VPF – Virtual Pitch Fest
Yes, I know… You can’t submit screenplays here. It’s pitching only, but I like this website, so I’m boldly overstepping boundaries here.
VPF lets you choose from a vast number of studios, agencies, managers, agents and producers you can pitch your project to. There’s a search engine to help you find the ones you’re looking for, and it also includes some filters for genre, exec's role, “new execs”, “big players” and others.
The most important feature is that you are guaranteed to receive an answer within 5 business days. What you can’t really control is whether the exec you’re contacting is actually the one giving you the answer, or if the exec is actually interested in new projects or just takes the money without running. So, as always, do your research before investing.
You don’t pay a lot at VPF, especially when you take one of the freebie offers going out regularly. The best value you can get is 13 pitches for the price of ten for $99. I hope they’re still doing this.
If I recall correctly, your pitch can be about 3000 characters long, which is easily enough to tell them everything you need. You can’t include active links, and I suggest not including links leading to your script they would need to copy-paste. I guess they’d consider it inappropriate and wouldn’t do that anyway.
Sometimes, the executive will give you some quick notes on your pitch along with their answer. It’s rare, speaks for the executive and may be a sign for you to follow up later with a new pitch or project if initially you got a no, thank you.Hm… I don’t wanna finish this with a “no thank you”.
Oh, I know. Here’s a little tip:
I got requests after sending the same project to the same person who passed on it at first, but gave me some notes. I reworked the pitch, sometimes the also the script, to match the notes, made it somewhat personal to reach the exec on a respectful but friendship-ish level, and yeah, occasionally, it works.
Stay tuned for part V.
And join my network if you wish.
Best
Till
