Ken Aguado - The Hollywood Pitching Bible

What industry professionals are saying about "The Hollywood Pitching Bible":

Bible is the right word. This is the Truth about pitching. Just do what it says.

- Gary Goldman (Writer/Producer, "Total Recall," "Minority Report")

"Most writers find the pitching process to be quite nerve-wracking, and this long-overdo book will offer them great comfort and encouragement. Douglas Eboch and Ken Aguado break down every aspect of a pitch, from the development of an idea to the challenge of confidently facing a room full of stone-faced executives. Moreover, they stress the importance of making a real personal connection to your material. If you have an urgent need to tell a particular story, there isn't a buyer in the world who won't want to hear it."

- Ken Kwapis (Director of Hes Just Not That Into You,
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, and Big Miracle)

The Hollywood Pitching Bible

A Practical Guide to Pitching Movies and Television

By

Douglas Eboch & Ken Aguado

Copyright 2013 by Douglas Eboch & Ken Aguado.
All rights reserved.
Published by ScreenMaster Books at Smashwords

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the authors.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. The authors shall not be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

This book is available in print at most online retailers.

ISBN-13 : 9781301156214

Cover photos by Scott Peat

For more information or permissions, please contact:

ScreenMaster Books
5737 Kanan Road, Suite 114
Agoura Hills, CA 91301

CONTENTS

Introduction

Welcome to pitching. If you are reading this book, we will assume that you are interested in working as a professional in the film and television business. Nobody pitches as a hobby. Maybe youve tried pitching and were disappointed with the result, or maybe you find it to be a mysterious and impenetrable process. Maybe both.

The one thing we know for sure is that anyone who plans to work in the Hollywood creative community will benefit from learning to pitch; eventually, you will have to convince other people that your ideas have merit. And thats where this book comes in.

Youll notice the title of this book is not How to Get Rich in Hollywood or Pitching for Dollars or anything like that. Weve seen those kinds of books and maybe you have too. Is this because we dont want to you to make a good living in Hollywood? Of course not. In fact, we will venture a guess that many of you are reading this book because youve already read some of those other books and found them lacking. Thats where this book will be different. We have over four decades of combined experience, not just selling pitches but also buying pitches. Weve been on both sides of the desk. Perhaps more importantly, weve had many years of experience teaching the art of pitching. In fact, this book originated from our experiences teaching the subject and seeing our students struggle with the numerous complexities of pitching. We think this gives us unique insights and qualifications to present the pitching process from the broadest perspective, based on sound aesthetic principles and rooted in the customs of Hollywood. This book will be more than just a list of tricks or a collection of anecdotes. We will impart some real-world, practical know-how about pitching that weve learned over the decades.

Why does this matter? A few reasons. First of all, we probably have a different perspective about the nature and value of learning to pitch from what you might think or have read in other books. We see pitching as an essential skill required for a long-term career in the entertainment business and not a get-rich-quick lottery ticket. Also, we believe its unlikely any one book could ever cover every single pitching scenario in the world of film and television. Think about the variety of projects that get pitched in Hollywood: feature films, TV movies, mini-series, one-hour series dramas, half-hour single camera comedies, half-hour situation comedies, reality shows, game shows, competition shows, internet programming, documentary programming and more. Now think about all the kinds of material writers pitch: original stories, adaptations, remakes, reboots, rewrites and more. Is it possible one book could give you a formula that would apply in all of these scenarios? Unlikely. Instead, we will teach you the fundamental skills of pitching so that you can adapt to whatever situation you might encounter.

Let us summarize our approach to this book and who will get the most from it.

First of all, this is not a book about screenwriting. We will assume that you already have several scripts or teleplays under your belt and have some experience with the nuts and bolts of creating a fully realized narrative. Maybe youve even sold or optioned one or more of your scripts. We also assume you live in Southern California or New York or plan to move to one of these places at some point. This is where 99% of all pitching takes place. Lastly, we assume you want to take that next step in your career and that you have some appreciation of the significant differences between a script and a pitch. If not, you will soon learn they are very different things.

For the sake of focus and clarity, we will mostly use the pitching of movies as our recurring example. At all steps we will justify and give a logical framework for the advice we give you. The more you understand the basis for our advice, the more likely you will be able to adapt to the specific situations you will encounter. After youve read this book, the entire process will seem less intimidating and mysterious to you. And maybe, if we are lucky, you will come to understand how learning to pitch can make you a better storyteller. And thats truly our hope.

-Doug & Ken

What is pitching

Pitching in the entertainment industry is the process by which artistic ideas and points-of-view are conveyed verbally (and occasionally visually) from one person to another. In most cases the content of the pitch is a concise summary of a film or television project. Typically, the intention of the person doing the pitching is to get paid to write or rewrite a screenplay, a teleplay or adapt something from another medium (such as a book) into one of these things.

Usually the person doing the pitching is a screenwriter, but it can also be a director or producer. For the purposes of this book we will mostly assume its a writer doing the pitching, but the techniques for directors and producers are much the same.

Sometimes the person on the receiving end of the pitch is a buyer. After all, the term pitching is derived from the phrase sales pitch. Film and television production executives are good examples of buyers.