PITCHPROXY PROS
The Covid-19 pandemic changed the nature of pitching your projects to production companies, streamers, and studios. There are few live-in-person Pitch Fests these days but there are a number of positive alternatives via the Pitch Portals. There you can submit written pitches and/or have phone or zoom meetings with executives looking for content.
IT’S A GREAT TIME FOR WRITERS!!!
The media industry needs lots and lots more content and they’re happy to look at yours because it might be just what they’re looking for.
More good news is that there are many more portals through which to pitch your stories online: from virtual meetings, to submitting your written synopsis to selected producers, to listing your project’s logline on sites where people come looking for properties and which send out e-blasts of loglines to producers who can then ask to see your script.
PitchProxy Pros can help you get your project ready to pitch, can write your Pitch Materials for you, can help select appropriate target companies to pitch, and can coach you in how to pitch.
We can also pitch for you in virtual meetings.
And we can manage the written submissions of your project.
All this can free you up to continue writing and turning out more projects.
We offer a FREE 20 minute consultation to see if and how our PitchProxy service might best work for you and your stories. Email pamelajayesmith@gmail.com to set a time.
See more details below in Ala Carte Pitch Assistance.
*****
CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE PITCHFEST? WE CAN PITCH FOR YOU.
Out of town? Out of the country? Don’t feel comfortable “selling” your story?
Our PitchProxy service works with you to create a pitch package for your story. We then present that pitch to companies we help select according to the genre, budget, and style of your story, matching that up with what the companies are looking to buy and produce.
To ensure personalized and attentive service, we only take on a small number of projects to proxy-pitch at live PitchFests. You may have a really terrific script or novel or memoir, but if we don’t think we are the ones to do it justice, we won’t take it on. And unlike some other story marketing services, we don’t require that you use our Story Consultation services. We either have confidence that we can effectively pitch your story as it is and get “takers” or we don’t take it on.
Of course I would be pleased to help you bring your project up to presentation standards, but again, it’s not a requirement that you work with us in order to have us pitch for you.
Once we agree to take on your story, we select the best one of our very qualified PitchProxy experts based on the genre, style, and topic of your story.
Our select staff of PitchProxy experts include produced writers used to pitching their own projects through to a sale, and former Development Executives who know what it takes to make a sale. Over half of our PP experts have sat on both sides of the desk.
We compose a logline, pitch, and synopsis for presentation in pitch meetings. We pass this by you to be sure we are in line with your vision.
Using our own proprietary database combined with each PitchFest’s information on the attending companies, what they’ve done, what they’re looking for, the budget range, etc. we select the best targets for your story.
We rehearse the pitch in simulated meetings, just as I’d do for you in a Pitch Prep Session. Sometimes the PitchProxy expert has a brilliant idea while rehearsing it on their own and comes up with something we never thought of in composing the pitch. We want to set a solid foundation of knowledge of your story and your vision but also give the PitchProxy expert free rein to let their enthusiasm for your story run free.
At the recent GAP event, one of our PitchProxy experts was in a meeting, starting the practiced pitch when the Development Exec tugged the papers out their hands, laid the pitch face down and said, “Obviously you like this story. Just tell me why it works for you.” We did. And the Exec held back the line of other writers in order to have yet another pitch session with us to hear more about our client’s story.
Mario Bernheim, PitchProxy Pro
It’s so exciting to call up writers after a successful pitch session and report, “They liked it! They took the leave-behind!” or “They asked to see your script!”
You receive a detailed report of the results, including the names and contact information of the Development Execs, their comments, and any other relevant info for your follow-up.
Our involvement is only for the pitching service. You maintain all rights to your story and you owe us nothing else – even if it becomes a huge success, as we all hope it does.
“Pamela Jaye possesses considerable marketing skills. She is totally together and an effective director of the process. I had good success with her at the helm. She has earned my trust and I will use her in the future. She’s just so darn good at everything you’d be a fool not to use her prodigious experience and talents.”
Mike D. [repeat client]
Our pitch-to-take ratio for our clients over the years averages 80%
*****
Your cost for PitchProxy — at a live PitchFest — is two thousand five hundred US dollars [$2,500] plus expenses. [Most live PitchFests are postponed due to Covid-19.]
Depending on the event, expenses can include registration, individual pitch session fees, special handout materials (colour, artwork…), etc.
The PitchProxy fee is dependent on the number of pitches you want, plus any registration and per-pitch costs. It includes the same personal attention and services.
We can only take on a handful of stories in order to do them justice, so if you’re interested, please be in touch soon.
“MYTHWORKS is a brilliant gem. I worked with Pamela Jaye Smith in preparing to pitch my book for movie production. The result was 5 interested producers! She is a master in the art and science of storytelling, and has the integrity to match. It has been one of the great blessings of my life to connect with MYTHWORKS.”
Victoria Lowery – Author, CEO, Mrs. Ohio 2001
Ala Carte Pitch Assistance / Good for Pitch Portals like Stage32, Virtual PitchFest, Greenlight My Movie, etc.
* Pitch Materials – We read your script/book and write the Logline, 3-sentence Pitch, 3-paragraph Synopsis and 1-2 page longer Synopsis. Fee – $1,000
*Pitch Deck – depending on your project, you may want to have a Pitch Deck. Typically that can include the Pitch Materials, plus other items such as Character Descriptions, Episode and/or Season Synopses, Market Appeal, Creator CV, Images, etc. The Pitch Deck is usually in PowerPoint. Fees vary according to complexity and begin at $1,900.
Pamela Jaye coaching writer Brandon Joyner
more info on Pitch Materials
* Target Acquisition – We read your script/book/series and then assess the production companies, agencies, managers listed on a number of PitchPortals or attending a live PitchFest.
We then supply you with a Target List of companies, agencies, managers, or publishers who may be interested in your type of story according to its genre, style, budget, and market.
Fee – $600+
We will endeavor to identify up to 20-25 Targets for you but we can only select from what’s available and who’s looking for something in your genre, style, budget range, etc. Our conversation after reading your project will help determine the rate based on current market demands.
[If we’ve already read your script/book/series, subtract $200.]
*Virtual Pitch for you – $50 per pitch session. We take the Zoom/Skype meeting and pitch your project, after having written the Pitch Materials for you. [*Does not include the Pitch Portal’s fee.]
*Written Pitch submission – $25 per submission, typically a query letter or 2 page synopsis, which we write for you in the Pitch Materials service. [*Does not include the Pitch Portal’s fee.]
* Pitch Coaching – in person or via Skype/Zoom. We help you become comfortable and confident in the pitching process, based on our many years on both sides of the table. Fee $250/hour
For more information – pamelajayesmith@gmail.com or 323-874-6447
“PitchProxy Pros took my idea for a reality TV show to GAPF. An international TV company expressed interest and we have been working together to develop the story-line, do some on-location filming, create the sizzle reel and promotional materials. They’re now about to submit it to the marketplace.”
GVG – novelist and screenwriter
*****
Whichever way you choose to go, we wish you the very best of luck with pitching your stories and making those sales.
Keep writing!
Keep selling!
And keep working to bring your unique vision and style to the rest of the world.
Best regards,
Pamela Jaye
pamelajayesmith@gmail.com / 323-874-6447
*****
LINKS
7 tips for successful pitching – Pamela Jaye Smith
Story Consultations – Pamela Jaye Smith
Pitch Package & Pitch Prep – Pamela Jaye Smith
Pitch Coaching and PitchProxy
pamelajayesmith@gmail.com / 323-874-6447
The Script Selling Game – Kathie Fong Yoneda
The Script-Selling Game brings together over 25 years of experience from an entertainment professional who shows you how to prepare your script, pitch it, meet the moguls, talk the talk and make the deal. It’s a must for both novice and veteran screenwriters.
Making a Good Script Great – Linda Seger
This expanded guide offers genuinely useful insights into the complete screenwriting process from first draft through shooting draft. Everyone, from writer to producer, can benefit from the writing and rewriting suggestions offered by the premier Hollywood script consultant’s prescription for adding life, color, and style to your writing.
Your Screenplay Sucks: 100 ways to make it great – William M. Akers
All beginning writers make the same mistakes — and many “pros” do, too! Because nobody in Hollywood will give your script a second chance, it better be perfect the first time out. No longer will you worry that a producer or story executive will toss your script in the garbage at page fifteen because Your Screenplay Sucks! Akers’ checklist will eliminate all the flaws in your screenplay, guaranteeing a cover-to-cover read.
Screenwriter’s Bible – David Trottier
The Screenwriter’s Bible (a Writer’s Digest Book Club Featured Selection) may be the most complete screenwriting tool ever designed. It includes useful worksheets, sound marketing advice, sample scenes and treatment, the latest on the new spec style, and more.
*****