The Great Canadian PitchFest has found a new home at the equally new FTX West Film & Television Expo, a four-day trade show and conference set to debut Oct. 12 in Vancouver.

Organizer Signe Olynyk has been looking for a roost since the last installment of her mass screenwriter meet-up in 2004, in Banff.

‘I’d been trying to partner with the Banff festival but they felt we weren’t complementary,’ she says. ‘But this is perfect.’

PitchFest is a full day of face-to-face opportunities for anyone with a script or idea to sell. Screenwriters get 15 to 20 meetings in one day with representatives from U.S. and Canadian companies, although the names of those participating have yet to be announced.

For every six pitchers, there is one decision maker, the most favorable ratio for the writers of any event of its type, according to Olynyk.

‘It’s like speed dating, except the five-minute dates are with over 20 dealmakers from Hollywood and Canada,’ she explains. Olynyk also runs a U.S. version of Pitchfest in L.A.

The Oct. 15 event is part of the focus on screenwriting at the inaugural FTX West. Cofounders Rob Neilson and Marcy Schacter hope it will help make the trade show and conference one of the largest events of its kind in Canada.

They hope to see more than 5,000 attendees walking through the doors of the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre and the downtown campus of Simon Fraser University.

‘This all started out as a trade show and it just started growing the more people heard about what we wanted to do,’ says Schacter.

FTX West will include more than 65 hands-on master classes, seminars, and networking opportunities for writers, producers and directors – on topics including finance, new media, and the centerpiece, screenwriting.

Neilson, coproducer of the 2004 feature Ill Fated, says FTX is long overdue.

‘Canadians were being left in the dark. If you didn’t go to NAB, which is expensive, there’s no way to see and experience first-hand these new technologies and build market intelligence. Our goal is to be NAB North.’

The speakers lineup includes script consultant Michael Hauge, producer Ellen Sandler (Everybody Loves Raymond), Jan Miller of Halifax’s Lowenbe Holdings, and Marguerite Pigott, former VP of Odeon Films.

‘Instead of participants spending thousands of dollars to go to events like this in the States, we’re bringing the experts here, making this accessible to everyone, from students to seasoned pros,’ says Neilson. Passes to FTX West range from $10 to $995.

www.ftxwest.com