How do we even begin? This week was A-MA-ZING!
On Monday we had our first meeting with Saraswathi Vani Balgam. Vani’s ideas were sooooo interesting and useful. She taught us that:
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The journey is the most important thing! (The river is more important than the sea)
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You need to learn to trust people: you can’t make a film alone
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The more you pitch, the better you get at it… so learn to love rejection!
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Define what you want, but know what you need: is it appreciation? acknowledgment? expansion?
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The look and feel of the project is very important. A single image is going to sell the idea (try collages, sketches…)
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Get into your “adult mode” = be cool. Leave the parent inside you (who gets defensive), and the child (who get upset), aside for the pitch.
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Get specific with the feedback: if they liked it, ask WHAT they liked about it
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Make space for silence because the audience need silence
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Be smart! Think about copyright early on
Yep, very very cool advice. Can you tell that she’s pitched her ideas a MILLION times?? Pretty cool, huh?
Last, but not least, a little homework that we’ve been working on… Answer this questions about your project! How specific can you get?
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What is a story?
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What do we want from a story?
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Who? What? Why? How? When? Where?
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What do I want my audience to take away from my project?
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What are the 3 most powerful scenes where the audience is going to feel Empathy with the character?
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What is my Poster going to look like?
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Tell your story in 2 lines (Elevator pitch)
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What do I like about my project?
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What do I NOT like?
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What’s the main EMOTION of my project?
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What’s the conflict in the story?
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What is so unique about my project?
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What are you looking for?
To maintain the level of “wow-that-was-so-cool-my-head-is-about-to-explode”, we finally met David Prescott yuhuu! He gave us some amazing tips and vital pieces of information for a pitch.
First of all, he didn’t differentiate between pitch and project definition (“they are the same for me!”).
He gave us this list of questions to build the perfect pitch/define our project (it was a “question-all-you-know” kind of week):
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What are you pitching/defining?
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What stage are you in?
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Who are you pitching to? = KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!! (Research them and believe in the power of banter)
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What are the goals of the pitch?
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Why does it have to be told NOW?
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What do you want ultimately? (Money? Awards? Professional relationships?)
We know, we know, super useful!!
Check out this last great tips:
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You have to know your work
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If you are in a very early stage, is better to say it
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Use “This MEETS That”
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Summarize key moments of the pitch as a wrap up
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Be passionate, be authentic
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Be humble with confidence (dial yourself back a tone)
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Find your rhythm
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Rehearse and take time before the meeting to prepare
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Make relationships with the people you pitch to. Empathize
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Use supplementary images to better define what you want (always more images than text!!)
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Slow down for the big hitters
DO NOT send ANYTHING before the pitch (they might not want you to pitch it anymore because they misunderstood something…)