If you’re a Writer, Director, Hyphenate, or Aspiring showrunner and you don’t know how the business side of the entertainment industry works… you’re missing half the picture for your career.

EBS is the only school that offers personalized career training specific to the entertainment business at the pro level taught by a former executive. 

Apply now for the 9-week VIRTUAL TRAINING with Kaia Alexander. 

Application portal is

open

EBS Winter 2024
January 29- March 29
9 weeks

Our next session will be in Summer 2024
Starting on August 4th.

(Space is limited, not everyone who applies is accepted.)

VIRTUAL and ACCESSIBILITY FRIENDLY

Take classes from anywhere.
NEW! All classes have closed-captioning and offer live transcripts.

Kaia is a genius. ~ Garry Shandling, comedian

For over a decade I’ve seen creatives struggle or fail – not because of lack of talent – but because of lack of business acumen. The reality is that what you don’t know about business can (and does) impede your career. Talent, while imperative, is not enough in this highly competitive field. That’s why I created EBS, so you have everything you need to show the industry that you’re a pro, and get paid like one. – Kaia Alexander, Founder EBS

What our students have to say

EBS
Kawan Glover

Kawan Glover

Screenwriter, Author of Favor

Kaia Alexander and EBS entered my life at a time when I knew next to nothing about the entertainment industry. Now I can confidently and competently enter into any room and sell myself, and my brand, negotiate a fair deal, and maintain great relationships. I’m more than fully equipped to take this industry by storm and it’s all thanks to Kaia. She is the Obi-Wan to my Luke Skywalker. What’s better, she’ll be here at every step I take. Entertainment Business Mastery or School are among the best courses out there. 10/10 Highly recommend!

Your Career Needs Rocket Boosters

There is no precedent for the rapidly changing landscapes of film and TV. That’s why I update our course slides for every session.

As I grew my business my consulting became in demand, and I worked for industry legends like the CEO of Sony Pictures and Mike Medavoy, one of the original founders of Orion.

Bottom line is: No one has all the answers. We each have a corner of the map illuminated. I’d like to help you get more corners of the map- you need them to succeed. In class you’ll have a whole wolfpack of other students who each have a corner of the map, and together, you’ll grow exponentially – I see it every session. We’re an open classroom. Your contributions, voice and POV matter.

If you’re passionate about writing, directing, acting, showrunning, TV and film, here’s what I know for sure:

We need your stories.

The industry is hungry for new stories. But being talented isn’t enough. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes I see creatives make is thinking that if they get recognized for their talent, that’s enough to build an entire career on. But the reality is, if you try and lone wolf it in this relationships-driven business, you’ll go hungry, just like a wolf without a pack.

That’s why I’m now known for saying, you need a wolfpack! It’s the cornerstone of EBS. You get the information you need to succeed and you get a wolfpack of both your fellow students and our EBS alums, in real time.

We’re a community of likeminded pros in TV and film. You’re going to make new friends for life.

You must develop your business acumen, to protect yourself, to come across as a pro, and to reach the highest levels of success.

I’d like to help you. It’s why I’ve designed this program.

Entertainment Business School
9 – Weeks
Summer 2024 starts August 4th

SPACE IS LIMITED!

You’ve got to avoid career-killer mistakes. Let’s bust some myths, shall we?:

  • If I get a rep, all I have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride (No, even celebrities work hard to promote and position their work and stay relevant)
  • I don’t really have to learn the business side, because I’ll hire people to do that for me (huge mistake that could cost you millions)
  • If I’m talented, the work will come to me (Maybe, but deal flow is by design, not luck)
  • When I get famous all my problems will go away (fame is not enlightenment)

Many creatives just don’t know how to position themselves. Even great ones get stuck in uncertainty about how to network and land jobs.

So, if you’re sick of:

  • Giving all your time, $$, and power away to entering contests
  • Having execs pass on your projects without telling you why
  • Constantly worrying about money and job insecurity
  • Everyone telling you to network without really understanding how to love it and rock it
  • Waiting: waiting for a rep, waiting for a rep to sell your work, waiting for a better deal, or any deal to come your way
  • Not working doing what you love
  • Feeling confused as to how to progress
  • Getting stuck

The EBS Community is Your Wolfpack!

From finding your new partners for production, to meeting your new best friends, we can’t wait to welcome you into the wolfpack! So far there have been 7 wolfpack productions of shorts, features and podcasts where our students/alums met in EBS. We have a growing worldwide network for you to plug into with our Howls. Who will you meet in EBS?

The EBS Community
The EBS Community
The EBS Community
The EBS Community
The EBS Community
The EBS Community

HOW IT WORKS:

For 9 Weeks we meet for class, live coaching sessions, mixers and special guests.

All on Zoom & Slack

Weekly Replays Provided Each Week of All Sessions
Plus Email Access to Kaia M-F, 9am-7pm

Monday

5pmPT Mixer
(every other week)
1st week = Orientation
60min.

Tuesday

5pmPT
Lecture
(with Q&A)
90min.

Wednesday

DARK

Thursday

5pmPT 
Workshop
90min.

Friday

10amPT
Special Guest
90min.
12noonPT Office Hours
60min.

EBS 9 Week Syllabus:

Orientation: Find your Wolf Pack!

An inspirational talk on how to succeed in the entertainment industry, and how to think about building your confidence and business relationships. It all starts here.

Business101

Week 1: Business 101

Do you need to start a production company? When should you do that? How do you protect your ideas/I.P.? How do the business aspects of the movie/TV business and publishing work? Should you have a business partner? Business basics. Who should be on your team (#WolfPack!) and how do you find them? Understanding the roles of attorneys, managers, agents, publicists and their deal %. How can you optimize your positioning for maximum employment in the industry.

Vision Strategy

Week 2: Vision & Strategy

There are many paths up the mountain, but only one right way for you. I’ll teach you to think strategically about your career so you never feel confused or like you’re wasting time. This week you’ll make a deck for your ideal industry career path, based on the tried and true methods used by top Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and startups. Includes confidence building training.

Branding

Week 3: Branding

From Shondaland to Apatow Prod., and M. Night Shyamalan to Issa Rae and Oprah, the titans of the industry (producers, writers, directors, authors, showrunners) have established themselves and their careers with substantial name recognition. That’s branding, and it’s imperative to your long term career success. You decide your brand, and plan your brand identity from the start to find your partners in believing, and your audience. Lots of case studies in this class.

Community Building

Week 4: Community Building

Networking is the way to working, and staying employed. I teach you how to rock it. Write your bio, position your accomplishments, and learn how to share who you are in a mixer situation, in a cold email or DM, and on your outfacing social media and website. How do you stay well-positioned? Make sure you stay top of mind for the movers and shakers in the business. We all take some fun personality tests this week! Learn to assess if your potential partner is the perfect fit, or if they have a personality disorder. Includes a segment on sociopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism and why to avoid them.

Pitching

Week 5: Pitching

Learn my personal pitch technique that stems from the hundreds of pitches I sat through as a buyer. Yes, there is a wrong way to pitch! I see it all the time. My proven technique means you can pitch your work and your career to anyone who asks at any level of the industry- even if all you have is 1min. You’ll learn to connect, translate why someone should listen to you, tap your passion for a great pitch session, and make sure you have an “ask” so you always have a next step.

Screenwriting Publishing

Week 6: Publishing & I.P.

From writing books to articles, agents to editors, everything you need to know about getting published. What’s an agent? How do you get one? Fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, YA. The anatomy of a book proposal. Your adaptation. Screenplays, bibles and treatments. Getting an option on life rights, novels, articles and more, and the advantage of controlling IP. What a shopping agreement is and who may want one. How to position your I.P. for producers. How to acquire I.P. and adapt it.

Financing

Week 7: Financing

Is the investor serious? How do you close them? I’ve been inside these wheelworks for many companies, worked with attorneys, raised seed rounds of capital, and seen places this can go wrong or stall. You should know how and when to protect yourself and your ideas—and also when it’s safe to share them. This week includes a section on tax rebates in film, and film incentives by country, state, and city. The basics of film budgets: above and below the line, insurance, pre-prod/prod/post production.

Week 8: Negotiation

You’ve got to know how to negotiate to gain respect, more money, better deals and a fantastic reputation. One mistake creatives make is they let their reps handle negotiating without staying in the loop and weighing in. What’s your negotiating style, and how do you anchor your value, and go after bigger deals? This includes how to say “no” and walk away. Do not ever work for free. Everything we’ve worked on together about confidence building comes into play here. Students who complete this week often report back that they’re getting paid more in their next job. We love that!

Money Deals

Week 9: Deal Flow

Here is the climax of our 9 weeks, because you want to get paid, and get paid more! Money is a hush-hush subject in this industry. Let’s break it down. What’s a step deal? When do producers get paid? Who gets a back end? Do points still exist? Maybe you’ve heard that two celebrities on a film get paid unequally, or that shows get made in other countries to avoid unions. How are film and TV different- how are they similar? Who gets a credit, and how do they get it? What is there to IMDB that you can’t see? What’s turn around? What’s development and development hell? Here’s how it works, who arbitrates credit, and how to secure good deals. Often, attorneys are at the heart of every deal, so here we discuss in more detail the basics of MOUs, term sheets, contracts, shopping agreements, the guilds: WGA/DGA/PGA.

PLUS YOU GET THESE VALUABLE BONUSES: 

*The Mandates:

Yes, you get access to the highly-valued, hard-to-get industry mandates. Most recent TV/film mandates, plus previous quarters. If they are released during your cohort, you get them in real time.
Value: $2000

* Fast Action Bonus! Sign up before July 22nd.

Special Guests:

Kaia always brings in a bunch of spectacular special guests who are working pros in the industry. It’s a real treat for students, and the pros have been known to read request students, and even invite them to Oscar parties! The guests alone are worth the tuition.
Value: $9,000

EBS Vault:

Access an impressive online portal with a bespoke EBS library of business and finance documents including:

  • Business documents going back 30 years donated by Phoenix Pictures
  • Emmy/Academy Award screenplay library of scripts you can download.
  • Movie Budgets,
  • Pitch Decks,
  • Bibles,
  • Streamer/Network pitch preferences and how to from CAA to Netflix,
  • Financial Literacy downloads,
  • Mental Health support,
  • Productivity and Legal documents,
  • MOUs, Term sheets, Deal memos – How to and examples
  • How to query download

Value: $19,000

EBS Workbook:

You’ll also get a 50 page Entertainment Business School workbook that has all your weekly exercises, space for notes, plus your reading lists.
Value: $1000

EBS Alums Network & EBS Wolfpack:

Only by taking the Entertainment Business School are you given access to our mighty wolfpack alums network community. Plus future opportunities and introductions that are exclusively offered to our grads who have gone through the program.
Value: $Priceless!!

All part of your EBS student experience!

TOTAL VALUE

Yours Free When You Enroll

EBS Portal: In our online portal you get access to the 10 recorded weekly lessons, plus a growing number of interviews with industry legends, a script library, plus an industry archive of term sheets, budgets, development reports, coverage and more.

To Proceed with Your Enrollment,
Please Choose your Plan

Now Afterpay logo is available with every plan!
Summer 2024 Session Begins August 4th.
Level 3 - Earth

Balcony Seating

EBS Class Viewing (No Coaching)

This is new tier in 2024 created for students who want an affordable way to access the information in EBS, get all the lessons, and meet the wolfpack. Just like balcony seats at your favorite concert! This is an all-access pass to EBS at the viewing level. You get to watch all classes, participate in Zoom chat and the Q&A. You get to meet your fellow students on Slack and in Mixers. Students do not get live coaching from Kaia in Workshop or Office Hours sessions.

Level 2 - Water

Orchestra Seating

Personalized Coaching, Space Limited To Just 24 Students

Want more personal attention? Get Coaching from Kaia plus everything in EBS. This level includes your very own Thursday Workshop Spotlight Session where Kaia will put her eyes on your bios, pitch decks, loglines, IMDB/socials, and you get coaching in Office Hours.
To apply, click the button below, and you’ll be taken to the application page. Students who move forward from the application will go to a 1-1 Interview with Kaia. Not all students who apply will be accepted.

CHOOSE YOUR BEST PLAN

BEST VALUE

BALCONY SEATS
Your Tuition Only
    • Mixers
    • Tues Lessons
    • Thurs Workshop Viewing
    • EBS Vault
    • Friday Special Guests
    • Special Bonuses
    • Thurs Workshop Spotlight with Coaching
    • Friday Office Hours Coaching From Kaia
    • Special 2Hr. Practice Pitch Session

PERSONALIZED COACHING

ORCHESTRA SEATS
Your Tuition Only
    • Mixers
    • Tues Lessons
    • Thurs Workshop Viewing
    • EBS Vault
    • Friday Special Guests
    • Special Bonuses
    • Thurs Workshop Spotlight with Coaching
    • Friday Office Hours Coaching From Kaia
    • Special 2Hr. Practice Pitch Session

Ask us about our discounts for ‘Veterans and Active Duty U.S. Military‘ & ‘University Students Currently Enrolled

EBS
Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith

Writer & Producer

I’ve invested a lot of time and money into growing my career and by far, the Entertainment Business School has been the most beneficial. Kaia’s course goes beyond ‘teaching’ – it’s transformative. For anyone looking to demystify this business, then this is the program for you. And for those creatives who break out in hives at the mere thought of contracts, negotiating, financing, you name it, this program is essential. It gives you the language, the tools and most importantly, the power to take control of your career.

Retreat

EXCLUSIVE! Annual EBS Alums Retreat in Palm Springs,CA 

Only EBS alums can attend our annual California relaxing desert retreat with wolfpack fun, community events, dinners, poolside writing sessions and coaching with Kaia. You have to be an alum to join! See more here

CERTIFICATION:

Yes, you can take EBS for a certification! For students who desire a certification, you can create a portfolio of completed exercises and work to be turned in one week after classes end. Certifications are only given to students who complete all classes, and turn in all work.

The Entertainment Business School is a certification program.
You cannot miss more than 4 live classes to be eligible for certification.

100 satisfaction guaranteed

100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

If you sign up for EBS and request a refund before your cohort begins, you will get a 100% refund, no questions asked. If you want a refund after your cohort of EBS begins, we do require that you complete all 9 weeks of the course, and turn in all your course work. If you turn in all your course work, and you still want a refund, we will give you your money back, no questions asked. This is because we know if you do all the course work, you’re going to get career results. Because EBS has a waiting list, and space is limited, and Kaia only offers it a couple times a year, we only offer a refund under these circumstances. Please do not sign up for the course if you plan to be unavailable or traveling during the 9-weeks, as we cannot offer a refund due to your life choices. We want serious students only. Students who experience force majeure during EBS will retain access to the portal, and can take the Entertainment Business Mastery program.

Kaia Alexander
Kaia Alexander

Kaia Alexander

Kaia Alexander is the CEO and founder of the Entertainment Business League and Entertainment Business School for above the line creatives. Also a producer | writer | director, she began her industry career as a development executive on the feature films JUST FRIENDS, PEACEFUL WARRIOR and THE GOOD NIGHT. She was mentored by comedian Garry Shandling and novelist Tom Robbins. She’s an award-winning author for her historical novel Written in the Ashes about the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria (Harper Collins, 2016). Kaia is a passionate advocate for gender and racial parity in the business, and she created a free virtual group for women writers called Writing with Kaia that has members in 30+ countries. As an animal lover, mom, and native of Southern California, there’s always surfboards on Kaia’s car (and fur on her sleeves). She’s proud to be the BQ in LGBTQ.

Kaia Alexander

Kaia Alexander is the CEO/founder of the Entertainment Business League and the Entertainment Business School. She was a development executive on many feature films including JUST FRIENDS (with Ryan Reynolds), PEACEFUL WARRIOR (with Nick Nolte), THE GOOD NIGHT (Gwyneth Paltrow & Penelope Cruz), and HACHI: A DOG’S TALE (with Richard Gere). She worked for and was mentored by comedian Garry Shandling. She’s an award-winning novelist for her book about the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, Written in the Ashes (Harper Collins). As a writer/producer brand is badass, adventurous women. A passionate advocate for diversity, parity and inclusion, Kaia created several scholarships to her programs as well as mentorships for women worldwide. If you ever corner her at a party, be sure to ask her about her passion for surfing. She’s proud to be the BQ in LGBTQ.