Passion? Totally. But I do use cards - not to read from, just to remind me, otherwise I just .... ooooh look, pretty bird out the window. So yes, cards. I also practice, trim the cards, throw out cards, practice. But not so it's rote, so it's just a little ways back from rote - where there's still passion and I can change it and ... that cloud looks just like a banana Cards. Definitely. Cards. And passion. I can do passion.

Wow! If Max were a trailer, he'd have a 'red band'! I've only had the opportunity to pitch twice in my life and both times I was this quaking, pacing, white-knuckled buffoon. The outcomes both times were relatively positive. So perhaps I would add, feel free to be shitting-bricks because your audience could potentially read that as 'passion.'

OK, now I know that I actually have the opposite problem -- I pitch too short! Maybe it's not that big of a deal. I just remember the few times I've pitched, and I tell the story in about a minute, and then I stop, and everybody blinks at me. And then the questions come fast and furious. For me, that's the fun part. :)

Yuck!! Remind me to NEVER pitch to this cretin! If he was the LAST producer on earth...!!!

[...] Hollywood producer Max Millimeter rants about ineffectual pitching: Okay, shoot me. Seriously. [...]

I like this. Yeah, he comes across like the last producer on Earth, but he's on target for a lot of his points. It is his time; his money; not mine. And if i have done this script right? I've rewritten it enough times; I started with a detailed outline...and I see sooo much of my story visually from day 1 anyway. The actually edited, post production type of movie in my head. I know this story. I know these characters. There just isn't time for b.s., chit chat and wasting it. Get to the point and go. My pitches usually, 5-7 minutes. Even at 5 min. I'm very happy. Why? Leave them asking for more. Cliff hanger ends at every 3rd talking point. Evn the oldest of producers these days have so much tv influences in their lives. Short, short attention spans. Just tempt their appetites and move on. This is not brain surgery.

Mark, your approach is spot-on. Leave them wanting more. Perhaps one of the most common errors I see when people pitch me is they say too much. Lots of downsides to that, everything from you can bore the listener to a few too many details can distract me from the important stuff in the story. True story: Pitched to one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood. It was going great, he was really into it, then threw in one side comment, and suddenly he fixed on that. Started asking all sorts of questions of story logic about this really unimportant comment, but that derailed the pitch. So yes, brevity, cliffhangers, tight, all of that. And leave them wanting more.

I enjoyed reading this post and I see what Scott is saying. But, man, Scott. You sound scary. I am not sure if all agents are going to act like this. I see your point of view here, though. I concur. Sit. And, say what you have on the table. And, Scott, not all agents know how a script is going to work in the end. That script could be the next big thing. That writer could be the next big writer. We learn to pick up things as we go through things. We don't learn things from the womb. I think this current system is a little too harsh on the new writers. Scott, as you know, we all go to films. What do we all see? - Utter BS. Non-sensical sequels and at times non-sensical remakes. It's mind-boggling when a new writer with fresh concept is going through security check point 1000 times. Time for change and as a writer, that's what I am going to do. I get it, I open that door to these writers. They don't really have to go through utter BS.