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The Eight Steps to a Powerful Pitch
by Michael Hauge
Selling a screenplay or a novel is simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.
First: write a great story.
Then: get lots and lots of people to read it.
You can have the greatest, most commercial, most brilliantly written screenplay or manuscript since The Godfather, but if you don’t get dozens of agents, managers, producers, editors and executives in the film or publishing industries to look at it, it’ll never get produced, and you’ll never reach the wide audience you long for.
So how do you do that? How do you persuade all those powerful people that your work is worth their time, and is more likely to make them money, or fulfill their passion for storytelling, than the scores of other scripts and book proposals they already have to read? And how do you accomplish this seemingly impossible task when you have at best only a minute or two on the phone (or at a pitch fest), or maybe a half hour at a pitch meeting, before they hang up, turn away, or see you to the door?
The 60-Second Pitch
My new book Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read, covers all types of pitching, but primarily deals with what I term the 60-second pitch – sometimes known as the telephone pitch, or the elevator pitch, or the pitch fest pitch. Because it’s a pitch you have less than two minutes to deliver.
A 60-second pitch should not to be confused with a pitch meeting. In a pitch meeting, a writer (usually a screenwriter – pitch meetings are rare in the publishing world) has been invited to come to an agent or executive’s office and outline a story in detail. The meeting can last from fifteen to forty-five minutes or more, and often includes a whole conference table full of people. The writers’ goal is usually to secure a development deal, and to get paid for turning a story into a complete screenplay.
Pitch meetings and development deals usually occur after a writer’s career is established, or at least after the person receiving the pitch has read other samples of the writer’s work, or is familiar with what the writer has had produced or published. For that to have happened, the writer must have persuaded lots of people to read her earlier work. And she did that by using some form of the 60-second pitch.
So if you’re a writer still trying to launch your career – still looking for representation or a first option or sale – the opportunities for pitch meetings are rare. The opportunities that demand that you master the 60-second pitch, however, will form the backbone of your entire marketing campaign.
Even though the principles that follow in this article apply to both pitch meetings and telephone pitches, the 60-second version is the one you’ll be using most frequently, for the rest of your career.
And if you’re not a novelist or screenwriter, but are a reader, assistant or intern hoping to move up the ladder to become an agent, development executive, editor or producer, the ability to pitch a story quickly, concisely and powerfully will do more to advance your career than almost any other skill you can master.
The #1 Rule of the Telephone Pitch
Without question, the single biggest mistake writers make in presenting a 60-second pitch is this: they try to tell their whole story.
Let’s say you’ve signed up for a pitch fest or for a one-on-one session with an agent at a writers’ conference or book fair. You’ve got maybe five minutes sitting across from this buyer to get him to look at your book or screenplay. So talking as fast as you can, you launch into the opening scene, then go on to detail, step by step, the plot of your story.
Here’s what’s going to happen. You’ll barely be into Act 2 (or Chapter 2) when the friendly hall monitor will come over to announce that you have 30 seconds left. So you’ll quickly try to penetrate the glazed expression on the buyer’s face, summarize the ending, and get him to say yes.
He won’t.
If you’ve got a story that can be told in five minutes, you’ve got a story for a five-minute movie. There’s simply no way you can do justice to the plot of a novel or feature film in that amount of time. And even if you could, you’ve left no time for the buyer to react to your story by asking questions or giving suggestions or expressing his interest.
Or let’s say you’ve managed to get a potential agent on the phone, and she’s willing to hear your pitch. Literary agents have phone lists that average at least a hundred calls a day. They simply don’t have time to listen to you detail all the elements of your story. They want to know in an instant if this story will be worth their time (or more accurately, worth the time of the reader they’ll pay to do coverage on it).
So what can you do if you don’t tell them your story?
Simply put, you get them to read your screenplay or manuscript by getting them to feel something positive about it.
finish reading this story at The Writers Store
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as of October 01, 2008
WGA west- agencies .
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The agencies listed herein are licensed by the State of California.
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Above The Line Agency
468 N Camden Dr
Ste 400
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 859-6115
Acme Talent & Literary Agency
4727 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 333
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(323) 954-2263
Agency For The Performing Arts (LA)
405 S Beverly Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 888-4200
Aimee Entertainment Association
15840 Ventura Blvd
Ste 215
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 783-9115
Alpern Group, The
15645 Royal Oak Rd
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 528-1111
Amsel, Eisenstadt & Frazier
5055 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 865
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 939-1188
Angel City Talent
4741 Laurel Cyn Blvd
Ste 101
Valley Village, CA 91607
(818) 760-9980
Ann Waugh Talent Agency
4741 Laurel Cyn Blvd
Ste 200
N. Hollywood, CA 91607
(818) 980-0141
Annette Van Duren Agency
4303 Irvine Ave
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 752-6000
Beth Bohn Management Inc
2658 Griffith Park Blvd
Ste 508
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 664-2658
BiCoastal Talent & Literary Agency
210 N Pass Ave
Ste 204
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 845-0150
Bohrman Agency, The
8899 Beverly Blvd
Ste 811
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 550-5444
Bonnie Black Talent Agency
12034 Riverside Dr
Ste 103
Valley Village, CA 91607
(818) 753-5424
Brant Rose Agency
6671 Sunset Blvd
Ste 1584 B
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 460-6464
Candace Lake Agency, Inc.
10677 Somma Way
Los Angeles, CA 90077
(310) 476-2882
Cary Kozlov Literary Representation
16000 Ventura Blvd
Ste 1000
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 501-6622
Catalyst Agency, Inc.
(818) 597-8335
CEO Creative Entertainment Office
1801 S Catalina Ave
Ste 103
Redondo Bch, CA 90277
(310) 791-4494
Cerise Talent Agency
11715 Hortense St
N. Hollywood, CA 91607
(818) 766-8226
Chasin Agency, Inc., The
8899 Beverly Blvd
Ste 716
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 278-7505
Contemporary Artists, Ltd.
610 Santa Monica Blvd
Ste 202
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-1800
Coralie Jr. Theatrical Agency
907 S Victory Blvd
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 842-5513
Creative Artists Agency, LLC
2000 Avenue Of The Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(424) 288-2000
Criterion
4842 Sylmar Ave
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423-1716
(818) 995-1485
Dale Garrick International
1017 N La Cienega Blvd
Ste 109
W. Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 657-2661
David Shapira & Associates
193 N Robertson Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 967-0480
Diverse Talent Group, Inc.
1875 Century Park East
Ste 2250
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 201-6565
Don Buchwald & Associates
6500 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 2200
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 655-7400
Endeavor Agency, The
9601 Wilshire Blvd
3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 248-2000
ES Agency, The
6612 Pacheco Way
Citrus Hts, CA 95610
(916) 723-2794
Featured Artists Agency
1880 Century Park East
Ste 1402
Century City, CA 90067
(310) 286-3200
Frank Elliott Shapiro Agency
(818) 376-1583
Fred R. Price Literary Agency
14044 Ventura Blvd
Ste 201
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
(818) 763-6365
Gage Group, Inc., The
14724 Ventura Blvd
Ste 505
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 905-3800
Gerald K. Smith & Associates
(323) 849-5388
Gersh Agency, Inc., The (LA)
232 N Canon Dr
Ste 201
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 274-6611
Glick Agency, LLC
1250 6th Street
Ste 100
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 593-6500
Grant, Savic, Kopaloff & Associates
6399 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 414
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 782-1854
Hohman, Maybank, Lieb
9229 Sunset Blvd
Ste 700
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 274-4600
Hollywood View
5255 Veronica St
Los Angeles, CA 90008
IFA Talent Agency
8730 Sunset Blvd
Ste 490
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 659-5522
Innovative Artists
1505 Tenth St
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 656-0400
International Creative Management
10250 Constellation Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 550-4000
Irv Schechter Company, The
9460 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 300
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 278-8070
J.K.A. Talent & Literary Agency
(818) 980-2093
Jack Lenny Associates
9454 Wilshire Blvd #600
Ste 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 271-2174
Jack Scagnetti Talent Agency
5118 Vineland Ave
Ste 106
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(818) 762-3871
Kaplan Stahler Gumer Braun Agency
8383 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 923
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(323) 653-4483
Kathleen Schultz Associates
6442 Coldwater Cyn
Ste 206
Valley Glen, CA 91606
(818) 760-3100
Larchmont Literary Agency
444 N Larchmont Blvd
Ste 200
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 856-3070
Larry Grossman & Associates
2129 Ridge Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 550-8127
Laya Gelff Agency
16133 Ventura Blvd
Ste 700
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 996-3100
Lenhoff & Lenhoff
830 Palm Ave
W Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 855-2411
Lisa Callamaro Literary Agency
427 N Canon Dr
Ste 202
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 274-6783
Lyons/Sheldon/Prosnit Agency
800 S Robertson Blvd
Ste 6
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 652-8778
Maggie Roiphe Agency
1721 S Garth Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 876-1561
Marian Berzon Talent Agency
336 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 631-5936
Media Artists Group
6300 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 1470
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 658-7434
Metropolitan Talent Agency
4500 Wilshire Blvd
2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(323) 857-4500
Michael Lewis & Associates
2506 Fifth St
Ste 100
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 399-1999
Mitchell J. Hamilburg Agency
149 S Barrington Ave
Ste 732
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 471-4024
Mitchell K. Stubbs & Associates
8695 W Washington Blvd
Ste 204
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 838-1200
Monteiro Rose Dravis Agency
4370 Tujunga Ave
Ste 145
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 501-1177
Natural Talent, Inc.
3331 Ocean Park Blvd
Ste 203
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 450-4945
Original Artists
9465 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 324
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 275-6765
Paradigm
360 N Crescent Dr
North Bldg
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 288-8000
Paul Kohner, Inc.
9300 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 555
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 550-1060
Preferred Artists
16633 Ventura Blvd
Ste 1421
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 990-0305
Progressive Artists Agency
400 S Beverly Dr
Ste 216
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 553-8561
Qualita Dell' Arte
6303 Owensmouth Ave
10th Floor
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
(818) 936-3566
read.
8033 Sunset Blvd
Ste 937
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 876-2800
Rebel Entertainment Partners, Inc.
5700 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 456
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 935-1700
Rothman Brecher Agency, The
9250 Wilshire Blvd
Penthouse
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 247-9898
Sarnoff Company, Inc., The
10 Universal City Plaza
20th Floor
Universal City, CA 91608
(818) 753-2377
Schiowitz Connor Ankrum Wolf, Inc.
1680 Vine St
Ste 1016
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 463-8355
Shapiro-Lichtman, Inc.
1333 Beverly Green
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 859-8877
Shirley Wilson & Associates
5410 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 227
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 857-6977
Stars, The Agency
23 Grant Ave
4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 421-6272
Starwil Productions
433 N Camden Dr
4th Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(818) 761-3213
Stein Agency, The
5125 Oakdale Ave
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
(818) 594-8990
Stone Manners Agency
6500 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 550
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 655-1313
Stuart M. Miller Co, The
11684 Ventura Blvd
Ste 225
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 506-6067
Suite A Management Talent & Literary Agency
120 El Camino Dr
Ste 202
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 278-0801
Summit Talent & Literary Agency
9454 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 203
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 205-9730
Susan Smith Company, The
1344 N Wetherly Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 276-4224
Talent Works, Inc.
3500 W Olive Ave
Ste 1400
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 972-4300
United Talent Agency, Inc.
9560 Wilshire Blvd
5th Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 273-6700
Vision Art Management
9200 Sunset Blvd
Penthouse
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 888-3288
Warden, White & Associates
8444 Wilshire Blvd
4th Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(323) 852-1028
William Morris Agency, LLC
151 El Camino Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 274-7451
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