Stage 32 + Netflix Present: Television Pitch Workshop
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Webinar hosted by: Christopher Mack
Director, Creative Talent Investment & Development for Netflix International Originals. at Netflix
Christopher Mack is Director, Creative Talent Investment & Development for Netflix International Originals. He was previously Senior Vice President of Scripted Content for Stage 13, overseeing all of the brand’s original scripted series and development slates across multiple genres, including Emmy nominated Netflix series’ SPECIAL and IT'S BRUNO. Before Stage 13, Chris headed the Warner Bros. Workshop, the writing and directing program for professionals looking to start and/or further their careers in television. Over a period of 10 years in this role, Chris curated a roster of close to 100 writers and 50 directors representing the breakthrough emerging voices working on high-profile television shows today. In addition to these responsibilities, Chris has covered hit shows such as TWO AND A HALF MEN and SMALLVILLE for the Current Programs department. Prior to joining Warner Bros., Chris spent seven years writing on various one-hour dramas including ER, THE PRACTICE and THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE. After graduating from Loyola Law School, Chris got his start in television at NBC Studios as an associate and he quickly rose to becoming an executive. During his time at the newly created NBC Studios, he oversaw a varied list of shows including: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR and IN THE HOUSE, among others. Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
Stage 32 + Netflix join forces to bring you an exclusive television pitch workshop
Learn best practices to make your pitch work and what your pitching document should look like
You do NOT want to miss this!
For many, the holy grail of television has become Netflix. It’s a titan in the industry, and with over 200 million subscribers worldwide, no one can put out content quite like them. Just look at the recent hit show BRIDGERTON, which has already been seen by a massive 80 million households (!!) since its release. If you’re a writer or creator, getting your series onto Netflix’s platform can spell success in a big way. But first there’s the matter of getting your series in front of them and pitching it effectively.
It should be a comfort to know that you’re not the only one who wants your series on Netflix. Netflix wants that too! Netflix execs are constantly on the lookout for exciting new voices and new series to fill their slate. Yet it takes more than just a good series or a good pilot script to get on Netflix’s radar; you need to be able to communicate it well and pitch it in a way that will get their team excited. This certainly takes some work, but it’s absolutely achievable. If you’re interested in getting your show on Netflix, it’s time to learn directly from the source what it will take to make that happen.
In an effort to reach more writers and find more content, Netflix has joined forces with Stage 32 to present a FREE and invaluable workshop on what it is that they’re looking for in new shows and how you can best pitch your series to their executives. In Stage 32's continued effort to help level the playing field for content creators worldwide, we felt it's important that we help you get tools you need to be able to make sure that you can pitch effectively.
Kicking off the workshop will be Stage 32 CEO, Richard "RB" Botto (@rbwalksintoabar), and hosting this presentation will be Stage 32's Managing Director Amanda Toney with Netflix’s Director of Creative Talent Investment and Development for International Originals Christopher Mack. Christopher was previously Senior Vice President of Scripted Content for Stage 13, overseeing all of the brand’s original scripted series and development slates across multiple genres, including Emmy nominated Netflix series’ SPECIAL and IT'S BRUNO. Before Stage 13, Chris headed the Warner Bros. Workshop, the writing and directing program for professionals looking to start and/or further their careers in television. Over a period of 10 years in this role, Chris curated a roster of close to 100 writers and 50 directors representing the breakthrough emerging voices working on high-profile television shows today. In addition to these responsibilities, Chris has covered hit shows such as TWO AND A HALF MEN and SMALLVILLE for the Current Programs department.
Prior to joining Warner Bros., Chris spent seven years writing on various one-hour dramas including ER, THE PRACTICE and THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE. After graduating from Loyola Law School, Chris got his start in television at NBC Studios as an associate and he quickly rose to becoming an executive. During his time at the newly created NBC Studios, he oversaw a varied list of shows including: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR and IN THE HOUSE, among others.
In this exclusive Stage 32 workshop, Christopher will delve into what exactly makes a television pitch work at Netflix. He’ll discuss the essentials you’ll need to catch Netflix’s eye and will zero in on how to write an effective pitch document. He’ll pose questions you be able to answer and communicate for your series and give you ideas on how best to communicate your show’s overview, world, tone, and characters. Christopher will then discuss how season summaries should be built and give you ideas on how to think about and present potential episodes. Finally, you will have the invaluable opportunity to ask Christopher your own questions. You will leave this presentation with the understanding of how to structure and present your series, not in theory, but directly from the source.
What You'll Learn
We will be referencing BREAKING BAD and UNORTHODOX, please familiarize yourself with these pilots and shows.
- Introduction
- Some Thoughts Before We Start
- You will learn about:
- What to Pitch
- Netflix Essentials
- How to write a pitch document
- You will learn about:
- Brainstorming - What To Pitch
- Netflix Essentials
- Character Driven
- Teasers
- Narrative Drive
- Cliffhangers
- How To Write A Pitch Document
- Story Questions
- Overview
- World
- Tone
- Character
- Season Summaries
- Potential Episodes
- Story Questions
- Who is the hero?
- What do they want?
- Why do they want it?
- How do they get it?
- What are the Central Conflicts?
- What are the stakes?
- What are the themes?
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Why this series?
- World
- Where
- When
- Hero’s profession
- Tone
- What the audience will feel
- Theme may drive the tone
- Director’s vision
- Movie, television and pictorial references
- Character
- Root-worthy Characters
- Etsy Case Study (unorthodox)
- Backstory
- Traits
- Arc
- Root-worthy Characters
- Season Summaries
- Godfather Reference
- 3 Act Story application to season
- Story Circle Analysis - You, Need, Go, Struggle, Find, Suffer, Return, Change
- Season analysis
- Pilot analysis
- Potential Episodes
- What are the mini goals?
- What are the barriers?
- Summary
- Story is about emotion
- Make you characters suffer
- Q&A with Christopher
Want to see the other webcasts in this exclusive Stage 32 + Netflix Creating Television Content for a Global Marketplace series?
Stage 32 + Netflix Present: Television Pitch Workshop with Chris Mack
Netflix + Stage 32 Present: Television Pilot Story Structure with Anna M. Henry
Netflix + Stage 32 Present: How To Write a TV Series To Budget with Jeanette B. Milio
Netflix + Stage 32 Present: Writing Comedy Television for Streamers and Networks with Vijal Patel
About Your Instructor
Christopher Mack
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Reviews Average Rating: 5 out of 5
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Yousha Naeem good -
Megan Soli Absolutely relevant today as on the day it went live. Thank You. -
Eunhye Necee This was so informative. Thanks for the experience! -
Pierre Schiller The webinar starts at minute 37. Keen. This webinar is where you want to start if you're new to professional writing. It covers the terminology, techniques, considerations to find your voice, and structure for stories. A definitive "must watch". -
Sarah Jane Weldon WOW! So much brilliant information, I'm going to have to watch this one again! -
Hossein Hashemi It was amazing thank you Christopher Mack, Stage32 -
Kristine Tauch A bunch of great content and motivation/tools to write a pitch document. Loved it, and also Christopher Macks attitude towards storytelling is amazing. Thanks a lot! -
Henrique Machado como acessar o curso? -
Roxanne Puka I can't access it
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K. Legason Thank you so much for all the incredibly helpful insider tips from Chris! I'm also glad to hear from Jason Mirch that you periodically offer pitch sessions with Netflix executives. Angels are indeed running the place! You restored my faith in LA. -
Ioannis N Skiotes Watching this was exciting for me for I transformed my freature 'Joliet' into a 5 Episode Limited Series breaking down the three act structured feature similar to what he explained. So this was pretty cool as I was telling myself, "That's jsut what I did!" -
Lewys Tapscott-Nott I'm not sure I can make it on Thurdsday, will it be prominently available to watch at any time? -
Eloise Clasen Just so flippen amazing! WOW! -
Désirée Nordlund I am new to television and found this extremely interesting and inspiring. -
John Roane Gotta go with five stars. There is a mountain of information here. I've watched the seminar, and now I'm going to watch it again and document the information. I will also annotate the narrative with my own analysis and comments. That will allow me to return to the information again and again, using it as a jumping-off point to further expand my education in this very complex field of endeavor. -
Fred Felton You will certainly learn a great deal from this webinar. Christopher Mack knows his stuff. -
Hugo Félix Mercado A good presentation.- -
Giovanni Furore it is a very interesting webinar and I would say essential for those who want to present, like me, projects to netflix. -
Flavia Steagall Blake Ridder, E'mya Greene, Sonia Sawkar, Anthony Jones, Christian Verschaeren, Capriolo Maria Teresa, Archie Goldsmith, Linda Elsdon, Anne Alexander Sieder, Andres Granadino, Victoria U Bell, NaTasha Williams, , On the right side bar, under the green square written Already Purchased is a text, under this text is a 3 line option written in light grey. Click on Watch the webinar, it will take you there. -
E'mya Greene Does anyone have the link to the webinar ? I'm really interested in finding out what i may be missing before i present a pitch very soon.
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Patricia Acerbi This is could not be better! Thank you -
Jon-Michael Mooney Just incredible. I've searched for a long time to get this information and I have never found anything so concise, detailed and trustworthy. Absolutely Brilliant -
Jessica Nicole This webinar was EXCELLENT. I didn't know what to expect at first, but as we dug in I just found that all of the information (and the way it was presented) to be profound. I also enjoyed the fact that we received some "insider tips" relevant to the Netflix platform, as well as any other platform or outlet. I also appreciated how long the exec stayed with us. I had to leave about 1.5 hours in, but I think it turned out to be a 3 hour long presentation. Wow! So happy I attended, even happier that I have it accessible for 1 year to reference at a later time. Invite him back! -
Rand Leeb-du Toit Like many others, the session appears to be missing in action. -
Melanie Star Scot 5am Sunday morning -
Lovie Christopher Mack changed my life with his section on themes. I admit to raising my hand when asked, "How many of you just sit down and write a story? My pitch and synopsis went from trash to treasure. Thank you. -
Alexia Melocchi One thing I have to say- an amazing webinar! Being an Industry veteran myself and educator here I would like to personally compliment @Stage32 and Christopher for giving it his all. One of the first things I learned when starting out was NEVER STOP LEARNING. It never ends, people. Even when you become successful at your craft that will be always someone who knows more, better, or has another angle. There are a purpose and reason for this awesome community of experts on this platform. I heard some new perspectives myself and got some valuable new hacks because my mind is always open to more knowledge. Make the most of it! -
Sonia Sawkar I signed up to watch the recording but dont know where to find it -
Jacqueline Waugh Excellent! -
Christian Verschaeren So where is the webinar?
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Marvin Wadlow Jr Wow, as I watch it over and break down everything as I'm redoing my show bible through this lesson. it was an amazing webinar. The question I have is IP stands for intellectual property? -
Shabazz Graham IT WAS PHENOMENAL!!! Christopher Mack was excellent, and really answered every question I would have wanted to ask before I even knew I wanted to ask them. I learned loads! Thank you Stage32. -
Chad Syme With numerous show ideas to be explored and developed, and new ones forming all the time, I've constantly felt lost on how to proceed at a certain point. Endless internet searches never lead me to the guidance I needed to take action on my ideas. That changed when I attended the Television Pitch Workshop by Christopher Mack. I learned how to properly do what I knew was needed and discovered numerous other processes and information necessary to effectively pitch a show. I have wanted to return to the entertainment industry for a while; now, I feel prepared to make that move thanks to this webinar. -
Annika de Groot Brilliant! Answered so many questions I had. -
Nick Mathis This was a fantastic Zoom webinar—extremely well organized and highly informative. Very impressed with how Stage32 handled this. -
Andrea Mann This was such a fantastic, clear description of how to devise, structure and pitch a show. Practical, insightful, invaulable - loved it. Thank you Chris and Stage 32! -
Shekhar Bassi This was a brilliant and inspiring webinar. Chris was engaging and insightful. Doesn't pull any punches. -
Esra Cengel Thank you for this very useful and amazing webinar. -
Claudio Martins Amazing tips! -
K. H. Brower Chris Mack is simply wonderful. The most powerful takeaway: "Tell me -- what's your story about without telling about plot." Some would call this theme. -
Capriolo Maria Teresa I am anxious to learn more about how to pitch for Netflix. But I have not received the zoom invite.
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Anthony Jones Where do we receive the zoom link? I REALLY want to be apart of this! Thank you!
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Archie Goldsmith Hi, no Link yet. Hope all is well. -
Linda Elsdon Hi I will have to catch-up on the replay as I never received the zoom link thank you Linda -
Anne Alexander Sieder No zoom link received... would love to see this seminar! @rbwalksintoabar -
Andres Granadino Este seminario es real? me inscribí con tiempo y hasta ahora no recibo ningún acceso a zoom, y la supuesta hora de inicio se nos muestra con un counter que tiene otra medida de tiempo distinta a la que conocemos.
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Victoria U Bell Patiently waiting for the link :)) So excited for this webinar!! <3 -
NaTasha Williams I am so excited about this webinar. i have registered but haven't received the zoom invite. How do I get in to take advantage of this great information? -
Eric Ross Gilliatt All set and ready to see where NetFlix is now with new content considerations. Thanks Richard for the invite. -
Murat D. Sümer Awesome... Already done it. Thanks to @Richard Botto who invited me...
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CLOSED CAPTIONED: Stage 32 + Netflix Present: Television Pitch Workshop
**This video presentation contains English closed captions. To view the webinar without captions, click here. Stage 32 + Netflix join forces to bring you an exclusive television pitch workshop Learn best practices to make your pitch work and what your pitching document should look like You do NOT want to miss this! For many, the holy grail of television has become Netflix. It’s a titan in the industry, and with over 200 million subscribers worldwide, no one can put out content quite like them. Just look at the recent hit show BRIDGERTON, which has already been seen by a massive 80 million households (!!) since its release. If you’re a writer or creator, getting your series onto Netflix’s platform can spell success in a big way. But first there’s the matter of getting your series in front of them and pitching it effectively. It should be a comfort to know that you’re not the only one who wants your series on Netflix. Netflix wants that too! Netflix execs are constantly on the lookout for exciting new voices and new series to fill their slate. Yet it takes more than just a good series or a good pilot script to get on Netflix’s radar; you need to be able to communicate it well and pitch it in a way that will get their team excited. This certainly takes some work, but it’s absolutely achievable. If you’re interested in getting your show on Netflix, it’s time to learn directly from the source what it will take to make that happen. In an effort to reach more writers and find more content, Netflix has joined forces with Stage 32 to present a FREE and invaluable workshop on what it is that they’re looking for in new shows and how you can best pitch your series to their executives. In Stage 32's continued effort to help level the playing field for content creators worldwide, we felt it's important that we help you get tools you need to be able to make sure that you can pitch effectively. Kicking off the workshop will be Stage 32 CEO, Richard "RB" Botto (@rbwalksintoabar), and hosting this presentation will be Stage 32's Managing Director Amanda Toney with Netflix’s Director of Creative Talent Investment and Development for International Originals Christopher Mack. Christopher was previously Senior Vice President of Scripted Content for Stage 13, overseeing all of the brand’s original scripted series and development slates across multiple genres, including Emmy nominated Netflix series’ SPECIAL and IT'S BRUNO. Before Stage 13, Chris headed the Warner Bros. Workshop, the writing and directing program for professionals looking to start and/or further their careers in television. Over a period of 10 years in this role, Chris curated a roster of close to 100 writers and 50 directors representing the breakthrough emerging voices working on high-profile television shows today. In addition to these responsibilities, Chris has covered hit shows such as TWO AND A HALF MEN and SMALLVILLE for the Current Programs department. Prior to joining Warner Bros., Chris spent seven years writing on various one-hour dramas including ER, THE PRACTICE and THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE. After graduating from Loyola Law School, Chris got his start in television at NBC Studios as an associate and he quickly rose to becoming an executive. During his time at the newly created NBC Studios, he oversaw a varied list of shows including: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR and IN THE HOUSE, among others. In this exclusive Stage 32 workshop, Christopher will delve into what exactly makes a television pitch work at Netflix. He’ll discuss the essentials you’ll need to catch Netflix’s eye and will zero in on how to write an effective pitch document. He’ll pose questions you be able to answer and communicate for your series and give you ideas on how best to communicate your show’s overview, world, tone, and characters. Christopher will then discuss how season summaries should be built and give you ideas on how to think about and present potential episodes. Finally, you will have the invaluable opportunity to ask Christopher your own questions. You will leave this presentation with the understanding of how to structure and present your series, not in theory, but directly from the source.
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