Eric Heisserer On TV Pitches

I'm a little tipsy, it's a Monday night, and I just hit a milestone with the Kingkiller pilot script. Might be time to talk TV pitches.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Now, TV pitching is a strange beast. I was trained to pitch features, and there are a few notable differences in the two.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

I should once again declare this is all in my experience, YMMV, obviously, there you go that's outta the way.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

TV tends to start with a producer or a "pod" (a company that develops TV properties), then goes to studio, and finally to networks/buyers.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So you still have layers of pitching as you do in the feature world, only there are interesting new rules in this game.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

At the start, the TV developers don't want me to bring them a fully-formed pitch. They just want "areas" -- visual playgrounds, characters.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

I believe this is largely due to the fact that the good TV producers have a constant feed to the studio/network and know what will sell.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So it feels weird but usually I can start with some sketches, or central questions, and see what lights the fires in their eyes.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

This means you can come in with four or five basic ideas -- and they can be completely different in scope and genre. Which is cool.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Then comes the first hard work: Building a basic pitch of the show from that initial sketch of an idea. Still with the producer on this.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Once you have a five-minute version of this down, you go into the studio where that producer has a deal/relationship and share it.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Again, as a feature guy, this pitch still feels like a skeleton. Unanswered questions. Holes. But the studio WANTS that. Wants in early.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So you get a lot of notes and refine that sucker. Build it out. And usually you gear it for its 'best chance' buyer: a related network, etc.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

What you'll notice: The tone of the show has a tendency to shift during this course. Figure out how much you want to bend with it.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

There are some who can play a political game of "I'll change it to X for the network now, but write it as Y later." I'm no good at that.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So sometimes you have to be willing to flip a switch and change the tone from gritty HBO to bright ABC, or walk away from your only buyer.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

That is tough, especially when you're just trying to get in the door or pay bills. But my scars say: Don't make Future You miserable.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

If you've seen a show that seems confused as to what it wants to be, odds are the creator(s) and the network have two different ideas.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

I've developed for TV for 8 years now, and nothing makes you feel like Charlie Brown vs the football more than this.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

The great and wonderful thing about it is: They love original ideas. Unlike the feature pitching world, where it's OWAs galore.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Half of my 8 pilot scripts were original concepts, the other half adaptations from various source material. Just FYI.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So now back to the interesting rules of this world -- the elements of a TV pitch are actually pretty strict. Like a checklist of things.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

A lot of studios will have pitch documents for you as a guide -- ask for them if you don't get one early on. They can be very helpful.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

@SamuelDMiller Yeah, absolutely. There is little to no difference either way -- adaptations in TV are incredibly loose.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

The basic elements I've seen in every doc are as follows: 1) Talk about how the project is personal to you; your way into the show.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Best case: You're going to be in a room generating material for years on this show, so right up front the buyer needs to see your passion.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

With the personal story intro, you often talk about the overall concept or central question -- the thing that got everyone excited.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

That's our 2) the central idea/question. Sometimes stated as a 'What if' question.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

In features, you tend to have 2 kinds of pitches -- the ones that start "What if..." (concept) or that start "There's a guy" (character).
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

.@HIGHzurrer you can also find all of mine online right here! http://t.co/BaSSN7iPX8
— javi grillo-marxuach (@OKBJGM) April 8, 2014

The winning TV pitch is an engaging mix of both: "What if there's a guy..." (Or lady, depending on the story).
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So after that, the 3) element TENDS to be the start of the pilot. Paint a picture, get specific, talk about the teaser. Dash thru act one.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

And then you pull back a bit and get into more broadstrokes for the other acts of the pilot, stepping aside for character discussion.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Some networks want to hear characters all up front, but I've found it's more organic to halt a pitch and talk characters as they're intro'd.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

So if the rest of the pilot and characters is our number 4, number 5 is: What is season one? Where are we going?
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

And beyond that -- what does season two look like from here? Who are the major villains? What is the new arc for the hero(es)?
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

Networks will want you to have a few episode ideas loosely broken out so they know the show works week-to-week.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

@TheJudalina I do tend to bring visuals of known actors for dream casting, usually from the feature world because TV wants to abduct them.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014

That is the very basic breakdown of a pitch. The whole thing should run you about 25 minutes, and you want to save some stuff for Q&A after.
— Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer) April 8, 2014