ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

5 years, 1 month ago - Simon X. Frederick

I think industry standard is going to give you different results as each company likes different things. I've worked in multiple companies that use vastly different templates. The look and feel is aesthetically your choice. But these are my notes I've gathered from working development and from scouring the internet for templates:

1 PAGE PITCH (film/TV)
Try to write in the style of your project - if a comedy, be funny; if a thriller, rack up the suspense.
1) Your contact details.
2) The title of the project and your name (and co-writers, if any).
3) The format - feature film, TV (and if so, length and number of episodes), genre.
4) Logline. 50 words, max. Remember: protagonist, goal, difficulty, stakes. Active verbs. Hint at the genre. If TV, write one for series and one for the pilot episode.
5) The shortest, clearest explanation of your project you can manage. Do include the end. Do not include every story beat. Usually only mention three characters: protag, antag and important supporting character (love-interest, side kick, contagonist).
Example:
Paragraph One: Opening image/setting/concept. Set the stage.
Paragraph Two: Intro protagonist - who they are, what they want and why.
Paragraph Three: Intro to the obstacles, antagonist, SET UP/Act 1.
Paragraph Four: Skip to the ending. If there is a twist you can hint at the twist if you don’t want to say it.
Paragraph Five: Miscellaneous stuff - themes, comments from professionals who’ve read it, awards, contest placements.

FULL BIBLE (TV)
6) DEVELOPMENT – How as showrunners the project will be developed
7) CHARACTERS – The recurring/major characters in the series
For features, add cast ideas. Keep it short if included at all.
8) LOCATIONS & SETS – Visual slide show of prospective locations/sets
9) SEASON ONE – 13 episodes; treatment only of no more than 2/3's of a page per episode
10) MUSIC – Embedded music player with sample selections of the musical tone
11) NOTES – Catch-all for any last things to convey to the development execs
12) TEAM – Names, phone numbers and email contacts
+) A look book image is inserted between each section for a total of eight images. This helps with the look and feel of the pitch.

THREE TYPES OF PITCH
- A one-pager (which is a single sheet, text only, generally with text on only one side)
- The onesheet (sort of a mini movie poster, with very few words)
- A hybrid (words on one side, image and perhaps a few words on the other.)

TV
https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/how-to-pitch-a-tv-show/

TIPS
Short and sweet is better - don’t get bogged down on chronology, focus on the feel of the show/film
Make sure they know why the character is worth spending time with and why they would want to see this show/film
A great pitch needs text (content), imagery (look book), motion imagery/graphics, audio, and video as core elements. You cannot get that in a PDF doc.
Interactive apps for pitching.
Send a link that you can edit rather than having to send the document back and forth
For TV: at the very least have a 10-15 page look book and pilot
Visual details / specifics. So often, what you remember / take away from the best 1 page pitches - is a telling, memorable visual image - that expresses the lead character or story.
Avoid empty promises. Don't tell me, 'This is going to be a side-splitting comedy...with the narrative tension of Jaws,' - instead give me the specifics that illustrate this. ie If you're pitching a comedy, the one page pitch needs to be funny - don't just tell us the script is going to be funny. And similarly drama pitches need to be inherently dramatic.


Hope it helps,
Simon

5 years, 1 month ago - Adolfo Vico

I'm glad someone asked this question. That's good stuff Simon. Thanks guys