[Today we're reading Ch. 28 If the Pitch Doesn’t Fill Me with Horror & Pity, the Movie Won’t Either, from Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters, by Michael Tierno (2002).]
The author writes: “Dramatic story is first & foremost an oratorical art; the incidents have to sound good to the ear (& mind) if they are going to entertain….” P. 135.
Ancient Greece’s version of movie stars were famous orators. These men had such powerful speaking skills that they could move a crowd to riot or to action.
Does your pitch create this kind of deep emotion? Or at least "I've GOT to see this opening weekend?" It should.
Tap into the primal fears, dreams, & longings we all have. Don’t settle for the surface.
Ex. The Blair Witch Project had great buzz b/c even if you didn’t like horror, you couldn’t help be captivated by the raw, palpable fear on faces in the ads.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: The easier the pitch, the quicker the sale.
[DISCLAIMER: I have not been asked, nor paid, to read or comment on this book.]
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