Virtual Pitchfest

 

I know I’ve made no secret of my caustic relationship with FadeIn Magazine and their subsidiaries (like GreenLightMyMovie.com), but they have their own pitchfest (Hollywood Pitchfest… which actually takes places in L.A., instead of the PitchFest I went to in 2015, which was in Burbank... I would hyperlink them, but it seems they let their domain name expire and their website is nonexistent... a Google search didn't even bring them up... so... looks like FadeIn is now the only game in town). To my knowledge, these are the only two pitchfests available to writers in America (or elsewhere).

I could be wrong, but I seem to remember doing my research back in 2015 and this being the case.

At any rate, it’s usually around this time of the year (spring-ish) that I start thinking,

“Man, I haven’t done any writing since last summer and I feel like garbage because of it. I also haven’t done anything to try and further my writing career in over a year and I am getting nervous that I am losing my momentum and that my window is closing… due to age, how long ago I wrote the material I am pitching, the relevance of my scripts (due to the social climate, trends, etc.) and a bunch of other factors.”

 

That is the mindset I am in now.

 

So I am considering FadeIn’s Virtual Pitchfest (which takes place April 8^th – 11^th).

 

I like the idea of a virtual pitchfest: I don’t have to blow about $1,500 on a plane ticket, a hotel, Ubers, etc. And I can put on a long sleeve dress shirt, sweater vest and tie… and have my pajama bottoms on underneath. Plus I will be in the comfort and security of my home and won’t feel the pressure of being scrutinized live and in-person before an agent, producer, etc.

 

However, there is the price to consider.

 

Here are the prices as they stand now:

 

10 meetings = $395

 

15 meetings = $495

 

5 meetings = $295

 

All of which are fairly steep considering: a.) I just bought a new car (and my monthly payments of $378 being April 4^th), b.) my rent goes up $20 starting April 1^st, c.) unless the wheels of bureaucracy move fast (ha!), and my loans are forgiven before then, I will have to start paying back my student loans to the federal government on May 1^st.

 

All this, plus I am trying to build my nest egg for summer (because, as a teacher, I do not work for 2.5 months out of the year… I do, at my new job, get paid during those months, but I try not to rely on that for a number of reasons).

 

So, my conundrum is this: do I take the 5 pitches and spend $300 just to see what this pitchfest is like (and if it is bogus or not) and pitch only Personal Demons (my most marketable script and the passion project I am trying to get produced) and put myself into more credit card debt (I’m already in the hole for a number of car-related things, plus my grad school tuition, plus incidental expenses, some of them necessary adulting stuff, some of them post-adolescent fun stuff that makes adulting tolerable).

 

Or do I wait a year (when Muscles and Wine will most likely be finished and I will then have two marketable scripts of two completely different genres) when I could possible afford more than just the 5 pitches and will (hopefully) be in a better financial place?

 

I say this and, perhaps, in a year I will not be in a better financial place.

I hope I will, though, as I am getting a raise at work (two raises, actually, when I get my second Masters) and I will (hopefully) have college classes to teach (as an adjunct) at night. I will also have fallen into a rhythm with my car payments at that point. But, I’ve decided, whatever my financial situation is a year from now (if I don’t do the pitchfest this year), it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s not dire, I will put myself into credit card debt next year in order to do this pitchfest if I don’t this year.

 

I figure a year is enough time for me to ignore excuses and just take the leap.

 

I also have to consider that, next year, they may not offer virtual pitchfests.

 

I tend to think they will, though. I seem to remember them offering virtual pitchfests even when we weren’t under a pandemic.

And, sadly, I don’t think this pandemic will have fully subsided before next year.

 

What say you?

 

(I write this assuming that anyone is actually reading this… though my nearly 10 years of posting on this blog have told me, through people responding to posts, that some folks actually are reading this, as it’s linked to my Amazon and Goodreads account, so…).