Film Courage: I have something I would love feedback on. It's a mashup
time travel horror genre film. Our protagonist is Seth and he has created a time travel app which he
calls the Time Me Up Scotty. Peter Katz, Manager: Okay. Film Courage: So he's courting investors and
hoping to launch the app but before he has this big investor meeting he you know gets comfortable
on a Friday night, has a bunch of beers and he starts playing with the app and accidentally his
own app (which it's his creation) transports him to Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692.
He finds himself in this time travel that's gone through in a cell awaiting
trial having been accused of throwing his specter as witness by disgruntled villagers, meaning that
witnesses saw his image somewhere else essentially accusing him of witchcraft and the horror comes as
he cannot prove his innocence and he's set to be crushed to death as punishment. So can you tell me
your feelings on my pitch? Peter: I think it's kind of cool. I like it because
it kind of encapsulates what's scary about the past is that you can't reason with people that
have a completely different frame i imagine i mean i've never time traveled so i can't speak to
that but i just think that it's interesting that what makes it scary is that it's an individual
who is now living in this reality where there's no reference point
for anybody else but himself and it's taking that time travel genre and then really
making it kind of like a horror movie in the sense of that it's kind of like to fish out water but
done in a way where there's real threats and now you have to deal with these threats and i think
that is what makes it interesting so conceptually i think there's a lot there but the device to get
to where it's really getting good i think that might need a little bit of work
because i that it seems a little bit like there might be more of a streamlined way
so you have a device that brings you into that
time period but once you're there i'm really curious about what happens next
i have a little bit of backup but that was on what happens but that was my initial pitch so
if would that happen then if i were to pitch let's say some some individuals whether it's
zoomer in person would they then those are some of the notes possibly they would have what
happens next or i wonder if the frame is you're talking to a manager for potential representation
and there's like a networking event and you're just saying hey i got an idea i'm just curious
what's the dynamic here then i'll be able to offer more specific feedback okay great so we
could take that scenario first and then we could take another one where i'm pitching let's say
producers so if i'm at a networking event and i've i've met a manager and i tell them my idea
what would the feedback do you think be i think it's really gonna depend on the manager's
sensibilities so i mean you know who knows they might love it or they might hate it you know
so it depends on whether they think they would want to take on
me as a client or whoever's pitching this idea and if they like this idea i don't know if it's
about like didn't really want to take on a potential client but they might want you to
sign a release for that script and send over that material so they can evaluate it okay
good to know and then i if i'm pitching a group of let's say five producers and they've got their
poker champion face on their shades and their and their hat and i can't tell what they're
thinking they're emotionless um what would be some possible follow-up in the q a well depends i mean
if it's pitching five producers that feels like it might be like a networking event that was designed
to expose new writers to producers so i imagine that they'll be respectful and
they might have questions and just kind of have a dialogue it may be different than if you were
working with those producers and then pitching like a financier so the producers may be more
animated and more more verbal and engaged because it's not about you pitching somebody that's just
going to press a button and get your movie made they're gonna first see if you're somebody that
they might want to collaborate with and just kind of have like a back and forth
because to get a movie made is a it takes a long time typically
so they just want to know if they that you're on the same page and they like the idea and then they
also might request the script too what would be some potential questions a financier might ask
if i pitched this idea i don't think that like they're gonna just give you a quick
answer more likely that they're gonna have a director pitch uh the project and lead the pitch
with a producer so a writer at the point where a financier is involved i mean not say all the time
but once a project's mature enough for that to be the case a lot of times the director is kind of
really driving the pitches to potential financiers and what if i'm pitching a production company
so i'm pitching them to sell my script this idea to them i mean we're talking about like let's say
an environment where it's like a networking event that some script organization put on
and you're pitching a production company i mean you're basically telling them
the log line in a short period of time what you know and when you think about the log line
you're thinking about why is this in differentiating it for this project from others
so they you're basically trying to sell them a trailer to make them want to read the script so
that's kind of the goal is that you're just saying hey got a really exciting project
it's a time travel horror film what if somebody from our time was stuck in you know the age of
witches and you know when they're doing the witch hunt what kind of scary things could happen during
that you know and then that's it like you just give them a little pitch less is more if the pitch
goes on too long and you lose their attention you just really want to know what the hook is and then
punctuate that and let them ask questions your goal is to activate their imagination
not to filibuster for like a long time about all these ideas you really want to make sure that it's
a conversation ultimately and not a monologue so then they say thank you very much hopefully they
validate my parking they show me out the door i sit in traffic for two hours and i wonder did they
like it i think i saw one of their eyebrows raised when i said this one thing i think they liked it
or i could tell this one guy he had his lips pursed and his his hands cry you know his he was
the hands crossed a bunch against his chest and he didn't like it and i'm a i'm a done deal i'm
finished in this town i mean you know they're going home you know they like it if they asked
um for you know your email so their assistant can email a script release i mean okay you know it's
not about reading a poker face at that point it's pretty binary immediately do they want to read it
and i don't know what the in this fictional script event what the dynamic is and how it's
you know ran but sure most likely if you pitch to these participants and they're excited about it
they're going to get you to most likely write a write right on the release that they get through
maybe themselves or their assistant and then you send them the script i mean that's really
what it is and then if they love it then they will want to work with you and that might be
an option agreement or a shopping agreement and some you know lock in the material and ideally pay
you some money and then bring on the director and the actors so like it's really the starting point
of a partnership if somebody you know reads it and likes it but that's what but needs to start
somewhere so if they ask for my email there's a possible second date i should assume i mean
if they were going to chili's i mean i think that if they have a script i mean if they get
the script release and then they get the project you know once you've signed it because no one's
just gonna ask for the script and then if they read it and they like it if you have a manager
an agent they'll talk with them and if it's just you then you talk with the producer and they might
send you deal terms about locking down the rights and then you bring in you get a lawyer and you
negotiate a deal and then if you want to work with the producer you close out the the paperwork and
now you have a producer who's attached to the script how would you shorten this pitch
i think that like that did the way into the time travel
could be
a little bit streamlined because once we get into the new location the new time period
i think that's when the story becomes more interesting okay so i just think that the the
way into the time travel of it all you know could need a little work you're right because i look at
what i have written here that i read to you and half of this paragraph is all set up
so okay that's a great point and thank you for that so it i should just basically say i mean
i kind of want to make it seem like this is the guy that his own creation got him
into this kind of like a frankenstein yeah this is a monster so what if it's just like
a individual experimenting with technology goes wrong and then it becomes the horror film because
now they're you got them in the wrong place and it's broken so now it's like survival
yeah i guess i want a part where he thought he was above his own creation
and that this would never happen to him but instead his own creation got him yeah i think
that's something that could be elaborated but you do still need that thesis level
pitch where you don't have all these extra details because they could kind of once you read the
script they'll be revealed over time but i think the key is looking at the pitch as your trailer
and that trailer instead of like when a movie is made as it gets you to
pay for a ticket and watch it or download it at home or whatever stream it this instead
is the trailer is getting you to read the script and that's what you're verbalizing