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Pitch Week Prep: What to Do With Your 12 Minutes

By January 24, 2022Uncategorized
Pitch Week

With another season of Coverfly’s Pitch Week just on the horizon, we wanted to dive in and explore how you can set yourself up for a meaningful and productive interaction with any participating industry professionals!

Any time you have an opportunity to meet with an industry member, it’s important to assess what the meeting was scheduled for, what you want out of the meeting, and what you can conceivably accomplish in the short length of time you have. Much of the important work will happen before you get into the room itself, but here are some helpful tips for how you can make the most of your short time with an industry pro.

The First Minutes

Be affable and ask questions! You’ll want to use the first part of the pitch to introduce yourself and get a good understanding of what the person on the other side of the conversation is looking for. If you launch straight into your memorized pitch, you might miss an opportunity to connect in a more meaningful way.

You don’t want to spend the entire conversation going over your life story. Instead, focus on the main points of what brought you to writing. You can prepare an elevator pitch about yourself. More than a description of your journey, you should focus on what makes you and your writing stand out, what ties your body of work together. This will make it possible for the person you’re talking with to ask questions, too. 

The Pitch

The middle part of your conversation will vary depending on the type of meeting you’re having

  • If this is a general, you might talk about your whole portfolio, your writing style, or your past work experience. Make sure to touch on thematic elements in your writing and how you see your background and your stories talking to each other.
  • If you’re in a meeting about potential representation, you might be going over some very specific career goals you have for yourself and getting to the bottom of whether or not you would be a good fit for each other. Remember, having representation is important, but it’s best if that representative shares the same vision for your future.
  • If you’re pitching a project, this is where you would get into the details of your feature, short, or television script. What’s the elevator pitch? How is this story relevant to you and what you’ve already discussed in the meeting? Tailor the pitch to what you know about this person and the company they represent, and above all focus on the big picture of your story and not a minute-by-minute plot summary or a list of characters.

The big caveat is that none of this should feel rehearsed or tired. You’re a writer talking to another person about what you’re most passionate about. If you sound disengaged (even if it’s because you’re nervous), that’s going to be a red flag.

 

The Final Minutes

You’ll want to leave room at the end for questions about you and your project. The final minutes are meant to open the door to continued conversation. Establish the next step. Perhaps they’ve asked to read the script you pitched or are interested in following your career. Either way, the point of a short pitch like this one is not to make a sale or secure an offer of representation on the stop. It can happen, but in most cases, your goal should be to leave the door open for future conversations. 

If you’re confident, passionate, and concise, you’ll have made an impression. 

Hopefully now you have a better idea of what to expect when you head into your meeting with an industry member. Good luck on your pitch. And remember -- you got this!