Tuesday, October 20, 2009

John August's Post about Pitching


If you're like me at all (for your sake, hope it's only a tiny bit), you're curious about pitching. What it's like. How it happens. How long it takes. How nervous you'll be. When you'll get to do it.

I've read a few books that glaze over pitching and have spoken with writers and other industry people who participate in pitches about their experiences with them. However, you can never get too much info ahead of time. John August recently had a short yet great
post about pitching Prince of Persia that walks readers through the entire meeting (20 minutes) with a brief play by play. I've pasted his pitch timeline below, but I suggest reading the whole post.
  1. Introductions. Apologies for keeping us waiting. (1 minute)
  2. John hyping Jordan’s prestigious videogame background. (1:00)
  3. Play the video. (2:10)
  4. Jordan describes the world of the Persian empire, using artwork. (:30)
  5. John pitches Prince Dastan, using artwork of him. (:30)
  6. John and Jordan alternate pitching story, introducing character/prop artwork as new things come up. (6:00)
  7. Questions about story, tone and scale. “Somewhere between Pirates and Raiders. It’s not Lawrence of Arabia.”(3:00)
  8. Promises that they’ll follow up. (1:00)