How not to pitch a film script
“Go on, pitch us a film!” That was the bold – and unusual – challenge from David Parfitt of Trademark Films to people from writers’ collective 26.
Writers pitched their film ideas at the Wordstock festival in London
Film production companies don’t normally hold X Factor style auditions for film ideas, and it’s rare for them to consider suggestions from people without heavyweight screenwriting credits. So the writers who made the shortlist knew just how lucky they were to get this opportunity.
Yesterday, seven brave souls stood up at a crowded Wordstock festival in Farringdon and gave it their best shot. Each had just five minutes to impress the producer who won an Oscar for ‘Shakespeare in Love’.
The stories were intriguing. We had opera, anarchist spies, a man abandoning London for the North, a contortionist thief, an eighteenth century love story, a travelling corpse and a cure for cancer.
From David’s feedback, we learned a lot about what production companies don’t want to see in a pitch.
Don’t do this
- Don’t pitch your idea without knowing the central drive behind the narrative. Identify the key strand that will lead the viewer through the story.
- Don’t keep the reader guessing about the genre. If it’s ‘darkly humorous’, is it more funny than dark?
- If your film’s based on a book, don’t just describe the plot. Show how you’d approach it as a film.
- Don’t forget the audience. Who is this film aimed at?
- Don’t have a host of central characters. Narrow it down.
- Don’t be unrealistic about how much you can squeeze into 90 minutes. Should this be a series instead of a feature?
- Don’t give your film a name that’s already been used.
- Don’t ignore it if a film with a similar theme has recently bombed. Explain why your film will succeed where others have failed.
- Don’t think in decades, think in weeks. A ‘ticking clock’ is good in film. Rather than covering a lifetime, identify a key moment and use that as the pivotal focus for your story.
Despite these caveats, David liked several of the ideas suggested by 26 members. So if you see a film called ‘The Travelling Corpse’ on at your local Odeon in a few years, blame Wordstock.