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The Pitch Meeting Structure
Used By Hollywood Pros
08.07.2012 Stephanie Palmer
Let’s go back in time. If you’re like me, when you first
started watching movies, it was for fun. You didn’t really
know how they “worked.” You may have thought that bigbudget action blockbusters, classic romantic comedies, and
gritty independent films had little in common.
But then, when you wanted to become a professional writer,
you started learning about screenplay structure. You
realized that all movies, all stories, have similar structural
features.
There is a similar structure to meetings–and it’s used by top
writers, directors, and producers.
Just as screenplays are structured in three acts, meetings
have five stages.
If you ignore the five stages and just try to “wing it” in the
room, you’re like a writer trying to write a screenplay
without understanding basic three-act structure.
When you understand the structure of the five stages, you
can decide when you want to follow the expectations and
when you want to break the rules.
The Five Stages of The Pitch
Meeting
• In Stage 1, you build rapport and warm up the room.
• In Stage 2, you ask questions and listen to show respect.
• In Stage 3, you deliver the prepared component of your
pitch.
• In Stage 4, you deliver the “improvised” component of
your pitch.
• In Stage 5, you ask for one thing if necessary and leave
on a good note.
Stage 1: Rapport
The goal: to connect in a personal way
Stage 1 is the small-talk phase that is the beginning of just
about every meeting you will ever have. It’s important
because decision-makers want to work with people they
like and trust. If you’re prepared, the small-talk will
hopefully turn into a deeper conversation about your
common perspectives and interests.
The trap: pitching too soon
If you “get down to business” and start pitching too early,
the decision-maker won’t feel connected to you as a person
and won’t be listening to your pitch. You want to build
rapport so that when the time comes to pitch, you have the
decision-maker’s attention.
Key tactic: prepare questions to find common ground
Before the meeting, design a couple “rapport-building”
questions to encourage the decision-maker to share
their thoughts, feelings, and experiences about things they
feel positively about.
• Perhaps you know someone in common, and can design a
question around that, e.g.: “How did you first meet
(friend in common)?”
• Perhaps you have a hobby or avocation in common. If so,
you could design a question around that, e.g.: “I
noticed from (print interview) that you like (hobby).
What’s your favorite (aspect of hobby)?”
• If you can’t find anything out at all, you can use some of
the tried and true conversation starters, e.g.: “How was
your weekend?”
The point is to get to know the decision-maker as a person.
Stage 2: Listening
The goal: to show respect for the decision-maker
In Stage 2, your job is to ask good questions and listen.
This shows respect for the decision-maker, and earns you
more of their attention when the time comes to pitch.
The trap: showing off how smart you are
Superior intelligence can be your worst enemy at this stage
of the meeting.
In the next stage, when the time comes to pitch, that’s
when you get to share your brilliant ideas. At this stage,
your job is to ask questions, listen, and show respect.
If you show off how smart you are in this stage, it may
seem like you are in need of attention and approval (the
opposite of confidence). As well, if the decision-maker can’t
understand what you’re saying, you may make them feel
awkward or threatened.
This isn’t about being fake and hiding yourself. It’s about
understanding that before you pitch, you want to build
rapport (Stage 1) and show respect by listening (Stage 2).
Key tactic: prepare questions to gather information
Get the decision-maker talking, e.g.:
• “Is there a particular kind of project you’d love to find?”
• “How is (current project) going?”
Stage 3: The Pitch
The goal: to keep the decision-maker’s attention
Stage 3 is where you deliver your prepared pitch. Even if
the decision-maker doesn’t want to buy your project, if you
can hold their attention with your pitch, they may want to
work with you in some other way.
The trap: “winging it”
Making it up as you go along and hoping things work out
is the mark of an amateur. By the time you get a meeting
with a decision-maker who can make something happen,
you should have a prepared pitch that you can deliver
without referring to notes.
Key tactic: test your pitch in advance
To succeed in this stage of the meeting, use these three
steps to test your pitch before you meet with the decisionmaker:
1.
Choose a feedback group. This can be friends, family,
other writers, but no gatekeepers or decision-makers.
You should have at least six people, ideally none of
whom have heard your pitch before.
2.
Rehearse your pitch on audio and ideally on video
prior to presenting it to anyone in your feedback
group. In my experience, few people like to see
themselves on camera, but this is crucial preparation.
3.
Call or meet with people one at a time, pitch them,
and try to get answers to the following questions:
• Did they understand the idea?
• What elements did they like?
• What elements did they not like?
Stage 4: Q&A
The goal: to deliver great answers to questions
The way to do well in this stage is to anticipate likely
questions and prepare answers in advance.
The trap: getting defensive
If the buyer is genuinely interested, you are likely to be
asked a number of difficult questions (even trick questions).
It’s likely that they will hone in on the areas where your
pitch is weakest. If you get defensive, you lose. If you can’t
handle some difficult questions at this stage, the decisionmaker isn’t going to want to send your script to stars,
directors, and producers–because they’ll have questions, too.
Key tactic: keep track of what you’re asked
When you’re testing your pitch in advance, listen to what
your feedback group asks you. Every time you’re asked a
question about your story, that’s an opportunity for you to
prepare a great answer to that question for the next
meeting.
Stage 5: The Close
The goal: to leave on a positive note
It’s likely that the decision-maker will end the meeting, so
you want to be ready for when that happens. Typically,
there is a non-verbal cue that the meeting is over, and your
job is to “echo” the cue.
Watch for when the decision-maker:
• Gets ready to get out of his or her chair
• Places hands flat on their lap or the table
• Closes a notebook or a folder
When you see one or more of these non-verbal cues, echo
it back by gathering your materials and preparing to leave.
Then, you can engage in a little more rapport building—like
a bookend to Stage 1. The purpose of this isn’t to reignite
the conversation, it’s just to end on a personal, positive
note. It can be something simple, e.g.:
• “Tell (common friend) I said hi.”
• “Thanks again for the tip about Orochan. I’ll check it out!”
The trap: continuing the conversation
When the decision-maker ends the meeting, don’t try to
pitch “one more thing.” Don’t ask any more questions.
Don’t tell a story. Just make sure you’ve got everything
packed up, prepare to shake hands, and exit the room
smoothly.
Key tactic: prepare a specific request (aka, the “Ask”)
You may not need to make a request of the decision-maker.
Often, they may say something like, “I’m sending this to my
boss today. Keep your phone on.”
However, it’s a good idea to have a request prepared just
in case you need it, e.g.:
• “How should I follow up with you?”
• “Whom do you recommend I get in touch with?”
Understanding Structure = Confidence
When you understand meeting structure and have prepared
tactics for each of the five stages, it looks like you’re poised
and confident. And as you accumulate success over time, it
doesn’t just look that way—it feels that way, too.
Keep in mind, there is a wide variety in how the five stages
can be handled. You may spend more time in one stage
than you expect. But when you know the goal of each
stage, the trap to avoid, and the key tactic to use, you’ll be
able to confidently handle whatever comes your way.
........
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