From: jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: any screenwriters out
Date: 29 Sep 92 23:00:22 GMT
Organization: USC-ISI
In-reply-to: bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu's message of 29 Sep 92 10:33:51 GMT

In article <1a9befINNdcm@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale) writes:

>In a previous article, jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) says:
>
>>In article <1992Sep25.2168.2944@dosgate> glenn.devlin@canrem.com (glenn devlin) writes:
>>>I evny you for being able to meet and pitch. 
>>
>>Don't.  It's a bloody, painful process.  I'd give anything to be able
>>to avoid it, but it's a necessary part of the biz at this point in my
>>fledgling career.
>
>It sounds intolerable.  Are you naturally good at talking to people?

As talkers go, I am fine at formal presentations.  However, I would
classify myself as shy or intorverted in large groups with poorly
defined agendas (I'm not a mixmeister).  In the meet-n-greet part of
meetings I have no trouble.  It tend to be pleasant enough and the
people are usually interesting to some degree.


>Did you win prizes for selling the most Boy Scout peanut brittle as a
>child?

No.  In fact, Here is the big downfall for me.  I am a terrible
salesman.  If someone doesn't want something, I don't enjoy trying to
trick/cajole/convince them to actually buy it.  Since pitching is in
large part hucksterism/salesmanship, I'm not great at it.

The anecdotes I hear lead me to believe that there are a group of
people who are making a living at screenwriting solely because they
can pitch the hell out of a story (even though they can't write very
well at all).  I'm not one of them.

To add to the problem, I've never heard a pitch given that really blew
me away, so I don't even have a model.  I've  heard people speak of
such things, but I've never actually heard one done.

>What's it like, pitching ideas?  

Imagine a line of travelling salepeople waiting to try to sell to the
Lady/Man of the House at 5555 Melrose Ave.  Now imagine that they're
all selling brushes or some kind or another.

Now imagine that they're VERY expensive brushes, and that the person
has already bought some this year from friends and celebrity
spokespeople.  Also, you're only allowed to show them a piece of the
wood from the handle, and a few of the bristles.

That's the kind of situation you're dealing with.  In many cases the
indifference is not intentional, but they've heard so many stories
that it's really hard to reach them.  The truly novel ideas are almost
always too complex to pitch (you can just see the eyes glaze over),
but when you reduce them to a sit-and-listenable bite, they sound
trite or redundant.

>Do you have to try to sound enthusiastic? 

Absolutely.  I myself am probably too honest for to be a good
salesman.  If I know some part of the story is weak or may have some
problem, I feel bound to point that out.

>(I don't mean you aren't enthusiastic about your ideas, but you obviously
>aren't about doing the pitching, and I'd think that would come through.) 

I'm sure it does, no matter how hard you try not to let it.

>Wouldn't you think the people you pitch to (who are they?) would get so
>sick of it, they'd welcome a nice, quick presentation on paper that they
>could read at their leisure?

Yes, they're sick of pitches, but you have to realize that they're
even more sick of reading.  The farther you go up the food chain, the
less people read in Hollywood.

You see, if you're pitching, then all they have to do is sit and
listen for x minutes, then when you leave, it's over.  If you give
them writing, it'll likely be longer (for starters), and they'll have
to read it, which keeps them from taking calls during the pitch
(common) or staring all around the office, playing with who knows
what.

Plus, of course, it's illegal for them to ask you for anything
written, since if they do, they've technically hired you.  (Not that
they all don't, but in very roundabout ways.)

>Anyway, if you care to post a report from the combat zone, I, for one,
>would be very interested. 

I hope it's held your interest.  Now I've got to get back to work, so
I can rehearse a pitch for a meeting on thursday with the jokers
who're making "Super Mario Borthers" but who want deep, meaningful
ensamble pieces with an edge, sort of a cross between "The Breakfast
Club" and "Flatliners."  Urgh.  The sad thing is that I have one.
Sort of.

jas
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey A. Sullivan             | Research Scientist et al.
jas@isi.edu (Internet)          | Information Sciences Institute
72511,402    (Compuserve)       | University of Southern California
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