Fade In Hollywood PitchFest - Review
https://fadeinonline.com/hollywood-pitch-festival
I am fresh off attending this year’s pitchfest and here are some thoughts.
First off the general idea of pitching is a DREAD to most writers but it is skill that is a MUST to be successful in the business. Nice to have a great script but can you verbally sell it to someone in 2 - 8 minutes by giving them a longline and taking them through major story beats and making someone WANT to see this movie?
The pitchfest gives you an opportunity to pitch in front of different production companies, agencies, managers, etc. They are there to hear you, so make it exciting.
At the event we were given slots to sign up for 14 pitch meetings of five minutes each over two days. The big bonus is there is a standby line we could get in and when there were no shows or executives with open slots we could randomly get assigned to someone. I ended up with 31 pitches over two days!!
After you pitch the exec can tell you (1) ‘that is nice but not what we are looking for’, (2) they compliment you and say ‘thank you good pitch’ and take your contact info and any promo materials you have (this is most often) or (3) some will say, “I want to read that. Send it to me right away.” (I got two of these!) The hope is the ones that take your info, will go back to the office review it, talk to their partners and decide they want to see your script and contact you, until then you wait …
This year the venue was fantastic, it was well organized and clean. All the workers from Fade In were professional and helpful. Fellow writers were cool. I saw some veterans of previous pitchfests so it is turning into a bit of a family.
Me on Day 1
Day 2 was apparently orange shirt day
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Got an El Cubano sandwich for lunch on day 2
Oh! Congrats on the two that wanted you to send over your script. I hope something fruitful comes out of it!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Julia.
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Wayne, I think I saw you there. This was my second HPF, having attended last year. I loved it, particularly the stand by line. I did really well as 17 of my 25 pitches resulted in requests for further information and even the ones that didn’t were still productive in giving me feedback in improving my pitch. I rather enjoy pitching: I’m a psychologist and “pitch” to parents of troubled children as part of my “day job”. My issue is follow-through though I received great advice from other produced attendees in regard to what I need to do on this part of my journey. I’m putting HPF on my sked for next year.
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Hey John, we probably did see each other.
I got a lot of WOWS during my pitch as they followed my story. But not a lot of SEND IT TO ME RIGHT AWAY notices. I must admit to feeling some disappointment. I was hoping after the weekend to get more contacts from other companies. So far only one.
After last year, I specifically wrote a more commercial political thriller that I feel is very commercial. I wonder if it was such a hot button issue that the pitch was too political for some. I hope to hear one or two more requests but.... we will see,.
I noticed this festival and was thinking of attending.
Does anyone know if they are only looking for tv pilots and features or are there also going to be representatives looking for unscripted material (such as reality show concepts) or shorts?
Thanks.