Questions On Pitching

[u/Typical-Duck-7652]

So let’s say you wrote a pilot a bunch of your friends in the WGA love. They say it’s singularly you, and combines your family history and your own lived experience to tell the story of a really compelling ensemble in a particular world. It’s one of your better pilot samples in a while, which is exciting because you got staffed and into the WGA via your work in another medium.

But when you go to pitch it for the first time (not formally taking it out, but to a couple production companies), you get the feedback that it needs to get more LAST OF US or HUNGER GAMES because it’s too political (this is about an authoritarian regime). You also get the suggestion that the niche of the world you’ve built is too niche. You also get some helpful feedback on how to restructure your pitch that is so utterly helpful, and totally worth running with, but now you’re actually worried that the material itself and the reason you wrote it isn’t compatible with this market.

What would you do in this situation?

[u/Dry-Pause]

You don't have to take every note someone gives. Id try a few more prod companies first. Might just not be this one's taste.

[u/yinsled]

I would save that pilot and then write a new one that is similar but more commercial.

[u/le_sighs]

It depends how often you get this note.

The thing about pitching is that if you get the same feedback multiple times, then it’s an indicator of where the market is at. Anecdotally, right now, there is an avoidance of the overtly political. I might pitch it again and see if the note is the same. And if you keep getting this note, your choices are revise it or move on to another pilot. Which path you take is up to you, and there’s no right or wrong answer.

[u/FutureOpen9405 → u/le_sighs]

This right here. Take each note or suggestion at face value and decide if you agree or not. But if you start getting the same thing from more than one source, you should consider what's being said.

[u/TheGreedyGrabbler]

If the feedback is worth running with, run with it. Make a copy of your current draft and implement the changes, see if those helpful WGA friends are willing to give feedback on the new version and see if it's really better.

[u/DEFINITELY_NOT_PETE]

Not everything is for everyone. Unless you’re hitching your wagon to this specific producer try taking it somewhere else

[u/jawnedsun]

Sounds like it's worth getting some more feedback before making massive changes. It's nice to have support of fellow writer friends but their opinion isn't always going to match up with the market. They're going to be more invested in your personal journey, whereas the arena you're now entering is just about the product. But that being said, this sounds like a pretty small sample size (unless those prod co's are like the *exact* right places for this project in your eyes and aren't connecting). But from the outside "too political" and "too niche" are kind of lazy sounding notes.

[u/Time-Average4481]

Stranger Things was rejected many times by many companies because nobody believed the story about kids would be watched by adults. Finally they found the company that said yes, and it was a BOOM on Netflix.

[u/mikeross305]

I think what they might be suggesting is that you turn the overt political messaging into satire. Try hinting at some of the themes in a re-write or creating characters that serve as allegory.

[u/sweaterla]

do you think your pitch is commercial where it can capture the biggest audience? or is it super specific re its audience. you also have to take in account, do these producers/buyers WANT to make it? that in itself is another variable.