FadeIn Hollywood Pitchfest 2023

 So... I am doing the FadeIn Hollywood PitchFest again this year.

Why?

I know it may seem like a fruitless endeavor: last year I pitched to five VIPs, all of whom asked to read my script... Of the five, only one actually got back to me (a rejection) and the other four remain elusive. On a side note, I feel like I should email them again just for the sake of efficiency, even though nearly a year of trying to track them down basically amounts to, "Go kick rocks" in Hollywood language on their end.

But here are my reasons for wanting to do PitchFest again.

1.) The first Pitchfest I attended was in 2015, where I was pitching a horror screenplay I had written in 2008 (Flatdog). I went home from that PitchFest and used what I'd learned to write a script (Personal Demons) that has been requested by more agents & producers, won 1st place in a screenplay competition (and climbed the ranks in many others) and has been included in nearly every single film festival I've submitted it to. Clearly I am on to something, have a modicum of talent and have a marketable script.

Bottom line: I put seven years between the first PitchFest I attended and last year's. I'm not getting any younger and I really want to be able to tell myself that I am doing everything I can to get my writing career off the ground so I can sleep at night and be content in my humble (yet altogether not-what-I-want) life. Plus, I have a script that is a proven success, I just have to get it into the right hands... and the more hands I get it into, the more likely it will get made.

2.) Since I finished my first comedy script (Muscles & Wine) last summer, I really want to put the pitch for that script out there and see what kind of feedback I get from it.

3.) I honestly don't know how much longer FadeIn's Hollywood PitchFest will offer a virtual option, but I better take advantage while I can still pitch to VIPs without breaking my bank on a trip to L.A. and I can pitch from the comfort of my home (where I feel the safest and most confident).

4.) Last year I paid $400 for 5 pitches. This year, because I am a Bronze Pitchfest alumni, I get a special deal of 15 pitches for $545. $145 more for 10 additional pitches. Not bad. Plus it will give me the leeway I need to pitch Personal Demons to some VIPs looking for horror and test the waters for Muscles & Wine with the VIPs looking for comedy scripts.

All this plus the fact that (as soon as PitchFest is over, August 1st) I hop a plane to NY with my mother (this will be our second trip to NY this year) to, among other things, see the new horror play Grey House, which is playing at the Lyceum Theater, just across the street from our hotel. This trip to NY will not only be incredibly sweet because we got all of our touristy stuff (Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, etc.) out of the way our last trip, plus this time I'm seeing more plays that I'm genuinely interested in and, finally, I have a feeling I will be riding a momentum and rush of having two screenplays I've written requested (and potentially read) by a bunch of Hollywood VIPs. 

What a close out to a (hopefully no doubt) awesome summer!