5 Tips To Pitch A Movie Like A Pro
By Kevin Waczek
There are several steps that need to be taken before a movie can be considered for a theatrical release. Unfortunately, most films are dead and buried after the pitching process. The movie industry is just that, an industry. Their main goal isn’t to entertain, but to make money. Entertainment is just their way of making money. With thousands of scripts being written and submitted every month to studios around the US, how do they choose which ones to make? Well, a writer or producer will pitch a story. In this blog post I am going to go over five tips that will help you pitch your film to studio executives.
HOW TO PITCH YOUR FILM!
Before I get started, there is one must-have when pitching your story. Displaying confidence in my mind is not a tip, but a necessity. Nobody would ever express confidence in your story if you don’t display it yourself.
Start with a theme
This is a unique tip that I don’t hear others talk about, but it branches off of the number one question you will be asked. What’s it about? This question trips a lot of people up. Why? Because in their minds, the story is so deep, revolutionary, and complex there is no possible way it can be condensed to answer such a simple question in a short amount of time.
I wrote a film called Hotflakes last year. It follows two drug dealers as they sell cocaine to an unknown buyer. When I was talking to one of my professors while working on a different project, he asked me what the movie was about. I immediately, trying to impress, blurted out my carefully crafted logline. He immediately retorted, “no, what is it about?” As you can imagine I was frozen, thinking to myself, “I literally just told you.” The problem was I told him what happens in the movie, but not what the movie is about. I rebounded with Hotflakes is about finding friendship with the most unlikely person - a stark difference in subject matter.
Why start with the theme? Because a theme has a better opportunity of showing the personality and emotion of a story. People are more likely to relate with a theme than your logline. Now this doesn’t mean the logline isn’t important, but I use the theme as a way to gain interest in my story before I bombard them with plot details.
2. The One-Two Punch
After grabbing the attention of your listeners with the theme of your film, now it’s time to unload your one-two punch. This is your title and your logline. A good title is either clever or straightforward. The main focus is to answer the “what is it?” question with just the title. According to Blake Snyder’s book Save The Cat, he believes the best titles are 4 Christmases and Legally Blonde. One is straight forward, while the other has a clever twist. I will admit Hotflakes doesn’t fall into either of these categories. In my case, the meaning of this title may need to be explained to show its relevance to the film. What I may say in my pitch is:
“Hotflakes embodies the story we are trying to tell. The word “hot” in police lingo means to be stolen, while the word “flakes” is a slang term for cocaine in the 1970’s where my story takes place. Together they point to the main plot of the story which revolves around stolen drugs.”
As you can tell, this is already a tough sell, but is a better strategy than leaving it up to interpretation.
The second part of our one-two punch is our logline. A logline condenses the story into one or two sentences, summarizing the dramatic action in the film. The best loglines are (1) ironic, (2) create a mental image and (3) have a rough understanding of audience and potential cost. Once again referencing Save the Cat, Blake makes an example of 4 Christmases as one of his favorite loglines:
“A newly married couple must spend Christmas Day at each of their four divorced parent’s homes.”
Ironic, mental picture, and you have an idea of who would pay to see that movie. Now lets takes a look at the Hotflakes logline.
“After stealing from their boss, two drug dealers lose the address of their buyer, so they must go door to door selling cocaine.”
3. Have an Executive Summary
An executive summary is basically a proposal. It is a collection of everything you know about your project, the market you are trying to break into, and it answers why you should trust in this project. An executive summary includes:
1. Project Overview
2. Logline/Title/Theme
3. Synopsis
4. Look Book (Concept Art)
5. Bio’s of Key Cast and Crew
6. Sales Strategy
7. Financials/budget
8. Comparable (Movies like yours that were successful)
9. Sales Estimates
10. Concept Trailer or Short Film
Now this is a lot of work. And if you ever expect to pitch at the highest levels, there is a ton of pre-production work that occurs before you enter the room to pitch. This document shows that your project can produce a return of investment. Like I said in the introduction, it’s all about money, and this document shows that with this project there is a potential market and money to be made.
I believe one of the most important pieces to this executive summary is the concept art and trailer. It’s even better to have a short film. Why is this important? Because anyone can trust in a project when they see what the project can become.
4. Flex
You need someone to believe in you and in the project. The best way to do that other than flaunting the story and the numbers is to highlight key individuals who are in charge of making it happen. This is done with the short biographies of key cast and crew of your executive summary. Having award winning crew members or actors with big followings will help investors see that this project has legitimacy. It is a great way to show credibility when convincing them your project is the one they should invest in.
5. You are just as important as your pitch
The pitch is as only as good as the presenter. You need to be exciting and engaging, otherwise anyone listening to you will assume that your movie is as boring and dull as you are. Put on a show. Giving a pitch in my opinion is a routine. It’s like a movie scene. You have your lines, you may need to improvise, but you are there to grab people's attention and entertain.
Thank you for supporting The Filmmakers Blog. If you would like me to elaborate on any of the topics in this post, just comment below! Or email me at kevin@thefilmmakersblog.com