THE ART OF THE PITCH

We were part way through a pitch to a Disney Executive presenting an animated version of Moby Dick. The writer I was pitching with had been building up to this point and was in full throttle whilst roaring the line by Ahab “That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him”. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to jump up onto the glass coffee table, yes “glass”! God knows where we would have stood on insurance if he had crashed through and maimed himself. I would imagine he would have continued in a pool of blood full of adrenaline! The Disney Exec loved it and afterwards asked us to come back anytime and pitch. I imagine it was quite the entertainment for the day full of excruciating meetings! These were the days when I could just fax a development Exec at Disney whom I knew and line up a pitch. Normally you would have to go through an agent or a Lawyer at great expense. Times have changed though and when John Lasseter took over creative control all outside pitches were stopped.

I did manage to pitch another project on the main lot though as it was for a Live Action film and they remained open. Ironically the main lot at Disney was where animation had been based when Walt Disney was alive but the department along with all its support were kicked out and moved to very dull warehouses on Flower Street down the road, That was when they were considering killing off 2D Classical Animation altogether. The Live Action production companies moved into the studios specifically designed for animators!? The Executive was predictably late. We were ushered in by an assistant and offered the obligatory bottle of water. As we sat on very low lying sofas with extremely soft cushions we sank even further. I soon saw why as it looked like one of the seven dwarves had turned up and sat on a very high stool opposite us! I didn’t need a psychoanalyst to explain what was happening here! It’s a ‘power’ thing! We did a very decent pitch I thought but it was a baseball project and apparently baseball projects don’t do very well!??

Pitching never came naturally to me. Some people are natural salesmen. I always preferred to create and as a youngster would spend hours in my room painting, drawing and listening to heavy metal whilst my friends went off to the beach.! Not the best way to develop your social skills but hopefully I have made up for it since! Speaking in front of people was a big deal to me. I still remember as a young boy at Primary School I was to read a paragraph from the Bible in Church. I was so anxious I developed a cough the previous evening and by the morning it was so sore I couldn’t speak so I was excused. All self induced of course.

As I got older my aversion to public speaking didn’t improve that much at all.? I remember when I was at Liverpool Art School we had to present a storyboard for the Title Graphics for a TV show. We were all gathered around in a small conference room at the BBC. One by one we had to pitch. It was a good exercise to do. I was a fan of Bauhaus and Oskar Schlemmer so I had this balletic stylised dance in which the dancers placed blocks on the ground. The reveal was where the camera pulled back at the end from a shot from above and we see that they spelled the title of the show. It was a decent idea even if I say so myself. It was certainly one of the better ideas but I made a mistake. I underestimated the art of the pitch believing that the work would talk for itself. I was shy and terrified of talking or presenting in front of groups of people. With age and experience I would now know how to present this properly. It’s a game of psychology. It is a bit like a taste testing exercise where a certain food substance is labelled differently. One with a well known brand name and others with an unknown name. Again and again in tests people will pick the brand name as the better quality and better tasting food. So it is not only taste but a mind game! So when presenting you have to show that you believe in what you are presenting. Now I did deep down believe in the idea but as I was so young and inexperienced I had doubts. I wasn’t sure. So that would have come across in the pitch and the BBC chap would have picked up on that. Besides I doubt he even knew the work of Bauhuas or the references I was using judging by his reaction. On the way out he showed us some proper graphics by the BBC and it was the Eastenders Title where you have one aerial photo and a track out. Horrendous! I wish I had seen it first as if I had it would have given me more confidence! I would have thought I can do better than that! There are different ends to the spectrum though. One of the students from Liverpool gave a hugely confident presentation of what was a rather weak idea. Some people can do that. He could certainly ‘sell coals to Newcastle’!

I worked in Advertising for a few years before embarking on my film career. You had whole teams, frequently quite posh people who would handle various accounts. As an Art Director I would work up a number of ideas with the Copywriter and the accounts team would pitch the ideas. I was quite happy about that although the downside was they could sell the ‘bad’ ideas just as well as the ‘good ideas’ so you never knew what you were going to get!

A number of years later I was working at Don Bluth Studios in Ireland as a Lead Animator. I ran a couple project ideas past Don. One was based on a book by Ted Hughes called The Iron Man. I did a 10 point step outline and some designs of Hogarth and The Iron Man. The original book is very slim but I knew the idea of a boy forming a relationship with a Robot was a winner, Don didn’t agree and thought it was only worthy of a Featurette and went on to do the Classic ‘The Pebble and the Penguin’! Years later when I was working at Disney I got a call from someone over Warner Bros. He said to come over and talk to Brad Bird as they were making a film based on ‘The Iron Man! I went over and Brad persuaded me to leave Disney and the rest was history. Brad had added so many more layers to the story. I told him about my pitch to Don and that I was given a rejection slip saying it wouldn't make a Feature. There was History between the two of them and Brad desperately wanted to see the slip! Sadly just a few years earlier I had gone through my rejection drawer and thrown them all out!

So pitches are all about timing. You may have? a great idea, a great pitch but if it doesn’t fit the studios agenda at that time it doesn't matter how good it is! So the secret is to do as many as you possibly can to increase your chances. John Lasster would say always go in with three project ideas. Still there is no guarantee. When we went on the main lot of a studio to pitch a Feature to the very top of the studio, 4 men in suits maybe was not the best way to go, ( I have always found that two people pitching works best, for me anyway). It was clear she seemed intimidated despite coming from entertainment royalty. It was bad timing for the project too as it was very family orientated and at that time the key word was ‘Edgy’! An enjoyable pitch was on the lot at Fox. For this pitch I had teamed up with a very talented chap who was only in his early 20s. He was one of those natural talkers and was helped I am sure by the biggest cup of espresso I have seen knocked back like a shot of vodka! Probably the fastest delivery of? pitch I have ever seen!

So now we get to a more delicate and controversial matter. Signing NDA’s. A studio that also let me pitch anytime stopped accepting pitches without it coming through a Lawyer as they had been sued many times. So I talked to my Lawyer who said he hated NDA’s. I soon found out why. You can’t pitch without signing. And if you do it will have a sentence in there that any similarities that may occur are purely coincidental. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. So there was no choice, we signed and pitched, 4 times in fact over 10 years. Although after the second time I could never get hold of the Executive. It was soon clear why as several of the ideas turned up in a few films over the years. I knew the Exec had liked the pitch as his first comment was “This is what we do!”. The problem with ideas is you cannot copyright them, you can copyright a script but not the ideas! Sounds unfair, yes it is but until the law changes there is nothing that can be done. The studios have more lawyers than talent, crew and cleaners! They know that they can tie you up for years in legal fees and know that most people won’t bother and I can’t blame them. I should make it clear though that this pitch was not at Disney! I am hoping that one day there will be a hashtag movent to protect artists and their ideas in much the same way there was for #metoo which helped reform the industry.

Now don’t let me put you off pitching altogether. Some pitches are successful. Just be aware of the pitfalls and setbacks and you will be better equipped.

Now there is an upside. If you can find the funds and talent independently you can make? a film yourself. No red tape, no interference and most importantly no bullshit! I didn’t need to pitch Censure or Confines to anyone and we are now over 60 awards and counting!