No Boundaries

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.

-Richard Bach

Excuses. Sometimes the most creative thing we do as creatives is make creative excuses for why we can’t be creative (trust me, it makes sense.)

Over our last few Happy Writers / Stage 32 Online Pitchfests, we’ve had some amazing success stories. Today I’d like to highlight one of them courtesy of a creative who never argued for his limitations and only made excuses to keep on creating and believing in his skills.

Geraint Jones is not only a talented and hard working writer, but he also spends most of his time overseas serving in the United States Army. The thing about Geraint is that he is not only eager to learn, but he is gracious, charming and energetic. When he saw a company he felt was a fit for his work, he would book one, two, three slots to pitch his scripts. When he received feedback, he graciously digested it and made the changes he felt would better the script. Some execs liked his work. Some didn't connect. But he took everything as a learning experience and thrived to get better.   This work ethic, his willingness to accept criticism, and his positive personality took the attention of Daniel Vang, a literary manager at powerhouse management company, Benderspink.

Off the strength of Geraint’s pitch and then the reading of his script, Daniel wanted to develop a pilot with Geraint. Only a month later, Daniel signed Geraint.

Pretty good, huh? But wait, there’s more.

What's truly amazing about this story is that Geraint was actively on duty during this time. He would perform his Army duties (read: putting himself in the most dangerous situations) and on his free time he would better his pitches and write. If he wanted to pitch to a company and couldn't do it live, he would email us, sometimes from an unknown, confidential email server, and send his pitches. That’s dedication. That’s pure will.

We have no doubt that with the strength of Daniel and Benderspink behind him, and with a group of production execs who already like his work, that Geraint Jones will go very far and have a career that he immensely deserves.

Some other Online Pitchfest Success Stories from just the past week:

Code Entertainment asks Phil Howe to sign with them.

Director Michael Davis (SHOOT EM UP) attaches himself to Sherrie Sanet's script.

Two writers called in to meet manager Allison Doyle.

One writer called in to meet manager Jennifer Au from Caliber Media.

Doug Krintzman gets meeting with Jon Kanak at Tapestry Films after he read his script and loved it after a pitch session. 

Nika Apriasvilli gets production deal with Level 10 Films producer Michael Wormser (SMILEY).

Adam DaSilva gets development meeting with Latin World Entertainment (Sofia Vergara's company).

Richard Hobley gets development meeting with Garrick Dion from Bold Films (DRIVE, WHIPLASH) who is interested in producing his thriller.

Henry Fodiske gets development meeting with Level 1 Entertainment.

Pretty remarkable. Heartfelt congratulations to all the writers.

No excuses. No limitations.

As a creative, it’s the only way to be truly free.