The 2003 STORY CONFERENCE workshop concluded on Saturday, May 17^th with its annual PITCH COMPETITION.  For its sophomore run, the series moved from its original home (the Beverly Hills Library) to the CALIFORNIA CITY STUDIOS, a downtown movie facility, owned and operated by artists/producers Russell and Gail Michael. 

STORY CONFERENCE was created as a way to allow writers to understand the means in which Hollywood story executives examine screenplays.  The series began on March 15th and was hosted by Christopher Lockhart, the Executive Story Editor at ICM, a talent and literary agency.  The sessions were attended by 150 writers, who traveled from as far as Wisconsin. 

Throughout the series, five scripts were workshopped. The featured screenwriters were JIM TAYLOR, BRIAN DIAMOND & AJ ANDERSON, MELANIE CHARTOFF, JEREMY SEVUSH, and ERICA CLETHEN.  The event would not have been possible without their courage and contribution.

Jack d’Annibale joined Christopher for the fifth session (which was held at the METROPOL CAFÉ) and helped him judge the preliminary PITCH COMP, where they listened to 66 pitches and selected 20 to present a two-minute pitch to three judges the following week.

Friends of TWOADVERBS, Bob Sobahni (ZIDE/PERRY) and Keith Lesser (CASTLEROCK) joined Adam Levenberg (INTUITION) on May 17^th to judge the PITCH COMPETITION.  Writers anxiously awaited to hear if they would pitch to the panel.  Names were not revealed until the writer was called to pitch. 

The anxious writers were prepared, and the panel of judges commented that the collection of pitches was the best they had ever heard.  In the end, they selected three finalists: 

JEBEDIAH UTECHT (HAREM)
KAT MCCURRY (LOOKS LIKE TROUBLE)
LISA NDEBELE (UNWILLING BRIDE).

Honorable mention went to DIAMOND & ANDERSON and YESENIA HIGUERA.

The finalists were put to task when Christopher, the judges, and the audience grilled the trio on story details.  In the end, the audience chose the winner: JEBEDIAH.

JEB wins a one-on-one STORY CONFERENCE with Chris over dinner at AGO, and the CALIFORNIA CITY STUDIOS has offered to produce a 15 minute trailer of HAREM.

It was another successful series and we all look forward to gathering again for the next STORY CONFERENCE.  The series is free and open to all writers. 

Meanwhile, the spirit will carry on at www.twoadverbs.com, where Chris workshops scripts online and writers contribute criticism and advice in the FORUM.  Writers can also post their scripts in the ARCHIVE for feedback.  In the near future, the website will organize online screenwriting classes as well as interviews and more live chats with industry guests.

Thanks to all who attended for making this a successful series.