This is the time of year when everyone's planning for what lies ahead. For my part, I’ve spent this past week loading up on reading material to sharpen my scriptwriting skills (The Art of Dramatic Writing, Hero with 1000 Faces), submitted a script to a director friend looking to do a short project, and discovered a new resource for scriptwriters: the pitchfest.
Pitching scripts was the third thing I mentioned in an earlier blog post about what Tisch does for its students. It was also a skill I wanted to learn for myself, and now I’ve discovered that the perfect opportunity to do so already exists.
At events called pitchfests a writer (for a fee) can pitch her script to a number of industry professionals. Pitchfests range in scope, price, and exposure, but in each scenario, the writer can test-drive her pitches in the real world. If the pitch is in great shape, she might get an agent or a studio to pick up the script. If not, she might learn how to improve (or at least gain the awareness that she needs to improve).
Doing online research, I see there’s some debate over whether or not a pitchfest is a good thing. While the majority of what I’ve found suggests they’re good, I’ve also seen complaints that they’re stressful, that you usually pitch to an assistant instead of a producer or director, and that it’s not really fair to have to pay to pitch your work. However, dealing with stress is a must, and assistants are the people screening scripts 99.9999% of the time, anyway. As for the cost, the fee typically goes toward being part of the overall one or two-day conference in which the script pitching takes place, where writers can also attend seminars and networking events. Since some pitchfests are as cheap as $100, this is an experience that is a must-have on my list. So…
Time to get ready for a pitchfest!
This week, I’ve begun developing the storyline for the next feature length script I’m going to write. Once I have my finished treatment and a pitch I feel is adequate, I’ll be selecting which pitchfest I want to attend this spring.
Deadline for my finished script treatment and pitch: February 1st.
To learn more about this, google pitchfests or visit:
Here’s to 2011!
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