Preparation to pitching – a separate borderline of working with projects
Zoia Alforova, the Doctor of Arts, Professor, Dean of the School of Film and Television Arts of Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, told the participants of the DYTIATKO Festival about it today.
According to her, when going to pitching, the participant needs to determine the purpose of why he or she is taking part in it in the first place.
It can be the necessity to support the studio or presentation of his or her own brand. Based on this, the strategy is selected under which the pitching structure is adjusted.
“You need to understand what you want to learn: how to communicate, direct or sell a product. Participation in any activity should be meaningful, and therefore it should reflect your real motives”, Zoya Alfiorova mentions.
“Let’s say that you understand the motives of financing the project. Now you need to choose your type of pitching, – the expert added. – Not understanding the purpose of pitching is the most widespread mistake of the participants”.
The speaker also told the participants of the festival about the types of pitching.
Producer’s pitching is when the producer has an idea, a project but he/she does not have enough funds and therefore turns to financial organizers or pitching experts for getting enough funds for it. The producer proves that his/her project is realistic. It includes the adequate understanding of the resources, how much the advertisement, pre- and postproduction will cost.
Director’s pitching. Its purpose lies in the fact that the director has to prove to the expert community that he/she has necessary skills and understanding of the pallette of director’s means of expressions, meaning he/she knows how to conduct casting, choose a crew, posesses the skills of positioning and communicating with the crew in a sensible way. Director’s pitching is a kind of self-presentation by the director as a creative unit. The funds are given on his/her name.
Last but not least is a screenplay pitching. It is about the sale of intellectual unrealized product. The sale on screenplay outline, synopsis or screenplay level.
“Determination of the life-span of screenplay is its correct dramaturgical construction”, Zoya Alfiorova stressed.
As the expert said, the participants of screenplay pitching must know how to define topic and idea.
“The topic is the main issue violated in a screenplay. It is displayed in the name. The idea is the main thought, something that a person reading a screenplay or watching a film has to come to. One also needs to know the type of conflict. No dramaturgical construction goes by without it. It can be close or open, internal or external”, the speaker added.
