Pitching for Coverfly Pitch Week

Recently, I had the opportunity to pitch to a manager for Coverfly Pitch Week during their Spring 2021 session. If you aren't yet aware, Coverfly is an incredible resource for emerging screenwriters. They provide a central location for writers to submit and keep track of screenwriting competition and festival submissions. They also curate a list of writers that they recommend and highlight successful scripts on their Redlist.

This was my first time pitching for Pitch Week and I wasn't sure what to expect, so I thought I'd share my experiences and thoughts on the process to shed some light for other writers who were thinking about applying. First, applying for Pitch Week is completely free! So, I definitely recommend applying if you have a few successes on your hosted screenplays. I should add that this was my second time being selected for Pitch Week, but last time (Fall 2020) I wasn't selected to pitch. I decided to use that experience as a hint that something about my scripts or profile page was not attracting attention.

Before the Spring Pitch Week was decided, I made some changes to my biography to make it less about my personal history and more about my accomplishments, writing style, and favorite aspects of writing. Then I took a look at my scripts. In the Fall, I noticed that some of my lower rated scripts were populated at the top of my profile because they were updated most recently. I decided to make those private since they didn't have ratings and I wanted to highlight my highest rated scripts. I also updated any personal information and my profile image to keep it current. You can see my current profile here: Holly Holstein

Once I was selected for Spring Pitch week I began to scour the internet for anyone who had gone through the process and would have some advice. I read that pitches were limited to 12 minutes, but when I received my meeting email I noticed my pitch was scheduled for 27 minutes. I decided to prepare for either scenario by having condensed information ready, but also having extra things to talk about in case we went over.

I was told that pitches would be different depending on who you were pitching, so I prepared notes both for a general meeting about myself and a specific pitch about my Pitch Week script, a pilot I wrote called Golden Gate. I was afraid of completely forgetting how to answer the most basic questions, so made a document that included some questions I could ask them and some of the most likely questions they would ask me. I even wrote a quick biography about myself in case I got the dreaded "Tell me about yourself." For a quick refresher on possible questions, click here: Common Pitch Questions.

I went over my most recent scripts just to have them fresh in my mind in case they wanted to talk about more than one. And then I tried to relax! I was putting a lot of pressure on this meeting, but at the end of the day this is just one more contact to talk screenwriting with. I had to tell myself that no matter how this went it was a learning experience. Don't expect to get a rep out of it. Better yet, try not to expect anything at all. I tried to reframe the pitch as a first date. Do I like them? Do they like me? Do we vibe well? Would we want to see each other again? We'll get to the broad strokes of who we both are and that's it.

Then I hopped onto the call, and... Nothing. I was the first person in the virtual room. I kept my mic and video off, and went back to my document to prepare a notes section while I waited. Nothing. 5 minutes goes by. I leave the room and try the link again. No one is there. 10 minutes goes by. Now I'm panicking! Do I have the right link?? Am I in the wrong room?? My time is half gone, so do I lose my spot if we never meet?? I email the support people at Coverfly. They were on top of it. They send me a new link. I'm still alone. I'm about to email them again when I hear someone talking. He's there! I quickly switch over to the meeting and turn on my audio and video. We start to chat about the various difficulties with virtual rooms, but now I'm flustered because of the emailing and the manager has launched straight into his first question and you guessed it, "Tell me a little about yourself."

And I'm blank.

And my document is somewhere in a sea of open tabs that I can't hunt down right now, so I stumble and fumble my way through completely irrelevant and out of order facts about my life. I had a script in my head about how I was going to steer the conversation and it's all out the window now. So I take a deep breath. This is where the rep steps in and starts firing away about himself. While he talks, I compose myself and get comfortable. From then on we just chat about writing, about my project, and about our favorite new shows. Before I know it, 45 minutes have gone by and he's being told to wrap it up because he's late for his next appointment. He tells me he's going to request a sample of my script, but it would take him a few weeks to read it because he's already behind on his reading. We tell each other how great it was to meet one another, and the meeting closes. I realized I didn't get his contact info, but Coverfly handles the script requests anyway, so they ask me for the most recent draft and I send it off.

My best advice for anyone doing a similar pitch week is this: Prepare, and then let it all go. The more you can just be yourself, the better. And don't go in with any preconceived notions of how it's going to go or what the person is going to be like. I thought I was going to see some slick, Entourage-esque wheeler and dealer and the man on the other end of the video looked more like he was out of Sons of Anarchy! I think his casual appearance helped put me at ease, actually. At the end of the day, just know your stories and know yourself. The rest will flow naturally.

Cheers!

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Holly Holstein is a Los Angeles-based writer with over ten years creating content. She writes independent reviews and articles and is not compensated for her posts. If you enjoy her articles, please sign up to become a member!