Lesson 9

[Paul Hallasy]

ASSIGNMENT_Lesson 9
Paul Hallasy Phone Pitch
Write out your phone pitch along with answers to the questions.
1. Tell us which of the four strategies you are going to use to open your pitch:
• Lead with credibility.
• Lead with a great title.
• Lead with a strong business hook.
• Lead with a High Concept. How far would you go to see a band before they die?
2. Give us your script for phone call pitches, like I did above.
3. Give us a one or two sentence answer to the questions a producer may ask:
• What’s the budget range? $15-$40 million
• Who do you see in the main roles? Simon Pegg and Paul Giamatti
• How many pages is the script? 74
• Who else has seen this? I just started shopping it around
• Why do you think this fits our company? You produce comedies in the $15-$40 million range.
• How does the movie end? The main character leaves in the middle of his stand-up set and flies to Los Angeles.
4. Answer the question “What I learned from this lesson is…?” and place that at the top of your work.

[Adite Banerjie]

Adite’s Phone Pitch

What I learned: you have to give the producer more than one reason to be excited about your project and/or working with you.

Write out your phone pitch along with answers to the questions.

1. Tell us which of the four strategies you are going to use to open your pitch:
• Lead with credibility. I’m Adite and I am a produced screenwriter.
• Lead with a great title. I have a supernatural thriller titled Yogini.
• Lead with a strong business hook. I’m Adite and my supernatural thriller concept Yogini would appeal to audiences who loved Kantara.
• Lead with a High Concept. Hi, I’m Adite and my script is about a young mother who is faced with a deadly dilemma: can she take the risk of killing her child in order to save him from a vengeful Yogini.

2. Give us your script for phone call pitches, like I did above.

Hi, I’m Adite and I’m a produced screenwriter. I have a supernatural thriller titled Yogini.

Imagine a forest ranger’s wife caught in a life-or-death struggle: to save her child from a vengeful Yogini, she must perform dangerous Tantrik rituals that could either save or doom her child. Will she risk everything for a chance at life?

3. Give us a one or two sentence answer to the questions a producer may ask:

• What’s the budget range? 15-20 million
• Who do you see in the main roles? I can see how Radhika Apte or Bhumi Pednekar would be ideal for the protagonist’s role.
• How many pages is the script? 100 pages
• Who else has seen this? I’m in the process of pitching it to production companies.
• Why do you think this fits our company? I loved the movie xxx that you made in this genre which had a wonderful balance of vfx and powerful story telling. My script has the unique combination of thrilling action scenes, powerful emotions and a rarely seen exploration of the Tantric practices of Yogini worship.

• How does the movie end? On the new moon night, the Yogini’s appearance coincides with a deadly poacher attack during which the ranger and his team are overpowered. The ranger’s wife must battle both the armed poachers and the Yogini’s wrath to save her child.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by  Adite Banerjie.

[Susan A. Smith]

Lesson 9: What I learned is that I need to be even briefer than in my Query Letter.

Susan Arnout Smith’s Phone Pitch for GOD’S PHOTO ALBUM

I’ll lead with High Concept.

Phone Pitch: Hi, I’m Susan Arnout Smith, I’m an optioned screenwriter with a book I have the rights to, and I’m wondering if I could run a quick concept by you.

(If it’s a ‘yes’.)

The genre’s Faith and Family, the title’s GOD’S PHOTO ALBUM and the concept is: In the battle between Light and Dark, which is the worst Angel to send? The answer: The one with a gambling addiction.

(big pause here, nothing else).

If they ask…

• What’s the budget range?
$10-15 million
• Who do you see in the main role?
Dennis Quaid would be fun as the Angel, also Benedict Cumberbatch.
• How many pages is the script?
103 pages
• Who else has seen this?
I’ve just started talking to people. I’ve gotten a few script requests that I just sent out, and my plan is to keep going until I have a deal.
• Why do you think this fits our company?
You’ve done numerous Faith and Family projects in this budget range that have grossed ten times the amount of the budget, so you have a great sense of what sells.
• Briefly, what happens in the movie?
The Angel comes down to yank back a woman who’s switched sides. He gets her to bet her soul that she can talk an entire community into believing in God even when she doesn’t anymore. But he’s got his gambler’s thumb on the scale.
• How does the movie end?
She’s on the edge of losing everything she’s ever loved, including her family. Her only choice is to believe in God again, even when it’s impossible.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by  Susan A. Smith.

[Gill Kent]

Gill Kent’s Phone Pitch

Leading with a High Concept:

Hi, I’m Gill, and I’m wondering if I could run a quick concept by you.

Pause for permission.

I have the true story of a princess who stares down her Gestapo son-in-law to protect the Jewish family hiding in her home. It’s a historical limited series called Mrs. Alice Battenberg.

Budget: $150 to $180 million

Actors for main roles: Kate Winslet as Alice and Adrian Brody as Andrea

Pages/scope: 9 episodes of 1 hour each

Who has seen this: I’ve talked to a couple of producers, but it hasn’t been optioned yet

Why does this fit the company: Your series Xxxxx touches on the same historical period

How does it end: Years after Alice’s death, her son Philip, consort of the British queen, attends a ceremony in Jerusalem to honor her courage.

[Brian Bull]

BRIAN BULL – PHONE PITCH
What I learned from this lesson is….I GOT THIS – no problem.

Write out your phone pitch along with answers to the questions.

1. Tell us which of the four strategies you are going to use to open your pitch:

Lead with credibility.
Lead with a great title.
Lead with a strong business hook.
Lead with a High Concept.

HIGH CONCEPT

A fisherman’s quest for revenge quickly turns into a nightmare when he discovers he’s THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!!!

2. Give us your script for phone call pitches, like I did above.

“Hi, I’m BRIAN BULL and I’m wondering if I could run a quick pitch by you?

If yes…then…

It’s a SUSPENSE/DRAMA titled THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY.

A fisherman’s quest for revenge, quickly turns into a nightmare, when he discovers, he’s THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!!!

3. Give us a one or two sentence answer to the questions a producer may ask:

What’s the budget range?

$1M – $5 million

Who do you see in the main roles?

Paul Walter Hauser

How many pages is the script?

57

Who else has seen this?

Other than a number of friends – you’re the first.
Why do you think this fits our company?

Your company is renown for making movies that are similar in this particular genre and style, and, your company knows how to produce a movie on this type of budget.

How does the movie end?

Ironically, it ends with the fisherman realizing just before he’s engulfed by a massive catfish, that he was THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!!!

• This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by  Brian Bull.

[Edward Richards]

Edward Richards – Phone Pitch

What I learned was keep it short, keep it simple, keep it engaging.

MY PITCH
Hi, I’m Edward Richards, former award-winning copywriter, and Austin finalist.
I’m wondering whether I can briefly run a concept by you….

It’s a romcom feature, titled THE HONEYMOON PERIOD.
If the best part of relationships is the honeymoon period, imagine if you could end them all then – all gain, no pain? Perfect!

It’s a low budget movie.
Jacob Elordi & Emma Mackey would be perfect in the roles.
The script is 110 pages.
No one else has seen it,
It would fit your company because you made the romcom XYZ.

How it ends is: The main character, Wyatt, having fallen for one of his honeymoon period girlfriends and then ghosted, discovers she’s an actress, hired to give him a taste of his own medicine. So, to demonstrate he really does love her, he donates his only valuable possession to an auction set up to save her theatre company.

[Carly-Ann Giene]

Carly’s Phone Pitch

What I learned in this lesson is to keep things short and simple.

Hello my name is Carly would it be alright if I ran a quick concept by you?

It’s a horror film set in Detroit called Dredge. It’s about a crime scene cleaner’s wife getting possessed by a demon.

Budget is around 5 million with the potential for massive returns. Donald Glover would be fantastic as the lead. A Hereditary meets Sinister.

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson – Phone Pitch
From this lesson I learned how to parlay my understanding of the story into a powerful phone pitch. It also continues to improve my connection with the story and characters in a way that helps me to further improve the script.

1. Tell us which of the four strategies you are going to use to open your pitch:
Lead with a great title. – “Combat Black”

2. Give us your script for phone call pitches, like I did above. – “Hi, my. Name is Kenneth Johnson and I have a Korean War Drama titled “Combat Black. Can I tell you about it in 30 seconds?”

3. Give us a one or two sentence answer to the questions a producer may ask:
What’s the budget range? – $15 million to $30 million
Who do you see in the main roles? – Will Smith for the son, and Morgan Freeman for the father.
How many pages is the script? – 90 pages.
Who else has seen this? – “I just started calling this morning so you are the first.”
Why do you think this fits our company? – “You’ve done historical war movies with African American themes. And I was completely impressed with (that amazing war movie).
How does the movie end? – The father finds peace through a salute, a handshake, and a few words from a four star General, which releases him to finally describe to his son the dark secret of what happened during the massacre. The son delivers a script about his father’s wartime experiences that saves his house and his marriage.

[Jesse Paxton]

Jess’s phone pitch.

I learned how to construct a pitch that has a chance of winning over a producer.

1. Tell us which of the four strategies you are going to use to open your pitch:

Lead with credibility.
I’m a published writer.

Lead with a great title.
“The Corporation Rules”

Lead with a strong business hook.
This is inspired by true events.

Lead with a High Concept.
A hot-shot Attorney finds a law that hasn’t been used since the Magna Carta to save a small Canadian town from her own corporate client.

2. Give us your script for phone call pitches, like I did above.

Hi, I’m Jess, I’m a published writer. I’d like to run a quick concept by you, inspired by true events.
It’s a Holiday Romance story, in which a hot-shot Corporate Attorney falls for the man she’s been sent to evict so her
client can build a retail outlet on his land.

3. Give us a one or two sentence answer to the questions a producer may ask:

What’s the budget range?
Reply within the producer’s budget range.

Who do you see in the main roles?
This could go to a super-star like Scarlett Johansson, or an up-and comer like Madison Lintz.

How many pages is the script?
Right now, about 110.

Who else has seen this?
I just began marketing this one.

Why do you think this fits our company?
I’ve seen that you produced _______, a holiday rom-com, and this should fall in the same budget range.

How does the movie end?
After her boss steals her laptop, she finds an arcane law mentioned in her assistant’s research. It hasn’t been used in a
thousand years, but she dares to call on the Queen of England to enforce it, winning the case, saving the family and the
town she’s come to love, and winning back theheart of the man who has taught her how to love.