Lesson 8

[Richard Senne]

Richard Senne’s Pitch Fest Pitch

What I learned is<font face=”Helvetica”>… It slowly comes together and makes more sense all the time. I just have to focus on being on point and not kill the project with fluff.</font>

1. Tell us your credibility.

I was a quarter finalist in PAGE Awards.

2. Tell us your genre and title.

Action: Precise Strike

3. What is your one or two sentence hook?

How would an ex-soldier react to being stalked by a violent international terrorist for her blood?

4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions:

· What is the budget range?

This movie would fit the $3-5 million dollar budget range.

· What actors do you like for the lead roles?

Isabela Merced as Jessica Cross. Anne Hathaway as Samantha.

· Give me the acts of the story.

Act one: The failed mission where Jessica is the sole survivor, and Jessica is kicked out of the military. She meets Owen and gets a job and begins to hunt down the terrorists.

Act two: Jessica is being treated by her doctors who are giving her medicine to make her paranoid. The doctors continue to do tests on Jessica’s blood. She beats up a co-worker and has to leave her job.

Act three: Jessica goes to the mountains to rest and discovers the terrorists have a base in the mountains. She escapes captivity and uses a drone to crash the bio-weapon onto the terrorists and kill them.

· How does it end? (setup / payoff).

Jessica is captured and tortured by the terrorists. She escapes when they launch a bio-weapon drone for Washington DC. She uses her drone to attach onto the terrorist drone and drag it back to crash it into the terrorists and kill them.

· Credibility questions What have you done?

Placed as a semi-finalist in PAGE Awards.

[Joan Beesley]

Joan Beesley’s Pitch Fest Pitch

What I leaned: How to package my work to respond to the priorities of the producer.

1. Tell us your credibility.

I’m Joan Beesley and I have the rights to my novel 40 Shades of Green: The Junkman of Brooklyn. I am a published author with five books on Amazon

2. Tell us your genre and title.

Historical Fiction/Magic Realism

The Junkman of Brooklyn

3. What is your one or two sentence hook?

You survived the Irish Famine, Tammany Hall, salvaged destroyers and submarines for the Navy, so passing on the Art of the Deal is easy-peasy, right? And did you really put the windows in the Chrysler Building?

4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions.

What is the budget range:

Middle Budget: $15 million to $30 million

What actors do you see for the lead roles?

Charles Flynn, Michael’s father as a young man escaping County Leitrim:

Matt Damon

Brad Pitt

Younger/middle aged Michael Flynn in Brooklyn:

Cillian Miurphy (He was born to play this role.)

Patrick Dempsey

Older Michael Flynn:

Robert Duvall

Pierce Brosnan

Bill Pullman

Younger Gabe Star

Seth Rogan

Older Gabe Star

Dustin Hoffman

Give me the acts of the story.

Act 1: Back flash as elderly Michael Flynn tells his grandson the story of how the Flynns fled Ireland and he was left behind on the dock.

Act 2: Michael Flynn becomes the scrap metal czar of Brooklyn utilizing Tammany Hall and rising in Ward 6 Irish politics.

Act 3. Now supplying windows for New York skyscrapers, the business is lost to the family of his long-term “partner”, a renowned metals specialist.

How does it end? (setup/payoff).

While his heirs could not save the business, Michael “returns” to save the life of his great-grand daughter who is writing his biography.

Credibility

Author: Forty Shades of Green: The Junkman of Brooklyn

In writing this novel about my family and the rise and fall of their international metals corporation, I took a transatlantic cruise to get a sense of what’s like to cross the Atlantic. I spent time in Cobh, Ireland where the immigrants (and the Titanic) left from and County Leitrim, retracing the Flynn’s trip south to the ships.

[Nick Walsh]

Nick’s Pitch Fest Pitch

What I learnt: Keep it brief. Don’t over speak. And don’t forget to pause after delivering a hook.

Create your entire Pitch Fest Pitch.

1. Tell us your credibility.

I was a finalist in PageTurner International and Stagecraft contests and 2nd Place Runnerup at Austin.

2. Tell us your genre and title.

Genre: Drama

Title: The Rogue of Connemara

3. What is your one or two sentence hook?

It’s the Irish version of Roots.

4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions:

• What is the budget range?

Middle budget: 15-30 million.

• What actors do you like for the lead roles?

First choice would be Cillian Murphy, who could portray a young Michael as well as an old man. Second choice: Colin Ferrill.

• Give me the acts of the story.

Act 1: Fugitive MICHAEL (26) finds a dead priest on the road and steals his identity.

Act 2: Michael’s new confidant, ROSE (50s), encourages him to stay as the parish priest they’ve been waiting for, at least until the police stop hunting for him.

Act 3: Michael is tormented by committing the unforgivable sacrilege of hearing his old flame’s confession. After some heavy drinking/thinking, he decides to run away.

• <b class=””>How does it end? (setup / payoff).

As Michael gets set to run away, he learns that Rose has been killed.

• Credibility questions What have you done?

I am a graduate of ScreenwritingU’s Master program and have written four features and one TV series pilot. All my screenplays have placed high in big contests, including Austin. This pilot was shortlist Finalist at PageTurner.

xxx

[Jenna Ryan]

Hi, I’m Jenna. I’m an optioned screenwriter and control the rights to a Chicago Tribune “Best Book of the Year.” Today, I have the Dramatic Comedy adaptation of that memoir, STEALING BUDDHA’S DINNER. (Light pause). Let me ask you this: would you let your whole high school meet your awkward Asian family if it would save the school dance? (Pause for questions or script request).

“What is the budget range?” Low budget, less than $5 million.

“What actors do you like for the lead roles?”

For Bich: someone like Lana Condor, or Disney star Madison Hu

For Bich’s dad: someone like Ken Jeong

For Bich’s step-mom Rosa: someone like Sofia Vergara

“Give me the acts of the story.”

Act one: Flash back to Bich’s family’s narrow escape from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Five years later, American high school feels like being a refugee all over again, but worse—the kids are all white.

Act two: Bich’s plan? Beg, borrow, or steal the 80’s junk food, fashion, and music approved by 10/10 of the American teens who are making her life a living hell.

Act three: After a fire in the cafeteria, Bich has the power to save the school dance. Will she let her entire high school crash her dad’s Lunar New Year party and let her freak flag fly?

How does it end? (setup/payoff) After desperately trying to hide her heritage, on her high school’s biggest night of the year, Bich does the impossible and is able to “Make Asia Great Again.” And get to first base.

Credibility questions / “What have you done?”

I did my research internship for my Ph.D. in psychology at the FOX series LIE TO ME. While working as a researcher in TV, my scripts have been finalists in contests like Script Pipeline and Scriptapalooza. Previously optioned, STEALING BUDDHA’S DINNER is now available again.

[Aurora AURORA Harris HARRIS]

Aurora’s Pitch Fest Pitch

I’m an optioned screenwriter, an MK, who is a First Century Roman history buff.

Genre: I have a faith-based historical drama which would appeal to fans of the Chosen. It is a pilot script and concept for a miniseries entitled: The Insurrectionist.

A Roman soldier, a renowned loyalist, is sent to assassinate a rebel leader in Galilee, but when discovering he is himself the Insurrectionist, he switches allegiance to follow a divine destiny.

(Pause)

What is the budget range?

It is low budget in the range of $500 K per episode because it was written as a contained film. For example, n many of the episodes, the protagonist is under house arrest at a vineyard.

What actors do you like for the lead roles?

For the lead, Theophilus the Centurion, a Joseph Fiennes type actor would be great.

For the character of Young Philip the Evangelist, a bi-racial athlete, someone like Will Smith’s son, Trey, would be a great choice.

If the role of the Candace or Ethiopian Queen were accepted by Paulette Washington, then her husband, Denzel Washington might be tempted to take on the role of The Ethiopian Eunuch. Other choices for those two roles might be BJ and Cameron Arnett.

Marcus Julius Agrippa– Herod’s grandson, could be played by Christian Rodrigo.

Luke the Apostle could be played by Neal McDonough.

Jael the fiery young Jewish refugee could be played by an actress like Rachel Zegler.

Summary of the Acts of the Series Pilot of The Insurrectionist

Cold Open

Theophilus Cato, a Roman Centurion, parades his cohort, blasting a captured barbarian battle trumpet whose terrifying bellows enthrall crowds in Rome. The recently promoted Consul, Sejanus, is jealous and plots to destroy Cato, a supporter of the retired Emperor with the help of King Herod’s cunning grandson, Marcus Julius, who is anti-Semitic. Cato loves his multi-racial troops and a family of Jewish household slaves. Cato is extremely loyal but is politically naïve.

Beginning

Cato’s beloved bi-racial Jewish slave Philip is attacked during a foot race. Cato discovers Philip has been sneaking out and has secretly collaborated with Jewish rebels, naïvely implicating Cato in the murder of a recent Sejanus appointee.

Middle

Cato refuses to guard the Emperor in retirement as Sejanus wants him there only to spy. Cato’ discovers his best soldier, a Jew, is falsely accused of rebellion, and finds him strangled and dead, thrown down the Gemonian stairs.

Cato is accused of sedition. The popular war hero now faces death before a bloody thirsty crowd on the Gemonian stairs. More anti-Semitism is created by Marcus Julius who ties a poem by Virgil which foretells of a virgin-born, warrior king bringing down Rome, with Jewish prophecies of a virgin-born, world-conquering Hebrew King.

End

Under pressure, Cato abandons his cohort and his beloved Emperor, agreeing to leave Rome on assignment to Galilee to single-handedly assassinate the foretold Jewish Insurrectionist or die. On the mission, Cato will only be aided by his household staff.

Cato is an unarmed guest at his slaves’ Passover meal, when they are attacked by anti-Semitic thugs. A shy Jewish female refugee, surprisingly skilled at wielding a pilgrims’ staff, leads in the defense.

Tag: Before leaving Rome, Cato’s Jewish cook is blackmailed into spying on her Master during their upcoming trip.

How does it end? Setup/payoff

The disloyalty of everyone is revealed. Even the loyal Cato, becomes disloyal when he has to choose between two masters, he chooses to protect his unruly Jewish slaves.

Please contact me for a copy of the Pilot Script and The Insurrectionist Series Treatment.

Bio

I’m an optioned screenwriter, who is a First Century Roman history buff and Bible student. As a third culture kid, descending from three generations of foreign missionaries, now living in the south, I have unique first-hand experience with racial tensions.

Aurora Dawn Harris, Hedgehog Hallelujah Studios

RoraHarris@aol.com 714/ 496-3069

I learned doing this assignment that I had to shorten the summary of the story even more, and remove many more extraneous details.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Aurora AURORA Harris HARRIS.