Hi to everyone in the Stage 32 Community. I recently joined at the urging of a friend because he and others have said my Sci-Fi books needed to be made into a movie. I recently wrote a pilot script and have my first live pitch interview in just a few hours. Not sure how it will go. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading through the postings and getting to know some of you.
Introduce Yourself : About me by Charles Graham
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How did the live pitch go?
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Not as well as I would have liked. It was my first live pitch. She was gracious and smiled. She gave me some constructive criticism at the end. I was too detailed. She wanted more of a synopsis and what the protagonist's goal was. I think I got everything I needed in, but not smoothly. I learned a lot just listening to her.
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Well, congrats on getting the first one in!
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Congrats on getting the first live pitch in. Even if it didn't go as well as you would've liked, you can look at it as a learning experience. Hope you get the opportunity to do more pitches in the future!
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What are some of the titles of your books?
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How did the pitch go?
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As my first pitch, I was nervous, and I made a classic rookie mistake — I pitched it like an author selling his book. What I learned is that producers don't want a blow-by-blow of the story, even the good parts. They want to know who the protagonist is and what his/her goal is. That's it in a nutshell. Think of it as a long logline. That approach gives the producer a chance to ask questions, rather than you telling him/her what you think they need to know.
In my case, I set up the premise well enough — seven survivors stranded on an alien planet with two weeks of food and water and no way home for potentially decades. But instead of pivoting to the protagonist and his goal, I kept driving deeper into the plot. What I should have said next was simply that the story follows a reluctant leader who uses his wilderness survival skills to pull the group together and build something permanent — not just survival, but a real community — while a serendipitous bond between one crewman and an intelligent predator species changes everything.
If I had framed it that way and stopped there, I think I'd have gotten a request. Lesson learned for the next one.
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I have two published available from Amazon and Barnes and Nobel. e-books on Amazon, hard and soft cover and audible editions, Survive! Marooned on Planet Tau Ceti g, and Survive! First Alien Contact. The third in the series, Survive! Galactic War, is in professional editorial development. Thanks for asking!
Hi Charles, welcome to Stage 32! I’m Ashley, Head of Community here on the platform. Thank you for introducing yourself and for coming back to update everyone on how your first pitch experience was. This is a great example of progress in real time.
I’d definitely recommend reaching out to our Success Team at Success@Stage32.com and sharing both your pitch experience and what you learned here. They can help guide you toward additional pitch opportunities, feedback, and resources that align with your goals and help you refine that approach even further.
Since you’re working across both novels and scripts, I’d also encourage you to stay active in the Authoring & Playwriting Lounge (https://www.stage32.com/lounge/playwriting) and the Producing Lounge (https://www.stage32.com/lounge/producing). There are great conversations happening around adaptation, pitching, and positioning IP that I think you’d really benefit from, and contribute to as well.
Really appreciate you sharing this, Charles. This is exactly how you level up quickly.