Why I’m Opening Up My Pitch Graveyard
You read about the movies that get made.
The ones that premiere at Sundance. The ones that get reviewed, win awards, make lists, get greenlit for a sequel or a Season Two.
You never hear about the projects that didn’t.
The films that came close, made perfect sense, and still never happened.
I want to hear about those.
The ones that could have been.
Yes, I was lucky enough to make Telemarketers, which became HBO’s most-watched documentary of 2023, earned an Emmy nomination, and actually made it into the world.
But this Substack is about the other ones.
I’m opening up the pitch graveyard: my own projects, and eventually other filmmakers’ projects too.
The goal is to celebrate the passes not because failure is noble, but because it is where a huge amount of creative work, money, ambition, and weird human behavior gets buried without anyone ever seeing it.
Maybe there will be something useful here for filmmakers, writers, producers, and anyone trying to understand how this fucked-up business really works.
Maybe it will just be more interesting than another success story.
Either way: welcome to Almost Greenlit.
— ABL
