Selling Your Film: Proposals, Pitches & Treatments

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The Winning Pitch

Just the thought of standing in front of an audience scared Jim. He wasn’t alone. A recent survey showed more people are afraid of public speaking than dying so Jim worked very hard to memorize what he thought was a great speech. He wrote and re-wrote it until every word was perfect. Unfortunately, when it came time to deliver his talk, Jim was so nervous he forgot what he was going to say. He stumbled over his words. Jim stopped frequently and his eyes naturally rolled to the top of his head as he tried to remember those perfect phrases he had so meticulously constructed. He lost contact with his audience and the speech was a total bomb.

You’ve written a great proposal but now you have to pitch it. Never confuse the written word with the spoken word. They are two completely different forms of communication. Beautiful writing can sound stilted and pretentious when read aloud. Great literature doesn’t guarantee great performance so prepare an oral presentation orally. This is so important I’m going to repeat it. Prepare an oral presentation orally.

How is that possible? You know your material. You’ve lived and breathed your project for a long time. You’ve talked about it with friends, family and probably perfect strangers so your first exercise in the preparation of a great oral pitch is to sit down in a room by yourself and just start talking. Let the words come as you describe your passion. As you talk about it, certain sentences will stand out. Quickly jot it down and then keep talking. Again, remember this is an oral presentation not a written proposal. Don’t write down any more words than it will take to remind you of the thought. The key is to get back to talking as soon as possible. It’s an oral presentation so we are preparing orally for it.

If you are having trouble getting started with your talk, answer these questions out loud. Imagine that I am right there with you. Now let’s talk:

• Your film is a jewel with many facets. Can you describe some of these facets and some of the other themes I will see in your final project?
• Now, if you had to choose only one theme, what is the most important facet? Why?
• Who are you making this film for?
• You seem very passionate about your project. Why?
• Tell me about some of the characters I will meet in your film.
• What do you hope people will take away from watching your documentary?
• The three most important topics to address in your pitch are:

* What is this film about?

* Why make it now?

* You have to convince us our grant won’t be wasted. Tell us why you will see this film through to completion.

After an hour you should have pages of great sentences that will trigger great thoughts. Now it’s time to find your theme.

Look over those pages of sentences you just wrote down. Do you see any themes? It’s time to take out more paper and write a different theme on the top of each page. Now copy all of the sentences that relate to that theme onto that page.

Take a break. Have a cup of coffee. Play with the kids and then come back to your notebook. Look through all the pages. One will stand out. You’ve done it! That’s your theme for this pitch but how will you organize those random sentences into an organized pitch?

Try giving a four-minute talk from just the notes on that particular page. A couple of things will happen. First, a natural rhythm will develop. You’ll discover you need to say this before that. A rough outline will develop. You will also find that some of the sentences aren’t as powerful as the others. Discard them and you will be left with pure gold.

This article first appeared in Carole Dean's From the Heart Productions Newsletter.

Copyright 2006 SNAFUfilms.com

John McKeel is a public speaker, radio announcer, university teacher, author and pitch coach.

His unique method can help you sell your ideas in an auditorium, on the air or one-on-one.

John@SNAFUfilms.com