Practice Your Pitch with Industry Professionals At your Salem Chapter: David Poulshock, Nancy Froeschle, Clark Kohanek, and Christine Autrand Mitchell

Are you thinking about pitching at the Willamette Writers Conference? Or maybe you're excited to share your work, but don't know how? Perhaps you're wondering what it's like to pitch to an industry professional? Join us online at the Salem Chapter meeting on June 1st at 7:00-8:30 PM for Pitch Practice! Come and pitch your project online to industry veterans in real-time. You'll get a chance to pitch your own work -- or just listen in -- and get advice and tips from industry professionals. Don't know what a pitch is? This is the place to find out! Want to present your project in the best possible light? This is the place. Whether you are pitching at the conference and want to get comfortable, or you are thinking about how to present your work to your friends and colleagues, this workshop will help you find the perfect pitch. Each pitch presenter will have approximately eight minutes -- just like at the conference! Just remember, you won't present the whole time -- a pitch is a conversation between you and the professional. Come prepared to share your work and listen too!

About Our Industry Professionals:

David Poulshock is a Northwest filmmaker whose work includes the best-selling “Wee Sing” children’s series (Universal Home Video); the educational series “America’s History in the Making” and “Mathematics Illuminated” (Annenberg Channel); the feature documentaries "Raw Materials" and “Space” (currently in post). His projects have won over 80 major awards, including 9 national Telly Awards in 2015 alone. From magical realism and political satire to suspense thriller and true crime, his original screenplays have won top honors in such script competitions as Austin, Worldfest, Slamdance, Fade-In, IFP, Nicholl, Storypros and Scriptalooza. Prior to his film career, David was keyboardist with the legendary Northwest cult band Upepo, an Oregon Music Hall of Fame honoree. He has served as adjunct faculty of the Art Institute of Portland, Chairman of the Willamette Writers Conference and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Northwest Academy. Nancy Froeschle is a Nicholl Fellowships top-ten winner for her WWI script, The Greater Glory. Her optioned thriller, The Restoration, was a 2019 Writer’s Lab finalist and winner of the Writers Digest Script Competition, and her co-written thriller, Terminal, was a 2020 quarter-finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break competition. She was hired to adapt a WWII true story into a feature and the Vietnam War autobiography, Captain For Dark Mornings, into a co-written limited series pilot with Martin Sheen attached. She’s also written and pitching pilots for Blue Hour, a dark dramedy series, and Purgatory, a co-written, 1910 western, which was a 2022 Austin second-rounder. Her most recent project is Lake Crescent, a supernatural pilot based on a true story. In addition, Nancy served four years as Film Coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland and taught screenwriting to middle and high school students. She currently hosts Script Frenzy, a weekly zoom screenwriter’s forum via the International Screenwriters Association. Clark Kohanek is a writer, story consultant, illustrator. Over 30 years experience in the film, television and advertising industry. Clients include Fox, Disney, Universal Studios, EA Games, Nike. Currently working as a story consultant for NicoNazar on multiple projects this year starring Robert De Niro, John Malkovich, Bella Thorne, Thom Jane and others. Christine Autrand Mitchell is an alumni of The Writers Lab, ranking in top contests and fellowships like Austin, PAGE and ScreenCraft. Her genre and STEM-based TV and feature scripts highlight characters challenged by secrets along with their story’s unique settings, making her a grounded world-builder. She's inspired by places she grew up, like a tourist island and a 900-year-old Austrian cloister, so outsiders are a common theme. Christine is a filmmaker, has published short fiction and articles, and is a story analyst. She’s a former business consultant and casting director now living in Portland, Oregon. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsc-itqT0iEt37v-pdltmVhAYbm1N21Z7g  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. About your chapter Willamette Writers meetings are open to all writers, 18 and up. Young writers are encouraged to join our Young Willamette Writers meetings. Guests are welcome to make a donation to help support the cost of the meeting (we believe in paying our speakers for their time and skills). This meeting is run by volunteers. We look forward to seeing you there!

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