Pitch Before You Write

Usually when we think of pitching, we imagine that our amazing script is already either completely done or mostly done and that we are pitching it to a potential buyer. Rouge Wavers, take the concept of pitching, reinvent it and make it your own. In other words, pitch your script idea to yourself. Does the idea really make sense? Does it honestly sound like ninety-plus minutes of entertainment?

Pitching your story idea is a great way to find out if you’ve got a story worth telling – before you waste one-hundred twelve pages telling it.

Pitching your idea first in the mirror and then to trusted friends can help test the waters but it’s also a way for you to test yourself: can you articulate your idea pithily, including the points of focus usually included in a pitch? Can you articulate the Main Idea of your story?

Pitching and writing down your premise is a way of testing your idea for entertainment value and looking for holes or problems before you spend too much time actually writing the script.

The benefits of looking at it this way are numerous and obvious. Many writers (and I used to do this too) just sort of get whiff of the muse and start writing. And they’re really into it too; buckets of coffee and emergency chocolate are consumed, six consecutive days pass with no shower, the phone goes unanswered and the dog ate the cat. Then it’s time to get feedback on this piece of absolute perfection and the response is usually wha-?

When an executive is hearing a pitch these are some of the things he or she is listening for; things that will be encoded into your pitch, whether you did it consciously or not:

The Big (main) Idea
The commercial potential
The budget and genre
Casting ideas or inspiration

So put yourself in the exec’s shoes. You are a procurer of material. You have heavy-weights breathing down your neck, your last movie tanked, you’re paying ridiculous amounts of alimony and you have three meetings after your lunch meeting. Now you have about four minutes to hear a pitch. And you are thinking: Is the idea fresh? Does it have a great hook? Can I see the poster? Does it sound like a money-maker, star-vehicle or Oscar material? Is this worth setting up meetings for? Is this going to be the script that is going to rocket me into the next level of my career?

As a writer, you are aware, dear Rouge Wavers, that getting a Golden Idea out of your head and onto the page is a commitment of months. Who would knowingly write something that is going to die a painful death on somebody’s doorstep?

There are some preventative steps to keep ourselves in check so that our Golden Idea doesn’t run away with us only to leave us jilted and bewildered several months later. Developing your idea before committing to pages can save time, printer cartridges, buckets of coffee and the embittered feeling of futility and failure for which there is not yet a sufficiently ha-ha funny Hallmark card.

Write your idea down in the form of a one or two-sentence premise line. Limit yourself to 50 words. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be pretty, this is just for you. Keep it simple.

Now ask that premise line –

What is the Big Idea?
Who is the main character?
Who is the antagonist?
What is the main crux of the conflict noted here?
Is the big climactic moment or choice here somewhere?
Is the genre clear?

Say you can answer all those questions to your satisfaction. Now ask yourself some more questions:

Is this a star vehicle?
Is this a Friday night movie or a Sunday matinee?
What is the theme of this story idea?
How does it fit into the zeitgeist two years from now?
Would this appeal to a wide audience?

At first, you might not be able to answer any of these questions to your satisfaction. That’s okay – this is the process. It’s called Idea Testing. Nobody is grading this, nobody even knows that you’re doing this with only one green sock on. The point is that writers who learn to develop habits and tools for testing their ideas before writing the script will develop a skill set and a discipline which will serve them very well down the line.

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