Call for submissions: imagineNATIVE Documentary and Drama TV Pitch

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
2011 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
DOCUMENTARY & DRAMATIC TV PITCH:
Exclusive Professional Training & Pitch Session

This is your chance to be part of an intensive pitch training opportunity at this year's imagineNATIVE!

Do you have a great idea for a pilot episode of a series drama (30 or 60 min), OR a feature, short or series documentary? Enter our competitions to pitch your idea to a panel of commissioning editors and acquisitions executives from the major Canadian broadcasters - who will provide valuable feedback and development advice. You will also have a chance to win imagineNATIVE's Documentary Pitch or Drama TV Pitch prizes to help your ideas become a reality.

FOUR documentary pitch contestants & FOUR drama TV pitch contestants will be selected by imagineNATIVE's Programming Committee to receive a free, six-hour intensive "How to Pitch" workshop with a broadcasting industry professional. This workshop will provide invaluable insight and instruction on the pitching process and advice on improving individual pitch ideas. The intensive workshop will take place on Wednesday, October 19th at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Reitman Square, 350 Kind St. W. in downtown Toronto.

Each five-minute pitch will then be presented to the panel of commissioning editors and acquisitions executives during the festival's "Pitch Competition for Dramatic Works" and "Documentary Pitch Competition" on Friday, October 21 in a live, staged event at the Festival's new venue, the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The panel will select one winner from each category. Best Documentary Pitch winner will receive $500 CASH PRIZE FROM CBC NEWS NET and Best Drama TV Pitch winner will receive $5,000 DEVELOPMENT DEAL WITH APTN. Each of the winners will also receive $2,000 gift voucher from William F. White for production equipment, a $500 gift certificate from Technicolor for postproduction services (valid for one-year), and an imagineNATIVE supported Kickstarter funding webpage. The winners will be announced at the imagineNATIVE Closing Night Awards, Sunday, October 23.

How to Submit:

• Fill out an online submission form at www.imagineNATIVE.org
• Email it to pitch@imagineNATIVE.org

Eligibility Criteria: 

• The producer or director representing the pitch project must be Indigenous (First Nations, Metis, Inuit, other world Indigenous) and a Canadian resident.
• Pitch teams must be in Toronto for both the training session on October 19 and the pitching session October 21, 2011.
• Applications must be received by email to pitch@imagineNATIVE.org no later than September 16, 2011. Please combine the documents into one word or pdf. if possible. Visual support material may also be forwarded.
• You may submit your pitch ideas to each category.
• You may pitch individually or as a team.

Please note: Travel and other expenses are not covered by imagineNATIVE.
Lunch and one All-Access Delegate Pass will be provided to the selected mentees.

If you have further question, please email programming@imagineNATIVE.org

The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 16, 2011.
Applicants will be notified by October 1, 2011 on the status of their application.

For more information: www.imagineNATIVE.org