Posted by Carma Gagne Chan April 09, 2022

first pitch

In 2009, Carma began attending what is commonly referred to in the industry as pitchfests. These are usually weekend events in the vicinity of Hollywood. The price to participate--yes, in Hollywood, you must pay out-of-pocket to chase your dream, and unless you are sleeping on a generous, patient, supportive person's couch, you have to pay unbelievable rent and gas prices to live anywhere near Hollywood, or spend hours commuting to these opportunities--the price to participate in a pitch fest depends on the quality of the event, Some are a 1-day event with long lines to speak with a representative of the studio that is looking for your genre--these type are what we call affordable. Maybe less than $100. Parking is another story. The Hollywood Pitch Festival is a 4-day event and costs $565 in 2022.

In order to pitch, one must become acquainted with the art of the logline. This could take years to master. Carma would say she is nowhere near mastery and that writing loglines is harder for her than writing a novel. How do you boil down a 2-hour movie into one or two sentences? Try it! This is where Yoda's wise words come in handy. You simply must do.

You can't pitch without a logline. You have five minutes to sell your script. These people have heard it all. Your pitch has to have flair. This moment in Office Space, a cult classic, epitomizes the entertainment industry.

She went to pitchfests in 2009, 2010, 2011 and in 2012 Carma had a moment of what she would later call clarity.

She stopped paying to play. Stopped trying to generate a buzz. Stopped self promotion. Stopped the hamster wheel and got off. Hollywood was a young white male hot house. A woman of a certain age was almost laughable. She heard it politely from more than a few. The problem is this: the reps at the fest ask for many scripts to be sent to them. They then have to read a stack of scripts. There are stacks and stacks of unread scripts in every studio office in the world. Some of Carma's scripts are probably still in one of those stacks.

If a rep picks up your script and starts to read it, if by page five they aren't stabbed in the soul by a wizard's dagger or sent to Uranus by a magnificent dom--seriously, if "the inciteful event"--yes, there is a formula--if the inciteful event doesn't happen by page--this is why there are so many indie films. Great indie films. But you can't make a Saardu movie on an indie budget. Saardu is what's known as a tentpole or blockbuster. It requires millions. It requires special effects. Carma would be thrilled to accept the quality of The Never-Ending Story magic, but today's audiences need more flair. Today's film investors need more ROI. Need? Apparently some people are unfathomably needy. While some people need food and shelter, others need a yacht.

If a rep finishes reading your script, the next step is that they have to pitch it up the ladder. Questions posed to the rep include:

What else has she written?

Is it based on a successful book? These types of scripts must come with a fan base. Hollywood has had major box office flops that did not earn the expected high profit for movies that cost >$100M to make. This is why today you see so many movies based on comic books. The sweet spot for filmmakers is the single male age 18 to 35 who has money to blow on entertainment.

Carma was told flat out that the industry was biased with all kinds of "isms". She had three strikes against her. Number one, she was an unknown talent. First question - what else has she written? Meaning, has she previously had any scripts optioned, by whom, how much?

Number two strike, she was a woman. Women were seen before the #MeToo movement as incapable of writing a script that would appeal to the 18-to-35 male.

Number three, she was over fifty. This is where the listener might interject and say, "But what about J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter?" Exactly. Read the history of that series and how long it took for the first book to catch on, and how she got screwed in her first movie deal. Learn the business.

Try pitching that to your boss, who has to pitch it to his boss, who has to pitch it to his boss, who has to pitch it to investors who have statisticians and market analysts filtering their perspective on opportunity. They don't see Saardu. They don't see possibility. They see expensive movie, unknown talent written by a woman who hasn't sold anything else she's written. Hard sell. And if the story pitched was about two "crippled" kids (their word, not Carma's), that was a harder sell.

Since 2012, Carma writes what she wants, when she wants, how she wants. She began publishing ebooks. She began using the name Chan to honor her real dad, Jon-Jon Chan, who raised her after Earl Dillon ghosted his family. Since 2019, many of her titles are now available in paperback, too.

She began using Carma Gagne Chan in 2021, in memory of her mother, Ruth Gagne Chan, who died in September last year. She spent two years researching her mother's parents, desperate to find pictures of them, because none had survived water damage. It was a great joy that she was able to publish and show her mother this book about her parents, before she passed away.

Albert Loved Sylvia
A Family Love Story by Carma Gagne Chan

CLICK THE IMAGES TO VIEW THE BOOK

42 Shades of Blush
The Passionate Artistry of Alexander Nodopaka
Carma Gagne Chan

1,017 Randomly Beautiful Moments in the American West
Photography and Haiku

A is for Art
Gramma Carmels ABC Picture Book Series

B is for Balloonist

C is for Camping

D is for Dragonflies

E is for Earth

F is for Forestry

G is for Gardens

H is for Hello

The Ills of Saardu (1985)

The Easter Rubber
Original Screenplay

10 Most Annoying Things People Say to NICU Parents
...when they're only trying to help!

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Previously published titles, no longer available...

Cerebus: Under the Aardvarkian Spell

Cerebus: An Epic Journey

Screenplay: A Temporary Sanity

Screenplay: Deja Vu

Screenplay: Delta Punk

Screenplay: Love of Her Life

Short Story: Time to Kill the Cougar
(Carma is vehemently against teachers who seduce teenage students
and all other forms of statutory rape and sexual exploitation of youth.)