Screenwriting : To give or not to give by Patricia Poulos

Not giving the the ending is kind of like asking the bank for a small business loan, while only telling them 3/4 of your business plan.

I've never given a real pitch before (not there yet), so this is just an opinion. Give the ending. The person you're pitching to needs to know that you can tell a story. They need to decide if they're willing to risk their career on you. Before that, they need to decide if they even want to read your script. I wouldn't want to make it harder for them to make that decision.

Trying to be cute, and telling them that they'll just have to read the script to see how it ends, will probably just piss them off. And if it doesn't, it should. I mean, you're asking them to give you 90 more minutes of their time, when you could just tell them what they need to know.

Definitely give. Or, if possible, seek out the preferences of the pitch recipient — does this person prefer to know the ending or not? But... generally and practically speaking, people who are seriously considering pitches and/or a synopsis are very busy people. Lay it out clearly, concisely, and in full. They want to know exactly what it is they are considering. ;)

I've submitted many written Pitches. I've found that the execs I've pitched to appear to treat Pitches as an educator and not as a potentially interested partner... like handing in an assignment for marking. I've found that submitting the full script is far more beneficial even if, the exec passes on it. So, if I'm submitting a Pitch to what I now classify as a educator, I take them right up to the end but the final words are omitted. If they like the story the last line or two should make no difference to their ratings. They've already made up their minds before they get there. How many of your Pitches have resulted in film?

Every class I've ever taken tells you not to submit the script or they'll just ignore it. You have to get in the door first with a pitch/logline. Maybe first 10 pages at most, I'll tack on a link at end. They don't have time to read every script or else they must be a really small company. And yes, it worked. I have an EP now.

Readers: How many of the Pitches you've received have you progressed to film?

Thank you Laura Scheiner - ALL 100% of scripts gave you 'ending'. Yet "Well under 1%" progressed.

Thank you Dan Guardino. None. But the scripts to Festivals have either won or been placed. Much better value for my money.

Thank you so much Laura Scheiner. You provide valuable information to writers. However, as you say, "few optioned" and those are from repped writers. Even with your help, there is little hope for all these thousands (some 40,000 a year according to a report I received) to be repped or have their scripts made into film with or without the 'ending' disclosed.

A screenwriter can pitch any way they like, but the advice I hear, from those with much more experience than I, is to always include the ending. Seems to be the more accepted and professional way to do it.

I say put yourself in the creative exec’s position. If you were them and had to make the decision to invest your time in reading a script...would it be important to know how the story ends? To me, definitely yes. Even if there’s a huge twist at the climax or somewhere in the third act, it will still have the same effect on the person hearing/reading your pitch. This will make them even more eager to read the full script...to see how you executed it.

I've never heard of anyone leaving out the ending. If they request the entire script I was taught the ending is as important as a good start. I would want to read the whole thing before I optioned it.

Dan Guardino thank you. IMDb have list one of my books in 'credits'. I wasn't sure if this was correct so didn't list my others or my Magazines. Would they correctly be regarded as Credits? Would appreciate your advice and anyone else's on this.

What I had to learn is that you do as much as possible yourself. I taught myself to direct even though I've had no training & made a short of a series. For the documentary, we shot a few scenes to show investors to prove we could do the job. I also formed my own production company. Like they say, just show don't tell what you can do. I would put any kind of experience. Books, articles, whatever to show them.