The Pitch

As my Facebook status read last night: I survived my pitch to the 'Modern Family' writer with only minor pit stains. Yay!

True story.

So the conference call was very cool. We used this software that allows you to log in online and then talk on your phone and chat at the same time. It seemed to work very well and I liked interacting with people that way (especially the chat function, several others on the call sent me direct messages and we had nice little conversations).  

But what about my pitch you ask? Well, I think it went well. I'd worked on it for almost a week, first adding about 2 minutes and then cutting almost 3 minutes out as new suggestions arose and as new instructions came regarding the call. What I had at the end was pretty tight and I think, funny. (My parents, Angela, and 2 awesome friends told me it was so I'm going to choose to believe them.)

Here's the gist of my pitch:

Together Forever is a multi-cam sitcom (filmed in front of a live studio audience, instead of a dead one) about Will Strong, a burly guy's guy former construction worker who fears commitment, hates all things wedding-related, and has recently inherited the struggling family business because everyone's sure he can turn it around. The catch? It's the family wedding planning business. 

I went on to describe some of my inspiration for writing the show (bring up my family's business, a funeral home, and how for grooms, they can often be one in the same), told the cold open (the first scene of the show which involves Will singing along with Alanis Morissette and eating a lot of chocolate, and giving an overview of the pilot episode, the other characters and the tone of the show (Everybody Loves Raymond meets Bridezilla). 

After I pitched, Mr. O'Shannon (the Modern Family writer on the call) gave me a few notes. His first? He hates weddings. Had two of his own and thus, the minute I started, he was predisposed not to like the subject matter. But...he did say that that's going to be true of a lot of topics for a lot of people and he wouldn't let it cloud his judgement. Okay....

He went on to tell me that I gave a little too much exposition in the cold open (which is a great note as likely, there's too much exposition in the actual script at that point too) and that the idea could be risky because it may get repetitive (every week another goofy wedding). So those are notes I could address in the next pitch and in my writing. Other than that? He said I seemed personable (as far as a conference call allows him to judge that) and that my pitch was conversational (something I was very worried about as I was basically reading from my notes). And yes, I did mess up the work inspector. Somehow I managed to pronounce it as instructor each and every time I practiced and then again last night, ah, great fun.

Overall? A really positive, enjoyable experience. Whenever someone wants to read my writing or hear about my writing, I'm all in. And I'm grateful for the chance to pitch to someone who's won Emmys (Cheers and Modern Family) and written on amazing shows (Fraiser and Newhart just to name a couple). And when I slid my business card in the thank you note I mailed to Mr. O'Shannon this morning, I said a little prayer that the next time I pitch, it'll go as smoothly. And that I find a better deodorant.