Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Alexei here from Exile Entertainment. In this video, I'm gonna take you through how to successfully pitch your script to producers. Okay, so we're gonna break this down into three stages. The first stage is going to be actually pitching and trying to get the producer to read your screenplay because that's the first obstacle that you gotta overcome. The second step is gonna be when they're actually reading your screenplay and the things that you need to keep in mind there. And then the third thing we're gonna talk about is what happens after they've actually read the screenplay and what do you do from there. Okay, so step one is pre them reading your screenplay and you actually just reaching out to making that first contact. The first thing that I'd suggest is that you reach out to them via email. So find their contact details online, you can do that just through Google. And what I would suggest is sending a personalized email. So rather than just blasting it out to multiple producers, see if you can actually personalize the email and mention something about that producer or their production company. The reason this is really important is because producers receive so many pitches. You know, usually on any day of the week, their inbox is gonna have multiple pitches from people that they've never met. So if they're going to click on that email, the first thing that they would wanna see or that makes it easier for them to engage is that if they can see that that email has actually been personalized to them. So that's the first thing. The second thing is to introduce yourself, just do a quick brief intro about who you are and maybe give some background info about you as a filmmaker. And obviously, if you've had any feature films or short films that have played at notable festivals or have achieved any type of critical or commercial success, just mention that. You don't have to do it in a whole paragraph. It can be as simple as one sentence. The next thing that I would do is say what you're actually looking for. So are you looking for a producer to take on the project? Are you looking for possibly a producer just to help with financing? Are you looking for a producer to help you as early on in development? Be really specific about what you're looking for from a producer and also mention the stage that you're in right now. So you're in development, you're in financing, you're in pre-prod. That way, they're gonna have a really clear understanding of where the project is at and where you want them to fit in. The next thing that you should do is provide a short pitch of the project. And I do mean short, right? So no long synopses of the project. You want a really brief, it can be as brief as a log line or a very short synopsis. So something like two or three sentences, like a short paragraph. The reason again is that a producer is going to open your email and basically just scan it because the inbox has so many of these pitches. So if you include really big blocks of text in there, they're just not gonna read it all. And so you just want to have that log line or synopsis really short, really clear, and that way they can get an understanding of what the project is immediately. The next thing that you should do is include a treatment or a look book. So, and not the script. So this is really important. Essentially, your first email to a producer is getting them interested and excited enough about the project that they ask for the screenplay. Now, there's a couple reasons this is important. The first one is if you just send the screenplay, you're asking too much of that person. You're essentially asking them to put aside two hours of their life to read their screenplay from someone that they've never met before. And so I can tell you from just personal experience that if someone sends me the script immediately, that's a bit of a red flag for me. And a lot of the time, we'll just pass on that project immediately. So first thing, don't send the screenplay. The other thing is that you want to use a look book or a treatment to excite the producer, right? So that is your first kind of opportunity to show the producer what your level of professionalism is, right? So like how you've put together the deck and presented it. And also it gives them a bit of a taste into your creative vision for the project. So if you can provide a document that's highly visual and is well articulated, again, doesn't have heaps of text, right? Is really just short and succinct and to the point, then the producer is gonna open that document. Number one, he's gonna be visually kind of enticed by it. But number two, he's gonna see that it's well put together. It's professional, it's well articulated. And so at that point, that's going to, like it's gonna suggest to the producer that your work and hopefully your screenplay is of a certain level. It's of a certain level of quality and a certain level of professionalism. So that is a really good way to get the producer excited. The third reason I think it's important to do this rather than just sending the screenplay is because if the producer then asks to read the screenplay and in your email, you should ask them if they want to read it, right? So essentially your last sentence of the email should be, please let me know if you would like to read the screenplay. And if they write back and they say, yes, I would like to read the screenplay, then at that point, like they've made a commitment to you. They've made a commitment to read the screenplay. So they're kind of on the hook a bit and the dynamic of the outreach has immediately changed, right? It's gone from you asking for something to now them asking for something and you having something valuable to give. And so at that point, the producer is invested in the project, even if it's just a micro commitment, but you wanna get that micro commitment out of them. And so again, if you just sent the screenplay, they're not making any commitment to you. It's very easy to just pass that off. So they're the things that you wanna really hone in on on that first email. And what I would say as well is with the subject line of the email is that in my experience, you can keep that pretty simple. So I would just say something like contact from your name, like in relation to or maybe regarding and then feature film and the name of your feature film. Or you could say something like feature film, colon, the name of the film. Now, if you can make that subject line even more enticing, then I absolutely would. So if it was something like, let's say it's a genre film. So you could say something like exciting new genre film from Australian filmmaker X, whatever your name is. So think about ways that you can make the subject line a bit more enticing. But what I would say is that in my experience, a bit less important than the actual content of that email once it gets clicked. Okay, so that's stage one. So hopefully at that point, the producer has asked for the screenplay. Now, let's get on to stage two, which is them actually reading it. So the first thing is, make sure you've got the screenplay ready to send, right? So before you go out to the producer, make sure you've got the lookbook, you've got the screenplay ready, and you've drafted that email. So you have all those things ready. Make sure that the formatting of the screenplay is correct and that there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. This is something that's a pretty basic thing to take care of. You could even just hire a editor on a platform like Fiverr and get them to review your screenplay. But make sure you go through that process because there's nothing worse than reading a screenplay that isn't formatted in the correct way or is filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. And to be honest, it doesn't even take that many spelling and grammar mistakes for you as a producer to think that the product in the screenplay hasn't been prepared in the most professional way. And so again, it's just like those types of things are showing the producer what type of filmmaker you are. So that's really important. Next thing is, make sure that the first 10 to 15 pages really hooks them in. Again, because the producer has so many scripts to review at any one time, the more that you can really hook them into the story, into the world, into the characters in that first 10, 15 pages, the more chance they're gonna have of actually finishing the screenplay. Because you do run the risk. If your screenplay isn't exciting, it isn't engaging, you run the risk of the producer simply not finishing it. So even if you have this amazing ending, they just might not get there. So make sure you focus on that first act. Then it's really important for you to follow up the producer. So if you've sent the screenplay, don't just assume that they'll get around to it at one point and get back to you. Again, because they have so much going on, I mean, they could be preparing another film for production. You don't know what's going on in their world. So following up is really important. Now, you don't wanna be a nuisance. And especially once you've provided the screenplay, you do wanna give them a bit of breathing space. So I'd suggest a week or two before sending an email. But at that point, send an email every week and just follow up to see where they're at. Now, follow ups are something that I highly recommend actually even in stage one. So it's not enough to simply send that first email and hope that they respond. I would send up to four follow ups per producer before moving on. So if you have no response after multiple attempts, then of course it is all right to just move on, right? You don't wanna be sending like 20, 30 emails to someone. But I'd suggest minimum four follow ups after that initial email. And that way you're gonna have a really good idea whether that person's actually interested. And again, from experience, sometimes it takes until the third or fourth follow up to get back to someone or for someone to get back to me. So that's why it's important to just stay on it. Lastly, I would suggest with producers to actually just approach multiple producers at once. So I think there is circumstances where you don't wanna do this. For example, talent would be one. But I think with producers and same with sales agents or distributors, I don't think that there's any issue with approaching multiple producers at the same time. And of course, whoever gets back to you sooner is gonna be in the best position. And you can just say that, you can just be open about it as well when they do get back and say, we are speaking to a few people at the same time, but here's a screenplay, we'd love to hear your thoughts. So that's stage two. So hopefully at that point, they are interested in the project, they've read your screenplay. And at that point, they even wanna get involved in the project or maybe they want to progress negotiations a bit further. So stage three would be what happens after there. So if the producer actually wants to get involved in the project, I would suggest a face-to-face meeting with them, either via Zoom or in person. And that way you can really just speak about the project in more detail, your creative vision for the project. It always helps to speak about the producing elements of it as well. So what is the expected budget? Now, your budget doesn't have to be perfect at that point, doesn't have to be all worked out because the producer is gonna have a lot of input. But you do wanna have an idea of what your budget will be. And it's really important to know if your budget can scale down or scale up. So there's always your ideal budget, but if you could attach really big cast, what does the project look like scaled up? If you couldn't raise that finance that you want for your ideal budget, is there a way to scale this thing down and get it into production? So that's really important because the producer is gonna be thinking about, can I actually get this film financed? Can I get it into production? So knowing that you're flexible with the budget and with how you're gonna execute the creative vision is really important. The other thing that I would think about as well in that meeting is, is there any other things that you can bring to the table as part of the project? So it could be finance, it could be team members, it could be in-kind support, it could be locations. So anything that you can actually bring to the table to make that producer's life easier and to show that you're able to bring some resources into the project beyond just the screenplay is really important. Now, if you're just a writer, obviously you're just going to be looking for a producer to take on the project and basically option it for you. So at that point, you wanna be asking a lot of questions as well from the producer and trying to find out what's their vision for the project. Who are the types of directors that they might think about attaching? Because if you are speaking to multiple producers, you'd really do wanna find the right fit. You might ask things like, what are other projects that you've handled that are similar to this, both in genre and budget? So those are the types of things that you wanna think about at that stage, the stage three. And then if it is a good fit, immediately get onto coming up with some sort of agreement with that producer, whether it's an option agreement, if you're a writer or if you're a writer director, maybe it's some sort of co-production agreement or even a development agreement. But I would kind of get that ball rolling immediately, get an agreement in place and then start working together. Now, if the producer passes on the screenplay after they've read it, just remember that most producers are developing a specific slate of films. So your screenplay, even though it might be great and they might've enjoyed it, just might not be the right fit for what they're looking for. So don't be disheartened by that. And it is just, in a way, it's a numbers game as much as anything else. And so that's why it's important to go out to a number of producers. And the other thing that I would recommend is if they do pass, ask them for a recommendation, see if there are any producers that they know or that they're aware of that are looking for a project like yours, because that could be a really good way to A, find someone that you know is looking for your project, but B, if you can get an introduction from that producer, that can always help with actually, it's always good when you have a referral from someone, right? So that can just help that person that you're then pitching to, A, respond, B, read the screenplay. And then if they're interested, there's a kind of added layer of credibility because you've come through a referral. So that's the way that I would recommend successfully pitching your script to producers. You can break it down into those three stages and then simply follow those steps through. So that's it for this video. If you liked the video, hit the like button, subscribe to this channel, make sure you hit the bell to be notified when we post a video. And of course, leave some comments in the comment section below. I will get back to anyone that responds in there. And if you have any follow-up questions from this video, you can ask me in there. And if you have any other content that you wanna see on this channel, let me know. Now, I want to let everyone know as well that we have spots available for our Producing Accelerator program that helps filmmakers finance and produce their own films. So if you're interested about learning more about that program and learning about how to work with us as producers, then I encourage you to head to the link in the description below. You'll be able to learn more about that service and you'll be able to book a call to speak with either me or a member of my team about your project. So that's it for this video. Hope you enjoyed it and we'll catch you on the next one.