Screenwriters and Authors - Pitch Your Work to Producers!

It's hard to get someone to read your screenplay, love it, and option the thing for production.
The odds are probably up there with growing a third nipple.
Then, to get out of development hell and see the project on film is a whole other mountain that needs to be climbed.

Do you write Scripts? Screenplays? Books? Have you pitched to producers, film companies and those muckety mucks who hold your happiness in their hands? Standing out in the crowd of screenwriters in LA is a feat in itself. One way to pull away from the pack is to win a screenwriting contest. Another is to pitch when you have the attention of the producer. Pitchfests are difficult, even if the producers ARE looking for material.
How about pitching at an exclusively small conference that is hundreds of miles from Hollywood but filled with top-caliber people who are producing content for screens, big and small? A place where you have their undivided attention for several days. I went to a small pitch conference last year and my series got optioned for film!

Connecting Writers With Hollywood is an event/pitchfest/conference in Spokane, Washington (4 hours east of Seattle-with an airport) where you can pitch to industry heavy weights in such a setting. These producers are around all weekend, taking pitches, giving talks and are more than accessible to the writers attending. It was here I met the woman who optioned my book series for her film company.

If you are a screenwriter with a script or a novelist with a book and are actively looking for an agent or a producer, or both, you might want to consider this event in June. It draws writers from all over the west coast (including those savvy but tired of the competition LA screenwriters) and promises to be a weekend filled with screenwriting, learning and pitching.
If you are an author who envisions your book as a movie or series, go for it!

A producer from Affirm Films with SONY will be there (Rich Peluso), Reps from the Dove Channel, ISA, LINK Entertainment (David Katsman), Clover Entertainment, EPICENTER Entertainment, the producer of Z Nation (Rich Cowan), and more!
The woman who discovered WILD (Shari Smiley) and took it from a book to a movie is the Key Note speaker on Friday night and is taking pitches all weekend.
Laura Bradford will be at CWWH taking pitches in hopes of finding clients for her successful literary agency.
If you have a book that would make a great movie, you might want to attend. That was me last year. I went home, studied screenwriting, wrote the thing and the series was optioned by a company who's fully committed to making this movie. It's in development now, which is both exciting and amazing to me.

You don't get anything unless you go for it. Step out of your comfort zone.

See you in Spokane in June. I'll be there pitching my next project!

www.CWWH2018.com


KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon Bestselling Author best known for The Dream Jumper Series, which is optioned for film, with over 400 reviews on Amazon at 4.5 stars.
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Not Kidnapped, Writing!

I just spent 4 1/2 days with 14 women shut up in a house.
No, we weren't kidnapped.
And we weren't there under duress. We wanted to be shut in for days on end.

I was at a writers' retreat. An annual affair I selfishly organize so I can get out of town to buckle down with my laptop to live inside my  head, only coming out for short sprints to eat, see if everyone slept well and look at the passing deer and elk out the windows.

My hubby asked if there was any drama this year and I looked at him like he had two heads.
These woman are over 30, are there to be productive and are WRITERS. Writers don't get snarky, competitive, mean, vindictive, nasty, dramatic. At least the ones I know wouldn't even think of letting those agendas into their lives.

My women writer Peeps are supportive, interesting, giving, lovely human beings who don't worry about furthering their personal agendas on a writers' retreat.
We eat healthy food, we hunker down for hours at a time at our laptops and we support each other. Someone comes out of the den to say they finished their book and we cheer. Another asks what's a good country song a dog can trot to and we put our brains to it.

This year we trickled in to the Lodge from Thursday afternoon to Friday night, one person getting waylaid on the highway when an accident temporarily closed the road. There were great stretches of time where everyone was quietly working but at meal times, we came together, emerging from the bedrooms, den, suites, office to talk, share, network, support each other's work and hear each others life stories. We talked travel, kids, politics, heartbreaks and of course writing. Our group this year all writes fiction and I did a little talk on how to adapt your work to a screenplay, something I've recently taken up doing. We discussed writing stronger, writing longer, marketing smarter and even had a 4-hour long Facebook party on the Sunday afternoon where six of us took turns asking questions and conversing with anyone who dropped in to our virtual party to win a free book.
Monday we packed, cleaned the massive kitchen, put all the furniture back where it was when we arrived, said our goodbyes and formed a convoy to support each other as we drove back to the coast through a snowy Snoqualmie Pass.
Writing can be a lonely life but this weekend, it wasn't.

I love this writers' community I'm a part of. It keep me going when I need something wonderful to grab onto.

I wouldn't be a plumber or a doctor or a real estate agent, even if I could.

I'm a writer.


KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon Bestselling Author best known for The Dream Jumper Series, which is optioned for film, with over 400 reviews on Amazon at 4.5 stars.
Sign up for her newsletter to keep posted on news and freebies and contests or follow her on Amazon.

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www.bit.ly/KimHNews

Getting Your Novel Optioned for Film

Tonight I'm speaking on getting optioned for film.

I'm using this blog to organize my thoughts but seeing I just open my mouth when I give a talk and spew on and on, I may or may not use these key points listed below. It works out better if I just have a few areas I need to address during a one-hour talk and just talk and talk and talk, in between those key points. I usually stay on topic. I usually stay focused although once I had dental work that had me spitting and slurping and that was distracting.

I try to not laugh at my own jokes when I speak. I also try to say interesting things to keep the room from emptying. Fingers are crossed that I can achieve this tonight at the Whatcom Writers and Publishers Dinner this evening in Bellingham, Washington.


With a background in entertainment and stage work, I am not usually nervous to speak but more like a racehorse at the gate, waiting to run. My over confidence helps in these situations.

Playing Sugar on Stage

My 3-book Dream Jumper Series is optioned for film and although many books get optioned (reserved contractually) I think that the first film will actually get made. When my super agent negotiated the contract, I asked to be a contributing producer and after promises to not interfere and be obnoxious on the set, I got the concession. I'm doing everything I can on my end to help get this movie made.

Here's my points to touch on tonight and a peek at my talk about how to get optioned:

-Write a compelling novel with a unique story that answers a burning question the general public will be interested in
-Make your characters as real and 3-dimensional as possible, with flaws, idiosyncrasies etc
-Have it professionally edited
-Write a one-page synopsis
-Write a three-page synopsis
-Publish your novel and promote the hell out of it, get reviews, have a compelling cover, make the blurb sound like a movie trailer.
-Write a movie tag line
-Learn how to write a treatment and then write one showing marketability of your story
-Make a Pinterest board if you need visuals, Choose A-List actors in the leads
-Get an agent who specializes in book to film or who has connections in film and tv (send the query, the treatment and even the screenplay if you wrote one!)
-Learn to write for tv and screen
-Learn the Hollywood market, see where your book fits in and will sell

-Hollywood likes novels, especially if they have a built-in following
-You don't need fame to sell an idea, it just helps
-Go for a big agency, find who's taking clients, go for the intern or lowest on the totem pole
-Be easy to work with
-Send your treatment to film companies, producers, directors, agents to a)get representation b)get a producer interested
-Take workshops on writing, improve your craft, watch tv, watch movies, learn the craft
-Pitch like your book is the next Harry Potter
-Don't be rude or aggressive, just be available and interested
-Build up your brand and your book concept online
-Be patient
-Be confident

I was lucky to find an agent with connections who knew a producer and the next thing I knew, we were meeting, talking, negotiating, planning and then a contract arrived. More negotiations, more talk and signing.
My 3 book series belongs to a reputable production company that has awesome connections in Hollywood, I trust the company president, and I'm excited.
Right now, I'm waiting for my project to get out of development and into pre-production and that looks like about 6-9 months. My movie is second in line with this film company and it looks like they are filming project number 1 soon.
I wrote the screenplay hoping that someone who is REALLY talented as a screenwriter, will take the thing and make it awesome. My version is the spec screenplay and every day I hope it's good enough to sell this concept to an A list director who will then attract the A list actors and money. That's how it works apparently. The director comes first.
While waiting for someone to get back to you, dream over here at IMDb to check out actors, directors, producers, film companies etc.

So People, keep perfecting your craft, keep writing, keep hoping, and maybe one day you'll get that call that Dreamworks wants your book and Natalie Portman and Chris Pine are starring in the movie version. It could happen. Why not?


KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon #1 Bestselling novelist who lives in the Seattle area and writes books about women in dire circumstances rescuing themselves. Her book series, Dream Jumper, is optioned for film and now in development.

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Suncadia Writers' Retreat - March 24-27 - Seattle

I organize a getaway for authors that I call The Suncadia Writers Retreat in the Seattle area.

March 24th, 2017 will be the 4th year a group of about 15 authors congregate in a stately lodge-style mansion east of Seattle to talk writing.

If you are interested in joining us this year, we write, eat, drink coffee, then wine (after 5), talk about writing, promotion, share ideas, help each other with Indie Authorship and sit by the fireplace with our laptops writing love scenes and suspense scenes. We research, talk about publishing strategies, go for walks in the woods, stare at elk on the golf course, talk about showing vs telling, go wine tasting on the last day at Swiftwater Cellars, swap promo ideas, learn to set up newsletters, ISBN's, brainstorm on titles, plots, and jump in the hot tub. Last year we had our Taro cards read by one of the attendees!

Some writers find a quiet corner of the huge lodge to write for most of the weekend, some talk writing mostly, and some write at the dining room table while listening to the rest of us exchange ideas about social media and how to manage our author careers. A wonderfully supportive group of fellow authors always forms to cast one's net wider in this pool of Pacific Northwest Authors.

If this sounds interesting, please ask for more info. The cost is $220 for three nights and loads of food.
Check out the house!
Grand Fir Lodge

We have both unpublished authors and multi-published award-winning, bestselling authors in the group.

 I am at kimhornsby @ yahoo. com  (no spaces, of course)







Kim Hornsby is the Author of Award-Winning The Dream Jumper's Promise available on Amazon Books. She is a Bestselling Supernatural Suspense Author who lives in the Seattle area where she writes during the rainy months.

Suncadia Writer's Retreat near Seattle!

 
Suncadia Writers’ Retreat
2015   

Back by popular demand!

March 20-22^nd Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon

Suncadia Washington, 90 minutes east of Seattle

Come to Write*Clear Your Head*Network*Plot Your Novel*Get Inspired

East of the Cascade Mountains, overlooking a myriad of golf courses, is a resort development named Suncadia. The annual retreat takes place in a mountain lodge-style home where writers gather to exchange ideas, plot their next book, and write in the peacefulness of the surrounding forest.

Join us for the second annual Suncadia Writers’ Retreat for two full days and two nights of solitude and networking with other writers. 

$200 includes:

Both nights accommodation in a comfortable bed (private beds will be twin-sized in a shared room or bunk room, couples and friendly friends might get queen or king. Specify when registering if you can share a bed, and with whom.) All House amenities (pool and spa usage at the main Lodge)

Friday Dinner - Pizza Bar with Veggie and Gluten free options

2 Continental Breakfasts - coffee/tea station, fruit, muffins/pastries

Lunch - Salads, bagels & cheese

Saturday Dinner - Grilled Salmon and Chicken, Bread and Salad, Dessert

Participants are asked to bring their own beverages and anything else to supplement the skeleton menu to suit their dietary needs. (Candy, Alcohol, Gluten free)

Retreat Schedule 

Friday 4-6 Arrival, Settle In, Go for Walk, Network

            6-7  Pizza Dinner Party - BYOB

            7-8 Roundtable to Discuss Writing Goals

             8-10 Hot Tub, Fire Pit, Write, Discuss

Saturday 7-10 Breakfast

               10-12 Quiet Time in House to write (Shhh)

               12-1 Lunch

               1-2 Optional Workshop in Great Room on Characterization w Christine Fairchild

               1- 4 Quiet Time to write,

               4-5 Break to go for walks, talk, hot tub, network

               5- 6 Happy Hour and Roundtable discussion

               6- 8 Dinner

               8-10 Firepit Topic: To be announced

                       Hot tub Topic: To be announced

Sunday 7-11 Brunch/Write - Optional Marketing Workshop w Kim Hornsby

             11-12 Pack and Checkout

 

What to Bring: Laptop or Tablet or Notebook and Pen, Extension Cord, Earplugs, Supplementary Food and Drinks, Warm coat and walking shoes, Comfy clothes, Toiletries

Transportation: We can car pool there on Friday. Just let me know you’re interested and we’ll set this up the week before.

The House: Deluxe Accommodations includes all bedding, WiFi and many amenities such as a hot tub, fireplace, full chef’s kitchen and more. The house rental will be determined by the number of participants, but here’s a possibility.:

Grand Fir Lodge http://www.vrbo.com/302762

 Email me at KimHornsby at yahoo dot com

Send your check (either deposit or full amount) to
 Kim Hornsby, 3128 2014^th Court NE, Sammamish, WA 98074

Hope to see you at Suncadia!

Questions?

kimhornsby@yahoo dot com

 

Kim Hornsby

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www.kimhornsbyauthor.net

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