By Cole Hediger
Pitch decks are a great way to visualize your story and support your search for funding, distribution, and collaborators. And, more and more, writers are expected to provide them. However, many writers don’t know where to begin when it comes to these film essentials. Luckily, we have the answers you need to create your first pitch deck!
What is a pitch deck and why are they important?
Pitch decks are presentations that reflect your story. These presentations take viewers on a visual tour through production, story, and development. This often acts as a more physical understanding of the script that you are looking to get produced or distributed.
Pitch decks are often made by producers to find funding and source creatives to collaborate on projects, as well as by directors (sometimes called “lookbooks”) to provide visual examples on how they intend to shoot and edit the film. But as the film industry develops, this asset is becoming an essential product of screenwriters as well. Whether you’re just starting the development of your script or entering pre-production, having a pitch deck is a key resource.
Think about it this way: your story is often an intangible idea. Pitch decks allow you to bring a more conceptualized, physical, and visual approach to the story. They walk viewers through your story from concept to development to production. In a way, your pitch deck is often the ‘first look’ at the story.
With that in mind, developing a pitch deck should take time and effort to carefully and creatively craft an accurate, intriguing, and targeted representation of the short film you are trying to pitch.
Are all pitch decks the same?
What should be included in your pitch deck is reliant on who you are sending this pitch deck to. Not all pitch decks are the same, and you should have several for different stages of your production and different audiences.
When first starting the early development stage of your short film, pitch decks can be sent to potential talent. For sourcing actors and actresses, your pitch deck should include a sharper look at the story and the characters. Think about the common questions actors may ask about a short film and answer those in the pitch deck.
- What are the themes of the story?
- What are the characters’ backgrounds?
- What are the characters’ arcs?
- What makes this story unique and necessary?
- Who is the director, what have they done previously, and why would I want to work with them?
A similar version of the pitch deck could be used when hiring your department heads, with a focus on tone, aesthetics, color, framing, comp films and inspirations, etc., geared toward potential cinematographers, production designers, editors, composers, and more.
As the short turns to look for funding, you want to include aspects of production that will answer and encourage donors to contribute to the film. Funding can come from donations, grants, and foundations, which may ask for the expected budget, the timeline of the project, and the scope.
- How much will this cost?
- How long will this take?
- Does this pitch deck show a viable plan for production?
- Who is the film’s audience?
- What are the plans for distribution?
When in doubt, ask yourself questions about your short film from the perspective of your targeted audience. This will help craft a deck that reflects the immediate interests of your potential talent, producers, and donors.
What should be in your pitch deck
As a screenwriter looking to create a pitch deck for your script, these are the essentials that should be included in pitching the story:
- Title
- Logline
- Brief summary
- Character descriptions
- Themes
- Moodboard
- Comparable films
- Writer’s statement
Your first slide should be your title and name in a font and style that is easy to read. Following this should be a slide with your logline, then your summary (aka short synopsis). Keep in mind that these should be legible and clear; avoid fonts or images that may affect the viewer’s ability to read the information provided on each slide. Keep in mind, people might be viewing your pitch deck on their smartphones.
Character descriptions should be brief and should focus primarily on the personality and arc of the character, not their physical appearance, unless it is integral to the plot. You may want your main character to appear on their own slide, while supporting characters can share slides. If you are pitching to a specific actor, you may want to include a still of them from a previous film, to show that the role is intended for them.
Presenting the themes of your story could be as simple as asking a thematic question (i.e. is it better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?) or diving into a bit more detail about your script’s themes and how the story explicitly explores them.
The moodboard should be a slide or slides without words that focus primarily on images that reflect the style and visual concept of the story. These can be presented through stills, aesthetic photos, color palettes, etc.
Lastly, for comparable films, a sharp way of approaching this slide is to not only present films that represent similar tone, style, and concept to your story, but also successful films. Comparing your script to little-known indie films that did not have a large audience reach excludes many viewers from the vision that you are presenting through the deck.
The Writer’s Statement might also be the Director’s Statement (if you are a writer/director) or, for simplicity, it could be titled “About the Filmmaker.” This is where you tackle questions like “Why me? Why now?” You might share about what inspired the story or your personal connection to it. You might include commentary on why the story is timely, important, and unique.
Remember that your pitch deck is telling a story. It should not only cover technical aspects of development and production, but should be visually cohesive and clean. And the tone and medium of your pitch deck should match the tone and medium of your script. If you’ve written a comedy, ensure that your pitch deck is funny. If you’ve written a script intended for animation, include animated visuals that match the medium (i.e. 2D, 3D, hand-drawn, computer, stop motion).
Where to make a pitch deck?
While there are many sites that you can create your pitch deck on, here are the best free ones that will make your development a little easier (and cheaper)!
The more creative you can make your pitch deck, the better. Finding a unique way to approach your story and present your script is a great way to draw viewers in and get them interested in your work.
There are plenty of online examples of pitch decks for films. To help you get your creative juices flowing, check out the links below:
Ready with your short script? Submit to Shore Script’s Short Film Fund before October 31st for a chance to win $15,000!
