Creating Effective Pitch Decks (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Pitch Deck:

Pitch Decks (Pitch Documents) are one of those marketing tools that although viable have limited use for writers. But they are an important part of the total marketing package every writer should put together along with a logline and synopsis.

So what are they exactly and why do we, how do we create them?

De-Mystify

Let’s pull the curtain back on pitch decks. They are – tada – Powerpoint presentations – basically. Although there are plenty of templates and software around for doing this, anything that creates slides that will hold images and text (and video) will do. 

The key isn’t how fancy your software is, but what can you use effectively to create a presentation that will cover various aspects of your project to sell it.

Powerpoint is my choice since it’s feature-rich, I already know it, it’s flexible, and I can export the presentation itself in various ways including as a video I can then upload to YouTube, social media, or embed in a website. And Powerpoint is something I already have since it normally comes in Microsoft Office. Hard to beat.

Why Create a Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck is from the financial world. Investment opportunities have traditionally been accompanied by a compelling presentation to entice investors. They are used for multiple types of fund raising, start-ups, real estate – the list is unlimited which is how they also found their way into film.  An indie film can indeed be an investment opportunity in many cases and is presented as such.

A pitch deck contains elements of all the marketing tools a writer should use. It has a synopsis, a logline, character summaries and more. Why all that in one? Because it’s rare to create a pitch deck to present unless you’re also seeking funding for your project. Investors need a complete picture.

Now this doesn’t mean you also can’t send it to someone looking to just buy your script. It’s just not as much used that way.

Alejandro Seri, VP of Sales at Final Draft, tells the story of how when he was doing films exclusively, he and his partners created a pitch deck. They were seeking funding for a project, not just selling the script. They wanted to make it themselves and the first step is to find investors. One of the places they took it to loved it not only for the film concept but for the elements they presented that most writers don’t even think about.

“They were so impressed with the idea that we understood the business side of moviemaking,” Alejandro explains, “that they bought the script.” The film became Final Girl. Alejandro and his partners didn’t end up as indie filmmakers from that project, but they did sell themselves and the project so well using the pitch deck and then a follow-up verbal presentation that they got that all important sale. As Jack Warden explains to Paul Newman in The Verdict – when they give you the money that means you won.

It’s A Pitch

So, a pitch deck is just that – a pitch.

Imagine it as you being in front of a group of execs or producers and you’re talking up your script. You might bring along a synopsis, images, explainer videos – even actors – to present that masterpiece of yours in a meeting.

A few years back it was fashionable to put on a ‘dog and pony show’ meaning a killer, over-the-top pitch. Jumping on coffee tables was not out of bounds. A sound-effects machine. Acting out parts, spasmodically falling on the floor – yeah, it was ugly. Lately, there’s less emphasis on that and more on content. That’s also what a pitch deck accomplishes.

And sure, you can bring it with you to a pitch – why not? It’s visual and cogent – things you need when pitching any project. If you were an exec in a company you’d use exactly this same thing, a Powerpoint presentation, to make your point.

What Goes Into A Pitch Deck?

Here’s where the rubber hits the road as the cliche goes. You want between 7-15 slides broken down into various categories.

Let’s take the sections one by one:

FORMAT: In general.

Anything that works in Powerpoint, template-wise, will work for your pitch deck. I spend a lot of time getting the format I want but understand that depending on the information, some of that might change.

You might have a title page that is one large image like the first slide here. Or, 1/3 of the vertical page as images and 2/3 as text for other pages is a great format and it artistically follows the Rule of Thirds.

Note the second and fourth slide in this free template from PowerPointify. This is a business template, but it’s exactly what you want. It has visual appeal and sells on several levels. It’s clean with lots of space. Any of your slides can be formatted like this using images to make the page pop.

Remember, this is a marketing tool not a comprehensive business plan for a movie. Too much detail is not the goal. This is a tantalizing taste to get the people you’re pitching to ask for more, including the script to read. Keeping it visual for the most part is the way to go.

THE ACTUAL PAGES

TITLE PAGE

Yeah, duh, I know – obvious. Who doesn’t include a title page?

Unlike a script, however, adding an image to this page either as a background or a stunning single image is desirable. 

If you were pitching a Top Gun type feature, an image of a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II along with a great font for the title would be awesome.

Here’s the one-sheet for Avatar: The Way of Water which itself would make a great title page:

The more visually impressive, the better. Think in terms of a book cover. Yes, we judge many things by their cover and coming up with something that draws your audience in is a good way to start.

LOGLINE: One page.

This is a 1-2 sentence pitch that gives the project an overview.  There are many resources to learn how to write a solid logline but here’s the basics.

Use this formula and modify to your needs:

 _____ (title) is a _____ (genre) about a___________ (description of flawed hero) who after ____________ (event that changes everything), wants to/must/struggles to (circle one) __________ (outer goal) by ________ (plan of action) before ____________ (dire things will happen). This becomes increasingly difficult because _________________ (obstacles & complications)

“A Battle Lost is the true story of a brash soldier who fought in the first Gulf War but went AWOL in the middle of a bloody battle. He inadvertently becomes a true hero when he reluctantly leads a village of women and children to safety across a dangerous stretch of a war zone.”

You can also add, it’s this meets that after the logline like:

A Battle Lost is Saving Private Ryan meets The Red Badge of Courage.

Although there are no rules to where a slide should appear, logic dictates that this be one of the early slides.

OVERVIEW PAGE:  Broad strokes about the project.

Each category is only a few words. 

Title: Battle Lost
Genre: Action/War
Sub-Genre: Adventure
Literary Themes: Courage comes from unexpected places
Cultural Themes:  All people are the same
Setting (time period): 1st Gulf War, 1990
Geographical Setting: Kandahar, Afghanistan or similar
Action (what kind of action if any): Bloody and violent at times
Rating: Hard PG-13/R
Budget: Either here or on an optional page discussed later.
And any more specifics about the script itself.

SYNOPSIS:  1-2 pages.

Synopses are great because they’re a short overview of the entire story. Try to keep it short and to the point. Use images here if appropriate. It’s going to be text-heavy pages so find something to also make it visually interesting.

THEMES: One page perhaps with images.

All stories have themes. Some can be simply “Good vs. Evil” or “Revenge” if you’re doing an action project, but even action can have complicated themes. 

Take The Peripheral for example. Chloe Grace Moritz plays a talented gamer living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She gets involved in some pretty heavy and brutal stuff when her brother hooks her into a cutting-edge VR system run by evildoers. The theme “Too Good To Be True” among others is strong in this series.

In the section titled Overview theme is briefly covered. Here in this section you’d maybe want to get into a little more depth especially if your work is a drama where theme is sometimes the strongest thread. 

Where the Crawdads Sing tells a powerful story of a girl abandoned by her family in the marshes of North Carolina. Survival is the main theme but the indomitable human spirit, prejudice, art as a metaphor for life, female empowerment, and more all come into play. These multiple themes can all be explored here to good effect and would make a great page to put into the deck.

A stand-alone theme page is not an absolute unless your story relies heavily on them, but it can enhance the presentation greatly.