My Pilgrimage to Austin – Part 2

EDITOR’S NOTE: Before you start this, be sure and read Part 1 HERE

pitch contestants

by Lew Ritter

The Pitch Session:

I was selected to participate in a Pitch session at the church. The room was filled with people, but only ten lucky people per session would be chosen to pitch their script ideas. read article

My Pilgrimage to Austin – Part 1

by Lew Ritter

Twenty years ago, when I met my future wife, I told her with a straight face that “any day now, I would get a call from Hollywood.” At that time, I was writing screenplays that were frankly “ Not Ready for Primetime.” The chances of getting to Hollywood, much less leaving New Jersey were remote. However, after all those years, she humored me. Writing screenplays in her mind was safer relationship than with a guy whose hobby was stumbling out of bars or playing poker all night. Mark Goffman of SleepyHollow and WhiteCollar

Twenty years later, I finally got an email that put my destination to Hollywood closer. It would take me not to the West Coast, but at least as far as Austin Texas. My latest screenplay, Whistleblower, had been selected a “Second Rounder” for the prestigious Austin Film Festival. This was particularly impressive, as it landed my script in the top fifteen percent of scripts. This was out of over eighty five hundred submissions. After many years of trying, my writing had finally elevated itself to a professional level.

After much soul searching, I decided to take a chance and attend the Austin Film Festival. I felt that I could only afford to take off one day from work, so I purchased a Weekend Badge. I had printed over two hundred business cards. They featured my contact information on the front of the card and on the back were a compendium of the numerous scripts that I had written. read article