Frontières Market Pitch

Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action! prep for Frontières

The week before Frontières and couple of great things happened to Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action!

  1. I got this wonderful banner via the tremendous and generous talents of Kelman Design and Glen Schroeder working on the “Movie Poster” for me. At Frontières, I’ll show a full page movie poster with cool backgrounds and more visual representation of the story in it. It’s thanks to the wonderful WIFT program that this is happening and I’m very pleased.
  2. The Dark Side winners, myself included, had a 2 hour pitch consultation from Jan Miller. It was a great experience and I heard wise advice, not just for my pitch and project but for all four of us. I must now complete my one-pager for the festival and submit that by Wednesday next week. There are so many ways to pitch and it just isn’t something I’ve done a lot. All of my sales were done to people I already knew, who asked for written story ideas. But that was in television, and I was working on shows that were looking for stories. This is my movie and it is looking for a producer.
  3. At Frontières my pitch is in the Created by Women Pitch Session, presented by Telefilm Canada with Women in Film + Television Vancouver. I’m so pleased to be able to showcase my first feature project along with the other 3 up-and-coming female screenwriters from across Canada. This year we are doing it via Zoom. Previously, the festival was in person and it would have been daunting to go up on a big stage to present my story. However, I also have some trepidation about delivering on Zoom. We have many questions yet and next week will be important for our preparations. The pitch itself can only be five minutes, then they give us a Question & Answer period with the panel of experts. Plus, while the Market is going on, we can have meetings with producers, distributors, sales agents, and other interesting people, with a view to pursuing the project.
  4. I feel very lucky this week! I also won an Honorable Mention in a short story contest. See my Bibliography for more info.

June 2020

I’ve been working on my script “Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action!” since the #DarkSide week in early March. It’s done to first draft now at 105 pages. First drafts in film and TV are really ‘starting points’. You need to get through a few drafts before sending it anywhere serious. So, it’s not yet at the point where I’m sending it out to producers. I’m looking at a rewrite or two before July’s pitching at the digital edition of the Frontières International Co-Production Market – July 23-26, 2020.

Next step is the story editing which is provided by Women in Film. I’m really pleased to have another set of eyes on it. So far, only one writer friend has read LCPA and she likes it, so that’s good! However, I’ll need some critiquing to get it into super shape for pitching and for selling ultimately.

Graphics design – I’m so pleased to be working with Kelman Design – Keli Manson and Glen Schroeder on the design of my pitch poster! I can’t reveal any of the design yet, but it’s truly wonderful. I want to put it on all of my things! It’s not done yet, there are phases to developing a great graphic for something like this and I’m learning about what my Designers need to know in order to proceed.

The image must be something useful for the Market but also something that is a true sales tool. It needs to tell them what they are (potentially) buying, using images, colours, fonts, tone, and texture.

from our Dark Side Win!

I’m so very pleased to be a winner in the Women in Film & Television, from our Dark Side contest. This win allows me to develop my winning pitch into a pilot and a great series plan, complete with graphic designer and story editor mentors! So we’re going to Montreal in July with this project! Thanks Women In Film & Television Vancouver!

Image may contain: 6 people, possible text that says 'rom our Dark side SELECTED WINNERS #FODS2020'

Women in Film & Television Vancouver

In keeping with this week of announcements, we’re excited to present the selected winners of our From Our Dark Side Genre Contest! Congratulations to:

Selaine Henriksen (ON) – “Cold Snap”
Julia Rowland & Kristy La Pointe (ON) – “A Better Brain”
Cat Girczyc (BC) – “Lights, Camera, Paranormal Action!”
Lauren Marsden (BC) – “Mama D’Lo”
Marie Clements (BC) – “Sparrow”/ “Nel Dzay Ya”

Read all about it: http://bit.ly/FODS6Win

Aurora Award Season

Aurora Awards eligibility lists are open! To participate in our national awards, you have to be a member of Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association CSFFA ($10) per year. All Canadians are eligible to join and nominate. Then CSFFA members vote on the actual award winners once the nominations are set. You must join to be able to vote on which stories or poems are actually nominated. Nomination dates are

March 1, 2020Nominations open
April 18, 2020Nominations close  

Nomination Process

Nominations is the second phase of the Aurora Awards process. Works from the eligibility lists are nominated by CSFFA members for the Aurora Awards ballot. The top five works in each category with the most nominations will be placed on the ballot.

I have 2 stories and one poem that are eligible and would love it if I received a nomination this year, so keep in mind the following:

Story – Absinthe Kind in Polar Borealis #12 Nov/Dec 2019

Story – WRASSE in Neo-Opsis #30 Dec 2019

Poem – “Law of Love” in Polar Borealis #9 March 2019.

Join CSSFA to get automatically emailed when it’s time to nominate at this website:  https://prixaurorawards.ca/?doing_wp_cron=1579131388.8118300437927246093750

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