You know the old saws. The shoemaker’s kid goes barefoot. The dentist’s daughter has cavities. The rocket surgeon’s son never gets the turbo-charged atomic scalpel that the other neighbourhood kids find in their Christmas stockings. I’ve been pitching and selling TV shows for twenty years. I teach how to pitch TV projects. And last Friday, I blew a pitch.
I was overconfident. My pitch to a production company on Monday went swimmingly. The Monday buyer was engaged. Laughed at the jokes. Asked good questions. I wanted to hear more. She and her colleague followed up later that week. A good pitch meeting is a meeting that leads to another meeting. Monday went fine.
So, we roll along to Friday. Another day, another pitch, another production company.
The same series proposals. It starts well. We introduce ourselves. Eke out some human interaction — a Zoom Schmooze. And then I just launch – okay, lurch — into my pitch. I start with the logline, and the pitch is over, except we keep talking for another 25 minutes. There will be no real follow-up. “Send me your stuff when you’re ready,” he says. Mr. Friday’s company will buy my series the day someone invents a turbo-charged atomic scalpel.
How did I blow it? I failed to set my series up. To put it in context. To explain why Mr. Friday should spend the time, resources and political capital to sell my idea within his organization. My pitch, that Friday, did not have a hook, a grabber. I could have led with:
- what the story meant to me;
- an exciting set piece from the pilot script;
- an intriguing fact; or
- why this series is particularly relevant.
Anything is better than a naked logline.
For more on pitch grabbers, check out this two-minute animated tutorial.
By James Nadler
