Yesterday, I had a telephone call with a producer in LA interested in turning my first book into a major film project. Prior to that phone call, I used my time to prepare a pitch document based on the format provided to us by Christopher Mack from Netflix in order to send to the producer prior to our call. Talk about serendipity!
I found the format easy to use and populate. However, it really makes you think about your story - your world, your characters, your plot. It took me half of the day to prepare the pitch document, which I then sent to my script consultant (an industry professional) for her comments. Having received those, I made some minor changes and sent the pitch document to the producer in LA. It was clear, that by the time we connected, she had read the document.
That pitch document ensured that we were literally on the same sheet of music. Despite her 20 years as a producer and the fact that she's worked for a major studio for the last three years, she was still trying to get her head around a potential project. We used the pitch document simply as a starting point. For example, I envision a feature film much tighter in terms of time frame (two months) and cast. She saw something much broader (years). However, she made it clear that in the end, the people with the money would make the decisions.
Two things about the Netflix pitch document format that really made a difference in our TELECON. First, the "Movie & Television Reference" allowed me to estimate a budget for a feature film based on a similar movie that had done pretty well (with the cost transformed into 2020 dollars). Interestingly enough, the producer had the same movie in mind. I had also prepared a section on how costs might be reduced. Second, the "Why This Series?" section (which I changed to "Why This Film") revealed two key upcoming dates which might end up being major project milestones (one near-term, one longer-term).
Conclusion. Your Pitch Document is not the End All and Be All of your project. It serves simply as a starting point allowing industry professionals to judge the strengths and merits of your film or TV series and the feasibility. It's a starting point for a discussion on a project. Nonetheless, it must be as strong as possible and must clearly convey your world, your characters, and your plot to industry professionals. Finally, your pitch document tells industry professionals a great deal about yourself - about your ideas and your ability to write well.
BTW - I altered the format by adding my resume at the end. That resume included the addresses for my Stage32, IMDb, and LinkedIn pages. After all, you want to make sure that industry professionals can find you!
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What I also like is that it gives you a chance to put across a look for your project.
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Gilberto Villahermosa you are so right! I too converted the Netflix document into a sort of form that I could fill out when I am starting to break story, almost an outline. I used it for a few short film pitches I was recently invited to make and pow, I got interest in one of the 4 I pitched. It's really a great way to think about your pitches and find the holes in your story. I'm now going back and putting some of my other stories into the "form". What a great webinar.
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Very cool! The willigness to take this tool and run with it and then seeing immediate results is powerful!
Louisa - I too have decided to use the Netflix Pitch Document format for all my projects. Like you said, it will allow me to find all the holes that need filling.
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Sarah - The reason I took this tool and ran with it is because it makes so much more sense than the previous format I had been using. The fact that Christopher Mack from Netflix recommended it means that it's close to an industry standard.
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Congratulations and informative post. Good to hear it worked for you.
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Gilberto Villahermosa Agree. I had seen all kinds of conflicting info on pitch documents. Chris Mack's approach was much closer to my original idea of how it should be, so going with it is a no-brainer.
The other thing I did was set up a photo album in my google drive. The photos are meant to convey the look and atmosphere of the city (Athens). On the slide about tone, I then have a link to the album at the end of the brief text. That way people can click on it, if they are not familiar with the city, or skip it if they are, and it doesn't clog up the pitch itself.
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Great post, Gilberto! Fleur, the webinar is free here on S32. Look for it under Education.
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Fleur May here's the link to that webinar: https://www.stage32.com/webinars/Stage-32-%20-Netflix-Present-Television...