Tickets to pitch and participate in the workshop are sold out. Walk ups are welcome up to capacity for The Pitch Party.
Join AFF for a day of pitching fun! Fine tune your pitch before you take on the big leagues at AFF 2019 with AFF’s Pitch day on Sunday, July 28. This workshop is great to practice an elevator-style pitch and can help writers to conquer their fears of public speaking and selling themselves.
Start your day off with an intimate Pitch Workshop with Talan Tyminski!
Next, enjoy a generous break – plenty of time to practice your pitch with other workshop attendees and grab a drink or two before… The Pitch Party! Be sure to invite your friends (RSVP below) because there is also going to be an audience award-winner! Guests can arrive at 1:30 pm for drinks and mingling.
In our final event of the day, pitch contest participants will have 90 seconds to pitch to a live audience and a panel of judges. One winner will be crowned Pitcher Extraordinaire and win a Weekend Badge and Pitch Ticket for the 2019 Austin Film Festival for a chance to do it all again!
What's the schedule?
12:00pm – 12:30pm | Check In/Networking
12:30pm – 1:30pm | Pitch Workshop
1:30pm – 2:00pm | Break/Practice – Guests can arrive at 1:30pm
2:00pm – 3:40pm | Pitch Party & Contest
3:40pm – 4:00pm | Deliberation
4:00pm | Winner Announcement/Happy Hour Begins
RSVP for The Pitch Party!
Step 1: Take the Pitch Workshop
Meet Talan Tyminski
From speech impediment to presentation champ, Talan worked through her shyness and anxiety to compete as a nationally ranked public speaker for eight years. She received her undergrad in Political Science and Economics from Bradley University, where she competed for their decorated speech team. Talan is a three-time national runner-up in multiple public speaking and limited preparation events. She loves public speaking enough to stick around and coach both competitively and professionally. After undergrad, Talan earned her Master’s in communication from Texas State University and currently does communications for the Texas Workforce Commission. From her graduate studies to independent coaching, Talan loves helping people tell their story whether that be developing a brand or constructing a pitch. She has worked with companies, candidates, and entrepreneurs to engineer rhetoric and craft their message. When she’s not coaching, her passions include snuggling with her one-eyed pug and taste testing iced coffees.
Step 2: Participate in the Pitch Contest
Meet the Judges
Ashland Viscosi
Ashland is the founder of Creatives Meet Business (CMB), an event and podcast series based in Austin, Texas for creatives of all disciplines to define themselves as artists and creatives AND small business owners. The event series helps creatives, and anyone wanting to make a living as a maker or creator, learn how to become sustainable from their work. She also hosts, produces, and edits the Creatives Meet Business podcast, available anywhere (seriously, anywhere) you go to listen to podcasts.
Ashland values collaboration, connectivity, and accessibility of knowledge and information and wanted to create something unique for the community. The result was CMBXP, an annual three-day experience featuring over 50 hands-on workshops that helps artists and creatives in real-time with Business, Marketing, Skills Development, Storytelling and Mentorships. Plus, there are nightly happy hours!
Before founding both CMB and CMBXP and dedicating her time to community building and transformative educational events, Ashland worked in film and production. She has produced several short films including the festival hit “Rat Pack Rat” (Sundance 2014 – Special Jury Prize for Unique Vision, SXSW 2014), and she was a Production Consultant for “TOWER” (SXSW 2016 – Documentary Grand Jury Winner & Documentary Feature Audience Award Winner).
Concurrent with her work in film, Ashland honed her fundraising, marketing, and event production skills during her years at an arts-based non-profit. Ashland is also the Sponsor Relations Coordinator with the ATX Television Festival.
She LOVES connecting people (she actually teaches about it at General Assembly), brunch, cheese plates, and conversations. Invite her to brunch or happy hour if you want to chat!
Cindy McCreery
Cindy McCreery is an Associate Professor of Screenwriting in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at The University of Texas at Austin where she teaches television and feature film writing in the undergraduate, graduate, and Michener Center for Writing programs. Previously she taught screenwriting at UC Santa Barbara and The UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting. She is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program and has sold feature projects to New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Films, Warner Brothers, MGM, Lionsgate and Branded Entertainment. She has also written for television and has sold projects to SyFy Channel, Disney Channel, NBC, TNT, Televisa USA and AMC. Her comedy feature, Something in the Water began production in May of 2019.
Brandon Dickerson
BRANDON DICKERSON is an award-winning writer/director/producer honored for his work in film, documentaries, commercials, and music videos—including the coveted Cannes Gold Lion. After building a career directing hundreds of commercials and music videos, Dickerson shifted his focus to writing and directing feature films. His music-based debut feature SIRONIA won the audience award at the Austin Film Festival before he dove into the biopic VICTOR, followed by the documentary A SINGLE FRAME.
AMANDA & JACK GO GLAMPING brought Brandon back to writing+directing more upbeat comedic fare of a personal nature. The quirky romantic comedy starring Amy Acker, June Squibb, Adan Canto, and David Arquette was Brandon’s second film to land on Netflix after theaters.
Dickerson is currently at the helm of his fifth feature film with his lens turned toward all that is ebbing and flowing in the growing Wine Country of Texas. The playfully profound FINDING FRITZTOWN documentary is set to release through Aspiration Entertainment in 2020.
Brandon lives with his wife and two kids in Fredericksburg, TX and has secretly started performing Improv with the group “Film School Rejects” at the Bexar Stage in San Antonio.
Step 3: Party!
Walk ups for The Pitch Party are welcome but entry will be on a first come, first serve basis (until we hit capacity). Guests can arrive starting at 1:30pm and the party will begin at 2pm
In Partnership With
INSIDER EXCLUSIVE: you can purchase a Film Pass at this event!
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
