Pitching a series project in English has become an essential step in the increasingly international audiovisual industry. Whether it’s to find financial funds or to raise the profile of your project, we’ll show you the importance of pitching your series project with our new capsule training called “Pitch your series in English“!
Series Mania: where pitching brings ideas to life
For several years now, Series Mania has been initiating professional series writing and career development programs for talent. Because the pitch is the first step before a series can be financed, Series Mania Forum has made this key moment one of its focal points. Last year, Series Mania Forum once again beat its attendance record, with 3,800 professionals from 64 countries attending and 52 projects being pitched: a truly outstanding performance!
Many participants receive support from our teams. Eureka Series screenwriters, like Writers Campus participants, take part in dedicated sessions to learn how to pitch effectively. Other sessions are organized with producers such as Pictanovo.
As proof of the importance of pitching, Series Mania Forum also organizes the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. This program selects and awards the best pitches. Series such as Hors Saison (Switzerland, France), Blackport (Iceland), The Last Socialist Artefact (Slovenia, Finland), We Got This (Sweden), Ever After (Italy), No Man’s Land (France), Freud (Germany) and The Head (Spain) were presented for the first time at these events. Each year, 15 series projects seeking international financing are selected, and their producers are invited to Lille to pitch their series to an audience of key industry decision-makers.
Making a good pitch has a real importance! It’s something you really need to prepare for, as it can take several forms. In the context of Series Mania Forum, it involves a presentation to an audience and/or one-to-one meetings with potential financial partners. For this exercise, the author of the pitch must master the codes, the approach, but also the language! After all, the media world is international. And the fact that pitch is an English word is no coincidence: it’s precisely because it’s the king language in a globalized audiovisual landscape.
From Idea to Impact: the epic journey of pitching
In English, the pitch has many different meanings, all of which refer to a short, punchy action in motion. Originally used in the world of sport, it also refers to “a pitch”, “a slope”, “a launch”, “to promote”, “to launch”, “to pose”, etc. Used in France since the 1990s, pitch has become the method for presenting an idea and convincing people. In the audiovisual industry, it’s a short, effective hook for a project, designed to encourage the producer to set up a meeting with the author or quickly sign an option to lock in the rights. Although the pitch has sometimes been criticized, today it remains a must for all creative people, screenwriters, directors and producers alike.
No pitch, no series. There are even pitch sessions outside real life. Thus, Newen Studios has announced the second edition of its Pitch Contest dedicated to TV series projects, the “Meta Pitch Contest”, which takes place…in the metaverse!
MAKING A GOOD PITCH is possible for everyone
Everyone needs to discover their own way of pitching. You have to cultivate your uniqueness and singularity.
According to a study by Kantar, 68% of French people feel fear or stress when they have to speak in public [1].
These figures are both eloquent and worrying, given that the pitch has become a key element in convincing someone to finance a project. The stress is all the greater when it comes to presenting a series project. The word pitch creates apprehension. It’s difficult for young writers and producers to summarize their project, not only because it represents an important challenge for them, but also because not everything has been finalized yet.
Yet the pitch is accessible to all.
For Agathe Berman, an expert on the subject: “Everyone needs to discover their own way of pitching. You have to cultivate your uniqueness and singularity. We can all succeed if we find the approach that suits us. We don’t have to conform to a fixed model. It all depends on your personality and the context in which the pitch takes place.
Agathe also provides a few tools. For example, a pitch shouldn’t be a description of your project, but rather a way of drawing the target audience into your project.
lt must therefore meet 2 challenges:
- Clarity
You need to have a clear vision of the project you’re working on. This is often the greatest difficulty, especially in the case of series. Indeed, if the framework must be well drawn, so must the serial engine. For Agathe: “The scribble must become a square, because that’s all the interviewer understands.”
- Energy
The pitch is a dynamic moment: you have to transmit energy and challenge the listener to get into the story. In short, you have to adapt your speech to the listener.
While these tools can provide guidance, Agathe confirms that ” there is no miracle recipe, and only hard work will produce results. In France, we often think that you have to stay natural. But in reality, you have to work at being natural!
Series Mania does all it can to support future pitchers and offers a 3-day training course, “PITCH YOUR SERIES IN ENGLISH”, entirely devoted to improving their pitch.
Developed in collaboration with the pitchologist expert, Bonnie Williams, it focuses on improving your pitch for maximum impact.
This program will help series writers and producers gain the confidence to communicate their project and vision in English, and thus present their series project in a convincing way.
Pitch your series in English
December 15, 2023 at 5pm (Paris time – CET): Application deadline for the Paris edition.
[1] https://www.kantarpublic.com/fr/inspiration/analyses-et-points-de-vue/les-francais-et-la-prise-de-parole-en-public