So on occasion I get invited to pitch fests and I love helping aspiring writers out, so when I can, I try to listen to pitches and give people the best feedback I can muster.
One of the great parts about being an exec at pitch fests is listening to the other execs and story gurus share their collective wisdom about story.
Since I am always interested in learning more, I went to a keynote speech by the head of a story department at one of the biggest talent agencies in the world.
“Story Departments” at Agencies handle producing tons and tons of fast coverage on projects– to help agents know what their clients have written (they don’t have time to read their own clients), to know what projects make sense for star actors to be in, etc.
So, the head of a major Story Department spoke to a room full of about 400 people about how he saw the industry, common missteps writers make, and what have you.
He also laid out in his head the absolute basics of what he is looking for when he gets pitched. Here’s my paraphrase:
A character, with a goal, and opposition to that goal.
That’s it– those are literally the only elements he was interested in hearing.
After laying out the basics, he then asked volunteers to pitch him, mind you– in a room full of hundreds of people, their projects that they loved.
And yet, pitch after pitch, none of the writers who volunteered were able to clearly and succinctly pitch those basic elements.
With each pitch that didn’t stick to the basics, the exec who was listening to the pitches got progressively more flustered. And then… he started screaming at people. Asking them why (probably seriously) why they couldn’t stick to the basics? What was so difficult about the basics?
Rather than embarrass yourself, we wanted to pass along this illustrative example– stick to the basics. Character with a goal and opposition to the goal (along with sharing the visuals and potential for conflict).
That is super boiled down, basic, and hopefully helpful pitch advice to you.
