Part 1 - The Screenwriting Panel

As I mentioned earlier, I sat in on a screenwriting panel last week at The Academy of Art College.

If you want to sell your screenplay to Hollywood, one way is to go before a screenwriting panel. Basically, you have two minutes to pitch your screenplay before two to four Hollywood types either coming from film studios or production companies.

It's basically a two minute sales pitch where you tell them enough to get them interested enough in your movie to give you their contact information. The screenwriting panel has the opportunity to ask you questions, but then your time is up and they boot you out.

Most screenwriting expos have them, and there will be an opportunity at the end of the January in the SF Bay Area to pitch your movie. The whole process reminded me of an audition, although not as intense. At least you're selling a product like a movie, and not yourself as actor to play a role.

In a screenwriting panel, you sit and it's almost conversational and you actually get to see the people. In some theatre auditions, it's just you alone on stage and your reviewers are sitting in the audience and you can't see them.

There's a line of people, you get about five minutes to pitch your movie, they yell next, and then you leave and the next person gets a turn. And some places are very strict about time. If you talk too much and you're not done, tough luck, you're history.

One of the guys on my panel went to LA two weeks where he paid $25 every time he pitched to a pane. He ended up getting 11 Hollywood types who said they would read his script.

Now it's not a guarantee of a sale, or you might not even get feedback so you can improve. The guy I mentioned heard within two days after sending his script out, that a couple people weren't interested. They didn't say why, just no thank you.

It's a brutal process, but going before a screenwriting panel is one of the few ways an amateur without an agent can sell a script to Hollywood.

And screenwriting is just like acting. Everyone wants to do it, and the competition is stiff. Everyone thinks they can act, and everyone thinks they can write a better movie than the ones they've seen.