Prior to running our own panel, I attended Wally’s Writing
to Industry Standards Workshop, then I met up with Kathy Fong Yoneda
and sat in the front row during her sessions, How to
Get You & Your script
Noticed – Screenplay Competitions & Pitchfests.  She reinforced
that the competitions have become the new query letter, namely the Austin
Film Festival, Nicholl, Sundance, and Big Break.

After a
nice lunch, she kindly let me sit in on three or four 6-person roundtable pitch
sessions. Of course, we got permission from all those in attendance, and I
promised not to steal their ideas. Each person pitched their idea to Kathy,
and then she and the others would give feedback.  As we know, pitching
in front of others is very difficult, so kudos to those who participated. A
few times I couldn’t resist giving feedback on some pitches that sounded exactly
like movies that had already been produced.  But,
any writer worth their salt would want to know if they’re reinventing the
wheel or not.  I heard a few very high concept pitches, and Kathy was
so insightful, kind, and downright interesting in her feedback. We even got
a few new members out of the sessions. 

Her book, The Script Selling Game, is one of the best books about the industry that I’ve ever read. If you thought you knew the terminology of the film business, you were wrong. I learned a ton of new ones that came out of nowhere. Of course, you can check out our glossary to see many of them, defined by yours truly.

I left Kathy after several hours of hang time and post-consumption of a brownie.
I met up with my crew and we went on to host our own panel. We had about 25
people, mostly new to intermediate screenwriters. We focused our panel on what
makes a screenplay ready for sales/production, covering everything under the
sun: defining success, story concepts, writing for movies and TV, adaptation,
formatting, structure, writing description/action, developing characters, writing
dialogue for the screen, pitching, discipline, comic books/graphic novels,
getting access to Hollywood, outlining, beat sheets, competitions/festivals,
and much more.

We celebrated our ragtag, yet entertaining performance by pounding vodka
in Wally’s hotel room, then making our way back to the gala dinner. The food
was great and the company was eclectic. Of course, the awards ceremony seemed
to go on forever, but what can you do. Since most our crew were judges for
the PNWA Literary Contest (screenwriting division), we were excited that the
finalists and winner were pleased.  The winner, of course, was a former
Guild member. All told, I was at the conference for 12 hours, and it just blew
right by. Good fun.