26 Screenplays

This week’s episode of This American Life devoted the first quarter of the show to elevator pitches.

Part of the art of filmmaking is film funding. You may have the greatest idea for a movie ever, but no one will pay you to make it unless you can convince them you are worth the investment. What makes it more difficult is that the creative mind and the business mind seem to speak in completely different languages.

The secret is the elevator pitch. The elevator pitch is the idea that you are stuck on an elevator with a potential source of funds. You have a brief period of time to convince that person that he or she should fund your project. And this is where being a filmmaker works for you more than being a business person. Filmmakers know how drama works. Filmmakers know how to hook an audience and take them for a wild ride. Filmmakers know how to keep people interested.

So practice your elevator pitch. You never know when it might come in handy.