PITCHING IN
How to write a great movie pitch!
by D.S. Perlmutter
“That would make a great movie!”
How man times have you heard someone say that? A lot, I’ll bet. But most of those people don’t even make the movie they were talking about. It’s so expensive, they say, and you need all that fancy equipment. But that’s just not true. You don’t need money. You don’t need fancy equipment. There’s only one thing you need to make a movie. Want to know what it is? A good pitch. It’s that simple. Making movies? That’s the easy part. A good movie pitch, now that’s tough. So how is it done? How can you make people say, “(your pitch)… would make a great movie!”
The first step towards creating a good pitch is know the playing field. You have to know what you’re dealing with. There are five zones of expression key to every good pitch. Think of the pitch as a big stew, these are the five ingredients you can use to cook it with. The ingredients are the same for every pitch. They never change. The only difference is how it’s cooked. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Five. That’s all. For every single pitch. Five zones of expression. A bad movie will only use one or two. A great movie will use all five. How many will your movie have?
THE ZONES: Sad stuff, comedy, scary/supernatural, family (nice), family (mean).
Sad stuff. Now make your choice. What’s your pitch going to have? Is it a mother with a sickness? A cop whose partner is stretched out on some hospital bed? That’s up to you to decide. Maybe your main character is an orphan. Right away that’s gives us something dramatic. Right away you want to know more. Who is this orphan? What does he/she like to do? How will it end? These are questions we can answer later. Right now we have four more zones of expression waiting for us.
Comedy. What was it that old guy said? Make ‘em laugh? Well I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was talking about movie pitches. Every great pitch has some comedy. And yours is no different. What do we have so far? An orphan. What’s funny that goes with an orphan. Maybe an old man with a bad memory. He can’t even remember what he had for lunch. Now you’ve got something sad and something funny. You’re almost half way there. See, it’s not so hard. So what’s next?
Scary/supernatural. Is it a ghost? Or maybe a monster? For a picture with an orphan and an old guy maybe aliens would be best. That way you have the scares but it’s also touching. Because of the orphan. And the old guy. Boy, we’re really cooking here.
Family (nice). Now with an orphan in the picture this is easy. All you really need is a couple of flashbacks to life with the parents. The happy times. But a lot of movie pitches don’t have orphans, and then you’re looking at either a sympathetic father or a reunion with a sibling. Whatever fits your movie pitch. But for now we’ll go with the parents.
Family (mean). This is the tough part. But every movie pitch needs a pill popping mother, an ex-con cousin or a ‘funny’ uncle (can also be used as comedy.) Without this element your pitch will lack drive. Think of it as the oil that makes your car run. For us, a pill popping mother can easily be found in a foster parent. Test it out. See how it feels. If you don’t like it, change it. If it works, go with it. This is your pitch, you make the call.
Now you’re ready to put your pitch into action. So the next time someone tells you they’ve got a great idea for a movie you can say, “don’t bother me.” Because you’ll be too busy making a great movie!
by D.S. Perlmutter
“That would make a great movie!”
How man times have you heard someone say that? A lot, I’ll bet. But most of those people don’t even make the movie they were talking about. It’s so expensive, they say, and you need all that fancy equipment. But that’s just not true. You don’t need money. You don’t need fancy equipment. There’s only one thing you need to make a movie. Want to know what it is? A good pitch. It’s that simple. Making movies? That’s the easy part. A good movie pitch, now that’s tough. So how is it done? How can you make people say, “(your pitch)… would make a great movie!”
The first step towards creating a good pitch is know the playing field. You have to know what you’re dealing with. There are five zones of expression key to every good pitch. Think of the pitch as a big stew, these are the five ingredients you can use to cook it with. The ingredients are the same for every pitch. They never change. The only difference is how it’s cooked. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Five. That’s all. For every single pitch. Five zones of expression. A bad movie will only use one or two. A great movie will use all five. How many will your movie have?
THE ZONES: Sad stuff, comedy, scary/supernatural, family (nice), family (mean).
Sad stuff. Now make your choice. What’s your pitch going to have? Is it a mother with a sickness? A cop whose partner is stretched out on some hospital bed? That’s up to you to decide. Maybe your main character is an orphan. Right away that’s gives us something dramatic. Right away you want to know more. Who is this orphan? What does he/she like to do? How will it end? These are questions we can answer later. Right now we have four more zones of expression waiting for us.
Comedy. What was it that old guy said? Make ‘em laugh? Well I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was talking about movie pitches. Every great pitch has some comedy. And yours is no different. What do we have so far? An orphan. What’s funny that goes with an orphan. Maybe an old man with a bad memory. He can’t even remember what he had for lunch. Now you’ve got something sad and something funny. You’re almost half way there. See, it’s not so hard. So what’s next?
Scary/supernatural. Is it a ghost? Or maybe a monster? For a picture with an orphan and an old guy maybe aliens would be best. That way you have the scares but it’s also touching. Because of the orphan. And the old guy. Boy, we’re really cooking here.
Family (nice). Now with an orphan in the picture this is easy. All you really need is a couple of flashbacks to life with the parents. The happy times. But a lot of movie pitches don’t have orphans, and then you’re looking at either a sympathetic father or a reunion with a sibling. Whatever fits your movie pitch. But for now we’ll go with the parents.
Family (mean). This is the tough part. But every movie pitch needs a pill popping mother, an ex-con cousin or a ‘funny’ uncle (can also be used as comedy.) Without this element your pitch will lack drive. Think of it as the oil that makes your car run. For us, a pill popping mother can easily be found in a foster parent. Test it out. See how it feels. If you don’t like it, change it. If it works, go with it. This is your pitch, you make the call.
Now you’re ready to put your pitch into action. So the next time someone tells you they’ve got a great idea for a movie you can say, “don’t bother me.” Because you’ll be too busy making a great movie!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home