Submit a 'Holy' Pitch to Get $40K Toward Making Your Short Film
An opportunity this good can be saintly.
Pitching can be difficult. With just a concept in your mind and a heart on your sleeve, selling a group of industry professionals on the idea of your film—presented with as much clarity as you can possibly conjure up—is its own form of advanced storytelling. The rewards can be plentiful however, and in the case of the no-frills-named competition The Pitch, financially rewarding.
Offering $40,000 in production funds to the winning pitch for a 15 minute short that's in some way related to a biblical story, the 10th annual competition wishes to gracefully reward your work.
That's right, you can pitch a short film in some way related to the Holy Book and get the necessary funds to shoot it! If you're not well versed in all things Bible-related, that's not a problem. As the competition's website makes clear, "Our unique challenge is for you to make an adaptation of any Bible story, theme or character. You don’t need to have ever read the Bible before to participate."
Check out the trailer for Neville Pierce's PROMISE, a previous winner of the competition, below.
In order to apply, you must digitally submit your pitch (accompanied by a completed entry form) via a storyboard, a treatment, or simply a recorded video of yourself presenting the pitch. If chosen as one of the 10 finalists (via an online public vote), you will be invited to Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom for a face-to-face pitch, an interview, workshops, and seminars taking place in January 2019. If chosen by select judges as one of the remaining three finalists, your travel and lodging will be provided.
If you're ultimately selected as the winner, your short film must be "completed during the first half of 2019, at dates to be agreed with the winner. This will take into account the period for pre-production and will proceed to principle photography as and when the project is ready. The winning pitcher will then take the completed film to Los Angeles in 2019, and there will meet with industry professionals who will give feedback and advice on the film. The industry professionals will be people such as Ralph Winter (Producer X-Men; Fantastic Four;Wolverine) (although The Pitch retains the right to alter and amend the meetings as necessary with due regard to the availability of individuals)."
The Early Bird Deadline is set for Monday, September 24th and is free to submit. For more information, click here.
