Watch the Pitch Competition at Catalyst

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

A big part of the business world includes pitching. When I was at AMSOIL we had all kinds of race teams and television shows pitching us to become a sponsor of their endeavors. The key consideration always boiled down to whether it was a win-win and in alignment with our own objectives or just a pickpocket enterprise seeking to have us fund their passions.

In short, over a period of two decades I was on the receiving end of countless presentations in which people were pitching ideas.

The media industry, too, is all about pitching as well. Writers pitch agents; agents pitch stories to studios and producers. Producers pitch projects to businesses, seeking sponsorship. Will the cycle be unbroken?

Pitching is how the industry works. That is why one facet of the upcoming Catalyst Content Festival includes a "Pitch Competition."

Just like the Oscars, there is a process of weeding out the players and selecting the best of the rest. It reminds me a little of the DECA program in which teams of high schoolers learn how to make winning presentations. Except this is a new level, and it's not a game.

The semi-finalists in the Catalyst Pitch Competition were announced this week, and they are as follows.

Coming For You
Created by Taylor Coriell and Adriana DeGirolami

A mockumentary-style comedy about a passionate film director and her crew who take their jobs as filmmakers way too seriously given that they are, well, making porn.

Georgi & The Bot
Created by Jade Daugherty and Fred Soligan

When Georgi’s company tasks her with training “Opto,” a robot that will eventually replace her, she accidentally teaches it to be a neurotic mess, jeopardizing both of their futures. ​

​Super Girlfriend
Created by Allyson Morgan ​

SUPER GIRLFRIEND is a superhero story, told from the perspective of the superhero’s girlfriend. When a woman finds out the man she’s falling for is part of an underground superhero network, she must she must decide if their new romance can survive her own priorities and his extraordinary circumstances.

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For me, this is an area of special interest. My mind farm produces more ideas than I can pursue, bot in the realm of writing and as an artist. No matter how good your ideas are, though, the matter of pitching (selling that idea) must be mastered or you'll never get it off the ground.

This is just one of many reasons I've been looking forward to seeing Catalyst happen and doing what I can to make it a successful event. Will I see you there?

Related Links
Catalyst Content Festival Schedule
Over the years I've produced a number of stories that I believe could be successfully translated to films. Some would be short form, a few could be features, and I can envision a couple of these as multi-years series television.
Short Form Film Ideas
The M Zone
The Empty Space
Full Length Film Concepts
The Red Scorpion
Coyote With Broken Mouth (A Black hills Story)
Multi-Season Series Idea
A Unremembered History of the World
Also available as part of this short story collection, Unremembered Histories

Baseball, Pitchers and Stuff

It's that time of year when even the most latent baseball fans begin to awaken to resume interest in what was once our national pasttime. The playoffs are here, and our enthusiasm for the game rises to the surface once more. Newspaper stories bring us up to date on what went down in Major League Baseball during the regular season, all especially useful for the irregular follower like myself.

Last Sunday's New York Times had several stories designed to warm up our appetite for the post-season. It's only natural that the sports section would provide an overview of the season's top pitchers and players. But the fun story of the week appeared as an item on the front page, an entertaining riff on the way baseball commentators use that most elastic of words, "stuff."

The article by John Branch begins:

It was the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, a pivotal moment for baseball’s pennant races. Pitching was scrutinized. Analysis was deep.

“His stuff was really good,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said of one pitcher, adding of another, “I’ve never seen anything like this — a combination of pure stuff and results.”

It's the kind of baseball lingo we've heard all our lives so that we pretty much take it for granted. John Branch, however, decides to drill down. Whereas jargon like "set the table" and "shoestring catch" and "sitting on a pitch" are perfectly discernible when used in context, the word "stuff" has an altogether different character. It's a wonderful catch-all term that seems to mean everything and nothing. And Branch has a blast pointing this out.

"He's got great stuff" has become a descriptor as common as a Minnesota loon. Or, "he's lost his stuff." Or, he just didn't have his stuff tonight.

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The article reminded me of a story someone once told us about a woman from France who came to visit them for a while. After about a week she got a perplexed look on her face and asked, "What does this word stuff mean? You say, 'put your stuff over there,' and 'I have stuff to do.' I can't figure out what it means."

Our friend explained that it was one of those words you can insert just about anywhere when you don't have a better word. "It can mean anything really."

The visitor from France pondered this, and finally broke into a grin, eyes sparkling. "Ah... Stuff! I really like this word."

For a good read check out "The Mysteries of Pitching, and All That Stuff." Then sit back and enjoy the Playoffs. Unless you've got other stuff to do.