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WIM+AI – WIM Module 10 – Lesson 8: Great Pitch 3: Being a Star at Pitch Fests!
Post your assignments here.
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5 Replies
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ED's PITCH FEST PITCH
What I learned doing this assignment is how to gather and summarize all the marketing components in one place in a quick and easy reference format. By having these topics already covered and vetted, I am better prepared for pitching and should stand out as being a professional who understands what producers want.
Tell us your credibility
I’m a member of the LGBT community and a co-writer on an award winning short film – The Last Donut.2. Tell us your genre and title.
Christmas Rom-Com
Title: ELFSTRUCK
3. What is your one or two sentence hook?
When a heartbroken man meets a stranded, magical elf at his grandparents’ manor, he uncovers a hidden family heritage and faces an impossible choice: save Christmas or follow his heart to a most unexpected love.
4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions:
What is the budget range? Low budget: $500k to $5 million
What actors do you like for the lead roles?
Howie – an actor like Ben Platt or Noah Gavin, each brings a mix of humor and depth to Howie's guarded but affectionate nature.
Jasper: Ross Lynch could bring out the magical and mysterious side of Jasper’s character.
Jesús: Someone like a Guillermo Díaz, a strong character actor who can bring his own style the character of Jesús.
Give me the acts of the story.
Act IAfter a misunderstanding with a charming guy in a pom beanie, Howie’s hot boyfriend, Trevor, dumps him, leading Howie to swear off both love and Christmas—much to the horror of his best friend, Jesús, a devoted Christmas lover.
Out of celebration options, Howie and Jesús retreat to Winterberry Manor, his grandparents’ home, for a Christmas holiday in full, self-loathing style.
There, they meet Jasper, a dashing mason who—surprise!—is the same man from the pom beanie incident. A snowstorm traps them all together, setting the stage for holiday mayhem.
Act II
Suspicious of Jasper, Howie and Jesús conspire to expose him as a scammer. But as Howie snoops, he finds himself both enchanted and infuriated by Jasper’s charisma and mystery.
Jesús, meanwhile, hopes Howie will finally notice him.
Odd, magical events unfold, hinting that Jasper is far from ordinary. In a slapstick accident, Jasper’s secret spills out—he’s a stranded North Pole elf who must repair Winterberry’s “Keystone Chimney” to save Christmas.
The catch? He can only fix it through an “enactment of true Christmas spirit,” leaving Howie torn between attraction and disbelief.
Act III
Frustrated by Jasper’s secrecy, Howie wants nothing to do with the “true Christmas spirit.” His grandparents take sides: Grandma Evie backs Howie and Jasper, while Grandpa Nick roots for Howie and Jesús.
But when Howie’s attempt at the enactment fails, Jasper’s heartbreak at the thought of never returning home stirs Howie’s resolve.
Inspired by his parents’ arrival and newfound acceptance, Howie realizes that the true spirit of Christmas is selfless love. He hands Jasper the magical key, activating the Keystone Chimney, and just before midnight, Jasper vanishes back to the North Pole.
Act IV
The next day, a surprise awaits Howie at the returns counter—Jasper, back from the North Pole! Turns out, Jesús has struck a deal with Santa to take Jasper’s place, ensuring Howie and Jasper’s romance can continue. Christmas is saved, and so is love.
How does it end? (setup / payoff).
SETUPS:
1. Howie’s Broken Heart and Christmas Cynicism
Sets up Howie’s transformation from bitterness to a place of selfless love.2. The Keystone Chimney and Jasper’s Mission
Creates a challenge that will ultimately require Howie to act selflessly.3. The Grandparents’ Competing Hopes for Howie
Represents family pressures and Howie’s need to choose his own path.4. Jesús as Both Friend and Rival
Sets up a twist where Jesús’s sacrifice becomes the ultimate act of friendship.5. Howie’s Journey from Cynic to Believer
Frames Howie’s inner journey from cynicism to embracing both love and the Christmas spirit.6. The Snowstorm as Symbolic Isolation
Reflects Howie’s inner isolation and hints that connection and warmth will follow his change of heart.PAYOFF:
Howie back at work, the returns counter, sad over Jasper’s leaving but a new man filled with hope and joy he will find love again. A shopper approaches hidden behind a stack of boxes.Behind the boxes it is —Jasper, back from the North Pole!
Turns out, Jesús has struck a deal with Santa to take Jasper’s place, ensuring Howie and Jasper’s romance can continue. Christmas is saved, and so is their love.
Credibility questions What have you done?
I’m a member of the LGBT community and a co-writer on an award winning short film – The Last Donut.
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Mike’s Pitch Fest Pitch
What I learned from this lesson is how to put together answers to the questions of what a producer needs, eliminating all the common questions they would have.
Tell us your credibility – Hi, I’m Michael Collado, and I have 17 years of firsthand coaching experience and proven techniques that I have used to help many young athletes.
I have a Dramedy titled Smart Ball that is about a suspended detective who transforms a team of misfit brainiacs into baseball prodigies—but her biggest rival is a Little League sponsor’s sinister nanotech experiment on the other kids.
Tell us your genre is a Dramedy.
The title of the movie is Smart Ball.
What is your one or two-sentence hook? – I have a Dramedy about a suspended detective who transforms a team of misfit brainiacs into baseball prodigies—but her biggest rival is a Little League sponsor’s sinister nanotech experiment on the other kids.
What is the budget range? The budget range would be between 10 million and 20 million.
What actors do you like for the lead roles?
Actress for Jocinda – China Anne McClain (Black Lightning, Descendants): With her ability to portray determined and empathetic characters, McClain could bring authenticity and depth to Jocinda’s journey.
Actress for goddaughter – Marsai Martin (Black-ish, Little): A talented young actress with excellent comedic timing and emotional depth, perfect for playing a bright and determined character.
Actor for Physics Professor – • Rainn Wilson (The Office, Don’t Tell a Soul): Known for his offbeat comedic style, Wilson could bring a quirky yet endearing quality to the professor.
Actor for Mr. Black the antagonists – Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian): Esposito excels at playing calculated, morally ambiguous villains with a polished exterior, making him a strong choice for a corporate antagonist.
Give me the acts of the story.
Act 1 – After being suspended from the police force for insubordination—and an act of heroism that would have earned a male officer an accolade—Detective Jocinda finds herself adrift, questioning her value behind and beyond the badge. When her goddaughter’s baseball team needs a coach, Jocinda, with high school and college softball experience, takes on the job. But these kids aren’t your average players. They’re academic geniuses who can ace a calculus test but can’t figure out how to catch a fly ball.
Act 2 – Jocinda’s street smarts and collegiate knowledge of the game fall flat, and the team’s dismal performance threatens to send them to the bottom of the league. Desperate for a breakthrough, Jo enlists an unlikely ally—a self-proclaimed physics professor she meets at the local tavern. With his help, the team learns to harness their smarts to master the game by applying science and physics to the art of baseball.
Act 3 – As the season progresses and the team starts making headway, Jo discovers that one of the league’s major corporate sponsors is running a sinister nanotechnology experiment—using kids from rival teams as unwitting test subjects. It’s a case only Jo can crack, but exposing the truth risks everything, including her team and goddaughter's safety. With time running out, Jo must lead her team to victory on and off the field, balancing the pressures of coaching with the demands of an investigation that could cost her everything.
Winning the game might save the season, but uncovering the truth could save lives.How does it end? (setup/payoff). In the very last scene of the movie, the last piece of the evidence board floats into a box, duplicating the movie's first scene; we find out that the physics professor is the person behind the nanotechnology experimental program.
Credibility questions: What have you done? With 17 years of firsthand coaching experience and proven techniques, I have helped many young athletes. I bring authenticity, insight, and a passion for mentoring to this screenplay.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Michael Collado.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Michael Collado.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by
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Terrie’s Pitch Fest Pitch
What I learned from this assignment is that I would want to tailor my pitch to the producer or at least to their marketing level. I think this could be mirco-budget with local cast, but a non local producer I’d need to take the initial suggestions from chatgpt and do more research. Suggesting A-listers at my level, I think would damage my credibility. I learned that Chat gpt would show me some of the websites it used to do its research. I learned I can ask chatgpt to suggest actors at a lower budget. I learned I can suggest an actor and chatgpt gave me back good logical reasons for why the actor was a fit, something that would help me pitch that actor to a producer.
1. Tell us your credibility. None.
2. Tell us your genre and title. Sci-Fi Comedy – Freaky Fusion
3. What is your one or two sentence hook?
When an Alien crashes into an off-the-grid hippie’s outhouse and they swap bodies, can they fix the spaceship and un-swap bodies before a nosy deputy discovers their secret?
4. Please give your one or two sentence answer to each of these questions:
• What is the budget range?
With local actors it could be micro-budget. If you want to go with rising stars probably 2-3 million.
• What actors do you like for the lead roles?
Local actors: Josh Fadem for Bill, Laura Spencer for Misa, and Darrly Cox for Deputy Rhoades.
• Give me the acts of the story.
Act 1: Misa, an off-the-grid recluse, is thrown out of the Farmer’s Market for protesting plastic bags and retreats to her rural haven. But her chill is short-lived when Bill, an alien, crash-lands his spaceship into her outhouse. Convinced she’s hallucinating, Misa ‘helps’ repair Bill’s ship—accidently triggering a body swap. Now trapped in Bill’s deteriorating alien body, Misa must navigate an otherworldly transformation while dodging the suspicions of Deputy Rhoades.Act 2: As Bill (in Misa’s body) and Misa (in Bill’s body) struggle to function in their new bodies and not be detected they attempt to repair Bill’s spaceship. Deputy Rhoades, suspicious of Misa’s odd behavior, investigates at every opportunity.
Act 3: Short on funds, the duo enters a contest for environmentally friendly innovations. Their progress is derailed when Misa’s family’s history as eco-villains surfaces, causes them to be tossed out of the contest. With Bill’s alien body breaking down, tensions rise, and the stakes grow higher: Misa may lose her life in Bill’s body, and Bill must decide whether to flee Earth or stay and help his unlikely new friend. Misa (in Bill’s body) refuses Bill’s offer of leaving, preferring to die on her beloved planet Earth. A technology glitch in their final repairs unswaps their bodies and Bill returns to his home planet.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Terrie Shaft.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by
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Kathryn’s Pitch Fest Pitch
What I learned: Hook them with the most interesting ideas and get them talking and asking questions!
Hi, I’m Kathryn Gould and I’m repped by Verve Talent. I’m a produced screenwriter with several paid writing assignments under my belt.
I’ve written a scifi/thriller, and the title is “Enhancement Protocol”.
It’s about a young biohacker who steals medical nanotech to give himself and his friends superpowers, and they go up against the largest nanotech company in the world when they discover that the latest product- which can cure any disease- contains powerful mind control software.
Questions-
1. Budget range – $20-30 million
2. Actors – Timothee Chalomet, Jacob Elordi for the hero; Sigourney Weaver, Viola Davis for the antagonist
3. Acts –
Act 1 – Japheth and crew infiltrate Medinano, but when their contact on the inside suddenly demands they smuggle him out before he’s killed, Japheth has to use the new technology to reduce his sister’s life-signs to zero, sneak her out in the trash, and then bring her back to life! When they finally make it home, they discover the mind control software.
Act 2 – Their mentor, Dr. Bennett, tells them to forget about it, Medinano is too big and powerful to fight. And then her clinic is attacked by Medinano forces, and Japheth and his friends are accused of killing Dr. Bennett. Certain she’s alive, they elude Medinano Security Forces as they set out to find her.
Act 3 – Discovering their mentor hiding out with a dangerous gang of drug dealers, they learn to their shock that she is giving up and escaping to Canada, and she invites them to come along. But as they’re considering her offer, Japheth and his friends are captured by a rival gang, whom Japheth wins over by helping the gang leader’s daughter overcome a debilitating condition and walk for the first time.
Act 4 – Japheth and the group decide to infiltrate Medinano once more and expose their plans to the world, but everything goes wrong and they are captured, one of them is even killed. But then just when Japheth and his sister are about to undergo a dangerous procedure to remove their nanotech, doctors and nurses start dropping dead around them. They discover that Dr. Bennett wasn’t going to Canada after all – she released a deadly virus that’s killing everyone with the new nanotech. They’ll have to team up with their worst enemy, the CEO of Medinano, to stop it.
4. How does it end?
No matter what they do, they only seem to be able to slow the virus down, but never stop it. Hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. And then they finally figure out that the key to stopping the virus was hidden in a vaccine that Dr. Bennett gave to thousands of people in the slums. They have to call on the poorest and most oppressed people in the society to come and donate blood. They open the big gates that separate the wealthy center of the city from the slums, and they wait. And finally the first person through is the little girl who Japheth helped walk. And then more and more people start coming through, and the crisis is averted. Dr. Bennett takes her own life, and Japheth and his sister start trying to put their society back together.
5. Credibility/ What have you done?
I was a co-writer on the modified low budget horror film Apartment 212 starring Penelope Mitchell and Kyle Gass.
I have worked with directors Joern Heitmann (Rammstein videos) and Alex Orrelle (The Incredibles, Space Jam 2) to develop and pitch their original ideas. I was hired to rewrite a feature animated script for German Production company Filmallee Entertainment, and I was hired to develop two animated TV series, one for Snowball Entertainment in Canada and another with Axis Entertainment (Love, Death and Robots), which was based on a series of James Patterson books.
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Subject: Monica’s Pitch Fest Pitch
VISION: I am a very successful screenwriter who has made multiple movies.
What I learned doing this assignment is to keep the pitch brief and to the point.
Create your entire Pitch Fest Pitch.
1. Tell us your credibility.
I am a screenwriter and have finished in the top 20 percentile in Titan and Big Break Screenplay competitions.
2. Tell us your genre and title.
I have a drama/fantasy screenplay entitled Forgiving Emily.
3. What is your one or two-sentence hook?
What if a near-death experience brought you face-to-face with Heaven, but your divine mission was riddled with celestial pitfalls?
4. Please give your one or two-sentence answer to each of these questions:
• What is the budget range?
The budget for this movie would be in the middle budget range of $15-20 Million.
• What actors do you like for the lead roles?
For the leading actors in the screenplay, someone like Emily Hampshire for Emily; Jonathan Bailey for Paul, and Anthony Hopkins for God.
• Give me the acts of the story.
Act 1 – Writer Emily, an alcoholic, has a near-death experience during her suicide, and meets God in the celestial library. God has a mission for her – write a series of articles to entice humans to work on their spirituality.
Act 2 – Emily moves in with her brother Paul. Emily can access the celestial library and meets the souls of imprisoned writers and their jailer, a demon named Donahue, the guardian of the library.
Act 3 – Donahue doesn’t want Emily to succeed and thwarts her efforts at every turn. Until Emily discovers he’s a pretender and frees the real guardian of the library.
Act 4 – The demon Donahue and the real guardian face off in a battle for the library refereed by the Archangel Michael. They both lose and Emily must name a new guardian. She names Charles Dickens.
• How does it end? (set-up/payoff).
Emily is in recovery and is rewarded with the writing career she has always wanted and continues to write spiritually uplifting material amongst other writings.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by Monica Arisman.
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This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by
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