Case Study #2: The Pitch

Veronica is an experienced screenwriter working on a pitch about a zombie thriller she wants to target to agents and executives. She has a great project she's excited about, but no one has bitten yet.

In the assessment, Veronica reveals that she loves talking about her project, so much so that she doesn't finish every sentence. She also has a tendency to leave the audience behind with her references to other shows and dramatic devices.

Veronica needs help paring her ideas down into small sentences that pop with imagery, and both start and end strongly. Because this is a pitch to executives she needs a 30-second “elevator” version along with a longer 2-to-3-minute version. Veronica needs to be able to pitch this in a very personal “one on one” style and also be able to do it in a bigger room with a larger audience. We can probably get Veronica up to speed in three sessions.

Session One:

“Paring Down Your Idea”

Here we will strip down Veronica's pitch to the barest essentials and list them as bullet points. We will then work each sentence to find the correct phrasing and transitions. We will also play with different audience sizes, in terms of her physical and verbal expression.

“What's Your Personal Connection?”

We want to make sure that Veronica shares a piece of herself as she shares her project. We will workshop some ideas and personal stories that connect her to the project. This will ground her and bring her closer to the audience.

Session Two:

“Looking for Images and Words That Pop”

Here we'll workshop some moments and images to work into the pitch that make the world of the script come alive.

“Dynamics Drill”

In this part we'll examine contrasts in dynamics in speaking and moving, looking to make Veronica pop as much as her images do.

Session Three:

“Putting It All Together”

We will workshop both the 30-second and 3-minute versions several times with side coaching. In the last part of this session, we'll run both speeches several times with no stops. Veroncia can invite a small audience to the final presentation, if she likes.