The Galway Film Fleadh, one of Ireland’s leading film festivals, has announced a call for entries for their new-look Pitching Competition.
This represents Ireland’s only feature film-pitching competition, and is aimed at encouraging budding writers with ideas (at any stage of development) to get their vision out there and to develop the crucial craft of ‘the pitch’. For the laymen amongst you ‘the pitch’ is how you impart your passion for your project to others. Basically it is the art of selling your story, and is something that no matter how good your idea is as a writer, you need to get proficient at in order to convince a director, producer, or financiers of your idea’s merits. The films of Jerry Bruckenheimer and Michael Bay are all about the pitch, the high-concept idea that has the audience in the cinema before they realize what the film is really like!
The Galway Film Fleadh Pitching Award in now in its 10th year and challenges writers by providing them with a platform to share their ideas with their peers. In 2010 the Fleadh opened with Paul Fraser’s My Brothers, which began life three years earlier as a pitch by writer Will Collins. Success at the Pitching competition acted as a springboard for Collins’ project and the film went on to secure funding from the Irish Film Board. My Brothers subsequently went on to feature at festivals around the world, including New York’s Tribeca. Collins is currently co-writing the follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Secret of Kells, alongside director Tomm Moore.
This year there are some changes to the format. A 500-word written pitch (from beginning to end – with no cliffhangers!) is required of your idea. Any genre of feature drama, documentary or animation will be considered. An increased number of finalists will be selected to pitch their idea as an ‘Elevator Pitch’ of 90 seconds in front of an audience and a panel of industry experts on the closing day of the 26th Galway Film Fleadh (Sunday 13th July). This revised format from previous years will allows festival organisers to give more writers the chance to pitch their ideas while challenging them to perfect the art of ‘The Elevator Pitch’. The winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony that evening and will receive a cash prize of €3000.
Closing date is Friday 6th June. Entry forms and guidelines available from link.