International Screenwriters’ Association Panel Series: Planning Your Pitch + Fast Track Winners

I was able to attend last month’s International Screenwriters’ Association’s Planning Your Pitch event in LA, which had four wonderful panelists in the industry answering a variety of questions. There was a lot of valuable information provided for anyone seeking to get their screenplay out there, and tips on how to master the pitch! They were also celebrating their Fast Track fellows, Devorah Snively and Siena, who pitched after the panel and had a week of meeting with mentors and executives to help them on the road to getting their projects made!

Max Timm was the moderator, director of education for the ISA. The panelists: Cami Delavigne: TV and Film Writer, co-writer of Blue Valentine. Matt Dy: Literary Manager, former director of script competition at Austin Film Festival. Diane Burroughs: Sitcom writer with over 30 years experience, including Still Standing. Cortney L. Wilson: Writer, director and Emmy nominated producer including the show Transparent. 

I’ve included some parts of the panel, but if you’d like to check out the complete video, head here.

On the general purpose of a pitch:

Cortney L. Wilson: Ultimately, to present your story to a bunch of people who don’t understand what you see and what you want to tell. To convince everybody in the room how important it is for that story to be told.

Matt Dy: To get a sense of why we should even read the script. And a lot of times it’s also to understand the story behind the story because sometimes that’s even more compelling than the actual story itself. That’s enough for me to want to read it if it hits an emotional chord.

Cami Delavigne: I think it’s answering two questions. ‘Why this story and why are you telling it?’ How will this touch an audience? How will they react to it? And why are you telling this story – what’s your personal connection to it? It completely melds you to the story, and it doesn’t become a story that just anybody can tell.

Diane Burroughs: As far as television goes I like to see – is it not something that is currently on the air? And is it something that is so unique to you, your personal experience, that I know there could be a 100 episodes that you could be involved in, that it’s not just a pilot, but a series and a world of a show. One that everyone can relate to and has a fresh voice.

Max Timm: The backbone of the pitch is the ‘Why.’ Why am I interested in this?

On the best way to get into the storytelling portion of your pitch:

Cortney L. Wilson. Ultimately, every story has been told. For centuries even, and there’s something really powerful when someone can walk into the room and realize that no one else can tell it but you. That’s how you set yourself apart. It’s personalized or something about it resonates with you, or a new perspective on something we’ve already seen.

Matt Dy: The pitches that I feel do the best job of setting up the pitch and giving a good picture of this world, are the ones where I’m drawn in immediately. What are the most important elements of the story that I need to get, immediately, right away? What’s the strongest thing that’s going to elicit an emotional response? What are the themes in the script? Often people will do the old-fashioned ‘it’s Jaws meets Bridesmaids’ type thing, to give you some kind of context. Anything that can set it up for me, so that I kind of already know what to expect, and then the real best pitches are the ones that subvert those expectations. So, laying the groundwork and then going into why this is different.

Cami Delavigne: The pitch is a really important testing ground for what we are all trying to do. Entertainment is the art of engagement. If you can engage two executive strangers in twenty minutes then you’re doing something. The aim is to tell a story, but it’s also to engage your audience, and that’s why it’s a really good testing ground to see if you can do that. …To hold captive two people for twenty minutes, that’s the test.

Max Timm: Most of the pitches are to just garner interest, not necessarily a full development pitch session.

Cami Delavigne: You don’t want to say ‘this happens, then this happens,’ because it’s not engaging.

Diane Burroughs: Your enthusiasm in the world that you’ve created, that you know so well, but it’s still relatable.  In television, people are in their homes [they want it on different devices now] but it’s a very personal and very relatable medium. For me, it’s what’s the fresh, funny take?

On the primary difference between pitching for TV vs. Film:

Diane Burroughs: The primary difference is that there’s going to be 100 episodes in the world of this show. It’s not a beginning, middle, and end. We have to continue week after week and hopefully season after season. Many times in a pitch you’ll get the question ‘How are you going to grow the show?’ Because that’s what the executives want to know, not that it’s just a great pilot. But that it’s a great series.

Cami Delavigne: With features, you get to dig into the emotion a little bit more, you get to really explore your emotional connection to the material. And you get to be a little gooey, as opposed to television, which feels to me a little more about selling the brand, selling the vehicle. Film allows us to delve into our gooey-centers a little bit, and TV’s like- “I’m going to show you the seasons.”

Matt Dy: With TV there’s a lot of things you have to be thinking about when you’re pitching for a network. Is this a procedural? What network is this on? Is this basic cable/premium cable? And you should be able to get the sense of that in the pitch, you don’t have to necessarily explain that it’ll be an ABC show. You have to come prepared because it’s an oversaturated market with so much content on television so you have to input what makes this different. Because people will be quick to say, what makes this different than this show?

Cortney L. Wilson: I feel like features get to be more of a controlled set piece, they get to exist in a small world that you get to create and you don’t have to think about what’s going to happen after the world is done. You have more control. With TV, it’s like finding that magical formula that’s going to allow you to have these characters that are never going to run out of things to do with each other. What are their flaws? What makes one tick versus the other one? How you pin them against each other. What circumstance is your world in, in order to make these patterns happen over and over and over again? The more you reveal makes it better and better.

On what makes a great logline:

Matt Dy: It’s got to be very succinct. If you could describe your script in one word what would it be? And then expand upon that word for a very detailed sentence. Does your logline get into the heart of your story? I really want to know what is this really about? I want to read it and get a sense that this is a world that I want to get into and it feels distinctive and unique. You want to understand who the characters could be, what the genre is, what the world is, and not have too many questions going into it- I just really want to feel like I want to have to read that script.

Cortney L. Wilson: You either resonate with it as an individual, or you don’t. It’s all based on who you are trying to pitch it to and what they actually want.

On good experiences with pitches:

Diane Burroughs: There’s just an energy sometimes that happens in the room when someone is pitching. Because it’s a hot pitch, or maybe they’re just funny,

Matt Dy: The energy that people brought into it. That it struck an emotional chord for them. I remember it because it was a deeply personal story.

Cortney L. Wilson: When someone comes in and makes you believe every single thing they are saying. If you come into the room with that kind of confidence, even if you don’t know how your story is going to end you can seriously present it and be that convincing and you will get everyone’s attention and it will turn into that conversation.

Cami Delavigne: There’s something about a mindset shift. There’s something really kind of wonderful about going in and seeing it as a very generous gift. Like “I am giving you fifteen minutes away from all the busy stuff that you have to do, I’m giving you this gift.”

Max Timm: The idea at the end of the day that we are all salespeople is true, but there’s a really delicate balance. You need confidence, but it is so easy to see c*ckiness. Too easily.

On finding your voice, confidence, without going over the top:

Cortney L. Wilson: You’ve got to read the room and be aware enough to feel what’s going on. You’ve got to find the one person in the room who is looking at you and who gets it and make sure that that’s who you’re engaging with.

Diane Burroughs: I research the people that I am pitching to and I pinpoint who I think would get my pitch. I zero in on those two or three people first. It’s very strategic because if you are pitching something to someone who doesn’t really do that it’s not going to go over well and it’s going to affect your confidence.

Cami Delavigne: If you’re c*cky, and you’re a lady – let loose! We don’t see it enough. I feel like we are always apologizing for ourselves so if that’s your genuine self, then rock it. Maybe you show somebody that you can completely handle running your own show. You need to be a force to be able to steer that ship.

Matt Dy: Every writer should be thinking of themselves as the CEO of their company, of the stories that they want to tell. Your stories are your capital, your currency. You have to figure out how to brand yourself, sell yourself, and only you can figure out how best to do that.

Max Timm: You have to be the most passionate person about the project because nobody else is going to be as passionate about it as you.

On mistakes and tips when preparing pitches:

Cortney L. Wilson: I think it’s important to feel like you’re not reading from a script. It’s very important to humanize it as much as possible. I would suggest not reading off of a piece of paper, and making it seem like you believe this and know this so well that you could do it with your eyes closed. If you’re a total introvert writer, then find your creative cohort who is charismatic and who could carry it for you.

Cami Delavigne: If you are going to have noted, just say that you do and that you may glance at them, don’t pretend that they don’t exist. Definitely read it out loud like twenty times, bare minimum, and then bring your notes in.

Cortney L. Wilson: I’d also say film yourself.

Max Timm: There’s a level of self-awareness that you need in these pitch sessions.

Diane Burroughs: If you have someone you can run it by, I think that’s really, really, helpful.

Matt Dy: Taking improv classes is helpful too. Sometimes you have to be able to read the room in a pitch.  It’s about adjusting and adapting, and improv teaches you that.

On what “voice” is:

Cami Delavigne: I think it’s how you tell your story. You know how you tell your story by knowing very well what you like and why you like it. Study scripts for the movies that you like, break down a scene, get a film nerd and just break down a scene. Understand so much of why you love the things that you love, because that’s going to inform how you tell your story.

Diane Burroughs: I studied lots of pilots. Why did these shows resonate with this audience for so long?

Max Timm: I think voice comes down to specificity. The textures of the story. Like the writer took a microscope on this world and they’re the only ones who have that lens into that world. The writer is the only one who has that particular POV. As humans, we tell the stories over and over again, but as individuals, we have our own take on it, so what’s your take? Your lens? Only you can figure out what that is.

Cortney L. Wilson: Voice is very attached to writing what you know and not writing what you don’t know. It’s important to realize where you’re comfortable within your knowledge and with your awareness, and the content that you want someone to make is attached to that. Then it’s going to feel authentic, and then it’s going to be easy. When someone asks you a question about it you’ll know because it’s your world.

Cami Delavigne: Write what you emotionally know.

Fast-track fellowships:

This is a description of the fast-track fellowship from their site:

“With each passing year, we continue to find fresh and original voices to pair up with eight veteran industry mentors for an intense, career-launching week in Los Angeles. After the week is over, our Fellows are invited onto the ISA Development Slate for support from the Development Team for a minimum of one year!

When the program launched, we had no idea what impact it would have on our Fellow’s careers. Many of our Fellows have signed with top agents, managers and/or had their scripts optioned or purchased. There is no faster path to breaking in than getting on the Fast Track!”

Here are the interviews done in LA by Scott Markus from the ISA with fellows Devorah Snively and Siena, and Felicity Wren who is the Director of Development and Jerren Lauder who is the Development and Contest Manager.

We want to thank the ISA for allowing us to attend, to cover this informative panel and tag along for the interviews!

For more information on the ISA visit their website here.