Let Your Story Lead the Way: Another Successful Season of Pitching 

The latest season of our TV Pilot Pitch Challenge, sponsored by Final Draft, has come to a successful end! Earlier this year, we set out to discover exciting new TV concepts and the unique writers behind them to showcase to our panel of industry pros at the Pitch Panel. Our three winners and two current Fast Track Fellows, Emma Barrow and writing team Kate Holland and Marlow Mitchell, took to the virtual stage on Nov.17th and received invaluable feedback from our panelists: Chris Nold (Literary Manager at MGMT Entertainment), David Soldinger ( VP Development & Creative Production at Abominable Pictures), Natalie Gergely (Director of Development for Abominable Pictures), and Felicity Wren (VP of Development at the ISA). 

Throughout the panel, our industry panelists emphasized two major things: personal connection and capturing tone. 

Personal Connection: 

There is no better time to “wear your heart on your sleeve” than during your pitch. A great pitch shows the writer’s passion, and lets potential producers know why the writer is the most qualified person to tell this story. Anyone can write a story, but only you can write from your experience, and that should shine through in your pitch.

Capturing Tone:

Let the story lead the way! When potential producers, managers and agents are listening to your pitch, they want to know what to expect. What are they going to experience when watching your project? Who are they going to be watching? What are the characters' personalities like? One of the most important things to convey in your pitch is the overall essence of your project. Our panelists suggested describing characters' relationships with each other, providing a potential plot point that viewers will see and encapsulate the energy of your project in your presentation. For example, if you are pitching a comedy series, make them laugh! 

Now please join us in celebrating the Grand Prize Winners and Finalists of our Virtual Pitch Challenge! 

Grand Prize Winners:

Barbara Blomquist - Dream Talk 

Caden Douglas - Tuck, Montana

David Green - The Levantates

Finalists: 

Mika Basson - Homeless

Ben Cox - Touch

Jeremy Davis - Scrapped Hope

Jeremy Dehn - Breakwater City

Jacobo Fe - The Son of The Sun

Leah Gottfried - The Rebbetzin

Ashley Haze and Marshall gripp Gillson - Drought

Sofia Javed and Karen Elizabeth Shantz - Sociable

Steven Kaminsky - Dumbbells

Joshua Keller Katz - Wrecker

Jesse Keller and Andy Trimlett - Wizard Oil

Nikki Larkins - 10 Boyfriends

Adelita Lopez and Amanda Lopez - The Work

Serena McIntire - Julie d'Aubigny

Amir Mo - Osama bin Laden: A Love Song

Grace Mulvey and Antoin Beag Ó Colla - Campa

Luke Muyskens - Uncle Sam's Misguided Children

Thuc Doan Nguyen - Blood Drop Killers

Beth Ann Powers - Scum

Mycah Nicole Roberts and Jeff Kerr - Priceless

Hannah Silver - House of Bricks

Jem Splitter and Alita Tomas - Space On Earth

To learn more about pitching, check out some of our resources like our ProTips page filled with hundreds of helpful videos, classes, and webinars. Plus, we are now offering one-on-one pitch feedback sessions with Producer, Writer & Senior Manager of Events & Writer Relations, Shayna Weber. To book your session, please contact Shayna at Shayna@networkisa.org. 

We look forward to hearing about your next big pitch success!