New tools allow screenwriters to pitch from home

Sites take the travel out of pitching film, television

In Hollywood, like most industries, it's about who you know.  That gives people living and toiling in LA a huge advantage over people living elsewhere.

Since most agents won't take submissions, most connections come via a friend-of-a-friend (as so I'm told). To give folks like me access  (and to take our money) the pitchfest was born.

Fade In's Hollywood Pitch Festival and Scriptfest.com are two of the larger ones. The Hollywood Pitch Festival is July 24-26 in Los Angeles. A three-day pass costs $495. The 2015 Scriptfest was May 29-31 in Burbank, with tickets ranging from $300 to $750.

Each pitchfest is a little different, but most involve standing in a hotel ballroom trying to make small talk as you wait your turn to talk to your chosen film exec. All told, you're looking at spending $800 for a day of workshops and five minutes with eight agents, managers or production company execs.

I'm not passing judgment on whether that's a good value, I haven't been to either of those events. They might be worth it for the seminars and networking alone. But in that the information age there are new routes to get your film or television pitch before Hollywood types.

Here are three at to get your pitch to Hollywood:

Virtual Pitchfest 

Virtual Pitchfest allows users to pay to submit a query letter to selected Hollywood agents, managers, and production companies. The cost is $10 a pop, lower if you're buying in bulk. The service guarantees a response within five days.

Greenlight My Movie

Greenlight My Movie allows users to submit a completed short, a recorded pitch or a synopsis to selected agents, managers, and production companies. The cost is $29.95. Most responses come within 14 days according to the service.

Stage 32/Happywriters 

Stage 32 is a multifaceted social network for the world film community, so virtual pitch sessions are just part of what they do.  Stage 32 pitch sessions are sporadically held opportunities to engage in a live video chat with a specific film professional. The 8 minute skype session costs $45 but comes with the added benefit of live feedback without having to fly to Los Angeles.

Historic pussy kat photos hard to find

"Bottomless trial" defendants (tavern owner Leonard Glancy with Susanne Haines (left) and Shiela Brendenson) await the day's court appearance before Municipal Judge Earl Warren Jr.. Sacramento Bee August 27, 1969

Mini-documentary to proceed film, educate public, build audience 

Finding pictures of Orangevale's long-closed Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go has turned out to be much more of a project than I expected. That's one thing documentaries don't come out and tell you: how hard it was to find the historic photos and interview subjects.
When I first started my screenplay "Pink," I was quick to dismiss any thought of doing it as a documentary. But as the project moved along, it became increasingly clear that telling this story as it really happened is also part of my mission.
For those new to this blog, in 1969 two dancers and the owner of the Pink Pussy Kat were arrested and went on trial for indecent exposure after the dancer performed without panties.
The trial became a nation story with Judge Earl Warren Jr. moved the trial to a strip club to allow the jury to see the exotic "bottomless" dance.
This photo, featuring the tavern owner Leonard Glancy and dancers Susanne Haines (left) and Shiela Brendenson, was obtained through the Center for Sacramento History.
The Sacramento Bee photo dated Aug. 27, 1969 shows the three awaiting  the day's court appearance before Municipal Judge Earl Warren Jr.
I've made some effort to find photographs of the club, the dancers, the scene, but in the coming weeks it will be time to take those efforts to a new level, hopefully with news coverage, advertising and an organized effort to hit up the places old men frequent. I'll update the post as more details become available.
The plan is for the mini-documentary to increase interest in the film. Have ideas on ways to find photos and live stories? Better yet want to help track down some of these people?

Screenwriter revisits hometown 'Pow Wow' roots, reconnects with past

Orangevale Pow Wow Days stage area 2015

Orangevale is one of those "where" places.
Any mention of it -- to most anyone -- must quickly be followed by "where" it's near.
"Between Folsom and Roseville," is where I tell people.
In northeast Sacramento County, it's where the sidewalks end.
It's my hometown and the setting of the feature film script, I'm working to turn into a major motion picture.
The arrest and trial of the dancers at the "Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go" became a national story and helped set the rules for exotic dance.
Few people know about this. I'm trying to change that. It would be/will be an amazing gift from my home community.
You can only really be from one place (military brats excepted).
I'm from Orangevale.
I left after high school and while I live in Sacramento now, my interaction with the community is

little beyond visiting my parents.
Being one of a handful of black kids in a community I affectionately call the Idaho of California, was at times a challenge. The late 1990s were certainly better racially than ever, but the late 1990s in Orangevale was not the same as the 1990s in more diverse communities.
I made the most of it. I was student body president (CRHS 1993) so some would say I thrived. But I wouldn't say I fit in. By the time I attended high school at Casa Roble the spittoons were gone, but vail of homogeneous isolation permeated. I often felt treated as the exception to a generally accepted rule about black people.
When faced with the sheer amount of bad country music produced in the 1990s one can either give in and say you like it or fight it.  Hating country was my buttress, protecting my few black points.
Committed to the fight against country, as soon as I had a choice in the matter, I avoided "Pow Wow Days," the longstanding community parade and carnival.
Orangevale doesn't have much. It's an unincorporated spec of Sacramento County that's hard to get to by highway thus maintaining some level of rural charm, but it doesn't have that gold rush era downtown of Folsom or the size, organization and ambition of
Roseville.
Since 1963, the community has been experiencing some level of Pow Wow. As a child, I marched in it was a Boy Scout.
As adult man, sans child, who has experienced Mardi Gras (several times), it's real easy to go curmudgeon on regular old small town parades. They don't throw beads, alcohol must be smuggled and there is little chance of boobie exposure, but there is something that is uniquely community socializing and unifying about parades.
So that extent, there is something unique and great about Orangevale's "Pow Wow Days."
I made a return visit Friday night and Saturday afternoon to tell people about "Pink" and the "Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go."
From a visitors perspective, the event seemed healthy. It's 32 acres, snuggled between other parks and schools, is an ideal venue for an outdoor concert. There were kids galore on the carnival rides, plenty of vendors, a radio station sponsor, and a healthy beer garden. (Though they could step it up with more food variety and serving local beers.)
Loosely based an actual incident, some of the ladies from the Pink Pussy Kat cause a stir at Pow Wow Days in my script. So the visit could also be considered field research.
Another bonus: Saturday I ran into my childhood friend Billy Blackburn. That night, his band Blackburn Bullet bested seven competitors to win the "battle of the bands" hosted by radio station 101.9 the wolf. Billy's already talking about writing a song for the movie.
I was buoyed by the feedback I got from people young and old towards the Pink Pussy Kat story.
Young people were excited to hear about the historic trial. With old people, you could see the sparkle in their eye as they accessed those dusty files. I didn't find the motherload treasure trove of Pink Pussy Kat photos, but I'll keep looking.
 I see a few Rotary Club breakfasts and VFW Hall visits in my future as I continue my search.
Orangevale, here I come again.

Follow the journey by email
Keep up on film project on Facebook
Connect with the Pink Pussy Kat

Sacramento film project in the media, party Friday

 'Tower' guitar finds home 

Ed Fletcher snags one-of-a-kind guitar

Pink screenwriter went from a party spectator to celebrity after he snagged the "Tower Records" Gibson Les Paul Guitar at a post-screening auction. The one-of-a-kind guitar is signed by Tower founder Russ Solomon and "All Things Must Pass" filmmakers Colin Hanks and Sean Stuart. Proceeds benefit the Tower Records Project. 

Party for Pink set for Friday

Film community, supporters, public invited 

Join us for an exciting night of music, dance and comedy at Party for "Pink" May 1 atVega's Underground in Old Sacramento.
It's an opportunity to share the path we're on with the public and Sacramento International Film Festival attendees. The night will include music from '70s rock cover band Lane 5, period burlesque performances from  Sugar Cane Cheeks and Vivienne Fuego of The Golden Poppy Revue and comedy from Diane Hong. The fun starts at 9 p.m.

Pink in the media

Digital-first strategy takes process to the people 

So many great things happening lately, the media department can hardly keep up. Since our strategy is to talk "Pink" into existence, I'm more than happy to share the process with anyone who will listen. Three great media hits this week:

• Fellow writer/reporter Rich Ehisen published an inciteful Q & A. He and I talk about how the writing process, film-making, and of course Pink.
• I sat down with the Junior and Leo Show Podcast talk about everything from how I got into the project to our digital-first strategy. We even talked a little about the news game and new media.
• Finally, a piece I wrote explaining why the Sacramento film community should be rooting for the web series "Rellik." 

May busy, exciting time on film front

By Ed Fletcher
Early May looks like it's going to be an incredibly busy and exciting time for me. In a matter of days, I'm throwing a party in Old Sacramento, staging a photo shoot and my film short "Goldie" is screening in Seattle.
May 1: Party for "Pink"
May 3: Pink photoshoot
May 4: "Goldie" screening

Party for "Pink" is a chance to generate excitement around my feature film project "Pink" among Sacramento International Film Festival attendees and general Sacramento public.
The free event at Vega's Underground in Old Sacramento will feature 70s rock from cover band Lane 5, burlesque performances and comedy. The fun starts at 9 p.m.

On May 3, I'm turning Sacramento's Blue Lamp back into a strip club for a photo shoot. Behind the camera will be Sacramento photographer and visual artist Melissa Uroff.

Then on Monday, May 4 I fly to Seattle to be on hand as "Goldie," the short film I wrote and produced, screens as part of the Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival. It's part of a night of LGBTQ-friendly films and live drag show.

Whew!

Online support can 'like' projects into existence

Film maker asks Sacramento community to like, share and support project

"While the tools to create content is easier to obtain than ever, it’s also harder than ever for worthy smartphone applications, music, movies, or ebooks to get noticed. And yet it’s also easier than ever to give our neighbor a hand with a like, comment, share or thumbs up. Better yet a review." 

By Ed Fletcher
In the days of yore, when guy was building a house or raising a barn he’d cut the beams, buy the nails and level the ground by himself, but the time would come that he’d need his friends and neighbors help hoisting the beams and shit.

The community would come together to help out a member in need.  We don’t do that these days. We’ll help a neighbor if they’re getting a TV backyard makeover, but we hide when our neighbors
have a pile of rocks delivered.

The rise of crowdfunding runs counter to that. In the ideal, people give because they want to see good ideas succeed. Thousands of worthy projects are funded each year through the generosity of others.

Indeed, in this age of social media, email and online wallets, helping people has never been easier. “Likes,” retweets and shares are a form of digital currency that lift projects from heap of digital content produced daily. Without the transaction of money, a message goes from being seen by 50 people to 5000 (I’m making up numbers) with the ease of a mouse click.

I believe I have a project worthy of a digital barn raising. A project that could both put Sacramento on the map and make a serious statement about free expression. I’m asking for the Sacramento community to set me on the path to producing my dramatic comedy screenplay “Pink.”

Based on a real Sacramento 1969 case, Pink tells the story of a free-speech loving exotic dancer who battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to prove her “bottomless” dance is art worthy of protection. Think “American Hustle” meets “People vs “Larry Flynt.”

I know what you’re thinking, “Cool idea, but Sacramento doesn’t know anything about making movies. Call Joe Carnahan.” I have. And I will again. I’m open to any connections my network might provide.

But the point of this post is to inspire, cajoe, woo you into helping my build my a base of support that will tell investors that this idea has resonance.

I’m asking Sacramento to prime the pump. The growing school of thought suggests social media marketing is the most effective way to sell a movie. Further, smart filmmakers will by developing a digital audience from conception, take fans along for the filmmaking process and  simultaneously prove to investors the viability of the film.

While the tools to create content is easier to obtain than ever, it’s also harder than ever for worthy smartphone applications, music, movies, or ebooks to get noticed. And yet it’s also easier than ever to give our neighbor a hand with a like, comment, share or thumbs up. Better yet a review.

Think how much better off the Sacramento tech community would be if gave worthy apps the two minutes it takes to write a review for the app store. Think how much livelier our writing community could be if we reviewed their ebooks.

I’ve watched with a mixture of pride, joy and envy at community efforts to support tech startups and downtown retail businesses. Why can’t we do that with film? I’ve wondered.

This is me opening up my arms and saying: embrace me, this idea, and let's run with it. I’m open to investors, partners, backers, cheerleaders, digital strike force members or contributing in any multitude of mutually agreeable ways.

I'm thankful for the advice and support I've received to that point, but I want more.

I’d love help with strategy, marketing, publicity, media creation, social media.

Together we can make this happen Sacramento.

13 Things I think I learned at Santa Rosa Story Expo

Committed to keeping my foot on the gas in turning my screenplay Pink into a feature film, I attended three-day weekend storytellers expo in Santa Rosa.
What the Storytellers Expo lacked in star power, communication and polish, it made up for in intimacy. There is not one reason any attendee should have left feeling like their questions were not answered by real writers, publishers, script consultants, or producers.
It's wasn't cheap, but you'd pay four times that much for the same offerings online.
The following are 13 thoughts, lessons or reflections from the two days of classes and day of pitching Pink at Storytellers Expo produced by the Santa Rosa-based "Northern California Writers" group:

1. The Sacramento film community would be smart to shift some instruction towards writing for television and web series. 
2. Breakdown episodes of television shows I liked, then follow the formula to write a spec episode.  
3. I'm well ahead of the curve in term of branding, social media and the business of film.
4. Re-read/edit scripts with different lenses: think like director, actor, producer
5. People love the true story/premise of Pink.
6. Write your first logline at the idea stage. 
7. Thanks for the instruction on how to write a film query letters, but what's the point if agents don't read them? 
8. Tension = hope v. fear.
9. Seek rising and falling tension through each mini movie. 
10. Author Dale Brown spent a lot of time in Sacramento and is a nice dude.
11. Practice funny by jotting down one funny thing a day. 
12. In packaging start with directors and talent with production companies.
13. In seeking agents and production partners, look to those judging screenplay contests, those are the people open to finding material in unusual places. 

When Sunday's pitch session came, I was at ease and confident. Participants stood in line for five minutes of one-on-one time with the assorted (8) book and film experts.
Making the best of meetings means setting reasonable expectations of learning something, building rapport, and achieving a small "ask."
And while I wish script consultants would use their connections more liberally to help non-clients,  I totally understand the folly of their ways. All of the pitch recipients were willing active listeners who surely would have benefited those at the early stages or those with a polished project.
Now time to email Pink to a Los Angeles studio.

Producer appearance as guest to burlesque show

Call it the lifecycle of the writer/producer.
For the better part of a year, I spent nights and weekends turning down invitations so I could spend more time sequestered to my keyboard.
Now with the pendulum swung toward producer, I'm in the streets trying to network my script into existence.
Last night, plunked in the front row a burlesque show with two lovely legends of the craft on either side of me made up for several of those sunny Saturdays I gave up to write my screenplay "Pink."

To my right was Miss Cherry Malone, a world champion burlesque performer. To my left Miss Petty (O'Ferrell) Russell, who performed across America from the 1950s to 1970s.
The Golden Poppy Revue is a production of Miss Vivienne Fuego.

Performers included:
Legend Isis Starr, "The Goddess of Burlesque" (SF)
Sugar Cheeks-Burlesque
Jenna Jezebel
Violet Ruthless
Dahlia D'Vine
Casaba Meloune
Bella Blue-Eyes
PLUS!!!:
Torch Song Singer Roxy Vox
Swing dance performance by Felicia & Ramses
Sideshow performer Ryan Dile
Comedy by "Sacramento's Sweetheart", Steph Garcia,

#Sacramento #burlesque comes alive at Colonial #theater #sexy #dance #arts #edm #music

A video posted by Ed Fletcher (@perpetualf) on Mar 1, 2015 at 1:45pm PST

Burlesque legend Angel Walker talks taking it off

Burlesque Legend Angel Walker, better known as Satan's Angel, has lived such an incredible life that hours into a conversation she still finds new ways to shock you.
From San Francisco's North Beach to the world's stage, her story is the subject of the documentary "Satan's Angel: The Queen of Fire Tassels."
In hopes of better understanding my screenplay "Pink" and Orangevale's "Pink Pussy Kat," I reached out to Ms. Walker.
The result was a delightful conversation about burlesque, go-go, striptease and exotic dancing in the late 60s and early 70s.
She could not tell me much about the Pink Pussy Kat or the dancer at the center of the trial Susanne Haines, but that's not to say there wasn't much to learn from that unguarded spark plug of a woman. Here's a piece of our conversation:

Film research trip ends exotic avoidance

I wonder sometimes what people think about a guy who would devote years of his life writing a screenplay and producing a movie about a strip club.
 "Some big perv."
Fact is, until last night, I hadn't been to a strip club for at least five years -- including the entire time writing "Pink."
For those new to the blog, "Pink" is my sexy dramatic comedy about Sacramento's 1969 "bottomless" stripper trial. The indecency trial became a national story when the judge decided in order for the jury to determine whether the dance violated community standards they'd have to see it. The girls won the trial but the government changed the law making it a health code violation to consume alcoholic beverages in establishments that allow full nudity.
So what's a guy who doesn't care for spending money on exotic dancers doing writing a screenplay about exotic dancers? The short answer is because it a local story that needed to be told. When you strip everything else away its a story about free expression dressed up in late 60s attire.
Think "American Hustle" meets "People vs. Larry Flynt."
Most of my research came from old fraying newspaper clips. I didn’t set out to write a strip club screenplay. It started as a short term project and has steadily grown.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude (though "Blue Lagon" was too much for me went I saw it as a boy). I’ve been to strip clubs and enjoy seeing women naked as much as the next guy, probably a little more. The bulk of my strip club experience came from Bourbon Street excursions during college and the rush of bachelor parties one endures in their early 30s.
But I could never justify expending money on the experience.
More than the money, the transactional relationship bothers me.
While I firmly believe performers should have the right to dance naked in exchange for money, I much prefer nudity without compensation.
Pink can be a beautiful movie that makes audiences laugh, causes a modest arousal, says something about art, freedom and culture -- and makes money.
So for the sake of research I, joined by a female friend, went to Gold Club Centerfolds. After an absence of half a decade, the adult establishment seemed remarkably the same in all its soft skin and curvaceous glory.
I'll spare you the details (good and bad) other than to note I drank hot tea, a legacy of the "Pink Pussy Kat" decision.

Judge me: I'm a burner

After 22 years of driving, I just unceremoniously put my first bumper sticker on my vehicle.


It says, "BRC."

I've always been somewhat judgmental of bumper stickers people. I suppose were supposed to be judgmental. The vehicle make, model and customization say much about the driver, but nothing like bumper sticker.

My status as a working journalist rules out political bumper stickers, but my disfavor of them runs deeper. That was until I found myself wanting to chat up everyone I see with any bumper sticker related to Burning Man.


So I guess I'm a burner.

This summer will be my seventh (in a row). The registration for the ticket general sale ends at noon (PST) Saturday, Feb. 14.

Burning Man is best described as week-long experimental city held annually in the Nevada "Black Rock" desert.  "Black Rock City" is a colloquium for this free-form blend of madness, excess, and brilliance.

It's grown from humble roots to a gathering of 70,000 people from around the world. Groups of people band together to provide the coffee shops, lecture halls, art galleries, recreation centers, bars and night clubs of this temporary city where (almost) everything is free.

Drunk and debauchery, sure. "Orgy dome," sure. (But there is probably one in your town too.)

But more than a description of this adult playland -- from jungle gyms to a roller rink -- to me Burning Man is about the ethos and the inspiration sparked by a week of being unplugged with collection of the world's best doers, dreamers, makers, and creatives.

The freedom from the digitally connected world provides a refreshing mindfulness. The absence of work talk allows the creative brain to flourish.

It's a place where hugs are plentiful and conversations are meaningful.

Each year, I come away with a new project to bring back the desert and the energy to recommit to personal projects.
It's an energy that I'd love to see more to in everyday life.

So yeah go ahead a judge me. I'm a Burner.

 

Taking script notes from strangers

Request for opening pages of script triggers rewriting rush

For an unpublished screenwriter: "Is it done?" is the question that looms, never quite answered.
I've spent months cautiously getting feedback from progressively critical/expert sources. In the last year,  to prepare "Pink" for the prime time its undergone four official rewrites, been table read with real actors twice and workshopped by my screenwriter's group.

But even as I shook a man's hand assuring him, "It's ready" during my time at AFM, I knew I wasn't sure.

Screenwriter Ed Fletcher

I don't think I'll ever be sure until a Hollywood player says: "I'll make that movie with you."

For those new to this blog, I'm talking about my feature length dramatic comedy "Pink," which is based on a 1969 strip club indecency trial.

In my fantasy version of my "How it Happened Story," I befriend a Hollywood white knight. My aging B-player would then introduce me to the right people -- an agent, a business-minded money guy and a gal to get me to all the right parties.

That hasn't happened yet. Instead, I've turned to strangers for screenwriting advice. Not street-corner strangers, rather the screenwriting contest feedback stranger.

For an extra fee, many screenwriting contests will provide detailed feedback. The catch is you're not given any information about the source of the feedback.

Script feedback emails are something you sit down for.

The words can send you into a funk or to the moon with excitement. Since January, I've received notes from the Screencraft Fellowship, Beverly Hill Screenplay Contest, BlueCat Screenwriting Contest and The Blacklist.

Three of the emails sent me into a full-day of happy dancing.

One, I could barely finish. I set it aside with the others for processing once there were time and enough data decide what needed to be done. I've considered hiring a script consultant, but kept putting it off out of a combination of poverty, pride, naivete and indecision.

The feedback notes come weeks or even months before the final decision on contest winners are announced. Awaiting the results of the contest was a good enough reason as any to procrastinate on addressing issues raised by the mysterious readers. If Pink placed, I'd soon have plenty of real people asking to read it, I had decided.

But then the email.

On Friday, a major independent film player, responding to my pitch submission, asked to read the first 10 pages. I didn't think much of Greenlightmymovie.com. For $30 a pop, film or television writers can send a video to Hollywood studios and talent management companies. I skeptically bought three submissions in late January. The first rejection came within three hours of submission. The third company has yet to respond.

The email asking for the pages was a lovely am inbox surprise. I sent off the pages as quick as my fingers could carry me. Then I promptly told the world. Each like of the facebook post was like a warm welcoming pat on my shoulder.

But then came Saturday. Saturday is when I decided as soon as Monday the company could ask for the full script and by the end of the day my script could be in the hands of the pre-screening intern.
My fate my soon by in the hands of a junior employee hoping to impress his or her boss with their keen discerning eye.

Suddenly, now was the time to settle into the chair and ignore social media long enough to re-acquire the characters voices, get back into screenwriter mode and fix any obvious issues. As I poured over each word of their analysis, I struggled to picture the author in my head. Are they old, young? Do I listen to the more critical voice or say forget her? Why do I even think it is her? (cus I'm sexist.)

Sunday, my wave of panicked self-doubt subsided.

No art is perfect and while surely the story and the script will continue to be refined, I'm confident it's close enough warrant collaboration toward a shared vision.

The Monday agenda: hire a script consultant.