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PITCHING A CARTOON SHOW
By John Fountain

Let’s talk about pitching a cartoon show, shall we?

CHAPTER 4: Anatomy of a Pitch Document

First, allow me to say what should go without saying:
Everything here is copyrighted and trademarked by John Fountain 2022 - all rights are reserved. None of this may be copied, distributed or reproduced SAVE FOR PURPOSE OF REVIEW without permission from the author!

I have an absolutely BEASTLIKE attorney in Los Angeles who would love the chance to go after someone - I’m putting this stuff up for educational benefit - DO NOT F*CK WITH IT!

And if you see someone f*ck with it, please let me know.

On with the lesson…

You need to think of your Pitch Documents as the clothes you wear on a blind date.
You want to dress nicely, but you don’t wanna show up in a tuxedo, either. You want be casual enough to let your personality show, but still be sure your pants are clean and shirt isn’t wrinkled.

First impressions are key - consequently, the cover to your pitch document should - again - be SIMPLE, but eye-catching… it will be THE image that burns into their brains when you set it in front of them.

What’s most important about the cover is that it makes the reader DESPERATE for more, which is why I always make a ‘teaser page’ BEFORE the cover… it ostensibly says, “Brace yourself! This is gonna be awesome!”
(NOTE: WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ACTUAL PITCH DOCUMENT OF MINE!)

You need to look at every single “thing” you lay out as a message… and your first message should be “Beg me for more!”

But, in addition to that, your message should be practical… they should know IMMEDIATELY whether they’re about to see a comedy, action, drama, etc.

The MAIN cover - with the show’s title - should practically give them everything they need to know. I’ve pitched shows before and I knew just by showing the cover that a deal was gonna be made.

Once you’re past the cover and you get into those pesky old “words,” you’re officially a dancing monkey. It is up to you to make the words come alive - which is why I recommend keeping this part of the Pitch Document EXTREMELY brief.

The fact of the matter is, if your show is COMPLETELY off the mark for what they’re looking for, you don’t want them sitting there counting the seconds while you give your pitch. You just want to give them the most BASIC understanding of your idea.

Additionally, you don’t want to spend six months slaving over volumes and volumes of appendices only to be told “We’re not interested.”

This is why I have devised a specific formula for composing text:

1) Grab them with a single sentence.

2) Keep them with a SHORT paragraph (or two) that explains everything in a nutshell.

3) Keep the remaining text as descriptive but concise as possible and wrap it up fast!

At this stage, you just want to get into the CONCEPT (I.e. the “heart and soul” of the show”) and the SHOW (I.e. balance of action/comedy, target audience, length of episodes, etc.).

Additionally, for the love of god, break your paragraphs up so that the poor soul who’s probably thinking about where they’re going to get lunch isn’t staring at a giant block of tiny, impossible to read print!

Once you’re past the concept and the show, I have found that it’s good to end on MORE VISUALS to burn into their brain so that they walk away from the pitch with little choice but to ponder the imagery left behind.

The purpose of pitch materials is to help them “see” something that doesn’t exist. Some would argue that this is why you should make a fully produced “teaser trailer” and while I see the wisdom in that, I prefer to give them a better idea how and where the jokes and/or drama are.

Which is why, with a comedy, I like to create single-panel “gag comics” to help get that across.

One more quick note: Your Pitch Document should reflect the TYPE of show you’re pitching… obviously, a pitch for an action series will differ slightly from your wacky comedy. What follows are GENERAL RULES that can be applied to all genres.

Now that we’re “dressed” for our blind date, the next lesson will be on how to CONDUCT ourselves on it.

And that’s a whole bag of tricks all its own.

Thanks for reading! Please give whatever feedback or input you may have in the comments - and, please, PLEASE retweet, share, and tell your friends about this endeavor.

COMING MONDAY:

NEXT INSTALLMENT - How to Leave ‘em Wanting More

Zig-a-Zig AH, party people!

As usual, this tutorial is sponsored by MY STUPID YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

I justify taking the time to do stuff like this by hoping you will consider subscribing and/or buying original artwork. I'll keep doing it either way... but it would be nice.