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Screenwriting Expo 4

Unknown Screenwriter

Unknown Screenwriter

Just wondering if anyone from IndieTalk might be going to this year's SCREENWRITING EXPO 4. I've been to all of them since they've started and still get a kick out of going even though it's hard to learn very much if you've been at this screenwriting thing very long...

Although, every once in a while, a great class does happen and a great contact is made...

I'd be interested to know if anyone from IndieTalk is going... If more than a few, maybe we can all get together...

Just a thought...

filmy
 
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Nope...

crzybkhd said:
Have you ever done the pitch sessions? Ever heard of anyone getting a deal from them?

I (and few others I know) will be there.
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I never do pitch sessions at events like these...

1) The executives and or low level producers that come to these things, in my opinion, aren't worth the effort. It takes me a couple of months to perfect a pitch session, so when I pitch, I try to make sure I'm pitching to someone who can actually make a decision and not sit on a script for 3 months.

2) These pitch sessions are NOTORIOUS for stealing ideas... No thanks.

3) All I've ever heard about these event pitch sessions is that the screenwriter was able to forward their script afterwards...

filmy
 
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Thought I would drum this old thread up... I highly recommend going if you can make it. The classes are super reasonable and you get a taste of a lot of gurus for not a lot of money... The most expensive part is getting there if you're from out of town...

Last year, I was able to meet Lou Diamond Phillips and Mario Van Peebles... Both have their own production companies... Both looking for screenplays. After meeting them, I am now able to submit a script to both.

If you're a novice screenwriter, you can learn a lot... If you're more experienced, you might learn a couple of new things and network with some great people.

This may sound a little stupid but I have this ritual I go through every time I go to Expo...

For the last 3 years, I wear the same ballcap and I always wear my RayBan Wayfarers... Even inside the theater... LOL. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that I do not even know that recognize me from the previous years... LOL.

Anyway, one class is put on by a well known packaging producer... The first year I went, I stayed late and talked to the guy... He gave me his card.

The next year (Expo 2), I showed up again wearing the same ballcap and glasses and he remembered me and again we talked afterwards...

Last year, same thing. He took me with him to AFM for a day and bought me lunch and FINALLY asked if I had any scripts to show him... LOL.

I did and he has one that he's still trying to package... But hey, that's a contact I would never have made if I hadn't gone to the Expo year after year...

I highly recommend it if you can make it.

filmy
 
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Filmy,

I'm seriously thinking of attending the lectures and workshops and hearing both William Goldman and Paul Haggis speak. Hope to meet you there. I'll be staying with friends in Encino.

WC
 
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Cool...

WriteumCowboy said:
Filmy,

I'm seriously thinking of attending the lectures and workshops and hearing both William Goldman and Paul Haggis speak. Hope to meet you there. I'll be staying with friends in Encino.

WC
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It's worth it just to see and hear Goldman... Hope to see you there... Look for the guy walking around with a black ballcap that says "fughedaboudit" and sunglasses... LOL.

filmy
 
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Nobody's posted on here for a while, but I came on to see if anyone was talking about the Expo. I went two years ago, and am going back again this year. Has anyone received their seminar tags in the mail yet? I haven't received them, nor have I received the email about the pitch sessions. Again, has anyone received that either?

fgd
 
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Nope...

FGD said:
Nobody's posted on here for a while, but I came on to see if anyone was talking about the Expo. I went two years ago, and am going back again this year. Has anyone received their seminar tags in the mail yet? I haven't received them, nor have I received the email about the pitch sessions. Again, has anyone received that either?

fgd
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Haven't received anything yet either and I'm all paid up...

filmy
 
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Badge,tickets if in canada

"If you live in Canada or in a foreign country, you will need to pick up your package at Expo Will Call in the Concourse Foyer on the first level of the Los Angeles Convention Center (West Hall)" - Erik Bauer


Greetings

I got this message in my inbox so I guess for us Canucks its fun in line again at the expo.

I went to the first one in 2002 and this will be my second visit. I meet a lot of great contacts when there and hope to make some more this weekend. I would really like to find someone I can work with we shall see. I’m still trying to decide about the pitch fest but after reading this thread I am having second thoughts.

I thought Idea theft in Hollywood was an Urban Myth. As of late I’m reading a fair number of stories to the contrary in the trade publications so maybe not so much myth. Well Hope to see some of you there.

Duane
 
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Is the pitch sign-up happening for anybody right now? I received an email last night saying it should be happening as we speak, but I never got any set-up or confirmation e-mail. I'm hoping they're just having problems making it happen. Anybody else in the same boat?
 
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I spent a few hours today trying to find ultra cheap flights to LA. I've family there so could stay for next to nothing, but the £304 I'd need for a flight just isn't there.

Next year, for sure.
 
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Hey FGD

Perhaps they mean 6 pm pacific standard time. Sorry I guess that will be late there. I don't thing Im gonna buy more then one. I wanna pitch one of my scripts that I have mailed to myself. I would rather have one idea ripped off then pay to have 5 or 6. heh heh heh.


Duane
 
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It's no urban myth...

islanduane said:
"If you live in Canada or in a foreign country, you will need to pick up your package at Expo Will Call in the Concourse Foyer on the first level of the Los Angeles Convention Center (West Hall)" - Erik Bauer


Greetings

I got this message in my inbox so I guess for us Canucks its fun in line again at the expo.

I went to the first one in 2002 and this will be my second visit. I meet a lot of great contacts when there and hope to make some more this weekend. I would really like to find someone I can work with we shall see. I’m still trying to decide about the pitch fest but after reading this thread I am having second thoughts.

I thought Idea theft in Hollywood was an Urban Myth. As of late I’m reading a fair number of stories to the contrary in the trade publications so maybe not so much myth. Well Hope to see some of you there.

Duane
Click to expand...


I've actually learned quite a bit from having gone to the first three Expos... Idea Theft is NOT an urban myth... In fact, my first and second year there I met 5 different people who regularly pitch to the studios on a bi-monthly basis who go to the Expo every year and take any class where they might end up hearing someone's concept... They all rationalized to me that ideas are like assholes... Everybody's got one. I actually hate it when someone tells me a great idea for a screenplay because I just sit back and think... Shit! Why didn't I think of that?

I could never take someone's idea and make it mine anyway but there are definitely those in Hollywood that do it every day. They not only go to the Expo, they go on forums like this, local screenwriting groups, etc. and mine ideas all the time and work them into a professional pitch to the studios...

Plenty of professional pitch artists out there who never ever write a screenplay... They simply pitch high concepts to the studios all the time and make a damn good living at it. When a studio purchases one of these concepts, they put the concept out on a list that goes to writers all over Smell-A or in some cases, go directly to a writer they have in mind that they feel can do the job right the first time...

I never pitch anything or share ideas at these things because theft is in fact so prevalent and you simply cannot produce a paper trail should someone steal an idea you shared at one of the PERFECT PITCH workshops... LOL.

Anyway, look for the guy walking around in a black ballcap and sunglasses... That'll be me...

filmy
 
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