Would-be scribes discover a Catch-22 as soon as they start nosing around for someone to turn their masterpieces into movies: Production companies typically don't accept material that doesn't come from a manager or agent, and managers and agents usually aren't interested in manuscripts from untested talent. Luck or connections sometimes seem like the only way in.
Roa, however, began searching for another way, particularly through screenwriting festivals and expos. Her opportunity came in the form of a speed-pitching event, where writers get brief windows—five to 15 minutes—in which to sell their ideas to Hollywood power brokers. With experience from a few such events, Roa flew to Los Angeles for the 2007 Great American PitchFest. She walked away with connections and a break that ultimately landed her film at Cannes.
"As a writer from outside Los Angeles, there are not a lot of opportunities," says Roa, praising PitchFest for its efficiency. "Where else can I go to meet 21 companies in one day?" Three of them pulled out a writer's consent form on the spot, she recalls. One of the companies produced her short film, One Child, which was shown at Cannes and recently received a request for worldwide distribution. "I used this opportunity to connect to Hollywood, and yes, it has changed my life," Roa says. Not everyone can hope for such immediate success, but organizers insist there are more modest life changes to be had as well.
Each festival has its own modus operandi. The American Film Institute hosts two pitch events, although, unlike most, they are not open to everyone. Many events are put on by companies that cater to screenwriters. Final Draft offers Take a Meeting, held in Los Angeles and New York, as part of its Scriptwriters Showcase. Creative Screenwriting magazine holds Golden Pitch as part of its annual Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles. Others are autonomous, like the Great American PitchFest, a three-day event that this year took place in June in Burbank, Calif.
In some, participants may choose a company suited for their genre, tailor the pitch to that company, and take up to 15 minutes to sell the idea. In others, participants pay per company and meet with as many as they can afford; still others offer unlimited conferences within a given time for a flat fee.
Generally, these amalgams of speed dating and the so-called elevator pitch aren't free. For many, though, the cost is incidental to the opportunity. It's easy to see why. "We don't take any kind of unsolicited material," says Dantram Nguyen, creative executive for the Donners' Co., which produced the X-Men franchise and the Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro. The exception, Nguyen says, is Golden Pitch, which Nguyen has attended for the three years she's been with Donners'.
Despite the "American dream" feeling these forums provide—and some people associated with pitch festivals claim to have witnessed deals done on the spot—organizers warn writers not to get their hopes up. "I don't know about deals," says Lee Zahavi Jessup, director of the script-development and sales service ScriptShark, a frequent speaker on screenwriting, and a consultant for Take a Meeting. "The most realistic goal that the writer can hope for is to start building relationships with the production company." She adds that writers should aim to create interest in their work, giving executives something to think about when they go back to the office and pitch potential projects. "Most of these people are not the final green-lighters," Jessup notes.
Great American PitchFest founder Signe Olynyk says developing relationships is key. Despite having nothing to pitch, she attended similar events to develop relationships with Hollywood companies that might later be interested in helping her with productions in Canada. Olynyk started PitchFest in part to alleviate frustrations she felt at these events, but she encourages writers to go to every event they can. "You never know when the person you meet today is going to work with you tomorrow," she says.
Writers may hope to emulate the meteoric rise of Juno's Oscar-winning Diablo Cody; producers have similar aspirations. "Everyone wants to be the next Mason Novick," Creative Screenwriting's Jeff Goldsmith posits, naming the exec who discovered Cody. Writer-director Alejandro Seri, a marketing manager with Final Draft, is a frequent participant in pitch events. He notes, "When you're sitting there, you really feel that that person is hoping you're the one."
Executives attend these events, say organizers, because they need fresh material as much as the writers need breaks. For Nguyen, "It's an opportunity for us to hear ideas that are outside of the studio system." Olynyk agrees: "I think Hollywood needs outside people—people who aren't working 18-hour days but who are having real experiences and have real stories to tell."
But companies are not looking for rough stones to polish; preparation and research are as important as great ideas. You don't want to make obvious mistakes or waste time by pitching a great idea to a company that's wrong for it. Notes Nguyen, "I wouldn't pitch X-Men to Alexander Payne."
"Have you had a breath mint today?" Goldsmith asks in mock seriousness, commenting on the importance of how you are perceived. "There is a contingency of people we see each year and feel really bad for, who we can tell have never uttered their idea out loud, and they're doing it for the first time in front of an actual executive." Most festivals offer auxiliary workshops and master classes—often featuring screenplay gurus such as Syd Field and William Goldman—along with other tools like mock meetings and DVD tutorials to help participants make the most of their face time.
Roa was the perfect storm of creativity and careful planning. She hoped to wow producers with her poignant drama about population-control policies in China, but to be sure, she put effort into her marketing materials, hiring a graphic designer and creating a one-sheet. She got feedback indicating that the professionally designed package had significant impact on producers' reactions. Roa says she's "flag carrier" for the idea that "good design is good business."
Yet it's often not enough to have a great idea and a professional package; writers are also selling themselves. When executives are pondering your project, they're also considering, consciously or not, how it will be to work on it with you for the next year or so. So hone your people skills, because you need to stand out—in a good way.
The bottom line is that more than 4,000 people attend the handful of pitch festivals mentioned in this article. These events are industry microcosms, and their success rates likely mirror the industry's. Organizers say the best that writers can usually hope for is to leave a little better off than they came. Festivals like Golden Pitch, Take a Meeting, and Great American PitchFest are selling a dream, Olynyk admits—"but it's an attainable dream."
"Anyone who tells you if you go to a meeting like this and pay the fee, you're guaranteed to sell a script is lying to you," warns Seri. But, he says, "This at least gives you a fighting chance. Take a Meeting is one way to break the Catch-22."
For information on the Great American PitchFest, visit www.pitchfest.com. For Final Draft's Take a Meeting, visit www.finaldraft.com/events-and-services. For Creative Screenwriting's Golden Pitch, visit www.screenwritingexpo.com.