Cindy McCreery
Guest Writer Series, Part 11 Cindy McCreery, Hollywood Screenwriter. Cindy is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program for the 2002-2003 year. In 2006 National Geographic Films hired Cindy to rewrite ELEPHANT WILD and later in 2007 in partnership with Warner Brothers, they hired her again to develop and write FREE WILLY: ESCAPE FROM PIRATES COVE. Cindy also teaches Advanced Screenwriting at UCLA.
Beginning December 15, 2010 I helped organize Vpype’s second Hollywood Screenplay Pitch Contest, which ran until the end of January. As some of you might recall, the first pitch contest held December 2009 through April 2010 turned out to be a very big success as we had over 400 five-minute-pitches submitted via Vpype’s Facebook application, vBroadcast. We had contestants from all over the world with ideas ranging from epic period pieces to massive blockbusters to outlandish comedies to touching dramatic true stories. Not only did the winner of the contest get the opportunity to develop her pitch into a screenplay with a known producer, but many of the top ten were contacted by judges and are still currently working on ideas as well.
This year, we made some changes to the contest. Rather than running it for several months, we decided to run it for two months and make it a three-minute pitch, rather than five. We also had participants use Vpype’s newest application, vComedy, which has a three-minute cap already in place, to pitch their screenplay. We had a 100 pitches submitted from all over the world including Spain, Germany, Pakistan and India. Many of the judges from last year participated as well, including Julie Richardson, Producer of “Collateral” and “The Collector” and Christopher Lockhart story editor for William Morris Endeavor and producer of “The Collector” and most recently the documentary, “Most Valuable Players”. The other judges included former Disney executives, Producers and even a Professor from the top screenwriting program in the country.
Pitching is a funny thing because writers generally are not actors or extroverts. It’s especially tough to pitch alone in a room to a camera because you can’t read your audiences body language. Also, getting across an entire story from start to finish in under three minutes is really an art and I must admit I was very impressed with the quality of the pitches this year. I was also inspired by the courage it took to actually do it! One of the top 10 from this year is a speech therapist who isn’t in “the biz”, in fact lives in a very small town far from Hollywood and sent me a Facebook message admitting to me how terrified she was, but she did it and did a great job. All of her friends and family who watched her pitch were impressed and proud of her, as they should be! At least when I have a meeting with a producer and pitch them my idea it’s not recorded and posted on Facebook for everyone to see and critique! The judges were all impressed with everyone as well and I’m encouraged by the fact that many of the judges personally reached out to several of the top ten, wanting to read their work and or further discuss their pitches.
This year’s winner is Joe Palladino from Santa Barbara, California. His winning pitch, “Towers of London”, is a fictionalized account of Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack the Ripper. Joe’s story was not only compelling, clever and simply a lot of fun, but his actual pitch was very clear, very well thought out and a delight to watch. His personality shined through and he made it enjoyable for his audience. All of the judges agreed that they easily envisioned the movie – both the tone and the hook of it, which isn’t an easy thing to pull off!
Vpype - Hollywood Screenplay Pitch Contest
Wilton Richards, who came in second with his pitch “The Hitman”, pitched twelve ideas all of which were really fun and original. His other pitch, “Battle For Earth” made it into the top twenty. “The Hitman” is fun action comedy about a hitman who is dying of cancer and puts a hit out on himself but is cured and must save himself from the other hitmen. Wilton lives in The Bahamas and I am pleased that this contest brought Hollywood within reach for him and that he has been in contact with two of the judges.
In third place was AD Smiths, “The Assigned” which was definitely the most entertaining of the entire contest as he had props, music and he even acted out a scene using cardboard cutouts! I have to admit that I watched his pitch at least five times because the theatrics of his pitch were so fun. AD has a very natural pitching ability, which I’m a little jealous of.
Hollywood can feel very far away for most aspiring screenwriters, even for those of us who live in Los Angeles and it’s exciting when you come across a company like Vpype who has the resources to make it just a little more accessible. Having a voice, but not being heard is a very frustrating and lonely thing and I’d like to hope that this contest has helped a few writers feel as though they’re being heard. If anything, everyone who participated in the contest now has a community of other writers who they can share their ideas with.
The Hollywood VPYPE Pitch Contest group page on Facebook has become a sort of water cooler hang out for a lot of aspiring screenwriters and it continues to grow every week. Also, the vComedy application page has become a place to share ideas and notes on each other’s work. Every pitch that was submitted has been viewed multiple times and many have comments and suggestions from other participants. I hope that writers in the group will continue to share their ideas with each other and really use each other as sounding boards. I know that some members have used vBroadcast to discuss ideas with each other and over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to created a “writer’s group” using vBroadcast where each week a writer will broadcast their own ideas live, while other members of the group can watch and chat with them live.
What every aspiring screenwriter dreams of is an audience and Vpype has helped provide one!
Joe Palladino’s pitch, TOWERS OF LONDON on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?auth_token=82020b1098aa9a22b34c89b2453ffb1c
Wilton’s pitch, THE HITMAN on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?ref=ts
AD Smith’s pitch, THE ASSIGNED on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?ref=ts
