Alison Lyn, W14: Pitching

CBC Radio: Pitch Guide – http://www.cbc.ca/pitch/radiopitchguide.html

1.      Listen to other shows from CBC, NPR, BBC, ABC, private radio, and listen to podcasts.

2.      Really ask yourself, what makes this show a GREAT idea?

3.      Be realistic about your team and what they can do. If you have some gaps, spell them out and propose solutions

4.      Shoot for the moon.

5.      Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

6.      Ask for unbiased feedback and be open to it.

7.      Ask someone you don’t know well to read your pitch and then tell you what the show is about in a couple of lines.

8.      Fall in love with your ideas, but don’t marry them just yet.

9.      Read and follow the Pitch Guide.

The American Life – http://www.thisamericanlife.org/about/submissions

1.      You don't need to be formal about it, just tell the story the way you'd tell it to someone over drinks or coffee. 

2.      Tell us anything you think will help us understand what a great story it is. If the story happened to you and showed you something about the world you hadn't realized before, or changed you (or the other people in the story) in some way, let us know that too.

3.      There are characters in some situation, and a conflict. These pitchers are clear about who the characters are and what the conflict is. Also: each of these stories raises some bigger question or issue, some universal thing to think about. That's also pretty important, and you stand a better chance at getting on the air if you let us know what that is too.

4.      Finally, they're brief. So help us say yes to you by selecting a short, self-contained section that might make a nice radio story and send us a couple paragraphs describing that section. 

San Francisco Book Review: How to Pitch a Podcast – http://sanfranciscobookreview.com/2013/02/how-to-pitch-a-podcast/

1.      The first thing you need is an attention grabbing subject line for your email pitch.  

a.       Put something unique and unusual in that line if you can.

2.      Personalize your pitch and show the producer that you have done your homework researching the guests and subjects.

a.       The goal of your first paragraph is to connect with the target and motivate him or her to continue reading, not to sell yourself.

3.      The second and third paragraphs may link to breaking media news about you or your book.

4.      The fourth paragraph describes the guest.  This is your bio—why you’re relevant, who you know, why you’re the expert, and how your content ties to current events.

5.      The fifth paragraph lists the “5 Things You Will Reveal to Listeners”. 

a.       These are your talking points where you speak and peak the audience’s interest.

After looking at all of these sources, I think the best way to move forward is to gather all my information, see what is relevant and what my audience really needs to know and what can be left off. Also I need to make sure that how I am displaying the information does not bore the audience and is not too lengthy so that I will keep my audience interested in order to create and effective pitch.