You drive to LA. Early.  Prepared. Not wanting to be late to what seems like the most intimidating night of the semester. You step onto the Sony lot looming before you, enchanting, welcoming, and wildly overwhelming.

You’re at Pitchfest.

In the days leading up to the night’s events, my classmates and I were all anxious about pitching our stories to industry professionals. How were we supposed to best convey the characters and worlds we’ve spent months creating or adopting as our own to individuals who would likely rather be home catching up on Game of Thrones?

It was daunting, but it turns out that the anxiety of pitching, and fear of disinterested parties on the other side of the table, were all for naught. Pitchfest was a great way to practice a useful skill, gain some confidence in ourselves as professionals, and get a taste of the high that comes with engaging a complete stranger in a story that you hold dear.

While it’s true, some of the pros we pitched to were less enthusiastic than others, they all came out to help us get better. Many followed up our pitches with unique and critical questions, trying to dig deeper into our connection to the material. Others offered tips on how to approach our pitches the next time around – what they were engaged in and what could be left out.

Ultimately, Pitchfest served to take the mythological one-on-one pitch, the terrifying unknown, and make it a fun, grounded reality, that we’re ready to dive into again. It turns out these industry professionals are just people, who want to talk about great stories. And really that’s what we as writers and producers always hope to find.

It also didn’t hurt to have a marquee made up just for us.

Pitchfest: Check!