Television Writing 101: Conducting a Hollywood Pitch by Telephone

Landed your first TV pitch? Bravo! Celebrate later, your work has just begun.

After selling scripts to a major Hollywood studio, I began getting pitch invitations from television programs. Based in New Jersey required flying out to Los Angeles, California each time I got a meeting. It also meant time and money. I flew to Hollywood for several in person meetings, however many pitch sessions were conducted by telephone.

Even writers I know based in LA phone pitch. It's quicker for all involved and easier depending on experience level. Any business meeting whatever the industry can be stressful. New writers may want to take phone pitches first to get their feet wet, then move on to being seated across the desk from a powerful TV show boss who makes more money for one episode than most Americans make in a year.

Story Shop

This requires talent, dedication and story instincts that landed you a pitch in the first place. My specific advice regarding number of stories would be no less than three and really no more than seven or eight. There is no standardized format or strict rules dictating how many stories you can pitch. Usually you have an hour, perhaps two and in that time you pitch until your time runs out. However with too few ideas, you'll end up leaving before time runs out, so more is definitely better. Still, mix it up with 2 or 3 small ideas - ones you may have not fully developed but still are clear in your mind - with 2 or 3 more detailed stories.

Producers have lit up after me just giving a sentence, while those ideas I fully fleshed out didn't get a murmur. Bottom line: Be prepared with enough stories to fill your time, but make it interesting by creating a mixture of story tone, type and even length. For example a Dead Zone idea I pitched was merely: Johnny loses his psychic powers after having a nightmare. Immediately, all the producers started mulling it over and pitching back to me. It was a kind of spontaneous brainstorm session, which was fun and couldn't be anticipated.

Cheat Sheet: Notes