If you can come off as comfortable, professional, collaborative, fun to be around (without being an over the top clown who is trying to hard), and someone who truly knows their shit – then they will want to deal with you more. I can’t tell you the number of pitches I’ve taken where I hated the story, but there was something so charming, relatable or likable about the writer that I asked to read a writing sample anyway. Sometimes it’s not about making them love your pitch or your project, it’s about making them love YOU. Example include Magic Mike, Little Miss Sunshine, Erin Brockovich, Castaway, Rocky, Jerry Maguire, Into the Wild, Lost in Translation, Royal Tenenbaums, etc.ģ. Or a film that’s based on a real person and their life story. Very often, it’s the non-high concept or more indie films that might be better pitched this way. Build them up, tear them down, and tell us why we will want to watch it. Focus on your character’s life, their struggles, their goals, give a morsel of their backstory, and then tell us what happens that totally turns their life upside down (the inciting incident) and what they have to do now. Sometimes it’s the specific goals they have to accomplish and the obstacles they face that will make a story stand out. Sometimes a character is so complex, interesting or relatable that it’s the casting possibilities that hook an executive. In this case, you want to really make us love both your characters and get across their dynamic and backstory. Or perhaps it’s about a special relationship that is forged over the course of the story that will really touch an audience like in Thelma and Louise or Superbad (Side note: It’s often the creation of a great dynamic or relationship and putting that into a high concept story that makes the most sellable projects). Sometimes a project is more character-driven than plot driven and the new angle or most interesting aspect of your story will be the characters you create and the journey they embark on. Focus on Character, Arc and Relationships. You’d never say “And then as we broke into three, the character did this…”Įxamples of movies that would probably be pitched this way – Olympus Has Fallen, Alien, Shaun of the Dead, Taken, The Departed, The Help, The Hangover, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Looper, etc.Ģ.
#Thelma and louise logline movie
Tell them a story like you would describe a movie you just saw to a friend. It is a major amateur mistake to just go through the Save the Cat structural beat sheet instead of the actual PLOT. However, you should never EVER pitch the structure of your story. Focus more on the actual plot and the build of the story to tell us why audiences will be hooked all the way through. Give them the highlights that will help them picture it and then go into the specifics of the story that will bring that world to life. If you have written a futuristic thriller, and your world is so visual and creative that it jumps off the page – then focus on that world and bring the exec into it. Try to go through whatever exemplifies what’s original about your story.įocus on the elements of your script that will make it stand out – the world of your script, the locations, time periods, twists and turns in the plot, etc. If you get no reaction, then either your logline sucks or you don’t have an original concept that grabs people’s attention and you will have to go into more depth on the story. If you have a truly original – and COMMERCIAL – concept, you will get a visceral reaction to your logline. If you have a truly original idea that hasn’t been done or you have a crazy new twist on a great existing concept that when you hear it, you get the story completely, then all you will really need to do is give them an awesome logline that gets that across and some perfect comparison movies that get your concept across (it’s THIS meets THAT).
If you think you have a very high concept story and the strongest selling point about your project is your amazing, original hook, then focus on that.
#Thelma and louise logline how to
But you better know what your project’s strong suit is before you decide how to pitch it.ġ. There is no ONE set way to pitch your script that will guarantee your success, but here are 5 different pitching strategies or focuses you could use to grab, attract and impress the other side of the table. So, I figured it was a good time to whip out some quick pitching advice to keep in mind.
And both afford writers the chance to pitch the pros. This weekend, there are two big screenwriting events – the Screenwriters World East Conference in NY and the Toronto Screenwriting Conference in Canada.
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