Trailer Fest: Pipe Dreams or Paths to Glory?

Odd assortment of film, TV, web creators pitch Hollywood via the Trailer Festival

The newest film festival in town took place on Tuesday night in Beverly Hills, and was over in a couple of hours.

It showcased two dozen shorts, served two kinds of wine and three kinds of taquitos, and called it a night.

And its success will be judged not by how many people attended – though the Clarity Screening Room was close to its capacity of 118 seats – but by what happens in the days, weeks and months to come.

Google MapsThe Trailer Festival was designed by producer Miv Evans to showcase artists looking to sell movies, scripts, TV shows or ideas, videogames and books to Hollywood; in front of a screening room full of reps from studios and production companies, she presented 24 trailers (or, in some cases, short films) from projects looking for buyers.

The idea was to provide aspiring filmmakers with a way to get their material, or their ideas, to companies that would otherwise not accept unsolicited material or deal with talent that didn’t have representation.

Clearly made on budgets that ranged from small to nonexistent, the trailers included stories about human trafficking and alien abductions, high school romantic comedies and college romantic comedies, several thrillers, a pitch for a reality series set in Las Vegas, and a buzzword-heavy description of a video game called “Cold War Clambake.” 

The trailers pitched four TV shows, one video game, two books, three documentaries and 14 feature films – and the general impression was of folks with little or no money but with ideas designed to be commercial.

“Some of them are completed projects, and some just have scripts and enough footage for a trailer,” said Evans, who received 600 submissions since last September; she chose 70 for the Trailer Festival website, and then narrowed it to 24 for the screening. 

If any of the projects sell, Evans will receive a five percent finder’s fee. 

“The idea,” she said, “is to make a little money so we can do this again.”

Companies that sent reps, Evans said, included 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount and Overture.  Other entertainment companies  that couldn't attend in person were given access to a private "screening room" on the Trailer Festival website.  

The trailers will remain accessible on the website for one year. 

Judging from the reaction during the screening, most of those trailers aren’t likely to find many suitors among the industry reps in attendance.  Many were greeted with seemingly incredulous laughter, and one production company rep shook his head afterwards and muttered, “I felt bad for some of them.”

The biggest laugh came at the end of a description of a book about New Orleans' haunted locales; after a graphic description of the grotesque torture of slaves reputed to have taken place at the Lalaurie mansion, the narrator brought down the house with the aside, "It is believed that the mansion was recently bought by actor Nicolas Cage."  

(In fact, Cage bought the house in 2006, but lost it to foreclosure in 2009.)

A handful of the other trailers, though, received enthusiastic receptions.  Projects that seemed to have the best buzz included “Voice Male,” a trailer for a romantic comedy set amidst college a capella groups, and “Google Maps” (photo above), a webisode by a L.A.-based comedy group called the Vacationeers. 

“Google Maps” has already received millions of views on YouTube, but Evans said it was included because its makers are looking to break into television. 

The Trailer Festival certainly allowed the Vacationeers to show their wares to a group that included some TV pros – although judging from some of the talk afterwards, they were probably pitching to mid-level execs and below.

Over the taquito buffet, one guest greeted a twentysomething pal he obviously hadn't seen for a while.  “Where are you now?” he said.

“I’m at Jerry Bruckheimer television,” said his friend.

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a nice little operation going.  And we’re always looking for new shows.”

The first man paused.  “So what do you do there?”

“Oh, I’m a runner.”  

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