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The Third Annual Las
Vegas Screenwriters Conference: Schmoozing, Sin City Style Vegas, baby! Go ahead, say it, right out loud. Feels good, doesn’t it? Makes you feel kinda swingin’, kinda kicky, kinda Rat Pack. Makes you want to find a showgirl to blow on your dice (purely for luck, nothing suggestive about it, no sir). In fact, it’s hard to say “Vegas” without adding “baby.” Gotta assume there was pressure exerted by the network on the old Robert Urich show to keep the title short; there’s no other explanation. Maybe you’ve heard something in recent years about attempts to turn the town into a family attraction, with clowns and balloons and Barney the purple dinosaur doing three shows nightly at the Trop? Well, throw that preconception out the window. Sin City is back. Gambling. Booze. Spectacle. Sex on every corner. Oh, not literally sex on every corner, not yet; there are still some zoning issues to contend with there. But on billboards, painted in neon, on the sides of busses, on flyers littering the sidewalk, not to mention in the implanted and nearly bare women all over the place. In fact, there’s so much sex that one is left with a peculiar sense of sexlessness. This must be what the janitor at Hef’s mansion feels like, surrounded by all that nubile young flesh and all he can think is "This’ll be a bear to clean up." Until, that is, one gets to the room on the convention floor of Treasure Island hotel, where the Las Vegas Screenwriting Conference was set up this year. There was a refreshing lack of nudity within the confines of the conference itself. Which, considering the fitness regimen of the average screenwriter, was for the best. The conference was divided up into a number of concurrent classes in the morning, and consecutive panels in the afternoon. The morning sessions were divided between how-to writing classes and practical, detailed sessions about marketing and sales. When the most often heard complaint is that there are too many panels of interest going on at the same time, you know you’re doing something right, and organizer Michael Herst must’ve been hearing that one a lot. The industry guest list was made up of a heady mix of agents, producers, writers and gurus, some of them given to thoughtful introspection, others to wisecracks and entertainment. ICM agent Christopher Lockhart could take his pitch class talks on the road; attendees had to strap in tight when he launched into his amped-up, Robin Williams-esque pitch for The Wizard of Oz. (It was, by the way, offered up as an example of what not to do in a pitch session.) A guru adherent could take a stroll through the sessions offered by Richard Krevolin, Richard Michaels Stefanik, Christopher Wehner and Michael Hauge. John Fasano was there to regale would-be media moguls with stories of his adventures writing and producing such television programs as FX and films like Darkness Falls, and Bill Martell imparted a few of the secrets that have resulted in his seventeen produced features. If you happened to get the right seat for the Power Lunch, you could hear Writer’s Channel creator Lesley Bracker trying to convince Tom McNulty (from Adam Sandler’s production company) that Big Daddy is the best film ever made. (Tom wasn’t going for it.) And then there were the pitch sessions. Each attendee signed up to pitch a script to an individual industry guest. Here’s where all those classes from the previous days would pay off. Two concentrated days to perfect your pitch, all leading up to one face-to-face meeting. Will it end with a deal (signified by the phrase “I can see that movie!”)? Or with a pass (no one wants to hear, “great, but not for us”)? Here’s one of those rare moments when a writer can create his or her own destiny. And if all this exposure to insiders isn’t enough (and when is it ever?), there’s the cocktail parties and dinner, complete with awards show. This year, the Las Vegas Screenwriters Conference honored Hollywood legend Tony Curtis, who was introduced by his friends Marty Ingels and Shirley Jones. That’s right, Tony Curtis was there. Attendees got the chance to shake hands with the star of Some Like It Hot, Sweet Smell of Success and The Defiant Ones, among other classic films too numerous to mention. And what’s more, he talked about them. He talked about Clifford Odets and Billy Wilder and Kirk Douglas and Marilyn Monroe. He talked about his earliest acting experiences. And he talked about his incredible good fortune to be where he was today, in the industry he loves, and then he wished all that good fortune on his audience. Advice from industry pros, lessons from great teachers, and a personal blessing to screenwriters from one of the few living Hollywood legends? Can you ask for more than that? Well, if you can, you better go downstairs and hit the tables. Good thing you’re in Vegas, baby! Next year's conference is being planned for Santa Monica, CA. Check here for updates: http://www.vegasscript.com/
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Pete
Barnstrom is a San Antonio-based novelist and screenwriter with three options
and three assignments to his credit. He's held a number of jobs in his life, in
and out of the film and video business: from usher to projectionist, from video
store manager to local television producer, from thirteenth President of the
United States to cosmonaut. He's presently working as a screenwriter and
part-time commercial spelunker. Hobbies include ten-fingered woodworking and
six-fingered ukulele strumming. He's better at one than the other, hence the
fingers. He's also a member of the Screenplayers: 
