Are You Afraid of Pitching?
Are You Afraid of Pitching? Halloween is coming up and I had all these thoughts about doing a podcast on horror. But by the time this podcast comes out, you are going to be so tired of people talking about horror movies, so instead of talking about horror movies, we’re going to talk about what’s really horrifying to many writers… pitching. The source of the most abject terror for screenwriters is definitely having to go into a room and pitch your work. There are exceptions to this rule. There are writers who love to pitch. I’m a writer who loves to pitch. But I didn’t start that way. When I started, this is how I experienced something as simple as having to make a phone call: Okay, I’m gonna pick up the phone. No, no, I’m not ready. I’ll walk around. I’m going to pace around. I’m going to do some deep breathing. Now, I’m going to write down exactly what I am going to say. No, that’s not good enough. You know what? I should read the trades. I should read the trades just so I have something to talk about. So I’m up on everything. I’ll read the trades. Oh, it’s already four o’clock. It’s kind of late to call somebody. I mean, they’re probably ready to go for the day. Maybe I should just repeat this whole process tomorrow… That was me, believe it or not, as a young producer. I was terrified of using the phone. In fact, I had to learn how to use the phone in order to do my job, and it was scary for me to get up there and pitch somebody else’s project, much less my own. So, I want to talk to you about how I overcame that fear of pitching, as well as some ways that you can overcome your own fear about pitching your screenplay. That process starts with understanding where that fear comes from. Like in any good horror movie, the real fear is in the anticipation. Jaws is not scary when you see the shark. Jaws is scary when you don’t see the shark. The first season of Stranger Things is so freakin’ scary before you see the Demogorgon. When you finally see the Demogorgon, it’s fine… but it’s kind of anticlimactic compared to all the thoughts you had in your head. In True Detective, you’re waiting for this horrible confrontation with this horrible killer. But the real interesting things happen way before that. When you finally find out who the killer is, it’s actually not as scary as all this stuff leading up to it. The monster is only scary when it’s under the bed or in the closet. The first rule for confronting your fear of pitching your screenplay (or any fear) is to get that monster out from under the bed or out from inside the closet where you can deal with it. Psychologically and physiologically, there’s also an interesting thing that happens in your mind when you run from fear. It’s how your brain learns that something is “really dangerous.” The more you run, the more your brain knows there is something to fear. And the more you’re like, meh, the more your brain says, maybe this isn’t so scary. Maybe this isn’t such a big deal. Now, I don’t want to oversimplify the psychology of fear. There is a lot of psychology underneath fear. But there are some simple cognitive-behavioral things you can do. Remember, you’ve got to get that fear out in the open and confront it as quickly as you can. Back to that example of young me making that phone call. What was the worst part of what I was doing? It was putting those phone calls off until the next day because of fear. That gives me another night to stew on today and imagine how bad it’s gonna be tomorrow. We’ve got to get that fear out. The next step in overcoming the fear of pitching is better understanding the nature of fear. We’re more afraid of things that we aren’t used to than things that we are used to.