Recently, the radio show Two Jacks in the Hole sent me to the Hollywood Pitchfest with some hidden recording equipment.
The Hollywood Pitchfest is a two day event where aspiring screenwriters can pitch to industry executives through a series of five-minute meetings. Sounds great, right? Well, it only has three problems:
1) No executives actually show up (only interns and assistants).
2) The event costs $420 (in addition to the hundreds people spend to fly & stay in hotels. I met people from as far away as Massachusetts, Tennessee and Canada.)
3) None of these movies ever get made. Some films get optioned, some people find managers, but not one film has gone from the Hollywood Pitchfest to a theater near you.
I didn't know the extent of the scam at first - I was sent to pitch the worst movies of all time to executives to see if how they'd react. If they said films like "President Baby" were stupid and dismissed them, then I'd be wrong. If they just nodded and smiled, it'd tell me they were only interested in getting me out of there as quickly as possible so they could get back to the free lunch buffet.
The results were insane. Here are the clips. For more info on all this, you can visit http://www.presidentbaby.com:
Pitch 5 - Folds In Space Time, President Baby & Metal Man
Pitch 8 - Good Cop/Gay Cop & A Day In The Life of Big Fat Betty
Writer David Gives Notes on President Girlfriend
Pitch 6 - Christ Heist & President Girlfriend
Writer Melinda Gives Notes on Good Cop/Gay Cop
Pitch 3 - Detective President & Lying, Sneaky Women



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