Friday, February 24, 2012

The Almost Good News

For quite a while I've been alluding to the fact that there's some exciting news coming.  Well, it looked that way, but I've been waiting and the good news just didn't quite come about.  Let me tell you what happened.

Back in December, I joined a television program marketing website, which seems to be one of the best ways to get my script for West of the Warlock in front of the right people.  Hollywood executives don't generally look at freelance material, and unless you're connected you don't have many options.  TV Writers Vault is one of the rare exceptions, where unagented, unknown writers can pitch television projects.

There is a membership fee involved, and it was really more than I could afford at the time, but I figured I'd go all-in and see what happened.  It was still a longshot, but if somebody actually looked at my script, I knew they'd be hooked.  That has long been my greatest problem—getting anyone to read my material.  So, I scrounged up the membership fee and put together a fresh pitch for the West of the Warlock television project.  Then, it was all up to the executives.

In mid-January, I got an exciting hit.  An executive over at Cross Genre Entertainment reviewed my project and requested to see my script.  It was thrilling, and seemed like an answered prayer for a time... until they never contacted me!

You see, the way that TV Writers Vault works is, the executives review the pitches, and if they want to see a script they ask the website to send them the writer's contact info, and then they're supposed to contact the writer directly.  Well, for whatever reason, the people at Cross Genre Entertainment never got back to me.  I don't know if they changed their minds, or what.  All I know is that after a month of waiting, they still haven't contacted me (and they're supposed to do that within 3 days of asking for contact info).

It's really a sad situation, but there is still hope that the folks over at CGE will contact me someday.  The worst part of it is not knowing why.  Why didn't they contact me?  Was it all a mistake?  Did they click the wrong button and never want to read my script to begin with?  Did they try phoning me in the middle of the night and I missed the call?  Did they just plain change their minds?  It is a mystery that may never be answered, since according to the TV Writers Vault terms of service I can't contact them unless they contact me (though, I did post a subtle reminder on their facebook page).

This isn't the end, of course.  There are any number of other executives using the TVWV website who might want to give West of the Warlock a chance, and it's always a remote possibility that some producer will read the book and ask about the filming rights on their own.  The script is just waiting to be read, and it could be a major hit for whatever studio has the foresight and fortune to produce it.

Oh, and if any of you run across a television producer who's looking for a truly original show, don't hesitate to mention me by name!  I've got several projects in the sci-fi & fantasy genres just waiting for the right people to bring them to life.

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