Movie Ideas To Be Pitched Online

ShowBIZData.com, which bills itself as an online entertainment database, thinks that it has found a way to make the whole process of landing a first sale easier for aspiring screenwriters and independent film producers.

Timed to correspond with the Sundance Film Festival which will run for 11 days in Park City, Utah, beginning January 20, 2000, ShowBIZData has announced the establishment of "The Worldwide Pitch Festival."

According to Oliver Eberle, president and CEO of ShowBIZData.com, the pitch festival will give first-time filmmakers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get their stories produced into full-length features.

Eberle explained that anyone with a story idea could register that idea at ShowBIZData.com. The registration process is free and all that is required is that the idea be reduced to a cogent submission of approximately 1,000 words. Then, the registrant will be asked to submit a two-to-five-minute video of them pitching the idea.

A jury of Hollywood motion picture professionals and venture capitalists will award one submitter a chance to participate in a million-dollar production deal. The million dollars will be put up through the facilities of Net Worth Productions, a Park City production company that writes, finances and produces full-length independent feature films.

The submissions will be available for view over the Internet at the ShowBIZData Website.

In addition to competing for the million-dollar production deal, all of the story ideas submitted, Eberle claims, will be up for auction. Potential bidders will be financiers, Hollywood executives and others who can either see the pitches online on their own PCs, or at a cyber cafe to be set up at Harry O’s, a popular Park City hangout.

Movie industry hopefuls who attend the Sundance Film Festival in person can submit their pitches "on-site." These on-site pitches will be videotaped and then viewable over the ShowBIZCom Website the next day as streaming video.

Eberle also said that Robert Kosberg, a Hollywood producer, will work with the on-site pitchees to get their story ideas to stand out.

ShowBIZData will take a "transactional fee" on the sale of any story ideas are sold through The Worldwide Pitch Festival. The Worldwide Pitch Festival will be broadcast on the Internet starting January 21, 2000. The Website is located at http://www.showbizdata.com.