Cinematic Arias

I once took a class with producer Joe Roth and he gave us the formula for a winning pitch: 1) a trailer, 2) a poster and 3) a log-line. If you could pitch all three, you stood a good chance of selling your project.

Note: this really only works for high concept pictures; I don’t think you could sell THE SAVAGES this way.

Mr. Roth believed so much in this formula that he made it our final; we had to pitch him a movie and he wanted us to use these selling points. With that in mind, let’s take a look at two movies opening soon: 27 DRESSES and CLOVERFIELD.

For this assignment, the perfect log-line would be a TV Guide blurb: 1-3 sentences that let you know what to expect but leave you wanting more. I think this is how I’d pitch these movies (I searched for the actual log-lines but I had to do the job myself).

27 DRESSES – Jane, a woman who’s been a bridesmaid 27 times, faces her worst nightmare when her sister becomes engaged to the man of her dreams.

CLOVERFIELD – When an unknown creature attacks New York, a group of party-goers run for their lives while documenting the onslaught with their home video camera; imagine GODZILLA a la THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

Verdict: While that 27 DRESSES log-line tells you exactly what to expect, the CLOVERFIELD one lets you see the movie in your mind. I know many people will say “don’t cite other movies in your pitch” but I think they’d all change their tune if it was a no-brainer and “GODZILLA meets BLAIR WITCH” allows even the dimmest studio suit to see the movie.

Let’s look at the posters (note: he didn’t want you bring in actual artwork; he wanted you describe that one-sheet that would get butts in seats):

What does this tell you about the movie? It tells me that it stars the girl from KNOCKED UP and that if I liked THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA then I might be into this, too. As for the tag-line (always a bridesmaid, never a bride), it’s not very motivating.

IMHO, this poster is brilliant. It begs a question that can only be answered by seeing this movie on January 18, 2008. In a later version, they added the tag-line “something has found us” and that only makes me want to see this more.

The “trailer” would make up the bulk of the pitch. Here, Mr Roth wants to hear all those awesome movie moments you’d cram into a 3-minute trailer. Instead of the low-res Flash of YouTube, take a look at the 27 DRESSES and CLOVERFIELD trailers in Quicktime.

Again, the 27 DRESSES trailer sells the film to its audience (which isn’t me) but that CLOVERFIELD teaser still raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

Personally, I think Joe Roth would have given 27 DRESSES an “A” but the CLOVERFIELD pitch earns an “A+” because it keeps begging questions that can only be answered by seeing the movie.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I pitched an action movie about Elvis. I rambled through my pitch but I earned my “A-” because I had a good idea for the poster but it was my tag-line that made Joe Roth break out into a smile (maybe I’ll share it when I actually sell that pitch).