Bringing a ringer for a pitch
Would a producer frown on a writer bringing in a ringer to a pitch meeting? I am the absolute WORST pitcher on the planet. Could I bring in a friend of mine who is excellent at pitching to do the dirty work for me? Is this even acceptable?
–Gary
Nope. Not unless your friend is going to be writing it with you.
Believe me, I recognize the fallacy of expecting a writer — whose principal talent is sitting alone in a room for hours on end — to suddenly be talkative and entertaining when pitching a project. Most writers, self included, would much rather toil away in happy isolation. But producers and studio execs want to hear from the writers themselves. So we put on our least-wrinkled clothes, practice what we’re going to say, and try not to make asses of ourselves in pitch meetings.
My standard advice for any pitch: Pretend you just saw the best movie ever, and you want to convince your friend (the producer) why she should see it. Try it with a few real movies and you’ll see that you naturally hop from high point to high point, and don’t dwell a lot on the underlying logic or subplots. That’s a pitch.
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August 9th, 2004 at 9:11 am
Something that might bolster your confidence during a pitch session is to prep yourself by watching a horrible film before the meeting (preferrably one that was a big budget Hollywood production). If you feel that your idea is much stronger and appealing than this film you shouldn’t have too much trouble telling others why that is.
August 9th, 2004 at 10:49 pm
Thanks Paolo, it’s very odd. In life, I am not a shy or timid person and I’m rarely at a loss for words. I can pontificate about film, i.e. bullshit, with the best of them. But get me in a room with someone who can actually advance my career, and I become completely flustered. It’s a horrible, sinking feeling of opportunity slipping away before my very eyes.
August 10th, 2004 at 10:05 am
I was god-awful at pitching for the first year or two. Now I’m actually pretty good at it — it’s a hell of a lot easier than writing a script. Some of the improvement is just through experience, but most of it is just looking at pitching through their eyes: what do they want to hear, what question are they about to ask? Basically if I was the producer/executive, what would I need to hear in order to feel comfortable hiring this writer?