The Art of the Pitch |
Every great animation series began its life as a humble pitch - even mighty Peppa Pig started out as an idea in a sketch book.
There is nothing to stop our students creating the next Bob The Builder or Mr Bean.
The Art of the Pitch
Pitching is an art in itself, and a tricky one to master. Animators don't tend to be skilled at pitching; why would be? We're not natural extroverts; if we did - we'd be actors. But to sell a TV or web series, animators need to be able to pitch their ideas.
"Jelly Cars" by Lee Caller |
A good pitch is clear, concise, and grabs the audience's attention - and excites their interest. A good pitch is brief, and leaves the audience wanting more. Easy to say - but hard to do in practice.
Common pitfalls
Pitching is hard to get good at, and there are many pitfalls for the unwary. Common problems include:
- Not clearly identifying the title and characters. What is your story about? Your first slide should show clearly what the series title is, and who the main character is - with a good strapline. A good One Sheet will help a lot.
- Too much text. Your audience can't read your slides and listen to you at the same time. If they are reading - they aren't listening. Keep text to a minimum; the focus should be on you.
- Reading the pitch. Don't read out your pitch - it's boring to hear someone reading a script. Memorise your pitch, and use your slides as visual cues.
- Too many characters. You should have one main character and then perhaps four supporting characters. Don't get bogged down in the detail of too many other characters - the audience will get confused about who is important.
- Too much plot. There is a difference between story and plot. The audience wants to know if your main premise is interesting; they don't need to know too much plot detail.
How do you pitch animation?
To see the main ingredients of a good animation pitch, watch the short video below.
Pitching at TV Series - at Cartoon Brew
Here is a link to an excellent blog post we're recommending- well worth reading. It's titled "How to Pitch an Animated TV Series" - by Tunde Vollenbroek, a writer at Cartoon Brew. Tunde is the head of programming at KLIK! - the Amsterdam Animation Festival, and a producer at Studio Pupil.
It's a very good article with lots of nice pictures to help explain how to pitch your ideas.
To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our next classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.
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