The Pitch

What is THE PITCH?

The Pitch includes a live event where screenwriters pitch their idea or concept for a feature or short film to a panel of producers and film professionals. One lucky screenwriter will walk away with an award at the STXIFF awards ceremony.

To compete in The Pitch, screenwriters must submit a title, logline, 200-300 word synopsis, and concept art at filmfreeway.com/stxiff and agree to attend the festival in person if selected as a finalist. Participants may submit a script, but it is not required. The complete guidelines for The Pitch are available here.

The Pitch finalists participate in a live event in Edinburg Texas where the screenwriters pitch their idea for an original feature or short film to a panel of producers and film professionals. The finalists will receive valuable feedback on their script idea and how they pitched their film.

The Pitch competition will take place on the Saturday of the festival. Pitch finalists must be present in Edinburg on the day of the event in order to qualify for a prize. The winner will be announced that same day at the STXIFF Award Ceremony.

THE Judges

Sandra Avila

An Edinburg native and 20-year veteran in the entertainment industry, Sandra currently serves as a Partner & Literary Manager at Inclusion -- a company focused on diverse storytellers. Some of her clients include: David Blue Garcia ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), Marcella Ochoa, ("Madres"), Julio Quintana ("Blue Miracle") and Shane McKenzie ("Bingo Hell")

VALENTE RODRIGUEZ

Valente was born in south Texas in 1964. He is the youngest of eight in a family of migrant farmworkers. He put himself through college by doing children’s theatre in south Texas. After graduating college in 1987 he went to Los Angeles to become an actor.

His first professional acting Job was a feature film called SALSA THE MOTION PICTURE in January of 1988. Since then Valente has appeared in numerous Film/TV and Theatre productions – Film: Blood in… Blood out…, Mi Familia, Roosters, Erin Brockovich, Deep Blue Sea, Volcano, The Ugly Truth,  It’s Complicated, McFarland USA. TV: Golden Girls, Mad About You, X-files, ER –  he was a regular on the George Lopez show playing the part of Ernie. He was also a regular on Happily Divorced  with Fran Drescher – playing the part of Cesar.

Along with being an actor Valente has written several theatre pieces that have been seen in LA.  He was a member of the Latino Lab in Los Angeles and has performed both their DAY OF THE DEAD show as well as the Christmas pageant “La VIRGEN”.  He has performed at numerous stages in LA and through out The United States. He produced three films in the Rio Grande Valley (Texas), directing one of them, in 2010. He also went back to school, completing his Masters in Theatre in 2015.

Adrian Viña

Adrian Viña was born and raised in Edinburg, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Viña wanted to be a storyteller from a very young age. He was involved with drama and media tech in high school, while fostering a deep appreciation for film and television and daydreaming about working in Hollywood one day. He eventually studied film at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. While in school he co-wrote and directed a short film that later played at CineSol Film Festival. After graduating from SMU, Viña moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. He worked numerous positions in the industry. His writing career finally started while working at a literary management company, when he optioned his script SUCKERS to Alcon Entertainment. That same script was later picked up by Nickelodeon and made into their hit Halloween movie, LIAR, LIAR VAMPIRE in 2015. He then worked on numerous television and film projects, including BLURT! For Nickelodeon and COP AND A HALF: NEW RECRUIT starring Lou Diamond Phillips. Adrian also participated in the prestigious Disney Television Writing Program in 2020-2021 and has a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting degree from California State University, Northridge.

Previous Pitch winners