Well, actually, I often read of the Expo in screenwriting magazines. I can't cite specific articles, because I have a mind like a steel sieve, but these are usually articles on the process of writing and selling the script and I seem to recall quite a few mentioned pitching at the Expo, or meeting someone at the Expo that helped them do some part of it.

The reason I'm going, or rather the reason I plan to go THIS year and haven't before, is that I'm one of the semifinalists in the screenwriting contest. So, my Big Plan is to meet lots of people, socialize, and have a good time. I will ALSO pitch because I think it would be great if someone other than me made this. Not that I'd do a bad job of it, but I just don't have the money to do it in a reasonable amount of time (after two features, I have a good idea how long it would take). But I'll pitch the shit out of it, because I think it's cool.

I understand that screenwriting contests are their own Gordian knot, and that probably the vast majority of them are, like the vast majority of film festivals, barely the legal side of scamming.

But (shrug) maybe this will be less... churny. As it happens, one of the guests is my old screenwriting instructor and her advice was to go, especially as one of the finalists. There's a world of difference between pitching-as-a-finalist and pitching-as-some-guy-with-a-script.

Or maybe there isn't. I guess I'll find out.

Yeah, I have to make sure I'm not burning people out. I realize that I'll be going into a I'm-already-burned-out situation.