Is it good? Is it great? Or is it useless? Should I show it to anyone? To whom? Is it ready to sell?

I have found that as someone’s experience grows, often so does their insecurity about the state of their scripts. Many newbies are overeager to market undercooked scripts.

Why?

They don’t know their own abilities. They don’t understand what constitutes a great script, and they hope someone else will tell them.

If you feel this strong intuitive urge to get validation from a producer or agent, you’ve got to ignore it. Do more work yourself: read great scripts, keep writing, and over time you’ll separate the wheat from the chaff.

True intuition is built upon experience.

What Does Your Screenplay Need To Achieve?

Whether you are ready to sell your script – or not – has a lot to do with your intended objectives. If you need to make a living from your work, perhaps you have no choice. Cashflow forces you to get it into the market. Sometimes even premature scripts sell. (Seen any superhero comic book adaptations, lately?).

Suppose you’re not 100% happy with the story, but your writing style is supreme. If you need work urgently, your script may become the writing sample that will get you other work. So you go and sell. Story ready or not.

In all other cases, if you can afford to wait, then do so while you perfect story and script.

No Such Thing As The Honest Truth?

Each has their own opinion about when a script is done.

If you ask a script consultant, they may argue that your script needs more development. It is in their interest to keep taking money from you. Never ask a consultant who is desperate for clients. Instead, go to the busiest consultant you can afford.

Better even, affiliate yourself with an industry professional who can read scripts.

In fairness, not many can. And those who can, are often too busy. Find someone you can trust. This could be a producer, a director or an actor.

Your English teacher friend is not the person to ask. You may turn to them for a proofread on typos, spelling and grammar, but don’t expect them to understand the intricacies of a screenplay.

Everyone has an opinion. Not everyone has a clue.

Ready To Sell Your Script? Here Are The Signs

1. Your mom/partner/best friend loves it

   Non-professional readers will read a script like a novel, without understanding the nature of drama and tension. Their feedback is hardly vital.
   There is a good reason to have your fans at home read your work, though: to keep your confidence up. They should support you, and encourage you to rock on when times are tough.

2. Your gut tells you it’s ready to sell
   

   It may be more reliable than your mom, but it’s surely not the #1 indicator to go by. Your gut instinct will give you a clue as to whether you have a gem or a dud. But don’t bet the house on it. Your intuition will get better over the years.

3. Your friend/manager/agent/producer is excited
   

   No industry friends (yet)? Get networking! If you’re lucky enough to work with a manager, it’s easy. They will give you useful feedback, and tell you when they are confident the script will generate results.

4. It’s a really fast read.
   

   The quickest reads are typically the best. I have found that really bad scripts can take up to a day to read, partially because it takes time to decipher, but also because of reader procrastination.

5. Feedback is about taste, not technique.

   If most of the feedback comes down to a matter of the reader’s taste rather than specific craft-based notes, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re being unprofessional. Everyone has a subjective opinion, even pros. And everyone will try to give you some advice, even if they’ve run out of objective notes. Could this mean it is time to sell, and send your script into the world? Possibly…

6. You are shortlisted in a big screenwriting contest

   There are many contests, and thousands of writers enter every year. Fortunately you don’t need to worry about most of them, as only a few are truly relevant.
   The best will introduce winners to agents and producers, and some real players do keep an eye on the award lists.  So, winning an important contest is a big deal. Keep entering every year, and make sure your results keep improving.

7. Everyone talks about it.

   You are very lucky when you find people become aware about your script, and talk about it. When I hear industry folk bring up my clients’ projects in conversation, it’s mostly a good sign.

There are probably tons of things about your script you can still improve. If you didn’t read any screenwriting books until this point – Good! You didn’t need them – this may be the time to check a few things that matter to readers. Look at the ebb and flow of your tension in the story. Weigh up the balance of description vs. dialogue. Check, double-check and triple-check grammar, spelling and punctuation.

These are the areas most beginning writers can improve the most without professional help. Use apps, take online  classes. Become the very best.

You Make The Call

When you feel that the law of diminishing returns is taking its toll, it may be time to consider the 7 points above. And remember: you will never get unequivocal proof that your script is market-ready… until it is sold.

Until then, it’s merely a decision.

And that decision is yours.

-Karel Segers

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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We live in the age of noise. Everyone is trying to get your attention. TV commercials, banners on your favourite website, YouTube ads, in-app advertising on your phone.

The same is happening in the writersphere. Screenwriters are spamming producers; service companies are spamming writers.

Getting someone’s genuine attention has become a tremendous challenge. My default mode is to keep the noise outside, and I suspect the same from you. In order to get access, you will need to come through a door of trust.

Back To Common Sense

If you’re desperate, and you want money from your writing now, you will be susceptible to scammers. They will promise you an agent, to get your script in front of this or that producer, etc. The sobering news is that nobody is going to open the gate of screenwriting heaven for you tomorrow, for money. Why not? Because there is no gate to screenwriting heaven. And if you still believe in it, you’ll have to die first.

To die, in this context means: doing the hard work.

Before answering the calls to adventure from unreliable mentors, think about it critically yourself, first. There are gatekeepers, alright, and you need to know who they are. Once you have identified them, you need to network your way through to them. You may do this in the real world, or online.

Online And Offline

Most will agree that the best networking is still done offline. Unfortunately, you may not have many opportunities to meet your target gatekeepers in the real world. If you don’t live in a metropolitan area – let alone Los Angeles – you are not going to casually bump into the Hollywood decision makers.

The great thing is that online, you can.

Years ago, when Toy Story 3 was about to be released, a friend texted me: “Do you know Lee Unkrich just tweeted you?”. Indeed, the director of the most highly anticipated movie at that time had responded to one of my tweets. It could have been the beginning of a conversation… (After all, if I had been an animator, I would have had a link to my portfolio website right on my twitter page.)

So let’s see what else is possible online.

The Google Truth

Say so-and-so has read your work, and they like it. Before they enter into a collaborative arrangement with you, They’ll want to know more.  What do people do when they want to know more about you? They google you. Depending on how many others share the same name, they will find a LinkedIn profile, YouTube video, or Amazon book. In the worst case scenario, the search may lead to some unflattering Facebook photos a friend tagged you in.

Not if you have a portfolio website.

In that case, almost certainly your site will be the first result (unless of course Justin Bieber is their namesake). Your website is the only place online where you fully control how you want to be seen. And if you are the right person to work with for people googling you, this will be clear from your site.

Your website is the first, and most important place to market yourself.

My two most exciting jobs of the past decade both came to me through the website (and it wasn’t even a portfolio website). One was the offer to work on a high-profile feature film. The other, to travel and lecture in Europe. How cool is that?? Both opportunities have opened up subsequent business that continues to this day.

Where Is Your Portfolio Website?

Today, when I google ‘screenwriter website’, on the first page I find the names of Caitlin McCarthy and William Nicholson. Neither I must admit I have ever heard of (although Nicholson co-wrote Gladiator).

But now I have.

If you look for a writer by googling “[their name] screenwriter website”, in 99% of the cases, the right person will be listed first.

Try “Emily Blake Screenwriter website”, and the first listing will be Bambookillers. That’s Emily’s blog. In fact, it’s also her portfolio website, as it lists the screenplays she completed, and those in development. Her last post dates back from 2014, but the website strategy is so powerful that it still lists her site first in Google.

Build Your Portfolio Website, And …

If you build it, they may not come.

If you don’t build it, they most certainly will not come, no matter how loud you scream.

For me, setting up WordPress sites is a hobby that got out of control. Out of the 55+ domain names I own, a few dozen are hosting sites that I built. It all started with this site, followed by Logline It, and The Story Series,  (which is moving from an offline course now online).

Over the past year, I helped a few writers build their portfolio website.

Leon is a lawyer retiree, who committed himself to screenwriting only a few years back. His site now lists eight screenplays, both original and adapted. If anything, it shows Leon is dedicated, and he works fast. If I were looking for a screenwriter today, these are critical qualities.

The other writer is Lachlan, who is an internationally celebrated playwright. He doesn’t really need the site, because right now he is busy enough as it is. But Lachlan knows that in our industry, things can change at the drop of a hat. At that point, he will have an impressive portfolio online, and Google will honour the seniority of his website, as well as his frequent blog updates, by giving him a prominent ranking.

A good quality website is a potential honeypot for writing gigs right now, while you are saving marketing collateral for the future. It is a no-brainer.

If you don’t already have that portfolio website, consider building it this week. It doesn’t require rocket science, and you can afford it.

In truth, you can’t afford not to have it.

-Karel Segers

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I am hosting a free webinar for writers who would like
to set up their own professional WordPress portfolio website:

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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:: Planning Action Sequences
:: Action Blocks and ‘Alien’ (And a Few More)
:: Where Do I Start?
:: High Concept—Yes—It Actually Means Something!
:: Blue Valentine – Script Review

Script Perfection

:: Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Be Collaborative:
:: Can You Suck Just A Little Bit More, Please?
:: The Birth of Your First Draft
:: Why Alt Screenwriting?
:: Bring Your Script to Vocal-life! Readthrough
:: Screenwriting Tip #1141
:: Adapting Your Script into a Novel
:: Download Scripts for the Award Season

Pitching & Selling

:: John Truby on Why Most People Fail at Screenwriting
:: Marketing Your Script
:: Scott Brown Talks about Story Structure and Making a Living on the Web
:: The Importance of Building a Strong Network of Contacts
:: October 2012 Pitch Sales Roundup

Best of the Rest

:: The Creative Process
:: Is Every Writer in Pain?
:: IMDB Top 250 in 2 1/2 Minutes
:: Just Effing Ask Julie Gray
:: ‘Argo’ Screenwriter Explains the CIA Secrets and Surprises Behind the Film
:: Yoda With ‘Skin’ Skin Colour
:: The Blood List 2012
:: Disney To Acquire Lucasfilm Ltd
:: William Faulkner’s 5 Best Quotes About Hollywood and Art
_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie Campbell and Brooke Trezise.

Enjoy!

Karel

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

by Signe Olynyk

Like many writers, pitching is something that hasn’t always come easy to me. As someone who has had to overcome tremendous shyness and learn how to pitch in order to get my movies made, there are a few things I have learned that might help others to do the same.

Pitching is a necessary evil. You must pitch if you want your project to be produced. The only sure-fire way to make sure your script never gets made is to never tell anyone about it. But there is hope – you are probably much better at pitching than you think. Never pitched before? Think again. When you go to a job interview, you are pitching. When you convince your friends to see the latest Bollywood film when everyone wants to see Avengers, you are pitching. When your kids plead for another hour past bedtime to play X-Box… Well, okay. They are pitching you.

You get my point – most of us pitch every single day without realizing it.

There is hope – you are probably much better at pitching than you think.

A successful pitch must be much more than simply convincing or selling someone on something. The best pitches are conversational – as if you are telling your friends about a great movie you just saw. Conversational means there is an exchange by both parties – sometimes the person you are pitching has questions, or they are engrossed with your pitch and respond with their body language.

The best pitches are conversational

If you are doing it right, they are engaged and listening to every exciting word you are sharing, and the communication between you and the person you are pitching is filled with give and take. You give by telling about your character’s overall goal, they take by leaning in. You tell them how your character overcomes their obstacles. They gasp. They ask a question. You give an answer.

A great pitch is like a dance – but you are the one leading and reacting as your partner responds to you. Give and take, back and forth. Actually, that sounds like something else. But you get my point. You are hosting the meeting, and as such, you control the information that is shared. As the conversation continues, you lead it back to what needs to be conveyed.

A great pitch is like a dance – but you are the one leading and reacting as your partner responds to you.

One of the biggest mistakes writers make when they are pitching for the first time is that they tell too much information. Shot by shot, scene by scene – this is what causes grey hair to grow, and executive eyelids to droop. But how do you know what is too much? Too little?

As my producing partner, the fabulous Mr. Bob Schultz sometimes laments, ‘If I could tell it to you in 90 seconds, why would I have told it to you in 90 pages’? Bob is referring to a logline, which is often described as the one sentence, ‘tv guide’ version of a story.

A pitch does not need to be short, but it does need to be succinct. You need to be extremely selective about the finding the true heart of your story, and it is much more difficult to do than one might think. It means stripping away all the hard work you’ve put into your script, and reduce it down to the bare bones in order to pitch it effectively. We don’t need to know your character’s backstory. We don’t need to know who you imagine casting as the lead.

All we need are the bones.

We don’t need to know your character’s backstory. We don’t need to know who you imagine casting as the lead. All we need are the bones.

And what are the bones? Let’s plot out the skeleton of your pitch.

1. Title

First, tell me the title of your script. Easy enough, right? Well, not so fast. Here’s what I’m thinking about as a producer when you tell me your title and begin the bones of your pitch… I am wondering if your title starts with an A, B, C, or maybe a number. Or is there another title for your concept that would? People often rent their films through VOD, Netflix or Red Box these days, and they generally start at the first letter of the alphabet and make their way through the movie selections, starting with the ‘A’ titles and working their way down (or starting at ‘Z’ and working up. Rebels, I know).

Distributors also prefer titles with one or two words as they tend to lend themselves more easily to foreign sales and generally translate more easily into other languages. Is it a title that captures the theme of your film (ie ‘Alive’, ‘Misery’, ‘United 93’)? Is it a title that is high concept, meaning you immediately understand what the movie is going to be about, just by hearing the name (ie ‘Bad Teacher’, ‘Buried’, ‘Contagion’)?

Although it isn’t always easy to create unique titles that fulfill theme, distribution preferences, and still capture a strong sense of your story, you increase the chance of success for your screenplay if you do.

2. Genre

Identify the genre of your film. Is it a comedy? Horror? Rom-Com or Historical Drama? An Executive wants to know what genre you are pitching because it establishes the mood for the rest of the pitch, and sets up what they can expect of your story. If you launch right into your pitch about a woman giving birth to a zombie baby, we need to know whether that script is a comedy or a horror so we know how to react as you pitch it. If it is a true life story about your zombie baby, I’m so sorry to hear it. Are the rights available?

Here’s my producer brain again, mulling over what I am listening for and thinking about as you pitch. The most successful domestic films are not always the most successful internationally. For the terms of this article, ‘domestic’ refers to North America, and ‘foreign’ refers to everywhere else.

Comedies generally need to have A-list talent to perform well at the box office, and it is difficult for a company to take a chance with a new writer on a multi-million dollar movie. Comedy (including Romantic Comedies & what I call ‘Jerk Comedies’) is also very subjective, and what is funny in North America may be offensive, or simply not translate well into other cultures or languages internationally.

Action films are still the most successful genres at the box office, domestically and abroad. However, this genre also tends to be more expensive to produce, because there are so many setups required (number of shots) to successfully achieve many of the sequences audiences expect, and also, because recognizable or A-list cast must generally be attached (translate: bigger budget).

As I listen to your pitch, I am thinking about whether this is a genre I can raise enough money for, is it something I can attract cast to, is it unique enough from every other horror movie out there, and will it sell internationally? Having a sense of what is important to an exec is important because it can help the person pitching to identify the reasons why their script may not be an exact fit for a particular company.

You might think an indie producer is kookoo-bananas for not optioning your big budget studio extravaganza that is a brilliant script (it really is!), but factors such as ‘can I raise enough money at this point in my career’ are massive factors that are often beyond your control. My hope is that by sharing some of this information, you will better understand why an exec can’t always come on board your project – even if the script is outstanding. It is often a matter of just finding the right match, and sometimes, well, that just requires luck and perseverance. Happenstance.

But, I digress.

I can write more about some of these issues another time. Let’s get back to the bones of pitching.

3. Protagonist

Now that we know the title and genre, we want to know ‘who is the main character’? Through whose eyes are we experiencing this story? It needs to be someone who we can relate to, and we need to care enough about them and their goal to want to go on this 90-ish minute journey with them. As an audience, we want to experience their growth, and see them evolve. Our favorite movies start with a character who has a certain behavior or world point of view, and through the challenges they face in pursuit of their goal, they evolve to become a different person.

By the end of the story, your protagonist’s behavior and world point of view has changed. For better or worse. Experiencing that character growth allows audiences to escape and live vicariously through the characters. That ability to escape and be enlightened to a new character perspective is largely how movies enrich all our lives, and why we go to movies in the first place.

4. Goal

Once I know the title of your screenplay, the genre, and who the protagonist is, I will want to know what that character wants. What physical, tangible goal are they pursuing? Save the planet from the speeding meteorite? Get the characters off the bus before it explodes? Find the groom before the wedding? Come up with one more cliché goal before I finish this article?

Although an emotional goal can be a consequence of this pursuit, the goal must be an actual, physical one. The goal for your main character is not to ‘fall in love’, but it might be to ‘save the swamp’. Falling in love is often the emotional consequence. Sigh. We should all save more swamps. Plus, lizards are awesome.

5. Obstacles

Okay, now that we know the character’s goal, we need to know what the increasingly difficult obstacles are that stand in the way of him, her, or it reaching that goal. The best screenplays always involve a strong opponent, whether that nemesis is another character or monster, a force of nature, or an establishment. The shark in ‘Jaws’. Jigsaw in the ‘Saw’ movies. Number Six in the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ tv series. The demon in the ‘Paranormal Activity’ movies.

Darth Vader is all of these things – a character, a monster, a force of nature, and he represents an establishment. Villains with their own goals and obstacles that conflict with the goals and obstacles of your protagonist are often more relatable and interesting than characters of extreme degrees. The mustache twirling villains and wicked witches of the past are made more human by putting their needs in direct conflict with your hero character.

One of my favorite writing exercises is to reverse the roles of my main character and their antagonist, and tell the story from the other character’s point of view. If you’ve seen the broadway version of ‘Wicked’, you will know how successful that exercise can be. To me, ‘shades of grey’ are always more interesting than characters who are pure evil, or pure goodness. Although I enjoy hearing Snow White sing.

Making sure the stakes your character faces are serious enough is often where many screenplays (and pitches) fail. A brilliant script consultant I like to work with on all my projects is Mr. Robert Southhill. He often calls these types of scripts a BOSH. Bunch Of ‘Stuff’ Happens. It’s when one thing after another simply happens to your protagonist, instead of the character striving towards a specific goal, struggling, and overcoming the obstacles that are in the way. Your goal has to be a real, physical, tangible goal that has such dire consequences for your character that we must root for them, and care enough to go on this journey with them. By making the stakes high enough for the character, you raise the dramatic impact of each obstacle.

Making sure that the obstacles in your character’s way are increasingly serious is a way to deepen our commitment to the character and root for their success. If your character’s goal is to drive from Canada to Los Angeles, who cares? But if 2,500 angry writers will tie her to a stake and roast her at a bbq if she doesn’t get there and make sure she puts on a great conference for them, then the stakes are significantly higher. What are the obstacles in the way? 2,700 miles? Construction? Hordes of cattle all over the highway in Montana? Not good enough. The stakes need to be serious enough that it becomes a ‘do or die’ effort. Trust me, it is.

One of my favorite writing exercises is to reverse the roles of my main character and their antagonist, and tell the story from the other character’s point of view.

Pitching In general

Like a great movie trailer, the pitch should have a beginning, middle, and an end –without giving everything away. In the beginning, you tell who it is about and what they want. The middle of your pitch is where you tell what gets in the way of your protagonist reaching that goal, and what they did to overcome it. The ending is where you tell the lesson learned, not just the lesson for the character – but the lesson that your audience walks away with, enriched for the experience of having seen your film.

Every pitch is a little bit different. All pitches need to have to have the bones that I already described, but they also need to be tailored to whoever you are pitching. If you are pitching an actor, you want to spend more time focusing on the character. What their character arc is. How they change through the course of your story. You will want to spend extra time focusing on the juicy bits that make the role a character an actor would want to play.

If you are pitching an agent, you may also want to pitch yourself and your ability to take on writing assignments, to write fast, and the connections you already have. If you have optioned a property and are pitching an investor or studio exec, you are going to expand your pitch to address casting and foreign sales, and budget details. You’d want to get into who your key crew are, what’s your schedule, your budget, and financial plan. You have to know who you are pitching so that you can adjust your pitch to reflect what they are looking for, and target those needs in your pitch.

All pitches should have the bones of your story, and be expanded upon to be able to address the other needs of whoever you are pitching.

The core. The bones. The skeleton. It all means the same thing. You need to know who your protagonist is. What they want. What obstacles are in the way of that goal, and what is the lesson learned.

If you are still nervous about pitching and need more advice, the two best pitch coaches I know are Bob Schultz (bob@pitchfest.com – Bob runs the Great American PitchFest with me, and is also my producing partner) and the awesome Pilar Alessandra from On the Page. Pilar is a pitch and script consultant, and an exceptional teacher who leads a ‘Pitch In A Minute’ class each year at pitchfest (it’s free – just RSVP to info@pitchfest.com). She has one of those ‘fill in the blank’ type of templates that essentially does the work for you. Writers simply fill in the blanks and immediately start pitching. It’s that easy. Both Bob and Pilar will be at this year’s Great American PitchFest, and they are very approachable. I’ll be there too and would love to meet you so be sure to say hi.

Pitching can be terrifying, especially if it is your first time. But before I sign off, I want you to take a hard look at yourself. You wrote this brilliant script. You’ve worked hard to master your craft. And now you’re ready to bring it into the world. Be proud of that. And confident. You have accomplished something amazing, so remember that with every pitch meeting you go into. Now, you just need practice. And I need to see the potatoe museum of Idaho. See you in a couple weeks.

-Signe Olynyk 

Signe Olynyk is a Writer / Producer, who also is founder of the Great American PitchFest Screenwriting Conference, held annually in Los Angeles, CA.

Signe is also behind the Great British PitchFest, held in partnership with the London Screenwriters’ Festival in the UK.

You can check out her movie, Below Zero; or email her directly at info@belowzeromovie.com.

Photo Credits: seeveeaar, and Signe Olynik

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

If you liked this, check out more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking. And if you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let us know in the comments. Thanks!

By Pauline Findlay

You try your luck at Sundance, they only received 7,000 submissions this year! You send off anyway telling yourself your genius will be seen amongst 7,000 cream floats.

Then a few months later you get the email; “We appreciate your genius but can’t programme your film this year.” They mustn’t have seen it!

Well I met the Sundance programmer and she assured us they watch every submission – even the one shot on a cat purring! You return to your festival spreadsheet. Where next?

Palm Springs should be at the top of your festival strategy.

Why you ask? It will teach you more in a week than film school does in years about the business. The industry panels alone are worth the entry and the expensive flight.

It will teach you more in a week than
film school does in years about the business.

Palm Springs ShortFest is a weeklong festival of short films. Yes shorts! I know, no feature films, movies stars or hot directors to dim your light. Just a bunch of emerging filmmakers, wanting to network their little hearts out and melt in 43C heat. Over 320 films were programmed this year. This makes your odds pretty good and let’s face it you need the odds in your favour. It is also incredibly well respected in the USA.

Industry people take it seriously and see it as a place to find new talent, (you!). This is hard to believe since Screen Australia recently took it off the list of credible festivals that are worthy of travel funding. I know they can’t cover every festival but Palm Springs also has a Film Market attached and this should be enough reason to have it on the list.

Industry people take it seriously and
see it as a place to find new talent, (you!).

Distribution for short films is becoming more viable with our insatiable appetite for all things short to view on our mobile devices. So getting some cash for your short allows you to make your next short film and not need to ask them for funding. Leaving space for the next up and coming short filmmakers.

Palm Springs is hands down the best experience of my film career to date. The festival is buzzing with filmmakers from all over the world dying to see their peers’ work. I’m quite sure if Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were making short films today Palm Springs would be where they would meet.

Palm Springs is hands down the best experience of my film career to date.

Oh, and if you think your film is a ‘thinking person’s’ film then you have the community of Palm Springs that are very well educated in all things film. Most are retired industry types from LA so you just might find a backer for your first feature. Throughout the Q&A’s (yes they want to know about your short) they ask questions you might expect from your filmmaking buddies, not the local punter.

Kathleen McInnis is the Queen Bee of the festival and she loves filmmakers, especially new filmmakers. Your genius has been discovered. Kathleen is a publicist for feature directors most of the year and knows how to program a diverse festival.

Most are retired industry types from LA so
you just might find a backer for your first feature.

Oh and she has friends in high places – the roll call looked something like this on the panels: journalists from Variety, Hollywood Reporter, LATimes, NYTimes; festival programmers from Sundance, Tribeca, Cleveland and Seattle. If I still haven’t convinced you that Palm Springs is where you should be then let me tell you what the Australian Consul-General in LA do for you. They throw a party and invite industry people, well-established directors and studio types to talk and mingle with you; you get the ins and outs of working in Australia and LA.

Journalists from Variety, Hollywood Reporter, LATimes, NYTimes; festival programmers from Sundance, Tribeca, Cleveland and Seattle.

It gets better: they create a DVD complication of all the Australian films. Why do they do with this I hear you ask? Well they only give a copy to the invited press and anyone they have connections with in the LA studios! We were the envy of every filmmaker at the festival.

So is Palm Springs now at the top of your list?

by Pauline Findlay

Pauline Findlay has written, directed and produced short films, documentaries, theatre plays and online web series. Trained as an actor in London, Pauline’s debut play Girls Talk played at the Soho Theatre in Covent Garden. In 2007 Pauline directed the first online documentary for the ‘Tropfest Super Short Series’. Pauline is a graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Screenwriting and Producing and was nominated for a Monte Miller award by the Australian Writers Guild (AWG) for her short film ‘Liv’ in 2011 and for her feature script ‘Lola’ in 2012 Pauline. Pauline also tweets and blogs.