The Elevator Pitch Twist for Movies
February 22, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
What’s an elevator pitch?
It’s a 30 second diatribe designed to sell something, usually yourself. The idea is that you have just half a minute to explain what you do and why it has value. The catch is that it has to be catchy, has to intrigue and compel the listener, trigger interest, and hopefully land a sale.
For today’s exercise, I’d like to present an elevator pitch-like exercise. Hopefully, you’ve seen a movie recently. Or, maybe you have an old favorite that you remember well. Think about the storyline, the characters, the sub-plots, and then summarize the whole thing in just one sentence.
A few weeks ago, I challenged you to write a 100-word sentence in An Exercise of Great Length. For today’s exercise, try to keep your sentence as short as possible, but you still need to capture the essence of the film you’re trying to describe. Here are few guidelines:
- The shorter the better. Try to keep it under 50 words. Less than 25 is even better.
- It has to be pique interest. Make your reader or listener want to watch the movie.
- Your sentence should describe the movie but it shouldn’t give too much away.
Try it and post yours in the comments. This is great practice for screenwriters and novelists, because summarizing your story is a key method for pitching it. Developing the ability to summarize a feature length story in a few short words could land you a publishing deal or a film contract. After all, you never know who you’re going to meet, and you don’t want to stumble over trying to describe your masterpiece when you meet an executive producer in the airport, coffee shop, or even online. So try it, and good luck!
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I’m neither a screenwriter nor a novelist, just a workaday hack. But brevity is definitely not my strong suit, so I had to give this exercise a try!
“Star Wars is the coming-of-age tale of Luke Skywalker who struggles with both his heritage and his moral place in a warring world.”
One red pen. Two men. Touch the pen, and unleash hell. Leave it there, and hell spreads like a disease… from person to person. Undetectable, insipid… is it coming for you?
@AnnaLisa, That’s pretty good! Here’s my Star Wars attempt:
When young Luke Skywalker discovers a princess’ plea for help embedded in the memory of a rebel droid, he embarks on a quest become a Jedi Knight, joining the rebel fighters in a war against an evil empire and a dark enemy known as Darth Vader.
@James, That’s good but more than one sentence! How about simply:
Is the red pen coming for you?
Bah, I was tired. Sue me
There are two things I haven’t gotten yet, the haiku and the elevator speech.
As a new dadm, again, I’ll try my hand at Pixar’s Bug’s Life:
Flick, an ant with aspirations, manages to save his colony from destruction by evil grasshoppers as well as teach the colony about both individualism and the strength of numbers.
@Ed, That sound good. I haven’t seen the movie but I’m wondering if this pitch gives the ending away?