ANDREW JENKS & A NEW TYPE OF FILM SCHOOL
Emmy and Peabody Nominated Filmmaker Andrew Jenks, now in his 20th year as a celebrated filmmaker in the industry, will use specific shots/scenes from his work, and the stories and lessons behind them, to teach 4, one-hour classes, all live, not available to the public, and for only the first 20 students who sign up.
When Andrew Jenks was 19 years old he dropped out of NYU film school. It just wasn’t the right fit. This is the class Jenks wishes he had 20 years ago. Whether it’s directing films that have landed on HBO, Netflix, and ESPN, or writing/hosting the #1 Apple Podcast in the world, or being both in front and behind the camera, Jenks will use his wide-range of experiences to show how you can make your projects a reality:
Class 1: The Process: Developing a story, securing financing, and understanding the market.
Class 2: Prep and Production: Researching, adapting, and effective on-set practices.
Class 3: Production & Editing: Following the narrative and avoiding assumptions.
Class 4: Distribution: Marketing and selling your film to audiences.
The program emphasizes practical skills, real-world experiences, and a unique approach to filmmaking, focusing on both artistic and entrepreneurial aspects.
Private Sessions - Anything that you didn’t hear, anything you have follow ups on, specific or general, Andrew will have his coffee ready. For 90 minutes, anything is on the table. Email dan@andrewjenks.com for more information.
Students will be able to interact during class with Jenks, ask questions at specific times, and one-on-one sessions can be requested.
This year will be his 20th as a celebrated director in the film industry. Using the wide-variety of shots/scenes from his work, and the stories and lessons behind them, Jenks is teaching 4, one-hour classes, all live, not available to the public, and for only the first 20 students who sign up. It’s the class Jenks wishes he had 20 years ago. Students will be able to interact during class with Jenks, ask questions at specific times, and one-on-one sessions can be requested.
The first class will be Tuesday, April 15th at 8 PM EST, followed by the 3 following Tuesdays (last class being on May 6th).
Jenks’ career began when he became the youngest director to sell a finished film, after he moved into a nursing home at 19 years old and filmed 200 hours about his summer living in Room 335. After HBO acquired the film, he moved to Japan to make a movie for ESPN, and has since traveled country, and the world, filming people from all walks of life…the wrongfully incarcerated, famous actors, the homeless, professional poker players, animal rescuers, murderers, Deaf football players, he even interviewed a President.
He knows what it’s like to direct projects that win Emmy Awards and trend on social media but also knows what it’s like to direct projects even his parents would tell you, “are fine skipping”.
Jenks will use clips from the last 20 years of his career and for the first time, reveal how he sells his ideas and stories to financiers and distributors, how he actually goes and makes his movies (all very different), edits the movies, and then makes sure the marketing and release plan is perfect - all must come together perfectly so that the masses see it and love it.
To make films, especially when new to the game, you need to be both an artist and entrepreneur, you need to be stubborn but flexible, you need to be resourceful, trustworthy, deliberate, sneaky, and always ready to get out of a hairy situation. These are traits and talents valuable in any life situation.
This is ANDREW JENKS’ NEW TYPE OF FILM SCHOOL
Pricing:
4 Classes will be $150 total.
Private 1-on-1 options available.
The 4 classes will be:
THE PROCESS: How to Actually Make it Happen and Not Just Talk - 3 Things to Always Know - April 15th
THE PREP AND PRODUCTION: Listening, Adapting, and Respecting - Practical Ways to Actually Make Your Movie - April 22nd
PRODUCTION & EDITING: Follow the Puck - Be Steady and Don’t Assume - April 29th
DISTRIBUTION: Time for The Chef - Making a Great Movie that People Actually See - May 6th
THE SYLLABUS
CLASS #1 - THE PROCESS
How to Actually Make it Happen and Not Just Talk - 3 Things to Always Know
The only rule to modern-day filmmaking - there are none.
Anyone who tells you there is only 1 way - 1 way to tell a story, 1 type of camera to use, 1 distribution model to pursue - are often very wrong. The rulebook has been demolished and is being re-written. And unlike any time in history, it will continue to be demolished and re-written again and again and again at an unprecedented rate.
With all of these moving parts, there is one consistent thing to never lose sight of - what is the story I need to tell and how will I tell it to millions?
Andrew walks through why he thinks about 3 things when he considers pursuing a new film:
Why do I want to tell this story? In fact, why do I HAVE to? Your answer will also lead to an important question many might ask - why are YOU the person to do this?
What are both the practical - and more long-shot - approaches that can get you the financing and necessary players? For docs, an example would be conniving someone to give you access. For scripted, an example would be attaching an actor that could lead you to financing. While the filmmaking process is an artform, so is the process of getting your film made.
What does the market tell me? Will it be near impossible to get financing and/or distribution? If so, that’s okay - most great projects are - but strategy matters.
Andrew walks through several projects, including:
At 19 years old, using sample release forms found online, a trial editing system downloaded for free, used cameras bought off of eBay, and a borrowed van someone’s grandmother never wanted, Jenks films in a nursing home and sells a movie to HBO. From the onset, he knew the story he was determined to tell, how he could actually make it for close to nothing, and the ways in which he thought the market would respond.
At 21 years old, MTV gave Jenks $50,000 to produce a 5 minute sizzle showing the potential of a doc-series Jenks had pitched. With that $50,000 Jenks shot over 100 hours, filmed in Atlanta, Miami, and New York CIty. Jenks didn’t deliver a 5 minute sizzle but instead a full half-hour episode, something that would usually cost over 1 million dollars. The half-hour episode, what became the pilot, premiered after the VMA’s and was seen by over 20 million people.
CLASS #2 - THE PREP AND PRODUCTION
Listening & Adapting - Practical Ways to Actually Make Your Movie
A great athlete often puts in the time when nobody is looking. Not in the middle of a game, or a press conference, but alone in the gym - practicing, running, training. Filmmaking is similar. Putting in the time starts way before you pick up the camera. Once you’re on set, there will be many decisions to be made but in some ways, through preparation, you already have an entire playbook prepared so that adjustments can be executed without compromising your project. And when things do come up that you don’t have a plan for (they will), you will feel confident in making a decision. It becomes muscle memory.
But at first, the rapid rate of change on any given movie, can prevent most from reaching their potential. To remain flexible, you need to make sure your larger team - cast and crew - fully believe in you and understand the blood, sweat, and tears you have put into making the project, and everyone in it, successful. You can make sure of this by always:
Listening/Researching: Starts with listening. Jenks explains why you never want to leave a pitch, a meeting with an actor or crew member, in which they won’t realize it is impossible for anyone to CARE as much as you do about telling the particular story. Maybe another person has won an Oscar or has a longer track record of success but the one thing that is in your control is showing just how much you sincerely care. Jenks walks through his process with “dream/killer”, a Top 10 film on Netflix about the wrongful incarceration of Ryan Ferguson or a murder he didn’t commit, and the 6 years it took - once shooting began - for Jenks to make the film. Jenks talks about his process working with HBO on his scripted pilot The Motivational Speaker, alongside Sarah Jessica Parker's Pretty Matches, and the extensive understanding of his characters that was required. He compares it to his experience working with ABC Studios, on another pilot he sold, about a renegade teacher.
Assimilate and Adapt: Jenks explains why he often lives with those he films - from a homeless woman to UFC fighter to a pop star. He walks through two examples from previous shoots in which those in his film got upset at him - and how he was able to handle when a person on your team seems like they want out. Last, he talks through his HBO film, Andrew Jenks, Room 335 and how, despite it being illegal to film in a hospital, Jenks - along with two 90 year olds - snuck cameras, violated all sorts of laws, and filmed a tragic but beautiful moment in a person’s last moments on earth.
CLASS #3 - PRODUCTION
Follow the Puck - Be Steady and Don’t Assume
When Wayne Gretzky was asked what made him the best hockey player in the history of the world, he said, “I follow the puck”.
You’re a filmmaker. Really, a storyteller. That’s important to remember. You’re not a nuclear physicist. Oftentimes the answer in this business is right in front of your eyes. It’s the resistance to see what’s in front of our eyes that gets in the way.
Jenks walks through how he has found certain stories and brought them to life:
When Jenks reads that Muhammad Ali apparently saved a guy from committing suicide in 1981, Jenks doesn’t believe the story adds up. About a year later, Jenks is working with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, on their newly minted Apple #1 podcast, telling the story of exactly what happened. The surprise call from Ali’s daughter soon after changed everything.
In high school, on the way to the mall - Jenks would pass by a high school for Deaf students. 15 years later, Jenks explains how he got CNN Films to finance his film about a Deaf high school.
his Peabody nominated podcast series Gangster Capitalism, about the college admissions scandal.
It takes experience to get in the habit of not assuming things because you’ve had the experience of making assumptions and things not going right, and instead, leaving you with a story that hasn’t reached its potential.
CLASS #4 - DISTRIBUTION
Time for the Chef
Sometimes, especially early in your career, the director is also the producer. As your career advances, you may have others produce or some think it’s helpful and remain producers for their projects. Early in your career, maybe throughout, it’s important to be thinking of Act 4 during Act 1. Imagine your end game from day 1.
Sure, you’ll make sure to get a few still photos from the movie set because a festival wants a couple for their program. But what is more innovative? What are strategies that get your movie seen? Just because it’s great, doesn’t mean it will be seen.
Whether it’s you or a sales agent, and it likely will come from you, you have to do something unnatural - take your movie and with a sales head on, start from scratch. What - if sales is all in mind - would I use from this movie to get people to watch it? You are now a chef. You see your assets and decide how to best make a meal an audience wants to try. Once they are there, it’s up to you to have a great story - a great product.
Jenks goes through a variety of scenarios, including his own experiences with making a film on his own, going the festival route, and selling it to pitching a project to networks and distributors and having funding from the beginning.