Hey Community! I wanted to share my recent experience with the online pitchfest. For the first time ever I pitched my 1hr TV pilot to an executive via Skype. I was nervous, yet confident in the pitch because I prepared for hours. I was ready to go! After a moment of confusion, due to some technical glitches, I launched into the pitch and noticed that the executive was looking at something off screen. I pressed on in order to put it all out there in the allotted 8 mins. I finished the pitch with room for some Q&A....There was none. I thanked them for their time and mentioned the feedback I was looking forward to. Within hours the feedback came... Along with the fear, doubt, and disbelief. I was crushed to see that the feedback--ultimately the executive wasn't engaged in the pitch! "Of course, they weren't because they were distracted!", I thought. I immediately launched into the slef-blame game. Believing it was totally all my fault and I wasn't engaging enough I allowed someone who has known me for less than 8 minutes destroy the trust I'd built for myself and my craft for over a decade! I made the feedback mean I wasn't good enough, when in reality all that happened was: "I pitched a story to an executive that was multitasking and then I got feedback on what they heard." With more pitches coming up, I absolutely needed to restore my trust, compassion and self-confidence, and leave the experience behind me so that I could pitch with passion again. By stripping away all the commentary, I got to put my experience in perspective and chose an empowering context for myself to push forward. For those in the trenches pitching with passion, keep pushing past the fear, doubt and disbelief. Thanks for reading!
Screenwriting : Sharing My Pitch Fest Meeting by Christopher Bernard
Sharing My Pitch Fest Meeting
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Good for you for sharing your story! I find it unbelievable that an exec will participate in a pitch but not give you the courtesy of being engaged enough to make eye contact! Keep plugging away and good luck!
As a total rookie, I've never even been involved in a pitch, so just this experience puts you miles ahead of most up-and-comers. I wonder, though, if that's an uncommon experience. Hopefully future time you spend preparing for a pitch will include how to re-engage the exec if he gets distracted. I know it's something I'll be thinking about when I get to that point too.