder, Roadmap Writers

Joey started in the industry at Bold Films (DRIVE, NIGHTCRAWLER, WHIPLASH) and has read for Hugh Jackman's company, George Clooney's company, and Night and Day Pictures, to name a few. Experiencing how hard it was for writers to receive real tangible advice on how to break into the industry, Joey and Dorian created Roadmap Writers over 7 years ago.  At Roadmap, Joey focuses on connecting vetted writers with execs in the industry. He has helped hundreds of writers connect to their representation, get staffed and get produced. He also mentors for Cinestory and The Writers Lab. When he's not helping writers, he spends his time rescuing animals in need. 

Week One - Pitch and General Meeting Prep

Date / Time
Summary

Learn the art of delivering your verbal pitch, including how to pitch conversationally (without reading!), how to efficiently incorporate all of the necessary elements of a pitch (tone, characters, plot), and how to make your pitch relatable and universal. Then, a few volunteers will deliver their verbal pitch for practice and notes. 

Host:
Alexandra Davies - Director of Education, Roadmap Writers

Alexandra holds a degree in English Literature from UCLA, which she earned while pursuing acting. As an actress for many years, she learned the ins and outs of character, story and entertainment first hand, both on stage and in front of the camera. As the Director of Education at Roadmap, Alex strives to identify the most common hurdles writers face in developing their work and design classes, clinics, and webinars to address these issues. In addition, Alex is a writer with several scripts, a novel, a short film (produced during the AT&T Shape Create-A-Thon), and a webseries (coming soon!) under her belt. Prior to Roadmap, Alex worked in live events, law, and education.

Week One - Virtual Meetup #1

Date / Time
Summary

Following an intro from an exec, each writer will give a brief overview of their projects and brand. Following each 5 minute introduction, the rest of the time will be used for a group Q&A with the exec so writers can ask any industry-related questions and put their chit chat skills to the test. 

Host:
Maddie Breeland - Director of Development, Anvil Pictures

A graduate of Boston’s Emerson College with a degree in producing for film and TV, Maddie Breeland recently joined Dean DeBlois’ (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON) Anvil Pictures, as Director of Development. Maddie began her career as a development assistant at Fox 2000 Pictures (THE HATE U GIVE; HIDDEN FIGURES; LOVE, SIMON) before working for Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney live-action features, and eventually being promoted to development coordinator at Walt Disney Pictures (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; ALADDIN; MULAN). At Anvil, Maddie will develop and produce live-action and hybrid content as part of their deal with Universal (JURASSIC WORLD; THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS; FURIOUS 7), including upcoming projects, TREASURE ISLAND and MICRONAUTS. She’s a fan of all genres but personally loves action, adventure, sci-fi/fantasy, thrillers, and true-crime documentaries. Maddie is a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion and aims to make content that promotes underrepresented groups.

Week Two - General Meetings

Date / Time
Summary

Apply the skills you've learned so far to a full private 30-Minute Mock General Meeting! This is an opportunity for the for the exec to get to know your writing and help you develop your career trajectory.  Can you own the room? 

  • Pro Tip: Come in with questions! Don't rely on the exec to lead the conversation. 
  • Please note: as these meetings are private, you will be held in a waiting room until it is your turn. Please try to arrive at least 15 min. prior to your scheduled time. 
  • Each writer will receive written feedback from the executive following the meeting. 
Host:
Jason Lubin - Lit Manager / Producer, First Story Entertainment

Jason Lubin is a manager-producer and the principal at First Story Entertainment, which he founded in 2018. The lit management company represents a diverse roster of talented writers and directors with fresh voices in all genres for Film and TV. The company’s clients have been staffed on shows on multiple networks including Showtime, CW, Apple+, and Netflix, and have sold series to Disney and HBO Max. In 2021, two of the nine participants selected for the highly competitive WBTV Writers Workshop were clients. In the feature space, First Story clients have written films starring Robert De Niro and John Malkovich, have sold specs to Searchlight Pictures, and have directed feature films accepted to Cannes. Jason also develops both feature film and television projects under the company’s banner. Prior to starting First Story, Jason worked as the Head of Production & Development at Lynda Obst Productions, a Sony-based production company. He also worked at Lionsgate where he rose to Story Editor in the Motion Picture Group and served as the junior creative executive on multiple feature projects. Jason cut his teeth as the assistant to CEO Jon Feltheimer and was named one of Variety's Ten Assistants to Watch. A graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Jason currently sits on the board of the Trojan Entertainment Network. 

Week Two - General Meetings

Date / Time
Summary

Apply the skills you've learned so far to a full private 30-Minute Mock General Meeting! This is an opportunity for the for the exec to get to know your writing and help you develop your career trajectory.  Can you own the room? 

  • Pro Tip: Come in with questions! Don't rely on the exec to lead the conversation. 
  • Please note: as these meetings are private, you will be held in a waiting room until it is your turn. Please try to arrive at least 15 min. prior to your scheduled time. 
  • Each writer will receive written feedback from the executive following the meeting. 
Host:
Sydney Sagman - Coordinator, Bold Films

After studying Screenwriting and Production at Emerson College Sydney Sagman moved to LA to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. After working for a year as a line producer's assistant, she made a jump over to development where her education and experience in storytelling would be more useful. Sydney has been working her way up at Bold Films for three years now, where she has honed the craft of identifying unique and compelling concepts to develop with her team.

Week Three - Virtual Meetup #1

Date / Time
Summary

Following an intro from an exec, each writer will give a brief overview of their projects and brand. Following each 5 minute introduction, the rest of the time will be used for a group Q&A with the exec so writers can ask any industry-related questions and put their chit chat skills to the test. 

Host:
Aaron Jacob - Production Supervisor, Marvel Studios

NYU and Chapman alum Aaron Jacob currently works as a Production Supervisor at Marvel Studios. Prior to this, Aaron was the Script and Post-Production Supervisor at Bento Box Entertainment where he oversees several of their animation shows including PARADISE PD, DUNCANVILLE, HOOPS, and an upcoming project for Netflix/Apple TV. Prior to that, Aaron worked in creative development at Original Force 3D Animation, an international company that recently opened an LA location and forged partnerships with the production veteran masterminds behind SHREK and CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Aaron has written and directed several successful short films including the proof-of-concept short film KNIGHT WATCH starring Carolina Ravassa (OVERWATCH, HISPANGLOSAXON) and RILEY starring Bex Taylor-Klaus and Vincent Martella (PHINEAS AND FERB, THE WALKING DEAD, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS). Recently, he optioned a war fantasy feature screenplay and is currently developing several other features and TV projects in both live-action and animation. Additionally, Aaron co-created, writes for, and composes the music for THE LUCID PODCAST, a new horror anthology series, now available to stream.

Week Three - Target Homes & Next Steps

Date / Time
Summary

Knowing how to pitch is just half the battle - now it's time for some tools & tricks for figuring out who to pitch your projects to! The art of researching target homes is luckily one that can be taught - in this session, we'll walk you through the process of researching target homes for your project on the internet. We will also look at your bio and loglines and give you guidance on what the next steps for your career can be!

Host:
Alexandra Davies - Director of Education, Roadmap Writers

Alexandra holds a degree in English Literature from UCLA, which she earned while pursuing acting. As an actress for many years, she learned the ins and outs of character, story and entertainment first hand, both on stage and in front of the camera. As the Director of Education at Roadmap, Alex strives to identify the most common hurdles writers face in developing their work and design classes, clinics, and webinars to address these issues. In addition, Alex is a writer with several scripts, a novel, a short film (produced during the AT&T Shape Create-A-Thon), and a webseries (coming soon!) under her belt. Prior to Roadmap, Alex worked in live events, law, and education.

Week Four - General Meetings

Date / Time
Summary

Apply the skills you've learned so far to a full private 30-Minute Mock General Meeting! This is an opportunity for the for the exec to get to know your writing and help you develop your career trajectory.  Can you own the room? 

  • Pro Tip: Come in with questions! Don't rely on the exec to lead the conversation. 
  • Please note: as these meetings are private, you will be held in a waiting room until it is your turn. Please try to arrive at least 15 min. prior to your scheduled time. 
  • Each writer will receive written feedback from the executive following the meeting. 
Host:
Andrew Kersey - Literary Manager, Kersey Management

Kersey Management is a boutique literary management company that nurtures unique storytelling voices in film and tv.

In April 2023 before the WGA strike, client Brian Otting sold his action comedy spec script NEVER TOO OLD TO DIE to Amazon Studios with Sylvester Stallone attached to star and produce.

Also in 2023, his client Ryan Kirkpatrick sold an action spec to Thunder Road Pictures (JOHN WICK franchise) and the comedy VACATION FRIENDS 2 — the sequel to VACATION FRIENDS written by clients Tom and Tim Mullen which was Hulu’s biggest 3-day weekend opener for an original in the streamer’s history — premiered on Hulu.

The company’s incredibly talented clients have projects at all the major studios and streamers. In tv, his clients have sold projects to and written on series for ABC, Fox, NBC, CW, AMC’s ALLBLK, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and WGN America to name a few.

In the “independent” film space, clients of Andrew’s literary management company have had projects distributed by IFC, Saban Films, Well Go USA Entertainment and Anchor Bay Films.

Andrew worked his way up through the industry, starting as a production company intern before landing at 3Arts Entertainment. He left 3Arts to gain experience in development at a Universal-based production company, before starting his own management company, Kersey Management.
www.kerseymanagement.com

Week Four - Wrap Up

Date / Time
Summary

In this final hour, Roadmap's CEO will go over recurring feedback given during this Water Bottle Tour, dos and don'ts on following up with execs they made relationships with during the program, plus a tutorial on how to properly research target homes for your projects! 

Host:
Joey Tuccio - CEO & Co-Founder, Roadmap Writers

Joey started in the industry at Bold Films (DRIVE, NIGHTCRAWLER, WHIPLASH) and has read for Hugh Jackman's company, George Clooney's company, and Night and Day Pictures, to name a few. Experiencing how hard it was for writers to receive real tangible advice on how to break into the industry, Joey and Dorian created Roadmap Writers over 7 years ago.  At Roadmap, Joey focuses on connecting vetted writers with execs in the industry. He has helped hundreds of writers connect to their representation, get staffed and get produced. He also mentors for Cinestory and The Writers Lab. When he's not helping writers, he spends his time rescuing animals in need. 

Testimonials

Loving the Water Bottle Tour! Learned a lot from some very sharp industry pros, running the gamut from pitching and taking meetings to getting full coverage on my script. It was already well worth the money, and I still have one week to go!

~ Lisa Rysinger - Screenwriter

I loved the Water Bottle Tour! It provided assistance in ways not normally accessible. For instance, we’re having a 30-minute general meeting this weekend to mimic such meetings in LA. Great opportunity!

~ Larry Woldenberg - Screenwriter

Hollywood is all about 'Who you know.' But how do you, as a writer, turn that around to 'Who knows you?' The Water Bottle Tour will teach you how to get noticed and remembered.

~ Marie Roughan - Screenwriter

How it Works

Cancellation Policy: You may cancel for a full refund up to 5 days prior to the start of the class. Cancellations requested after this period will be ineligible for refunds.

Please ensure you are familiar with our Code of Conduct.

The Roadmap Promise

Roadmap Writers prides itself on the quality of executives we bring to our programs and we work hard to get you the best feedback possible.

Our vetted executives are chosen by the legitimacy of the companies they work for and their ability to evaluate pitches and pages.

Only the executives you sign up for will be provided with your materials.