Producing : Questions about Pitch Deck Construction by Melissa Spearman

Melissa Spearman

Questions about Pitch Deck Construction

When you are working on a pitch deck for a television project, would you say it is a good idea to incorporate some statistical data that can provide some clarification about "Who My Target Audience Is?" and some validity about "Where am I going to Find Them?" into a couple of the deck's slides?

If so, then what would you say are the most important and convincing pieces of data to include in a deck in order to greenlight a television project?

Are there any go-to places that you could recommend for looking up this data?

Are there any additional factors that need to be taken into consideration if your project is being designed for both your domestic market and the international marketplace (such as the popular South Korean Netflix series Squid Game)?

& what do you do when you cannot find the data your decks need to succeed with through your usual research methods?

Nicholas Nazario

Find shows that look like yours and enter in that data. Google the ratings.

Christiane Lange

Melissa Spearman There is a free webinar available here on Stage32 with Chris Mack from Netflix. It specifically deals with what they look for in a series pitch, with examples. Stats are not part of it.

Melissa Spearman

Great ideas, everyone! Thank you for your thoughtful replies :) !

Melissa Spearman

Hi Salvatore Verini . It's a pleasure to meet you too.

Out of curiosity, what do you think about using statistics for TV crowd-funding initiatives? Do you think the same principles for regular TV pitch decks can be applied in this case too? If not, then how do you think they differ?

I just noticed from my prior research on the subject that most of the successful crowdfunding campaigns are for short-films and feature-films more often than they are for TV pilots. If I or someone else in the community decided to go with this route for their TV projects, then I think that it might not be a bad idea to introduce materials that can compliment the pitch decks' contents - if there is anything along those lines, of course.

So based on your prior experiences with your greenlit shows, what would you say are some things to pair up with your pitch deck that might not always get taken into consideration and account?

Nicholas Nazario

This is great advice, considering the last paragraph, and the Stage32 pitch format- do you even recommend doing the Stage32 pitches at all? It seems like she's creating a pitch for Stage 32, would you consider this a format to get it done?

Melissa Spearman

That's good to hear Salvatore Verini . I have been thinking about putting a pitch together for Stage 32 like Nicholas Nazario said at some point, and I figured that undertaking a crowd-funding campaign would be a good idea because even if I do not get a pilot fully funded through this approach, the data that can be accumulated from the campaign can still be dove-tailed into the pitch deck to show other potential investors that there is at least an initial demand for the project from outside sources. The campaign could also potentially serve as a good learning experience for developing my marketing and financing skills as a new producer from the ground up. With all that in mind, are there any recoupment templates and statistic tools for films that you guys could recommend?

John Ellis

Watch Chris Mack's webinar here on S32 for what Netflix wants to see in a written pitch. I've found that format to be pretty universal, not just a Netflix thing.

Melissa Spearman

Duly noted. Thanks again for sharing your insights with me, everyone!

Dan MaxXx

streamers like Netflix dont share their data publicly. Anything released by them is carefully combed by accountants & lawyers. Mainly because streamers dont want to pay high salaries, residuals, or union wages. And Networks/Corporations dont share data either. I get Disney shareholder reports and I dont even know if their profit numbers are real.

Personally, I would skip data or marketing stats. Tv is corporations and the ppl inside- the folks who write checks and approve shows - they already know the numbers, (plus secret corporate bonus money).

Focus on characters, story world building, and why this tv idea is important to you.

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