Interview with Ilja von
Nagel, founder of Tribe Hollywood
Interview by Sam
Quo Vadis
Ilja von Nagel was born and raised in Germany and came
to the US to study film and video production at NYU film school.
In New York, he worked in film production as PA and AD
before working for many years for the fashion company FUBU, handling their live
webcasts from their headquarters in the Empire State Building. He then moved to
LA to pursue screenwriting but ended up translating subtitles for international
DVDs.
Ilja completed seven screenplays (mainly in the action,
sci-fi, and thriller genres but he has also written a comedy and an adaptation
of a classic best-selling novel) and began writing for German action film
company Action Concept. He won numerous contests and reached the Chesterfield
finals twice.
In an effort to get his screenplays out of the drawer
and go a step further than writing thousands of query letters, he founded
TribeHollywood.com, a networking
website for the entertainment industry. His ploy worked-- he got tons of
exposure, an awesome manager at Little Studio Films, and just celebrated his
first feature script sale through the site.
With a rewrite due and the site to administer, he's
busier than ever-- but at least he gets up whenever he pleases.
What was the genesis of Tribe
Hollywood?
I had all these screenplays I wanted to get out of the drawer. And I knew there
was this group of NYU film school alumni I was a part of. But I just couldn't
get access to them! Since I had a tendency to build online empires from my
bedroom anyway, I decided to take the initiative and build a place where
everyone could network.
It was much more work than I had thought but once I had the site programmed, it
worked out nicely: I sent out an announcement on NYU's listserv and a thousand
entertainment industry professionals signed up within a few days. Then, for a
while, the site was exclusively NYU-only. But people wanted to invite their
colleagues and friends, so after a while we gave in and opened the site to the
entire industry.
What are Tribe Hollywood's best and most popular
features?
In my opinion, the best two things about Tribe Hollywood are that a) if you're
on the site, you can be sure everyone is a confirmed industry professional and
you won't have that "random people problem" and b) that you can network not only
based on people, but also on projects. It gives members a chance to get attached
to raw-stage projects, which can really pay off. It's also a great way to meet
people based on the kinds of stuff they're producing.
Page-view-wise, the most popular feature is the stats feature, where you can see
exactly who has checked out your profile, your loglines, sample pages, press
kit, and so on.
What are some of the ways members can use Tribe
Hollywood to advance their projects and careers?
Members can get a lot of exposure for their projects simply listing them and
making them searchable (and findable) in TH's database. The fact that you can
upload pictures, script pages, video, marketing stuff, etc., and distribute
queries through TH's own query system gets more info to more targeted people
than random query-mailing or press-release blasting. You can also track who's
seen your project page, your logline, and so on.
Other than that, it's not what you know, it's who you know, and TH is literally
made for that.
Can you give us some success stories?
One of the most frustrating things about running the site is that most of the
time, I don't know in detail what people are getting out of it but I have heard
some success stories personally:
One of my contacts on Tribe Hollywood is a composer who scored three feature
film soundtracks on Tribe Hollywood by targeting projects when they were in
their early stage. I've personally talked to at least a dozen people who've
found agents/managers just by putting their screenplays and short films out
there. I found my manager at Little Studio Films through Tribe Hollywood as
well. A mockumentary DVD was recently released through connections made on TH. A
producer I know found a distributor who opened her movie on 500 screens. Agents,
managers, and sales agents often comment that they really dig the exclusive
nature of the site when they're looking for projects or talent. As far as I
know, many people hook up as writing partners, scene partners or co-producers.
At the very least, everyone meets new people. I mean, that's what everybody is
here for.
Oh yeah. I also sold a screenplay to a producer I met on Tribe Hollywood.
Who can join?
We require ONE of these:
a) a decent credit we can verify on web (like on imdb.com);
b) at least a semi-finalist award in a major competition;
c) a professional e-mail address (like, say, someone@mtv.com);
d) a degree or current student status at a relevant school/university;
c) sometimes we accept just a professional website, if it's well done and shows
that person is serious about their career...
What are your goals and ambitions for the site and for
you personally? What is the future of Tribe Hollywood?
I want Tribe Hollywood to be the highest quality entertainment industry
networking website out there, that's it.
I love the grassroots-type networking that's happening on TH and I'll do
everything I can to make it even hotter and fresher.
I see Tribe Hollywood branching out into other entertainment-related areas such
as advertising, web design, journalism, and so on. We already have a good mix of
creative and business people-- I want to expand that. We signed up the first
jewelry designer this week and I'm very proud of that.
Tell us about your past and current projects.
I worked for a long time for FUBU in New York City, doing their online
entertainment magazine and web casts. I wrote several $100 Mio. kick-alien-ass
screenplays and several low budget thrillers. I worked for a while for a German
action film company, Action Concept, writing international projects for them. In
LA, I was a translator for a lot of big studio international movies.
Right now, I'm rewriting an adaptation of a classic American novel that's being
produced here in LA. Between that and Tribe Hollywood, I'm plenty busy.
On a personal note, how often do you Schmookie? And
have you ever been caught?
I absolutely never schmookie but I've been caught a few times.
What is Schmookie.com?
Schmookie.com is what happens when you have a tendency to build online
empires from your bedroom...
What's next for Ilja von Nagel?
I'm German, so: Total World Domination. The invasion is coming.
Screenwriter Sam Quo Vadis is a multiple award-winning
writer and the founder of The Screenplayers, a cooperative organization of
writers and filmmakers. His 20 minute comedic short, "Babysitters," starring
Taylor Bright, was produced in Chicago. Currently, he is writing the pilot
script, series bible, and business proposal for "Mind Lords," a
sci-fi/mystery/thriller series he has created that is based on real world
events. Past accolades include being a winner in the Texas Film Institute (TFI)
and Telluride Indiefest screenwriting competitions, a CineStory finalist, a top
three American Zoetrope screenwriter (twice), and a semi-finalist in the Don &
Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, Moondance, and American Accolades
competitions. His web page is
http://www.studiostar.ca.
