Okay, first off I gotta give a big shout out to the man, the myth, the greatest salesman in Hollywood, Ed Decter.  Ed and I go way back to my early days in Hollywood when I worked as his writer’s assistant.  Ed’s been working this town for years and has been killing it since day one.  To catch you up on his career, here’s the stuff he got made.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214036/

And that’s not counting the hundreds of pilot scripts, feature scripts and other projects he sold but didn’t get green lit for production.

This past week as I’ve been twittering about, I’ve been working with Ed on a pitch.  Going into this, I thought I knew how to pitch a show.  Boy was I wrong.  Turns out I know how to create a show, create great characters, write a show, sell a story… all the things a writer needs, but pitching is something different.  As Ed said, “…more sizzle and very less steak.”  What that means is you shouldn’t bog down your pitch with the beats of the pilot episode.  It should be mostly about the characters and their relationships which in turn gives the network a good idea how the audience will identify with the characters and ultimately how the characters will interact, cause conflict and generate stories for the series.

I’ll share a tip with you that he shared with me.  It’s really something to write down so you can use it yourself on a pitch.  There’s a simple formula to follow when drawing up your pitch.  It should lay out as follows:  PREMISE/WORLD 10% CHARACTERS/FUN 60%, PILOT STORY 20%, FUTURE STORIES that reinforce CHARACTER 10%

To me that made things so damn clear on how to do it.  And within two more passes, I had an Ed approved pitch package.  We went in and killed it.  They loved the idea, loved the characters, the world, etc.  Now it’s time to wait and see if they want to buy it.  Yes, in Hollywood, as with everywhere, just because something loves something doesn’t mean they’re going to buy it.  The hard truth.  I mean, hell, I love that 50s Mercedes Benz 300sl with gullwing doors but it doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and buy it.

But in this case I’m feeling it’s at least a favorable shot at a sale.  We did the best we could and got a great reaction.  But they through in a twist.  Maybe it’s better animated.  Interesting.  Not sure if that improves our chances or not.  I guess it might.  There’s TWO ways they can buy the show.  Either live action, which they thought it might be too sci-fi for them, or as an animated series which would kick ass.  Honestly, I’m down for either one.  This show will kick ass if it gets made.  You just might be watching it in a more colorful world than our own.  Fingers crossed!

So, as I’ve been Tweeting about, I’ve got a big pitch coming up.  I’m totally stoked to be going into it having one of my mentors attached to it.  He’s been a great supporter of mine since I worked for him a million years ago and I’m forever thankful for all his help, including this pitch which he brought me into.

That said, there in lies the pressure.  I’ve been so fortunate to have him hook me up and put his faith in me on this and I damn well want to deliver.  Yesterday was a bit maddening and I stressed myself out to no end.  The good news is we had a great meeting with the producer on the project and came up with a lot of good stuff for the pitch.  After working those notes in and giving it a practice run, I can honestly say, I’m psyched for Monday.  Scared yes, scared shitless, no.  I know this show.  Just gotta practice pitching it some more so I can go off book.

The other part of the pressure is of course the make and break parts of the equation.  With my lady and myself out of work, we definitely could benefit from this thing getting bought.  A job for me, money coming in for us and a chance to take a breath for the first time since August of ‘08.  It’s been a long hard run and if they don’t bite on Monday, the run could continue.  Strangely, I’m prepared for that.  I’ve gotten used to the bad beats.  The one question in my mind continues to be, when will the bad luck end?  If ever there were a chance to stop it in its tracks, it’s this pitch.  With a great writer/director behind me, a big time producer at our side, and the material that seems almost tailored to the network’s needs, I think we’ve got a good shot.

Send good vibes, people.  This flailing writer’s looking for a break.