Canon and Big Vision Empty Wallet Announce the Winners of their National Film Pitch Competition

May 7, 2012 - PRLog -- Canon and Big Vision Empty Wallet (BVEW) announce the winners of their National Film Pitch Competition, recently named one of the Top 25 Festivals Worth the Submission Fee by MovieMaker Magazine.   The purpose of Big Vision Empty Wallet’s National Film Pitch Competition is to find the next great feature film and get it made!  

The Etiquette of Sexting, a film proposed by Avery Pearson, Kyle Welton, and Adam Risbridger, took home the Grand Prize. The Grand Prize, valued over $100,000, is designed to provide the winner with the tools necessary to make their proposed feature film.  Sponsors include Canon, Redrock Micro, Media Services, Ataboy Studios, konsonant/, RocketHub, and Daryl Eisenberg Casting.  The competition and online voting were hosted on BigVisionEmptyWallet.com.

The judging panel included Russell Carpenter – Academy Award-Winning Cinematographer, Titanic; Maureen Ryan – Producer, Academy Award-Winning Documentary Man on Wire, Project Nim; Heather Matarazzo – Actress, Welcome to the Dollhouse (Independent Spirit Award); Rik Cordero – Award Winning Commercial, Film and Music Video Director; Alexander Buono – Academy Award Nominated Producer and Cinematographer, 10-year veteran Saturday Night Live; June Diane Raphael – writer and star of upcoming feature Ass Backwards, writer Bride Wars.

“We would like to first and foremost like to thank Dani Faith Leonard, Alex Cirillo and the entire Big Vision Empty Wallet Team for providing us with this amazing opportunity to realize our dream film project,” said writer/actor Avery Pearson.  The team plans to work on the project this summer with support from BVEW’s co-founders Alex Cirillo and Dani Faith Leonard.

Throughout the judging process, the public was invited to watch the Top 10 pitch videos and cast votes for their favorites.  Stranger Comes submitted by Morgan Faust won the online voting portion and received prizes furnished by Media Services and Ataboy Studios.

“The quality of the submissions we received was incredible, it was so inspiring to see all of the great ideas BVEW Members pitched,” says BVEW Co-Founder Alex Cirillo.  “The winners should be proud, they beat out some really stiff competition.”

“We were thrilled to team with Canon and our experienced judging panel, and being named one of the Top 25 Festivals Worth the Submission Fee by MovieMaker our first year doing the competition was really validating for us,” says BVEW Co-Founder Dani Faith Leonard

About Big Vision Empty Wallet:

Big Vision Empty Wallet is a membership organization, founded in 2010 by Dani Faith Leonard and Alex Cirillo.  BVEW creates opportunities for the best independent artists to showcase their work.  BVEW’s members are made up of the best undiscovered artists, as well as seasoned pros working in film, theatre, visual arts, media, music, and the performing arts.  Find out more at BigVisionEmptyWallet.com.