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My POV
by Brian A. Wilson
Video Pitching with The Pitch Factory
At its best, Hollywood is still the ultimate land of opportunity. If you have a vision for creating something new, be it a script or a studio or anything in between, you can make it into reality in Tinseltown.
Such is the case with the industry's latest marketing tool: the video pitch. Just as pitch festivals and pitch marts seem to have swooned, along comes a bright, hustling guy named Enrique Morales. His company, The Pitch Factory, videotapes writers giving pitches. Those pitches are then posted on his web site.
Nothing new there, right? Everybody under the age of 80 who doesn't live in Oklahoma has a web site.
Now, Enrique has take his creation to the airwaves. He's making the most of public access channels across the country, presenting his pitches as half-hour shows in LA, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami.
Each writer gets five minutes to pitch one story. Then, two industry experts critique the pitch and the story itself.
The price: "Currently, it's free," Enrique says, though plans call for making it a subscription service down the road.
The show serves the dual purpose of getting the writers' stories out, while giving them the opportunity to see how they come across to those on the other side of the industry desk.
Hats off to Enrique for getting out there and making his idea into reality. Check out the fruits of his labor at pitchfactory.com. Then, if you're so inclined, send him an email--they're looking for people to pitch on the air. All they require is that your script is registered, finished, and based on original characters.
That's about as low a barrier to entry as you'll find in Hollywood.
Does it work? Enrique says the best success is had by writers willing to be hired to work on project similar to what they pitch. One participant has sold a book based on his pitch, and another had his film produced and presented at the Berlin Film Festival.
Take a trip to the web site and see if it's right for you.
Keep writing.
BW |
