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The Art of Pitching: Selling Ideas and Refining Story Outlines

Learn the art of pitching and how it can help you sell your ideas to producers. Discover how pitching can refine your story outlines and make them more compelling. Avoid wasting time on unwanted screenplays.

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The Art of Pitching: Selling Ideas and Refining Story Outlines

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  1. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] “No se escribe para decir algo. Se escribe porque se tiene algo que decir”. Francis Scott FITZGERALD

  2. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] ~~ “Pitching” means going to producer’s office and telling them a story idea you hope they’ll buy. It’s selling ideas rather than scripts. If the producer likes an idea, he/she might buy it and hire you to write it. Pitching is a common way to get a job in television, but it only accounts for about 12% of movie sales.

  3. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] ~~ Two Schools on “Pitching”: 1-- it’s a worthless waste of time and energy that could be better spent actually writing a script, instead of talking about what you’d like to write. 2-- is an essential way to try to sell more story ideas than you’d ever have time to sit down and actually spec.

  4. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] ~~ Pitching is a great way to refine your outline: -- you may find that you never seem to raccount scenes or whole sections. -- you may discover that you need to know more about your story’s world. -- When you tell someone a story, character motivations and their absence become more obvious.

  5. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] -- A good producer or executive will often ask hard questions that you may not have thougth about.

  6. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] ~~ The worst waste of time for a screenwriter is writing a screenplay no one wants. ~~ There’s an old expression which goes, “If everyone tells you you’re drunk, you’re drunk”.

  7. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] - THE SHORT PITCH ~~ A short pitch clocks in at no more than ten minutes. ~~ Producers and executives take pitches because they want to know what your story is and anything you can do to help them follow the narrative is a good thing. .../...

  8. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] - THE SHORT PITCH ~~ A short pitch clocks in at no more than ten minutes. -- Tell them what genre it’s in, and perhaps identify a couple of other (successful) filmsthat it might resemble. .../...

  9. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] - THE SHORT PITCH ~~ Then go into a brief, visual description of your exciting hero, antagonist and central conflict. [It’s OK to refer to major stars whom you think might be perfect for the role].

  10. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] - THE SHORT PITCH ~~ Then outline the general course of the story, stopping to highlight two or three more of your most exciting scenes with a brief, visual description.

  11. The “pitch”[Russin & Downs] - THE SHORT PITCH ~~ When you pitch a story you should be passionate. It’s a performance. (A verbal one).

  12. THE EXAMINATION PITCH • THE TITLE & THEMATIC PREMISE • THE CHARACTERS • THE PLOT (3 OR 5 ACTS) • THE “HUMAN/INHUMAN VALUES” AT STAKE • [THE PROMOTIONAL POSTER]

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