Folks, would love your help!
Recently, I’ve had troubles with pitches, and I was wondering if anyone has tricks of the trade, best practices, or something that has worked well for you?
There’s a couple things happening here. I’ve had 7 pitches now and my luck has been far from stellar. 5 have come back late (post day-21), 1 came back 2 days before day 21, and I’m already on day 10 of another. Optimistic? Maybe not. – LOL.
Granted, everyone’s busy, but I certainly was expecting different.
Upon being notified that a pitch review is overdue, typically the response is either same or next day, feeling for me like it’s an afterthought and this has been borne out by some of the responses missing elements of the pitch even within just two pages. Slightly odd.
Definitely going 0 for 6 (maybe 7), including 0 for 5 on a pilot that received a double recommend, is unfortunate, especially as a first-time user of the services. Shoutout to Maurice, the support team and the LLM for sending over some stuff that I will use moving forward. However, definitely wanted to get some thoughts from those with experience and especially those getting reads because clearly, I'm doing something wrong.
I’m an experienced writer with many scripts under my belt, as well as pitches and I've lived in LA for more than a decade, but this process has definitely been different and something I'm still adjusting to.
Any and all info helps.
Thank you so much!
Hey, Jeffrey Wright. Thanks for the shoutout. Congratulations on the double recommend!
I'm not sure if I've told you this already, but Stage 32 has two written pitch examples (one for a show and the other for a movie). Stage 32 also has a verbal TV pitch beat sheet and a verbal feature pitch beat sheet. You can get them by emailing success@stage32.com.
Here's three Lounge posts with pitch advice:
www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Pitch-Advice
www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Pitching-44
www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Why-Pitching-Matters-And-How-to-Mak...
The Pitch Practice is the best pitching resource in my opinion. Pitch Practice is every Thursday night at 5:30 P.M. PST/8:30 P.M. EST. You can sit in and listen to members practice their projects and give them feedback. You can pitch your project too, but you have to sign up. The hosts, Noel Thompson and John Mezes, take names during Pitch Practice for people to pitch the following week. You have to sit in and listen at the practice one or two times before you can pitch. The Pitch Practices are only open to Writers' Room members. You can sign up for your first month free here: www.stage32.com/writers-room/plans-vip
The Pitch Tank in the Writers’ Room is an incredible pitching resource too. The Pitch Tank is where you pitch your script to an executive and get feedback. The Pitch Tank is once a month.
Stage 32 has a free webinar called "How to Write a 2 Page Pitch for Your Television Series" (www.stage32.com/education/products/free-stage-32-webinar-how-to-write-at...).
Stage 32 has a free webinar called "How to Create a 2 Page Pitch For Your Feature Film" (www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-create-a-2-page-pitch-for-your...).
Stage 32 also has a free pitch webinar: www.stage32.com/education/products/pitching-tips-from-the-pros-your-blue...
Keep in mind the main purpose of the Pitch Sessions is to get feedback to improve your pitch, but sometimes the executives, managers, etc. will request scripts, sign writers, etc. (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/success-stories).
And keep in mind the person you pitch to might pass on your project because of the budget, etc.
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Hi Jeffrey, would you be able to come to the Writers' Room pitch practice session on Thursday? Would be great to hear your pitch. Could also email your pitches to success@stage32.com and we can review what you are pitching and provide specific support and guidance?
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Geoffroy Faugerolas -- sure. If you could provide the details. Sorry, still a newbie and figuring out the site. I did see a promo email for the Writers Room, and I think it was one month free, but I'm sort of cancelling all of my recurring membership costs at the moment. LOL
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Hi Jeffrey - I have had a similar experience with my written pitches. I think I am learning that I really did not do a good job understanding the expectation of the reviewer. I spent so much time trying to sell the series more than the pilot and was not aware of how drilled down I needed to get with the pilot but also do so within 2 pages. It's been a difficult learning process. I have had a much better experience with Zoom pitches than I have to date with the written pitches. I am actually re-writing my 2 page pitch.
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Darrell Pennington -- thank you! Appreciated. That is definitely where I was going to go next, in terms of the Zoom pitch versus the written (but that's also $250 spent on pitches that went down the drain). It just didn't seem like 2-pages was enough and even those reviewing were asking for more information and I'm like, "how am I supposed to do that when I have a 2-page limitation?" Unfortunately, the pilot that received the double recommend was an anthology series like Black Mirror, making it even harder to pitch, so I probably started with the hardest one I possibly could. LOL
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Hey, Double Recommend will certainly generate some interest for you so just gotta keep plugging away.