Award Winning Creative Director

Alternative SCENARIO

*** **** *** ******, ***** *F NEW YORK, NY 10025 Phone: 212-***-****

Jeffrey Altshuler – Writer/Producer/Director/Publisher

I’ve earned extensive credits as a producer, director and writer and often consult with writers and producers on screenplay development and film and theatrical production. I’ve overseen marketing and promotional campaigns, consulted on creative strategies, created websites, written business plans, proposals, pitches and PR releases for the entertainment industry, publishers, digital media and advocacy organizations. I’m currently looking for consulting gigs and writing assignments that can utilize my creative skill and experience.

As a script consultant who is also a producer/director, my role is to guide the writer in refining his or her own concept and to help bring it to its most successful realization. But I’m not a “script doctor”. Importantly, I don’t believe in standard rules and pre-conceived, cookie cutter formulas.

I’ve provided advice on marketing and outreach to writers’ groups, served on advisory boards of several film festivals and screenwriters’ conferences and participated in many writing panels. I’ve worked with the Writers Guild of America on both coasts, including developing, producing and directing OnWritingONLINE, for the Writers Guild of America East, featuring online panel discussions among prominent film and television writers.

Publishing / Journalism

In 1995 I created Scenario, the Magazine of Screenwriting Art with RC Publications. The quarterly publication featured 4 complete screenplays of major studio and independent films in each issue, interviews with their screenwriters, and essays and commentary on the craft by leading figures in the industry. Scenario was launched at the Sundance Film Festival and at the time was called “the literary magazine of future” by The Washington Post.

As the managing director of Scenario, I oversaw the publication’s development and its daily operations, was a member of the editorial committee, negotiated all publication agreements, and served as creative director and copywriter on all marketing and promotional materials. I was responsible for establishing and maintaining the magazine’s relationships with the film industry, including writers, producers, studios and agents, as well as with the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild and acted as its principal liaison with film festivals, screenwriting conferences film schools and managed the magazine’s highly respected student screenplay competition. I was awarded title to the magazine in a legal dispute with RC Publications, although it is not currently publishing.

I began my career in media journalism at RC as the Film/TV Editor of PRINT, America’s Graphic Design Magazine, a two-time winner of the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence, where I wrote extensively on film and television, as well as on advertising and other related subjects. I also served as the creative director and copywriter on RC’s marketing and promotional efforts for its entire roster of publications, including Scenario, PRINT and E-design.

During the Covid quarantine I worked with the writing workshop and publisher, ShiftPoetry, developing several poetry collections including Poetry Without Pants: Written When Nobody’s Looking (which I named). I wrote the introductions to that volume as well as its sister publication, ShiftPoetry in the Time of Covid-19. I also consulted on marketing and the creation of their website.

Screenwriting

Reflecting on my experience with Scenario, including the relationships I developed with many well-known and award-winning screenwriters, I decided to pursue my own efforts as a screenwriter. I’ve been hired to write several scripts including the screenplay Do You Sincerely Want to be Rich? which is currently being circulated in the industry. The script explores one of the most complex and high-profile financial scandals of the Twentieth Century – the rise and fall of the global financial giant, International Overseas Services, its flamboyant founder, Bernard Cornfeld and the most notorious white-collar fugitive of that time, Robert Vesco. An epic tale of greed, sex, deception and excess, this saga of malfeasance on a global scale is the Godfather of every major financial scam that’s followed it.

Screenplays

Do You Sincerely Want to be Rich?

The Latin in Her – A contemporary, cross cultural comedy with supernatural overtones.

The story was developed with award-winning playwright, Eduardo Machado.

Office Murders – A tense, whodunnit drama, set in a steamy New York publishing office. Adapted from the play by Martin Fox, which I originally produced for the stage.

Brilliant Pebbles – A high-tech thriller set at MIT, based on a novel by the late Joseph R. Egan, an MIT grad and one the world’s leading nuclear attorneys. The script was selected by the Sloan Foundation for inclusion in the Hamptons Film Festival Screenwriters Lab.

The Saddle Bum – Commissioned by Greatland Productions, the screenplay revolves around the lost love and rollercoaster career of a fading country music star.

Theater

I continue to direct, and produce with Barbara Ligeti, the critically acclaimed one-man show, Riding the Midnight Express with Billy Hayes. The play, written and performed by Hayes, tells the true story of his highly publicized 1970 arrest in Istanbul for drug smuggling and his escape from a Turkish prison five years later, dramatized in the Oscar-winning film, Midnight Express. The stage production has received rave reviews in two New York runs Off-Broadway, twice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and has had highly successful engagements in London, Melbourne, Beirut, and Los Angeles, as well as other US cities. We’re developing and expanding the concept as a limited episodic series which is under consideration at a major studio. I created the show’s website, write all copy and directed the trailer and video clips. See www.ridingthemidnightexpresswithbillyhayes.com

Film and Television Production

My experience in film and television production is anchored in a 25-year career producing and directing TV commercials, working in both live-action and special effects, as a producer, director and in senior management positions with leading production companies. Working with high-profile directors and award-winning cinematographers, I’ve been involved in hundreds of spots for national and international clients, including many car companies, fast food restaurants, cosmetics, fashion brands, airlines and a broad range of consumer products and services. I established and continue to maintain my own independent production company, Alternative Scenario LLC, producing and directing projects in a wide range of disciplines and for a variety media.

As a management executive I’ve been responsible for developing client relationships, negotiating production contracts, creating budgets, production and post-production supervision and financial oversight. I’ve produced and directed spots with budgets ranging from shoestring “quickies” to multi-day, multi-million-dollar projects with large crews, multiple sets and special effects, on sound stages and on location.

I’ve been involved in the development and production of several independent film projects and documentaries. With partner, Barbara Ligeti, I produced Tiara Tango starring Jean Smart and Robert Wagner. After enthusiastic receptions at several film festivals, the film was released on Lifetime Television as Forever Fabulous.

I executive produced the Los Angeles Olympic Committee’s award-winning public service television campaign, coordinating the creative effort with several of the LA’s leading advertising agencies and top creative directors, personally directing several spots. With Gold Medal winner and ABC Sports anchor, Donna deVarona, I wrote and produced Sharing the Dream, the fifteen-minute film that was used by the Committee as its keynote presentation for sponsors and supporters.

I co-produced and supervised special effects on Infinite Horizons, a scripted, 2-hour documentary for ABC News. Written and hosted by renown science-fiction author Ray Bradbury, the show was an ABC Movie Special exploring mankind’s future in space. Airing on the tenth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the special effects laden program commemorated man’s first steps on the moon and projected NASA’s expectations for future space travel and exploration, which included creating footage of the future launches of the Space Shuttle, the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station.

Marketing and Promotion

Throughout my career, I’ve taken an active role in the marketing of the productions, publications and businesses I’ve been involved in. I write and supervise all advertising, marketing and promotional outreach for Riding the Midnight Express with Billy Hayes for every engagement, including its productions abroad. My role in promoting Scenario, which included quarterly direct mail and email campaigns, has already been noted. I have created press releases for the production companies and projects I have been associated with and have provided advice and input on pitches and business plans for other producers and publishers. I’ve also conceived the box design, copy and marketing materials for the very popular DVD series Romana on Pilates and other wellness videos. When developing promotional and marketing strategies, my job is to understand the objective of the project and then to apply my own experience and perspective to the challenge in order to create the most effective approach. A portfolio of my past work is available.

Miscellaneous

I taught television commercial production for several years at both the New School and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. I attended Syracuse and Columbia Universities, studying political science and art history and I studied film criticism while teaching Commercial Production at the New School. My interests include politics, international affairs, horses and cooking.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Jeffrey Altshuler

Alternative Scenario LLC

910 West End Avenue, Apt 6F, New York, NY 10025

Phone: 917-***-**** (mobile)

Email: adz1ml@r.postjobfree.com

Contact this candidate