Eventually, if your writing is getting read, someone will ask you to come in and talk. Maybe it's a general meeting with a production company, maybe a manager wants to hear what you're working on next. At some point the question arrives: "So what else do you have?" A pitch is how you answer it. It's a spoken version of your story, and like any performance, it gets much better with preparation.
What a pitch is really doing
A pitch is not a recitation of your plot. It's an attempt to make a listener see and feel your movie, in a few minutes, well enough to want more. Executives hear many pitches. They're listening for a clear hook, a protagonist they can picture, a sense of the movie's shape, and evidence that you, specifically, are the person to write it.
In a general meeting, they're also evaluating you as a collaborator. Clarity, enthusiasm, and the ability to talk about your work without rambling all count.
The basic shape
Most good pitches follow a simple structure:
1. Why this story. Open with a sentence or two about what drew you to the idea. A personal connection, a fascinating true event, a question you couldn't shake. This gives the listener a reason to care before the plot begins.
2. The logline. Say what the movie is in one or two sentences. Genre, protagonist, goal, stakes. If your logline is strong, the listener now has a frame for everything else.
3. The world and the protagonist. Paint the setting and introduce your main character vividly: who they are, what they want, what's wrong with them.
4. The story, in broad strokes. Walk through the major turns: the inciting incident, what the protagonist does about it, the midpoint shift, the low point, and the climax. Describe a few key scenes in enough detail that they become images.
5. The ending and what it means. Land the ending and say, briefly, what the story is about underneath. This is where theme belongs, at the end, once they've felt the story.
How long?
Shorter than you think. For an early conversation, aim for around five minutes for a feature. Some situations call for longer, more detailed pitches, but a tight version that leaves them wanting more is better than an exhaustive one that loses them halfway.
Tell it, don't read it
Memorize the shape, not the words. Notes are fine for reference, but reading a pitch word for word sounds like reading. Talk the way you'd tell a friend about a movie you love, with energy, emphasis, and the freedom to skip details. If you lose your place, go back to the protagonist and what they want next.
What to leave out
- Every subplot. Mention the ones that matter to the ending. Skip the rest.
- Minor characters' names. Listeners can't track a dozen names they've only heard once. Use descriptions: "her brother," "the detective."
- Camera directions and casting. Leave the dream cast at home unless asked.
- Apologies and caveats. "This is still rough, but..." undercuts everything that follows.
Handling questions
Questions are good. They mean the listener is engaged. Answer directly and briefly, then stop talking. If you don't know an answer, say you're still working that out and offer how you're thinking about it. Defensiveness, or arguing that a note is wrong, ends meetings faster than a weak idea does.
Sometimes the most useful question is one you ask: what are they looking for right now? Their answer may tell you which of your other ideas to mention next.
Bring more than one idea
In general meetings, it helps to have two or three ideas ready at different lengths: one you can pitch fully and a couple you can describe in a sentence or two. If the first doesn't fit what they need, you have somewhere to go. Variety signals that you're a working writer with a career, not a single script.
Practice, out loud
Pitch to friends, to your phone, to an empty room. Time yourself. Notice where you stumble or where your listener's attention drifts, and simplify those parts. By the tenth run, you'll know the story in your body, and the nerves in the room will matter less.
After the meeting
Send a short thank-you note. If they asked for anything, a script, a one-page summary, a treatment, send it promptly. And whatever happens with this pitch, keep writing, because the next meeting will ask the same question: what else do you have?
