the pitch

Preparing a film for a pitch is a lengthy time consuming process. A lot of work needs to go into any good pitch. Many different components are required if you wish for your pitch to be successful and stand a chance of securing funding.

There are a few obvious pieces and several that you may not think necessary, but to give yourself the best chance of success it may be prudent to include all of them. Everything from the treatment to the script, concept art, and even storyboards can provide a unique perspective and understanding of the film, giving those that might invest as much information as they could need to make an informed, and hopefully financially beneficial, decision.

Lets start with the treatment. This is the base skeleton of your story. It provides an overall outline of the events of each scene within the film. Instead of bombarding potential investors with a full script of 90 pages or more, the treatment can be an effective way of telling the story in a more succinct, compressed fashion of maybe 10 to 20 pages. Much easier to read through than a full-length script. However, having a completed script never hurts. Having the complete line-by-line script can to some investors provide further insight they would not have acquired from the treatment alone.

Concept art and storyboards are just as important when pitching your film. Concept art will give the investors an idea of what the world you are creating will look like. This is particularly beneficial for films whose locations wardrobes and prop don’t exist in the world today. Storyboards allow you to show the investors, visually, how the story will progress. This allows you to show things such as framing and camera movement that may not be obviously apparent in the script and treatment. This will give your investors an idea of what they can expect to see on the big screen when the film they are putting so much money into is finally done. There are many more things that you can include in your pitch just remember, the more you have the more questions you will likely need to be able to answer.