So why even do a pitchfest? For the magical phrase, “Let me give you my personal email, send me your stuff right away and remind me who you were, I get too many pitches to remember. Can’t wait to hear from you.” Seconds after that statement you will see the production company person’s eyes glaze over with the knowledge that more pain is walking over as the bell dings for change of pitchers.
My first year I had nine out of ten requests for information; I later learned that was unheard of success. My second time pitching I had twelve out of fifteen. I pitch well. Each evening, I and my new pitch and expo buddies hit the parties and drank ourselves funny. At least we thought we were. We shared experiences, bonded, and shared the essence of being a writer; more specifically, a screenwriter. We all gloried in those moments, shared plot ideas, helped those who were struggling and generally loving what we do as a hobby and craft.
After more than too much alcohol we all head home do follow-ups, send scripts, or some type of synopsis, and eagerly wait for the next step in selling our script. The thing is, by my measure, it just doesn’t really work. No, that can’t be — doesn’t work? Well, what are your odds? Most people do well with between 10% and 40% of their pitches. Even those requests for synopsis or scripts practically never end up in a script being sold. A review of the press releases for every Expo don’t, as best I can find, tell the story of even one pitched script being produced and put on a screen. Now clearly I could be wrong, I don’t know everything pitched or made, but I also don’t know anyone who has a check from a pitchfest.
What I do know writers get from the pitchfest are new friends, people who share an interest, and a great group of parties where they get to share their success and loss. This is where the writer who is pitching gets to take a risk, jump out of the plane, live to tell about it, and have an amazing experience in an environment where they are not likely to win, but they still try. That in itself is worth the price of admission and that is where the real story is and the great short movie could be written.
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