Pitching Hollywood: How to Sell Your TV Show and Movie Ideas

by Jonathan Koch, Robert Kosberg, Tanya Meurer Norman (With)

Overview

Two successful movie and TV producers provide the reader with the tools needed to create, develop, and sell ideas to Hollywood. Producers Jonathan Koch ("Beyond the Glory") and Robert Kosberg (Deep Blue Sea) are known as the "Kings of Pitch." They currently have more than a dozen projects in development at major studios, including projects with Josh Lucas, Tobey Maguire, and Katherine Heigl.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781884956317
Publisher:	Linden Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/2004
Pages:	167
Product dimensions:	5.95(w) x 9.03(h) x 0.49(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
Chapter 1	Who We Are	1
	Photocopying	4
Chapter 2	Who You Are	9
	Idea People	10
	Selling Your Ideas as Property	11
Chapter 3	How We Created Our Positions	13
Chapter 4	What Is "High Concept"?	17
	Low Concept	19
	What if It's Neither-Nor?	19
	Back to High Concept	19
	Sample High Concept Pitch	20
Chapter 5	Start With a Good Idea	25
	Freshness	25
	Commercial Viability	28
	Marketability	28
	Timeliness	29
	Demographics	30
	Other Factors to Consider	32
	Finding those Great Ideas	33
	Ideas from Articles, Radio, TV	39
	Ideas from Books	40
	Public Domain	41
	When Looking for and Generating Ideas, Keep in Mind	41
Chapter 6	All-Time Worst Pitches	43
	Good Examples of Bad Ideas	43
	So, Did This Help?	50
	Here's a List of Elements that Will Most Likely Make Your Idea Dead on Arrival	50
Chapter 7	How Much Is My Idea Worth?	53
	A Very Tough Question	53
	Forms of Payment	54
Chapter 8	Protecting Your Idea	61
	Register Your Treatment	62
	Mail It to Yourself	63
	Be Mindful	64
	Be Concise and Specific	64
	Pitch It Everywhere	65
Chapter 9	Preparing Your Pitch	67
	Titles	68
	Anatomy of a Pitch	68
	Film Treatments	70
	Reality Show Treatments	72
	Treatments for Game Shows	74
	Treatments for Hybrid Shows: Competitive Reality Shows	75
	Treatments for Documentary/Biography Shows	75
	Treatments for Soap Operas	76
	Treatments for News Magazines and Talkshows	76
	Treatments for Dramas and Sitcoms: "Bibles"	76
	Refining the Pitch	78
Chapter 10	Getting into the Room	81
	Where to Begin?	82
	So You've Got a Good Idea, a Pitch, and the Numbers to Call: Now What?	84
	If You Don't Live in L.A.	86
Chapter 11	Once You Are In the Room	89
	The Do's	89
	The Don'ts	96
Chapter 12	Staying Cool In Development Hell	101
	What Is Development?	101
	Why Does It Take So Long?	102
	What's the Point?	105
Chapter 13	Sample High Concepts, Synopses, and Treatments	107
	Game Shows	108
	Reality Shows	115
	Reality-Game Show Hybrid	119
	Movies	126
	Glossary of Terms	137
	References & Resources	145
	Additional Reading	150
	Index	153
	About the Authors	163