Speaker 1: What makes an executive hire a writer? Well, there's a couple of different things that they would hire them for. If somebody is pitching a show, I mean, my expertise is primarily television, but a lot of this applies to motion pictures, also to features. If someone is pitching it and they nail the pitch, they're gonna wanna be in business with them. If there's somebody who, if an executive is in charge of finding writers to be on a television show, if you have a meeting with that person, they wanna know that you're not a psycho. They wanna, they will have read you and they will think, this is a terrific writer. Now, let me see if I can get along with them. Let me see if the showrunner I'm thinking of for the show they would be right for would get along with them. Those are the reasons why somebody would hire, that's why an executive would hire a writer. What are the most important elements of a pitch? Well, it's interesting because pitching is an art. It's not a science. And I have an online course called How to Pitch a TV Show That Sells, and we talk all about this. But the important elements are the characters. That's super important. How the characters are gonna grow and change over the pilot and then over the series. People think that the pilot story is the most important thing, and it's not. Because you're not just selling a pilot, you're selling a series. So it is what the hook is, that's super important. Why are people gonna watch it? Why are they gonna watch it now? Why will it stand out from 500 plus other scripted television shows? You gotta have a strong hook. Then it's tell me about the world. Also, what's really important in a pitch, and you talk about this earlier in another video, is having a personal story that ties you to that project. It's not like you just said, oh, wouldn't it be funny if there was a rollercoaster and it was haunted? You have to, and I'm a terrible, I'm not a writer, which is why I just gave that terrible example. But you have to connect with it somehow. When I was home alone one night, I was sure that a ghost was there, and I was terrified. And I thought, what if somebody is terrified of that and terrified on a rollercoaster, and terrified on a rollercoaster, too? Find a way to make an emotional connection with them, find that emotional connection in the project, and use that to connect with the buyer. If you tell an authentic emotional story, they will be hooked in. So it's the hook, it's what I call your inspiration story, why you, why this project. It is talking about the characters, why they're unique, why we haven't seen them before. It's about the world. What does that world look like? You want to paint it, you want us to feel it. Tell us why we want to be immersed into it for 40 hours. Super important, what is the engine of the show? If it's a TV show, why does this have legs past just the pilot? And season arcs are really important. And knowing what that is. And then you have something that I call the coda, which is a concluding remark, where you go back to your hook, and then you say why people will watch it. Why it's timely, why it's universal, why now?

Speaker 2: How long is a pitch to an executive? What should a writer think about in preparation?

Speaker 1: Great question. Some people think it goes on forever, it doesn't. If you're pitching television, a comedy pitch should be 12 to 15 minutes long. A one-hour drama or a one-hour show, it should be 20 to 25 minutes, no longer, unless you're Sean Ryan, who just sold Night Agent, 20 to 25 minutes. And on Zoom, it should be shorter. You should rehearse your pitch, you should time your pitch, you should come in on those times. And again, the pilot story is only a very small portion of that 10 to 12 minutes, or 20 to 25 minutes.

Speaker 2: And record yourself giving the pitch,

Speaker 1: as if so you can kind of see it. And I know somebody who's a terrific pitcher, and what she said is, and this is what I believe, you write out the pitch word for word, then you transcribe it into bullet points, and then you practice using the bullet points. Some people read their pitch. If you're a good performer, you can read your pitch, but make it sound conversational. A good pitch is conversational, for sure. So write it, practice it, record yourself, so that you can hear the pacing in it, so you've got that right, so you can time it. I had a mentee in my CBS program who was fantastic. In my program, you have to introduce yourself 16 times, because there's 16 weeks. And people got to the point, the writers got to the point, where it sounded totally rehearsed. But Bradley had a way to make it sound like it was the first time every time. And the way he did it, is he would say something, and then he'd pause for a beat, as if he was actually thinking about what the next thing was he was gonna say. And he had some funny parts to a story, and he would chuckle a little bit, not like out loud, but just kind of chuckle, so that they could chuckle with him. And his introductions always sounded like they were off the cuff. You want this to sound like it's off the cuff, but you know it backwards and forwards. So he's telling a little bit about himself, and then the pitch? Well, Bradley wasn't pitching. That was just, it's a 16-week program, and every week I bring in different speakers, and the writers have to just introduce themselves to each of the speakers. I'm sorry if that was confusing.

Speaker 2: No, no, I find that interesting. Okay, so they're kind of practicing that, because we all don't really want to talk about ourselves sometimes, so it's like, hi, I'm so-and-so, and this is my deal, and is that it? So you're comfortable kind of owning who you are?

Speaker 1: Yes, I teach them. I mean, that's one of the things I teach, is your entertainment industry brand, and you need to know how to talk about yourself in a way that is engaging, and gets people leaning forward, and wanting to know more. So I teach that to the mentees in the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program, and over 16 weeks, they hone it, and hone it, and hone it, so that by the end of the 16 weeks, they can talk about themselves like that, and Bradley was just a champ at it. What are some common mistakes that you see in pitches? Ooh, I love that question, because there's so many mistakes that people make. Sadly, it's sad when you make this mistake, is not being prepared, is going in and thinking, I can wing it. Now, here's the truth. There's some stand-up comics, there's some improv people that really can, but unless you're that person, you can't. They're not prepared enough. The other is going beat by beat by beat of the pilot story. There's a sad story that I like to tell from when I was an executive. A very well-established comedy writer came in and pitched to us, and he was talking about the pilot story, and he was going beat by beat by beat, and my colleague fell asleep. It was horrifying, and he said to my boss, the writer said to my boss, he fell asleep, and my boss said, no, no, he's just tired. He fell asleep, and my boss said, no, no, he's just resting his eyes so he can hear you better, but that's something you don't want to do. Go beat by, it's overview. You want to give the big picture, not every single scene. What's the difference between telling versus selling? I have a mantra that I believe in so strongly. It's tell, don't sell. If you're desperate, if you're there just to sell the project, chances are really good you won't. What you should be there to do is to tell an engaging, exciting, funny, or moving story, and what I tell people is pretend that you're talking to a five-year-old. Your whole vibe should be once upon a time, not, well, this is about this, but once upon a time in a forest, there was. That's how you know you're telling, and selling is, oh, man, I gotta tell you, this is the best thing you ever heard of, and it's gonna be great, and don't do that. It's a terrible idea. So add an element of performance, absolutely, but even if you're not a natural-born performer, and I do talk about this in my class, if you know your material well enough, and you're comfortable enough, you'll be able to talk about it as if you were talking to a friend, and you don't need to do bada, bada, bada, bada, bada, just you're yourself, but it's like you're talking to friends, and you're comfortable, and it's upbeat, and it's engaging. That's all you need to be.