Last night I attended a Film Matters talk run by The Pitch. It was presented by Jackie Sheppard, a feature film producer with Footprint Films. The topic was Pitching a Produceable Film.

The Pitch runs the Film Matters series regularly and promotes their events on Eventbrite.

Jackie is a wealth of knowledge, both as someone who has pitched in the UK and Hollywood, and as a Producer who is pitched to. I would love to share all of her tips, but will limit myself to a couple of snippets. Believe me, I have many pages of notes from this. I also found it relevant as someone who is getting into more and more pitches, and who hears a few pitches.

If you’re going to be pitching your film for the November 2015 Action On The Side project, keep these points in mind.

When you’re pitching, the buyer will ask themselves three questions:

• does it get them excited?
• does it suit their business needs?
• how much money are they willing to invest?

The investor wants to know the answers to the following questions. You have to answer these in your pitch.

• What’s in it for them?
• What’s so special about your idea?
• What makes you the right person to make this film?
• Who’s on the team?
• How much is your film worth?

After your pitch, you want the investor to think two things:

• This is a movie I want to see.
• This will make me money.

Questions investors will ask:

• What other films is it like? (we discussed comps in our most recent script development group).
• Why now?
• Why is it relevant? Why will it be relevant in the 2-3 years it will take to make the (feature) film?
• Why is it a feature and not tv?
• What’s the budget?
• What certificate will it be?
• Who’s going to be in it?
• What’s your finance plan?

I also learnt a new term last night: the rip-o-matic.

So, when you’re planning your next pitch, think of the above points.