Why You, Why Now, Why They’ll Buy Your Show
Over the past month, I’ve been talking a lot about pitching and selling TV shows, especially on Twitter & to my email subscribers. (If you’re not getting my emails — what are you waiting for? Sign up here.)
I’ve been talking about pitching, because I think it is THE neglected skill for writers at all levels. I work with clients who are showrunners, clients and students who have never been staffed, and writers at every level in between.
And I’ve seen, first-hand, that nothing opens doors like sharpening your skill at pitching.
Being great at pitching can turn an executive from a contact to a true fan. It can turn a pass into a sale. And it can turn a sale into a bidding war.
30 years ago, the only writers who needed to think about pitching were ones who’d been steadily working their way up the ranks of the TV business. Now, streamers, cable and even broadcast networks are seeking out writers at EVERY level to pitch TV shows.
My daughter’s best friend, a comedy writer, who’s 27, sold her first pitch to CBS studios, after having been staffed just twice. It didn’t go to series, but still — that’s something that would’ve been almost unheard of in the past.
It’s a gold rush, open only to folks who are great at this crucial skill of pitching.
I say skill, because even though most writers assume a person is either good at pitching or not so good, I know from experience this is a skill you can improve with practice and good coaching.
When I was a development executive, I literally thousands of pitches. Some good, some great, and some so phenomenal I still remember them, years later.
Over time, I realized that most of the best pitches had quite a few things in common.
One of those things is structure. I realized that there were ten elements that showed up over and over, in almost every truly great pitch I saw.
I’ve been teaching these ten elements for years, in classes and workshops.
The Ten Pieces of a Great Pitch (according to me) are:
1. INSPIRATION STORY
2. HOOK
3. LOGLINE (include genre/tone)
4. MAIN CHARACTER(S)
5. TONE
6. WORLD
7. STORY ENGINE/STRUCTURE
8. PILOT STORY
9. SEASON ARCS
10. CODA
I love talking about this stuff online, in part because I can connect with writers all over the world in an instant. And, often, that leads to some really great & thought-provoking questions.
In the past few weeks, the questions I’ve been asked most frequently revolved around three of those ten pieces:
- The Inspiration Story - what it is, why you need one, and how to have one even if your pitch is based on someone else’s IP
- The Hook — what makes a great hook and why it’s helpful for more than just “hooking” the listeners interest, and
- The Logline.
Even though it’s just a sentence or two, the logline is complex enough I’m going to give that its own post, a few days from now (so watch this space!).
But today I’m going to focus on the other two most-asked-about elements, the Inspiration Story and the Hook.
The Inspiration story is the first part of most great pitches.
When I say Inspiration Story, I’m specifically talking about a personal event, or situation in your life, that either inspired you to develop and write this show, or at least had a real impact on your approach to the story.
It’s a moment for you to express a personal and emotional connection to the material you’re about to present.
Why is this important? A few reasons.
First, it’s engaging.
Telling a story from your own life gets the listener engaged with you and what you’re saying. In the same way that we root for the leads of great stories, your personal story from your life makes the listener root for you — and I experienced this, time and time again, as an executive.
Second, it answers the question: “why you?”
You want the listener to know that what you are pithing is personal to you, that you’re passionate about it, and that you “get it” on a deep, emotional level. You want them to feel like no one else will be able to write this like you — and that they would be nuts to try and replace you as the writer on the project.
Another nice thing about an inspiration story is that it makes for an effective and seamless transition from the usual pre-pitch chit chat, what I call “small talk,” to the body of your pitch. You start, not talking about your idea for a show, but talking about something real from your own life, and use that to transition into the pitch itself. This is often much more natural and compelling than just jumping directly in to the hook.
When you’re thinking about your Inspiration Story, here are a few prompts that can help you discover what to say:
Of course, if the project has an obvious story that actually inspired it, start there. Focus especially on the emotional moments of that story, and how those inform your understanding of the characters.
I once heard a great pitch that began with the writer saying, “you know, I was raised in a cult.” She told us about what that was like, which was, of course, fascinating. When she came around to the pitch itself, about someone raised in a cult, we knew that she would bring an authenticity to it we couldn’t get anywhere else. It was a great comedy pitch.
What about if the story you’re pitching wasn't inspired by events from your life?
What if you’re adapting a classic piece of literature, or you’ve been asked to pitch your take on a Marvel character or a spin-off of a show that’s been on the air for a decade?
If your idea came from somewhere outside your life history, think about the things that directly connect you to the story, especially on an emotional level.
Why is the story personal to you? Why are you passionate about it? Why are you the only person who can write this story, and how will your life experience give it authenticity and passion?
I’m reminded of a wonderful pitch I heard that was a contemporary adaptation of classic Mark Twain characters for network TV. The writers began with vivd, compelling stories from their own lives, and then explained how those moments dovetailed with the themes of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Even though the characters had been conceived 150 years ago, by the time they were through, it was impossible to think of anyone adapting the story than these two (by the way, that pitch was so well received, it led to an active bidding war between three broadcast networks)
A Great Hook is the second part of most great pitches
After the inspiration story, the second element in the best TV pitches is a great hook.
If the inspiration story makes the listener lean forward, the hook grabs them emotionally, and helps them quickly connect to the characters and story.
There are several different ways to build a hook. One terrific option is a thrilling, emotional, vivid moment or scene.
A first place to look is the teaser for your pilot. If it’s gripping and vivid, it’s likely to make a great hook.
If your pilot doesn’t begin with a teaser, think about the best scenes in the first 5 - 10 pages of the pilot. Is there one that really jumps out as emotional, interesting, or vivid? What about the moment your hero fully commits to the journey of the pilot?
Another great option for the hook is something intellectually compelling, like a startling or impactful statistic.
Either way, the best hooks help us to immediately understand who the protagonist is, and what their main problem will be in the story.
Great hooks also establish why your show is culturally relevant and timely. Why the show is a perfect fit to be on the air now.
These are elements that make a pitch feel undeniable to a buyer.
The Next Step…
One thing the best inspiration stories and the best hooks have in common is what I like to call “tell, don’t sell.”
Truly great pitches feel less like a business presentation, and more like a story.
Think: “once upon a time.”
They’re also laser-focused. Big ideas distilled into a tight, carefully-thought-out package.
That brings me to one of the most challenging parts of any pitch, and the thing I get questions on maybe more than anything else:
How do you distill an entire TV series down into a single sentence logline?
And, is it really that important, or can you just skip it?
Well, I can answer the second question right now: yes, a great logline is a crucial part of your pitch, that solves a TON of problems and makes it much easier for a development executive to buy your show. No, I really don’t think leaving it out is a good idea.
So, how in the world are you supposed to tackle it?
Well, you’re in luck, because I’m going to be releasing another video, in just a few days, diving into that question in detail. There are a LOT of ways to mess it up, but I have a formula that makes creating a great logline pretty painless.
It’s a key step towards mastering the art of crafting a killer pitch, and I can’t wait to share it with you soon.
Until then, I’d love your feedback. Leave a comment below, or reach out to me via email or on twitter and let me know what you thought about this post, and what questions about pitching in general I can answer. Let me be a resource to help you as you work on this crucial skill.
Until next time,
Carole