I believe it comes down to is the passion and plea of the pitch. You have to believe in your story. Here's a short story: I was an intern at a busy commercial/music video company that frequently hired freelancers for work. After building a rapport with one of these freelancers I pitched an idea for an over the top short film I wrote about high school. The pitch went well and the guy asked to see the script. Later that week I had 4 copies of the script with notes on it from other freelancers I worked with. Essentially what it comes down to is believing your story is good, and communicating the key parts of that story in an entertaining way.

Thanks so much for the response. Much appreciated! I didn't sign up for the pitch contest at AFF this year, but I had a great time watching the contestants at the finale party and hearing Franklin and the other judges give their responses and critiques. It was invaluable information to have as I prep my own pitches.

What a great question! "Good story well told," beautiful, heart of it. 90 seconds is roughly 300 words (150 wpm (audiobook speed) is optimal listening comprehension, 300 wpm is normal conversation speed). So roughly 15-20 sentences. So very little, to sell your dream and be easily conveyable, so folks pass around this calling card. What I learned from school and client presentations having nothing to do with movies, nail down the outline, know the ground you're covering, be precise about turning points, and stay loose with the rest, to prevent stilted delivery. And practice. Golfer Gary Player, "The more I practice, the luckier I get." And put those elevator rides to good use. My takeaway re script pitches, get to the driving force fast (what propels story, would propel audience to pay to see it) and finish with why it'd be a smart build. So rough plan, logline/driving force, story/characters, and finish with a walk around the car and a look under the hood, see, economical production.

I find that that a good short pitch has an interactive quality to it. You want the listener to be finishing your thought, playing the game of where your story goes next. It's not that your story is predictable, it's that once they GET IT, they're excited by all its possibilities, both creative and financial. My "elevator pitch" for FIVE KILLERS (later retitled KILLERS) was usually this... "A retired hitman, married, living in suburbia, his wife doesn't know what he used to do, wakes up on the morning of his 35th birthday and discovers that there's a contract on his head and five killers are after him. But the twist is that the killers were planted three years ago, which means he must figure out who the killers are while keeping his marriage together. And the killers could be anyone, his neighbor, his mailman, even his best friend at work, ANYONE." And at that moment, almost every time, the person I was pitching would say, excitedly, "IT COULD BE HIS WIFE!" I knew at that moment that I had them. It didn't matter that it was NEVER going to the wife. The point was, they were eager to get involved, they saw the potential of what it could be. A good idea empowers the listener. When someone realizes it's a good idea, it creates an emotional connection to the story for them. It's like you're offering an invite to a cool club and the listener gets the privilege of accepting the invite and looking cool by doing so. If you do it right, everyone looks smart and it's a win-win.

Thanks for that, Bob. I'm going to quote your last paragraph and promote that to update the OP as that is an excellent distillation of what we hope for in a pitch: Empowering the listener to be involved in the creative process because of their emotional connection to the story. Excellent!

I so appreciated this post. I was honored to be one of the finalist's at this years AFF pitch competition. I wish I would have read this before I went on that stage. I did not have a script written behind my pitch, so the story was still forming when I entered the competition. Thanks to all the great advice I received from the judges, I now have a better understanding of where I should take this concept. It was my first time out and I had a blast. I know now that I shouldn't stuff the 90 seconds with too many words. Breathe. Be able to explain the same thing a few different ways so if you stumble on your rehearsed pitch, you can pick up the pieces ad lib style - unnoticed. Thanks again for the great advice in this post.