Workshops
Learn how to pitch concisely and effectively, guided by a writer whose pitches have prompted bidding wars.
Dates:
Mar 8, 2025 - Dec 8, 2023
Levels:
All
Workshop Fee: $225
Workshop Duration: 6 hours on a Saturday (10:30am-4:30pm)
Workshop Location: Online
Class Size: 10
Note: This course will be held in a live, Online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class meets Saturday, Mar 8, 2025 from 10:30am-4:30pm ET (Includes break for lunch).
Before a script or film can be sold, a buyer must be captivated and seduced into experiencing it. This often starts with one expertly crafted line. Sometimes all you get is a minute – or even thirty seconds – to convince the buyer that their time will not be wasted in reading your script or seeing your film.
Learning to effectively distill the essence of an idea also helps a writer or filmmaker in sharpening and focusing the work itself. Students will learn how to develop a compelling log-line, how to develop a 5, 10 or 15 minute pitch, how to take control of a room, what to leave out of your pitch, how to anchor the idea in the context of the marketplace so the buyer can see how it can be sold, how to use visual aids, how to do both verbal and written pitches. They will also get to hear successful pitches and analyze why they worked.
Participants will have the opportunity to craft and revise a five-minute pitch and pitch it to an instructor with a deep experience of the pitching process. In a collegial atmosphere, students will get feedback on what works and what doesn’t. They will have the opportunity to refine and polish their pitch by the end of the workshop.
While our focus will be on pitching for film and TV, the dynamics explored will also resonate for writers, journalists, producers, directors and executives in different mediums where pitching is a necessary skill.
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Instructor: Wayne Beach
Wayne Beach has written screenplays for Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, Sony, TNT, Village Roadshow Pictures, Wolf Films, and other studios and networks. His students have gone on to create box office hits and popular TV shows.
He recently created and wrote an original television pilot, American Dream, for Sony. His pitch for it inspired a bidding war between Showtime, FX, and WGN. He also recently finished an assignment adapting a novel for Identity Films, producers of The Old Man & the Gun.
His filmed screenplay credits include Murder at 1600 (Warner Bros.) starring Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane and Alan Alda; and The Art of War (Warner Bros.) starring Wesley Snipes. He wrote and directed Slow Burn (Lionsgate) starring Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mekhi Phifer, Jolene Blalock, and Taye Diggs. His directorial debut, Slow Burn premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in 1100 theaters by Lionsgate. He has written projects for the makers of Pirates of the Caribbean, Law & Order, House M.D., Ocean’s Eleven, The Perfect Storm, Total Recall, The Fugitive Platoon, and many others.