Lesson 5

[Timothy Barley]

Tim Barley’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch

What I learned from doing this assignment is that this was the lesson I was really looking for(ward) to. It really helped me to focus my pitch, which led to my bible and to actually rewriting a bit of the pilot.

Main hook: A slacker’s easy life is cast into chaos, navigating the unseen world of ancient rivalries when it’s revealed he has power not seen since humanity’s genesis.

Interesting possibilities:

Dilemma – Can a 30-something slacker break from his do-nothing lifestyle, accept his incalculable power, and save the world?

Main conflict – An average, boring man has to navigate ancient warring factions in order to learn about his family history and his growing powers.

What’s at Stake – An average man has to learn to use an ancient power before an ancient war engulfs the unknowing world.

Goal/Unique Opposition – An unassuming, average man has to learn to use and harness his hereditary power in order to save the world from an unseen, ancient war threatening to spill into the real world.

Elevator Pitch: “Decendence” follows an underperforming slacker turned savior as he navigates the unseen world of ancient societal power struggles, answering the question: “what really happened at the Garden of Eden?”

[Avi K]

Avi Kapurala’s High Concepts and Elevator Pitches

1. Main hook: How does a billionaire serial killer murder 20 women and protect his secret when his arch-enemy plots to expose him?

2. How can you tell it in the most interesting way possible?

A billionaire serial-killer must protect his secret from being exposed by an arch-rival.

DILEMMA: Eliminate a rival without drawing attention to yourself, or risk being hanged for murder.

MAIN CONFLICT: Two billionaire foes vying to destroy each other. One of them discovers a secret that he can use to send the other to death row.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Sole supremacy and the love of the woman they both desire.

GOAL/UNIQUE OPPOSITION: Hide the fact that he’s a serial killer when his arch-rival discovers the secret.

Elevator Pitch: I’m finishing up a story that answers the question: How does a billionaire serial killer protect his secret when his arch-enemy plots to expose him?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Avi K.

[Elizabeth Dickinson]

Lesson 5: High Concepts and Elevator Pitches

Elizabeth Dickinson’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch

What I learned doing this assignment is that the overview is most important.

A soul can’t achieve its dearest wish to become an angel without purging the regrets of 5 key lives – a gladiator, an abbess, a torturer, an artist, and a freedom fighter. But what happens when each of those lives can’t purge their regrets without creating new ones?

[P.G. Sundling]

P.G. Sundling’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch

4. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.

My story has so many angles and ways to describe it. This lesson got me to see yet another way to describe my story in terms of a core part of a main character. Having a complex layered story has advantages and disadvantages for marketing.

1. To find your main hook, tell us what the big-picture explanation of your lead character’s journey is.

A non-politician obsessed with big ideas must sacrifice himself to stop the biggest idea he ever had before it destroys the fabric of society.

An asexual woman must overcome her fears of intimate contact and being vulnerable to be with the man she loves.

2. How can you tell it in the most interesting way possible?

Dilemma

Will MJ profess her love to prevent None’s sacrifice, even though she’s not ready to take that step?

Main Conflict

When a non-politician changes their name to None of the Above and runs for president, can they stop doomsday?

What’s at stake?

In a series of Apocalypses, the Earth’s Fate rests on two childhood friends.

Goal/Unique Opposition

When a powerful man steals a billion-dollar software company from two childhood friends, they must find a way to get their company back.

3. Using the 10 Components of Marketability, what is your Elevator Pitch?

When a non-politician changes their name to None of the Above and runs for president, will he become the right person to stop doomsday?

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  P.G. Sundling.

[Wendy Weising]

ASSIGNMENT 5

“What I learned doing this assignment is that the nucleus of my story is different from what I thought it was.

Wendy Weising’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch

1. HOOK:

How does a woman save her children from aliens?

2. The woman is trapped in a hospital.

You hate the aliens who must consume human brain tissue to survive and took you and your kids to their planet, until you discover you’re an alien too. Will you eat brain tissue, serve it to your kids, and live or refuse it and die?

3. I’m finishing up a story that answers the question if you discovered that you were an alien who needed human brain tissue to survive, would you eat the brain tissue, serve it to your kids, and live or refuse it and have everyone die?