The Perfect Pitch: The Secrets To Becoming A Pitching Ace
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Webinar hosted by: Jared Iacino
SVP, Head of Films an Television Production at Panay Films
Jared Iacino is the SVP, Head of Films an Television Production at Panay Films, a film and television production company whose credits include Wedding Crashers (2005) starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, Van Wilder (2002) starring Ryan Reynolds and Serendipity (2001) Starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. In his time at Panay Films, Jared has been involved with the development and production of many projects including the independent comedy Hit & Run (2012) starring Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, and Bradley Cooper, the MGM comedy Hot Tub Time Machine 2 starring Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke and Adam Scott, and the family adventure film Earth To Echo, released by Relativity last year on which Jared also served as a producer. Jared also developed and was on the production team of the Jared Hess directed Masterminds, starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis and Kristin Wigg. Additionally, production begins this fall on the Warner Bros. action/comedy CHiPS, written and directed by Dax Shepard, starring Dax, Michael Pena and Vincent D'Onofrio. On the Television side, Jared is currently Executive Producing two projects in development with Relativity Television. Prior to his time at Panay Films, Jared worked in development and production at Walt Disney Studios, Red Wagon Entertainment, Storyline Entertainment and Fox Studios – affording him the opportunity to work on a diverse slate of award winning and critically acclaimed Film and Television projects including: The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Juno (2007), Hairspray (2007), The Bucket List (2007), A Raisin In The Sun (2008), The Proposal (2009), and The Muppets (2011). A Seattle native, Jared has a BFA from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, where he now currently serves on the Alumni Advisory Board. Full Bio »
Webinar Summary
The art of the pitch. In many ways, outside of honing your craft, your ability to pitch may just be the most important skill you can learn as a creative. At its core, pitching is storytelling. But the ability to be a clear, concise storyteller, and, as a result, be someone who can deliver a memorable and winning pitch is something that takes time, knowledge, a clear strategy, and repetition. Understanding how to pitch any person or audience will give you a clear and tremendous advantage in any situation or room. You will stand out from the hundreds if not thousands of pitches a gatekeeper or decision maker hears in a given year. But further, learning how to pitch will help you build confidence, a huge variable in winning over those looking to work with you, buy your material or invest in your project.
The bottom line: Whether you're a screenwriter, filmmaker, producer, or any creative or industry professional looking to gain representation, sell their material, attract talent, raise financing, or simply looking to find work, you WILL have to pitch. Further, you WILL be in competition with others pitching as well. You've put so much time and effort into your work and building your reputation, you don't want to have it all undermined with a terrible pitch. And the truth of the matter is that most people that pitch make the same fatal mistakes over and over. They don't know how to tell a concise, riveting story. They don't know what to put in, what to leave out, and what elements really and truly sell someone on their story. But not you. Not anymore. You're about to become a pitching ace.
Jared Iacino is a film and television executive who has heard literally thousands of pitches. As the Senior Vice President and Head of Films and Television Production at Panay Films, Jared has overseen the development and production of such films as Hit & Run, Hot Tub Time Machine I and II, Earth to Echo, Mastermind, CHiPS, and numerous television productions in conjunction with Relativity Television. Prior to his time at Panay, Jared worked on such films as The Wedding Crashers, Juno, The Devil Wears Prada, Hairspray, The Bucket List, A Raisin in the Sun, The Proposal, The Muppets, Serendipity, Van Wilder and many more. As Jared can tell you, many of these projects and hundreds more he's see get moved through the pipeline, began with a well crafted pitch.
Now, exclusively for Stage 32, Jared is going to teach you everything you need to know to become a pitching ace. He will demystify the pitching process by showing you how to form and outline your pitch in practical, repeatable and memorable terms. He will identify from a studio/network/producer's perspective, the common and fatal mistakes writers, filmmakers, producers and other film creatives make when pitching their projects. He will show you the secret formula he's used when pitching and selling projects to high level executives, gatekeepers and decision makers at independent film companies, studios and networks. He will teach you the 3 most important elements every pitch should have. He will show you how to cater your pitch to different audiences and why this is such an important skill to lear. He will show you how to identify projects worthy of pitching and teach you the secret ingredient that appears in every great pitch.
Jared will give you the blueprint to not only craft a memorable and winning pitch, but teach you how to deliver it in a manner that has you finding the success your work and projects deserve!
"Great hearing from someone who's actually in the trenches like us. You have great energy and broke the presentation down very well; easily digestible and understandable."
- Tom Z.
"Terrific webinar thank you Jared. You were clear, concise and most importantly efficient! I learned a ton and I am about to use what I learned in a pitch at 2:30. I am excited to see what happens!"
- Maggie G.
"Thanks for being incredibly generous with your experience and expertise. I feel way more able to take on creating the brilliant pitch that reflects the story I wrote."
- John T.
What You'll Learn
- Pitching: Why Is It So Hard?
- Life Experiences - we're trained to do pitches wrong
- Writing vs. Pitching: the problem of "The story's in your head"
- What comedians and good pitchers have in common
- The Un-Pitchable Idea: How To Avoid it
- Identifying if your idea is pitch-worthy
- The "Mom" test
- Common Mistakes
- Identifying the most common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Revealing the quickest ways to confuse your audience
- Boredom: a pitcher's worst enemy
- Weighting everything in your pitch equally – The “And then this happens…” curse
- "Where are we?" The case of the missing transitions
- Building Your Story
- The story elements you must have in your pitch
- The elements you should leave out of your pitch
- Structuring Your Pitch
- Beginning - How to set everything up economically
- Middle - "Easy on the dressing"
- End - How to pay everything off in a satisfying way
- Proper pitch length: shorter the better
- Identifying The Most Crucial Elements Of A Pitch
- The most important element in every pitch
- The least important element in every pitch
- The 3 things every pitch must have
- Who Are You Pitching To - Catering A Pitch To The People In The Room
- How to identify your audience and what they want
- Easy tips to target an audience
- Q&A with Jared!
About Your Instructor
Jared Iacino
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Testimonials
"He did a simply perfect job. Good eye contact, easy to listen to, and he knew the material!" - John M.
"Very impressive Webinar Jared, every question I had about pitching, on the how's, do's, and don'ts, was answered by you in a totally professional yet inviting manner." - Colin R.
"Very well thought out, well paced and insightful. Appreciated the friendly, professional attitude. Thank you for time well spent." - Terri S.
"Jared, thanks so much! Very informative, and encouraging as well." - Dallas F.
"Oh my goodness... What a fantastic webinar from Jared... and he was so generous with his time... I didn't even realize we were almost at the 2 hour mark." - Sylvia L.
"Jared was GREAT! The information he provided was well executed and delivered in a way that was easy to understand." - Jennifer C.
"Excellent advice. Very practical. Thank you." - Eric S.
"Great hearing from someone who's actually in the trenches like us. You have great energy and broke the presentation down very well; easily digestible and understandable." - Tom Z.
"Terrific webinar thank you Jared. You were clear, concise and most importantly efficient! I learned a ton and I am about to use what I learned in a pitch at 2:30. I am excited to see what happens!" - Maggie G.
"Thanks for being incredibly generous with your experience and expertise. I feel way more able to take on creating the brilliant pitch that reflects the story I wrote." - John T.
"Jared was great and informative. He gave good examples and kept me engaged! I wish I could get time in with him in person!" - Dana M.
"Natural, easy, smiling - the kind of open and engaging person you'd hope to pitch to! Plenty of guidelines to help me prepare my first serious pitch - but also thought-provoking when it comes down to the story itself. Already have several ideas for making my work more pitchable. Thanks!" - Kendall C.
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Reviews Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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Jill A. Hargrave This was a great webinar to learn the structure of pitching. What should be in a pitch and what should not be included. I'm still practicing my pitch and found this webinar very helpful. Thanks, Jared for a presentation full of useful information about the right way to pitch. -
Diane Kryzaniak Jared Iacino did a five star webinar. I am not sure if I will be a Perfect "Pitching Ace". I know I will do a lot better on the next pitch than I did on my last one. I could see where I went off track and may have lost it a little. I will review the webinar, a couple of times before I try again. Thanks Jared and all of you "Awesome" people who put all of this wonderful education and next level webinars and Stage 32. -
Jorge J Prieto Very informative. But, too much information at times. On a personal note, I recently pitched a screenplay to an Exec, whose own company had produced "dark" material and subject matter, but she said that my storty was too dark. You go figure. Now, back to Jared Iacino, on screenplay pitches , at least on Stage 32 we only get 8 minutes and that's without leaving any time for Q&A. So 15 to 20 is a gift . Where can I pitch to you? Thanks for sharing your experiences on this subject, sir. Like everything, practice makes perfect and now with many of your tools, I gotta get busy and hope that my next Executive Skype connection is working. -
Cecil E. Davis Jr. Great advice. -
Barak Shavit This is super helpful! -
Dale A. Swanson This seminar brought forth common sense issues associated with pitching any product. Absolutely first class and absolutely recommended. -
Penny Eizenga Really clear & thorough. I refer to my notes all the time. -
Stink Fisher This webinar was extremely helpful, well-thought out and informative. I will continue to go back to it again and again to hone my pitches. Thank you Stage 32!!! -
James Taumas Quite informative and well presented. -
P. James Norris It was well done, but I would have liked a concrete example or two. Maybe starting with a logline building a (partial) pitch from there. -
Melissa Willis So much useful information in a short amount of time. I can't wait to put this into practice. Thanks, Jared and Stage 32! -
Peter Lancucki This is a must have webinar for anyone pitching. For verbal pitches, this is perhaps the most important webinar I've watched.
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