5 Ways to Improve Your Pitch
For those of you who don't know what "pitching" is, it's the process by which a writer presents their idea verbally to the big-wigs with the money to turn your idea into a full blown creative project. Here are five points worth making note of and applying to one's own creative process:
1) Imitate Successful Trailers - Go on iTunes, go on netflix, hell! Go on Youtube, and start taking note of some of the mega successful film trailers. What points do they hit? What beats are followed? How do they convey the atmosphere, genre, and basic story in such a confined time. Find trailers that are in the same vein as you're screenplay and incorporate what overlaps into your own pitch.
2) Don't memorize you're Pitch verbatim - This should go without saying, and I've heard this concept mentioned countless times, but you really don't want to come across as a robot. Your pitch should be filled with passion and soul. Have the main beats straight in your head and let the pitch organically evolve based on who is listening and how they're responding.
3) Establish your scene and state your logline - a few sentences should be dedicated to first creating a clear image in listener's head of WHERE the events are taking place, and what the basic concept is. From there you can fill in the conceptual detials.
4) End your pitch with them begging for more - Don't give the ending of your story away! End with a cliffhanger, or even better, a question to pique the interest of the listener.
5) Practice your Pitch - Give it a whirl with some friends and fellow writers to see if they theoretically would buy your screenplay. What parts bore them? What parts confuse them, excite them, etc? By pitching ahead of time you help create a rhythm for yourself and even discover new angles or perspectives on delivering a stellar pitch!
These pitching points were summarized and inspired after reading an article out of 'Movie Maker Magazine' titled 'Prepping the Perfect Pitch,' written by Kathie Fong Yoneda which hit some really great topics covering the pitching process in the TV and Film industry. I highly recommend the magazine who's looking to further their TV or Film careers.
~Garrett Fallin
