With the query letter for Dig Down stalled out, I had nothing left to focus on to advance my screenwriting career other than attending TIFF – the Toronto International Film Festival. I was hoping to capture at least some of the momentum that I had had going back to the beginning of March, but unfortunately, the WGA strike was still going on, so this would be the third of three film festivals that I had bought tickets for that I wouldn’t be able to network at.
At this point, it would have been easy to sink into a bottomless pit of despair. Everything seemed to be working against me, and not only had I been unable to gain any traction with the positives that I was experiencing at the start of the year, I was resigned to the idea that I was going to have to start over from scratch with an all new screenplay if I was going to have a chance to move forward.
It might have been easy to carry this negativity into this final failed attempt to get my script out in front of people in the industry, or just to talk with other screenwriters. But instead, I just looked at it as another opportunity to get comfortable and familiar with the film festivals.
I’m so glad I did.
This trip would end up being one of the best trips/vacations I’d ever had. I’ll get more into my time at TIFF, next time.