Free Mini-Camp: Pitching About Pitching
Free Mini-Camp: “Pitching About Pitching”
Mon., April 29th, 5pm-6:15pm (LA Time) via zoom
with Founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG)
Once you RSVP, zoom will control your access.
LA-Based Professional Members are welcome to attend in-person at our Bergamot Station HQ. In-Person Guests only, please RSVP directly to jg@writersbootcamp.com
While Self-Promotion is a Form of Storytelling, We’ll Enjoy a Candid Conversation About Certain Fallacies of the Necessity of Pitching
Please join Writers Boot Camp Founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG), who in his inimitable manner will set newer writers on a less anxiety-ridden path. For any writer not driven to be in front of the camera or without a background in performance, we’ll discuss the reality of pitching. It was all JG could do NOT to make the first “P” in the title of this Mini-Camp a “B”.
While a quick description of your script or manuscript may invite someone to review it, pitching is more of an established writer’s game. You ask, “Why?”. Because without knowing your writing through reading multiple prior writing samples, there are 15 parts to an idea, many that are far from intuitive.
And when a producer or executive has learned the arduous task of story development and the requirements of rewriting, moving forward on a curious inclination does not justify the risk of investment of time and resources. Nor does it justify risking one’s job by saying “yes” to your idea.
What Goes Into a Pitch and What Not To Do
During this brief Mini-Camp, JG will go through the recommended steps and exercises when prepping for pitching and taking a meeting. It’s always helpful to be prepared for a meeting to become a spontaneous opportunity to present a few ideas. He’ll also offer notes on a few ideas presented (not full pitches) by alumni in attendance.
So many of Writers Boot Camp’s alumni are successful actors. Their background through the years counts for some credit toward their 10,000 hours of practice applied to writing. The parallel process of studying acting and character lends itself to effective writing. And it doesn’t hurt that experience acting, auditioning, and performing, can help in the smooth elocution and poetic waxing about one’s project.
The importance and relevance of an “elevator pitch” tends to be overstated, similar to the hope of one’s script representing a lottery ticket. Our philosophy is that once you’ve done the writing work, then you belong in a room with fellow industry professionals and can have a true conversation, as opposed to trying to wow them or impress with bells and whistles.
Of session, practicing cogent communication can only help. And that’s what the 10 unique, single-sentence exercises (Premise Line, Conceit Statement, Sequence Statements, etc.) at Writers Boot Camp foster; many ways to clarify creative direction and distinction.
Our Pro Members and Basic Training alumni alike will remember the more profound and comprehensive facets of JG’s Premise Line exercise. Ultimately, the realization that loglines are not substantial in that they don’t even live up to a poster line or a line on the DVD box (if they even exist anymore in today’s streaming universe).
That’s the challenge of writing and development. To match the page–the character interactions and moments of action–to the idea. When writing any script or book intended to be adapted to the big or small screen, we’re writing conceptually. Screenplays are not based on the usual form of writing–and ideas and stories for the screen require an iterative process. Your first version will rarely survive the third draft.
Directions for In-Person Guests: We have modest space for about 20 in-person guests at our new space at Bergamot Station, Unit B, across from the main gate in the historical arts center B-Building. Bergamot Station is located at 2525 Michigan Ave in Santa Monica 90404, one block east of Cloverfield Blvd just north of the 10 freeway. Bergamot Station is a Metro stop for anyone crossing town.