I still have no idea what I learned from yesterday. Maybe it’s because I only had five hours (six tops) of sleep then drove to New Jersey and back, stayed up until 3:30 decompressing (okay, playing Texas hold’em online) which just left me with a nasty headache all day, but I’m only now able to assess yesterday’s pitch session.
It was a mass pitch session where Larry Meistrich and his business partner (whose name sadly I can’t remember) listened and critiqued about 10-15 pitches over three hours at Rutgers University. I was second to last because I showed up late (I timed it to be an hour early, but an hour-plus was the time of the delay on the I-95 before the GW Bridge). I was fine with that because I was still going over what I was going to say about my script, and I needed to three-hole punch my script just in case they asked for it (which they said they might do). There were a couple of good pitches presented (one documentary and a sci-fi computer animated web series were big standouts), but a lot were college kids/aspiring filmmakers trying to pitch their first script. Larry and friend critiqued the pitches after they were given. I got my three minutes or so and pitched my script Generocity (an interweaving ensemble indie drama that follows four homeless people over 24 hours on the coldest day of the year in New York City). Their critique of the pitch was pretty right on in how it went—I started off great with an opening talking about a homeless guy in Times Square and his rap leading into my characters, but it got a bit lost and muddled as I hit the middle of the synopsis. Larry’s partner said I should make sure I tell one straight through line/story to hook onto through the pitch. He was right and I realize I should have done it differently. It’s not like I didn’t know my script, but I tried it differently focusing on each character’s drama instead of pitching the themes (which is how I finally ended it).
Larry and his partner spent the time after the pitch session talking to us about what they were trying to do with his company. It was a little depressing to me if only because the model they are trying to do (movies that tell good stories but can be marketed in web presence and other new emerging media) doesn’t fit my script. Even worse, one of Larry’s first films was Laws of Gravity, which was a kind of seminal film of the indie films of the 1990s, and he himself said that that film could not be made and/or sold today in this market. Since Generocity really fits into the ’90s indie model, I’m screwed. It basically means I HAVE to make the film myself because no one else will touch it. It’s good to know that, but depressing at the same time. It also means I need to focus on a couple of scripts I have now and get them sold (if anything to use the money to produce Generocity), and look at how to create content for the new existing and emerging media. It’s good but hard.
That was the only good part of the day. Aside from the traffic jam, I got a ticket for speeding in Connecticut (luckily the cop caught me a break because I actually admitted I was speeding). I was speeding to get back to Boston because I was supposed to meet someone for a late supper. That turned into a bust as well (I got lost and she never called back). Plus I was dragging my ass all day from a long-ass day before.
I’m not holding my breath that they want my script for the company, but I am going to his lecture in NYC on May 8. Lessons learned: don’t give up; this is a rough business; you have to create outside the norm to make a dent; and I need more sleep.