If you’re a creative and you don’t know how the business side of the entertainment industry works…
your career will suffer, stall, even die.

EBS is the only place to get personalized career training specific to
the entertainment business at the pro level. 

Apply Now for the 10-Weeks LIVE Virtual Business School with Kaia Alexander. 

Application portal is

open

Next classes will be in 2024.

Our next session will be in Summer 2023
– Add your name to the waitlist with any button on this page

APPLY NOW
JOIN THE WAITLIST

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

SPACE IS LIMITED!

Take class from home.
All classes are held LIVE via Zoom 4hrs/week.
Apply now to claim your space! See below for details, syllabus and more.

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.

What our students have to say

EBS
Michelle Domanowski

Michelle Domanowski

Screenwriter

Kaia gave me invaluable insider knowledge on how the industry works, as well as how to use this knowledge to put myself in a position to succeed. Her advice on pitching and developing my brand as a writer helped me with making some key decisions about my writing portfolio and how I market myself. She also helped me develop my networking skills, an area I always struggled in. Because of Kaia, I was able to grow my social media presence and make connections with people I previously would’ve been too afraid to reach out to. Kaia is truly a “renaissance teacher” in that her knowledge spans many aspects of the entertainment industry, and she’s equally passionate about all of these topics.

Your Career Needs Rocket Boosters

It’s never been a better time to work in the entertainment industry- both above and below the line. There has never been more opportunity than now because of the way streaming and the pandemic changed our lives.

I get that it’s also incredibly confusing. No one knows what will happen next. 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.

If you’re passionate about writing, directing, acting, 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, especially as we grow. You get the information you need to succeed and you get a wolf pack of both your fellow students and our EBS alums, in real time.

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
For Above the Line Education
And Career Training
In the Entertainment Industry

APPLY NOW
JOIN THE WAITLIST

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

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. – Henry David Thoreau

HOW IT WORKS:

You’ll receive 10-weeks of weekly training sessions and lectures from me, delivered live via Zoom.

Monday

5pmPT Evening Class
every other week
(week 1=orientation)

1HR.

Tuesday

5pmPT
Evening Class
Lesson with Kaia
(with Q&A)

90min.

Wednesday

DARK

Thursday

5pmPT Evening Class
Workshop

90min.

Friday

12pmPT
Office Hours

EBS 10 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.

Build Your Audience

Week 6: Build Your Audience

One of the most powerful ways to make deals and negotiate more money in a deal is to have an established audience. So, what can you do to create one? Includes website basics, like making sure your website serves both your audience AND your potential buyers. Lead magnets, and conversion tactics. Plus, how to build your email list of potential readers/viewers.

Screenwriting Publishing

Week 7: 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 8: 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 9: 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 10: Deal Flow

Here is the climax of our 10 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: 

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.

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.

Reading lists: All the best industry books in one place. Students seeking certification complete a book report on one book of your choice.

EBS Portal: We have an impressive online portal with an enormous resources library of business and finance documents, and a screenplay library.

EBS Alums Network: Your wolfpack includes all the EBS alums, including your cohort classmates, and we are a vibrant community worldwide. In almost any city you visit, you’ll have friends and connections in the entertainment business. We have ongoing events called Howls, and students are always collaborating. Plus I offer complimentary Monday Mixers for alums on a monthly basis, so you can always make new friends in the wolfpack. The community is worth a fortune, and you get it as a bonus.

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.

APPLY NOW
JOIN THE WAITLIST

SPACE IS LIMITED!

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?

For 3 months (10 weeks), we’ll meet for class and coaching sessions with live Q&A.

All on Zoom
&
Slack

  • We have a Slack for your class of EBS that will give you access to both Kaia as your instructor and your fellow students.
  • There is a private Slack Channel for all EBS students and alum so you can find your #Wolfpack.
  • Plus you can stop in during any office hour for some 1-1 private career coaching and attention from Kaia. (Kaia’s executive coaching is $300/hr, so if all you did was her office hours for the 10 weeks, you’ve tripled your value from your EBS investment.)

And what I can promise is that your fellow students will become some of your dearest allies and friends in the business.

We always have your back! We are the #WolfPack.

EBS
Kristen Batko

Kristen Batko

screenwriter, playwright

The Entertainment Business School (EBS) has been such a wonderful experience for me. There are a lot of business courses out there that teach you technical film industry terms and rehash the written rules of entertainment. And EBS does include classes on terminology, such as what an if/come deal is, what terms you should include in your contracts, and more.

read more
read less

But what especially stood out to me about EBS is that it teaches the often overlooked art of “soft skills” in the business.
I’ve been to film school and worked in the business for a few years now, and still found immense value in the course because of the soft skills practice and encouragement from the amazing founder, Kaia Alexander. Much of what she teaches isn’t taught in film school, and so for many their only option is to learn these lessons the hard way. No longer with EBS.
These “soft skills” are truly what can make you or break you in Hollywood. Kaia teaches email
etiquette, how to build your working relationships, how to be assertive, how to handle the types of conflict that inevitably come up in Hollywood, how to build your personal brand, how to negotiate, how to pitch yourself as a person, and even just how to have the courage to ask for the scary things in the industry. Understanding these things is crucial to success in Hollywood,
and EBS brings in qualified speakers to expand on these topics.
I also want to note that Kaia Alexander, the founder, is an amazing person. She’s supportive and generous with her time and her connections. She makes sure to uplift diverse voices, and
teaches those who talk too much to sit back and listen. She’s a friendly, warm guide and is always open to constructive feedback. I knew from the first time I met her that she’s that rare, genuinely kind soul, and I’m so lucky that EBS is taught by her.

I would recommend this course for beginners and veterans in Hollywood alike, particularly if those soft skills are something you need to work on. And most of us do. You’ll be in for an important education, an open, communicative teacher, and an incredible experience.

Other Business Trainings Cost a Lot More…
for a Lot Less Time.

Comparable Programs with Business
Thought Leaders:

B-School with Marie Forleo is only 6 weeks, and happens once a year, and thousands of students are admitted into the program who may or may not get personalized attention. She doesn’t cover the entertainment industry. Cost: $2499

 

Speakeasy Weekends with Steve Sims

This 2-day business training with author/entrepreneur Steve Sims of Blue fishing. I highly recommend Steve’s book, and Steve’s trainings, and he’s worth $1000/day. With EBS, you get that level of dedication for 10 weeks, for a fraction of the cost. Cost: $2000

 

Section4 with Scott Galloway

2 weeks to focus on the area of business you most want/need to upskill. Galloway is a legend. Is he worth it? 100%. But you get 10 weeks of EBS for less than what he charges for 2 sprints. And we’re purely entertainment business focused. Cost: $750

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.

100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

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 10 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 10-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.