What's it REALLY about?
Fri, Mar 13th 2009, 08:32
We've just spent the last couple of weeks doing a lot of meetings down in London, pitching ideas and so on. I thought it might be useful to mention a few of the big questions we get asked - things that need thinking about before heading into a meeting.
There are several questions that are asked more often than not. First is, "Are you really brothers?" (D'accord!) Next is, "Do you fight?" (Negatory) At student events we also often get asked, "Where do you get your ideas from?" (Sheesh!)
But in pitch meetings there are some big questions that always come up. The first biggie is "What's it really about?" This weighty question will apply to even the fluffiest pre-school idea. And while it is a mighty annoying question, it is also an important one I think. Part of me does wonder if a filmmaker necessarily needs to know explicity what something is really about. Especially if they're making a short or experimental piece. Sometimes what flows out of you creatively will have all kinds of instinctive resonances and underlying meanings. But if you're trying to sell a series idea then I think you do need to know the answer to this ubiquitous question or you could come unstuck further down the line. [continued]
Another question that sounds like a cliché, but which you also need to know is, "What is the motivation for this character?" Or rather what is the motivation for this character's behaviour? And if it's a long running format idea - why does the character's behaviour persist?
Again it's easy to scoff at this question and I confess to the occasional private scoff, but not knowing the answer will make you look unprepared and as though you don't know your own characters.
The last big question we hear is, "What kind of stories will there be?" Sometimes the person you're pitching to won't quite get the idea for whatever reason. There is nothing like an example storyline to unlock the world you've created. When it comes down to it a pitch document saying this series will be thrilling and funny doesn't establish if the final concept will be (a) thrilling or (b) funny. The proof is in the pudding, which in this case is a nicely baked treatment, a well risen script, or at the very least, a collection of juicy paragraphs hinting at a variety of stories.
Here endeth the lesson.
