Hey everybody!
We got some cool news to share! A little while back, IGTM attended the WestDoc conference over in Santa Monica. WestDoc is kind of a unique film/broadcast conference, in that it concentrates on documentary and reality show production. Documentary is usually relegated to being tagged on to other conferences and festivals, so we were really excited to attended a full conference devoted to nothing but docs (& reality tv)
The conference was great, we learned a lot and met some fantastic people (many of which may help IGTM in the future), but what was really exciting is that we submitted our project to be included in 'Pitchfest' - and we were accepted (beating out 50+ other projects).
PitchFest
Pitchfest is a competition in which you get 8 minutes to pitch your project to an audience of 200+ industry folk and panel of industry executives (decision makers at places like PBS, TLC, ITVS...we're talking heavyweights here). After your pitch, the panel tells you what they think. After all the pitches are done, the voting starts, and the winner walks away with great feedback, contacts and $ 5,000.00!
We went into the experience with our expectations pretty in check - we were happy just to get an audience with these people, and the competition was pretty stiff (a lot of very cool, very polished projects). So needless to say, we weren't expecting too much. But it turned out that the panel, and the audience kinda liked the project. In fact, they really liked the project. So much so, we won the whole thing!
The judges were extremely receptive to the pitch and the subject matter. None of the panelists were familiar with the indie games world. But, there were very much intrigued about the games and interested in the creative experience of the developers we're profiling.
We can't thank the fine folks at WestDoc enough - especially Chuck Braverman & Richard Propper. It was such a valuable experience.
As a result of the experience, IGTM is becoming a better project - garnering attention that we wouldn't have dreamt of when we first started this thing.
So in a way it changes alot in terms of scope and potential for the film, but at the same time changes absolutely nothing. In that we conquered the Hollywood competition, but still hopped back into the Toyota Yaris to continue our road trip, making the movie.
Up Next...
And on that note, we are on our way to Montreal tomorrow to meet Mr. Poisson and talk a little 2D/3D (no Yaris for this leg of the trip, instead it’s United Airlines: The Yaris of the Air!)
J + L