Does anyone have any experience pitching a murder mystery feature? I have a script ready to go but haveing trouble balancing the pitch between giving some good and interesting plot twists and still getting some the character details across. Any advice or examples would be appreciated.
Screenwriting : Murder mystery pitch by Bill Albert
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Is this a written pitch?
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Hi Bill Albert! I haven't pitched a mystery before but if you'd like sample pitches (for general format), shoot me an email at success@stage32.com :)
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I combine plot elements that were character driven by traits a main character has.
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Hi Bill Albert - I love a good murder mystery! I'm always intrigued by the setting - can you share where your movie is set?
Also, you may want to check out Spencer Robinson's Stage 32 webinar on taking a pitch out to market. Here's a link so you can take a look: https://www.stage32.com/webinars/How-To-Prepare-And-Plan-Your-Film-Or-TV...
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Rutger - Hi, no, it's a 9 minute verbal pitch. I've had some seuccess with hose in the past.
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Sam - It's written to take place in Iowa City, but any mid-sized university town would do. I figured in a town that has a very low murder rate the impact of a serial killer would be doubled.
Part of it was also wanting to write outside my comfort zone. Usually I'm writing sci-fi or big over the top adventures and wanted to try writing in someplace closer to home.
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I have had a fair few fuelures with those things myself, Bill.
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Definitely a challenge: my literary agent and I sold my murder mystery book series to a publisher, the first appeared in December (Death in the Ozarks). We focused the pitch on the uniqueness of the setting and the detective. I definitely agree you don't want to give too many details away for a murder mystery. Glad to read anything and give feedback: just send me a DM. Much success!
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Hi Bill, I can only say that I messed up my verbal pitches. What I learned: don't go to deap into plot points.
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Just remember that a pitch is not a substitute for conveying all the important plot points contained in the script. When they say, "Tell me your story," they don't really mean it. What they really mean is, "tease and seduce me to want to read the script." That is the sole purpose of a good pitch; to get an executive to want to read the script. To this end, you really just need to accomplish a few things in the pitch... Establish rapport with the executive(s), convey what is unique about your story idea, and hint at why that will be so compelling and alluring for an audience. Thinking about a pitch in this light, it should make the task seem less daunting.
I've done plenty of pitches before, even have a producer looking at a pilot script right now, it's just that this is a whole new genre of storytelling I'm working with and wondered how the approach needed to change. My series begins with 25 nuclear bombs going off across the US so this feature with a serial killer in a mid-sized universirty town just has a whole different atitude. Maybe when it comes down to it I don't need to change the focus that much. Thanks to everyone for your advice.
It's in my loglines now if anyone wants to take a look.
Murders in a midwest university town are rare so when a serial killer strikes a few weeks before the homecoming celebration there is a great deal of pressure in finding him. His victims are young girls and his methods are brutal. When it's discovered that not only is he trying to mimic the biggest serial killer of all time by what he does to them but when the police know that on September 30th the city will be flooded by 20,000 visitors, a football game, a parade, and one killer looking for his next two victims. Will they ever learn his true identity or reason for the killings or will Jack the Ripper escape into history again?