When her young brother dies after committing a school mass shooting, a brilliant scientist risks everything to bring him back as an AI consciousness and give him a chance at redemption.
I'm retired from contacting and only write as a hobby (until somebody pays me!)
But I know about pitching. I pitched jobs for decades. Yes,there's technique to it. Take to heart that your buyer is buyer of what he is buying, not what you are selling. Make sure you know what that is, and then pitch from his perspective, not yours. Better to acknowledge that what you are pitching isn't what he wants, and thank him for his time. Then you might be able to casually ask if he knows someone who would be interested in your work. You might also be able to say something like, "I can see that what I've got here doesn't meet your needs, but I've been working on an idea that does. Could I send you an outline?" Give him some wiggle room that allows building a relationship without full-on commitment. Don't let the meeting be all or nothing.
A car salesman doesn't project that he is selling a car. He projects that he is helping you choose one.
This is so funny, and so honest, and so generous. I have an allergic reaction to simply reading the word pitch, so I think actually pitching could literally be the end of me, but a series where you get into it would be really helpful nonetheless, for a lot of people.
Ben!! As a fellow longtime foot shooter, I read this with great empathy. There are more times than I like to think about that I turned an opportunity to promote my work into a chance to put myself down. I’ve thought about this a lot in the past couple of years, and I think I learned somewhere along the way that this type of “ humility” was of some sort of value or honor. In the same vein, I think I went through the world for a long time with this leave-no-trace ethos— as if is the best I could do for others was to make no impact on them.
It is with great gratitude that I can report this is evolving for me rapidly. I hope to pitch a manuscript I’m working on soon. So, your advice is also timely. Thank you.
To commiserate, here’s one regret I’ve held onto. I, too, will withhold names. I was in New York when I ran into a writer / writing teacher who I’d known during my final year of undergrad. He was already prolific. He had seen and praised my writing. but I didn’t receive it well, thinking self-deprecation was the way to go. Anywho, he was the writer in residence at this cool hotel. We ended up getting a drink after one of his readings and were joined by another writer friend of his, who had just published a new book. This other writer gave me a copy of his book at my friend’s suggestion that I would be a great person to review it. He was the editor for a quarterly I would have loved to be published in, and it was clearly an open invitation to publish there. I basically never worked up the confidence to finish this review and submit and was very embarrassed about that for a long time.
I cried laughing so hard reading this. And not for your misfortune, but all of ours, for every artist who has tried to sell themselves, it’s a hard road.
Oh, man. I feel you. I have this self-sabotaging thing where whenever there's an opportunity that might actually be something, I end up getting to it so late that I miss it. And this is from me, who is always early in any other circumstance. I overthink the pitch or the application too much and the deadline closes/conversation finishes/person walks out of the room/email was sent so long ago that it now feels weird to reply to it without an excuse like having been in a coma. I'm working on it.
Love this! Loglines are indeed a special craft and so far the comments have been illuminating for me, especially the one from Chip about the mindset. Claudia’s logline is terrific. It def makes me want to read it. In my writing workshops, I’m known as the one who can write a good logline. The secret is, it’s SO MUCH EASIER to do it for other people. Maybe you could start a series where we practice with each other. 🤷🏼♀️
Also - Colin Hay is a marvelous human and talented singer-songwriter. One of my faves. So cool that you got to interview him.
Embarrassing/humiliating pitching moments: I don’t have enough of these to count, but I do have key moments where I just clammed up and let opportunity walk by. At least you were in there fighting the battle.
PLEASE do your series on pitching, I think it would be immensely helpful. Love what Chip said about thinking of it as starting a relationship with someone rather than pitching something they're not buying to begin with... But also, I've gotta wonder about people who agree to meet an aspiring artist, and then sort of just sit there with a "Wow me" kind of attitude. Maybe the "gatekeepers" could cut the "what's the password?" crap and imagine meeting us where we are? Just thinking out loud. ;)
Same in the film industry. Elevator pitches, log lines, crack delivered in three concise sentences… it’s everything and yet so hard to commit time to doing. Thanks for the gutted reminder.
And just saying, I would never refuse a hand-knit copy from the wool of virgin lambs.
Ben, this was a brilliant read. I know that this evidently all stung, but man did you write it all with wit and quips and flair.
"I had a paper cup because I hate the environment." 🤣🤣
In all seriousness, there's a lot of value in this post and I really like your bullet points at the end. I know nothing of pitching.
Have you thrown your stories into ChatGPT to ask them to come up with loglines, short pitches, perhaps aimed at different potential audiences? This could be a useful exercise, perhaps. I'd love to read your process of iteration.
When her young brother dies after committing a school mass shooting, a brilliant scientist risks everything to bring him back as an AI consciousness and give him a chance at redemption.
I’ll keep that in mind for your birthday Kim. 😁
I'm retired from contacting and only write as a hobby (until somebody pays me!)
But I know about pitching. I pitched jobs for decades. Yes,there's technique to it. Take to heart that your buyer is buyer of what he is buying, not what you are selling. Make sure you know what that is, and then pitch from his perspective, not yours. Better to acknowledge that what you are pitching isn't what he wants, and thank him for his time. Then you might be able to casually ask if he knows someone who would be interested in your work. You might also be able to say something like, "I can see that what I've got here doesn't meet your needs, but I've been working on an idea that does. Could I send you an outline?" Give him some wiggle room that allows building a relationship without full-on commitment. Don't let the meeting be all or nothing.
A car salesman doesn't project that he is selling a car. He projects that he is helping you choose one.
.
This is so funny, and so honest, and so generous. I have an allergic reaction to simply reading the word pitch, so I think actually pitching could literally be the end of me, but a series where you get into it would be really helpful nonetheless, for a lot of people.
Ben!! As a fellow longtime foot shooter, I read this with great empathy. There are more times than I like to think about that I turned an opportunity to promote my work into a chance to put myself down. I’ve thought about this a lot in the past couple of years, and I think I learned somewhere along the way that this type of “ humility” was of some sort of value or honor. In the same vein, I think I went through the world for a long time with this leave-no-trace ethos— as if is the best I could do for others was to make no impact on them.
It is with great gratitude that I can report this is evolving for me rapidly. I hope to pitch a manuscript I’m working on soon. So, your advice is also timely. Thank you.
To commiserate, here’s one regret I’ve held onto. I, too, will withhold names. I was in New York when I ran into a writer / writing teacher who I’d known during my final year of undergrad. He was already prolific. He had seen and praised my writing. but I didn’t receive it well, thinking self-deprecation was the way to go. Anywho, he was the writer in residence at this cool hotel. We ended up getting a drink after one of his readings and were joined by another writer friend of his, who had just published a new book. This other writer gave me a copy of his book at my friend’s suggestion that I would be a great person to review it. He was the editor for a quarterly I would have loved to be published in, and it was clearly an open invitation to publish there. I basically never worked up the confidence to finish this review and submit and was very embarrassed about that for a long time.
I cried laughing so hard reading this. And not for your misfortune, but all of ours, for every artist who has tried to sell themselves, it’s a hard road.
Oh, man. I feel you. I have this self-sabotaging thing where whenever there's an opportunity that might actually be something, I end up getting to it so late that I miss it. And this is from me, who is always early in any other circumstance. I overthink the pitch or the application too much and the deadline closes/conversation finishes/person walks out of the room/email was sent so long ago that it now feels weird to reply to it without an excuse like having been in a coma. I'm working on it.
Love this! Loglines are indeed a special craft and so far the comments have been illuminating for me, especially the one from Chip about the mindset. Claudia’s logline is terrific. It def makes me want to read it. In my writing workshops, I’m known as the one who can write a good logline. The secret is, it’s SO MUCH EASIER to do it for other people. Maybe you could start a series where we practice with each other. 🤷🏼♀️
Also - Colin Hay is a marvelous human and talented singer-songwriter. One of my faves. So cool that you got to interview him.
Embarrassing/humiliating pitching moments: I don’t have enough of these to count, but I do have key moments where I just clammed up and let opportunity walk by. At least you were in there fighting the battle.
PLEASE do your series on pitching, I think it would be immensely helpful. Love what Chip said about thinking of it as starting a relationship with someone rather than pitching something they're not buying to begin with... But also, I've gotta wonder about people who agree to meet an aspiring artist, and then sort of just sit there with a "Wow me" kind of attitude. Maybe the "gatekeepers" could cut the "what's the password?" crap and imagine meeting us where we are? Just thinking out loud. ;)
Same in the film industry. Elevator pitches, log lines, crack delivered in three concise sentences… it’s everything and yet so hard to commit time to doing. Thanks for the gutted reminder.
And just saying, I would never refuse a hand-knit copy from the wool of virgin lambs.
This is good -- I will share it with my writing students-- thanks and good luck!
Ben, this was a brilliant read. I know that this evidently all stung, but man did you write it all with wit and quips and flair.
"I had a paper cup because I hate the environment." 🤣🤣
In all seriousness, there's a lot of value in this post and I really like your bullet points at the end. I know nothing of pitching.
Have you thrown your stories into ChatGPT to ask them to come up with loglines, short pitches, perhaps aimed at different potential audiences? This could be a useful exercise, perhaps. I'd love to read your process of iteration.