Week Three: Pitching [Michelina Tersigni, W14]

While writing my pitch script, I've found a lot of great tips through the following resources:

BBC Academy: The Killer Pitch

• Firstly, do your research about the podcast you're pitching to — know what they like, know their style. Because of this, I was inspired to weave a point from a Lexicon Valley episode within my script.
• Have passion, but clarity as well. You want to seem enthused and interested, but not so much that you go off on a ramble and lose the plot. Do enough to spike curiosity, but not so much that they can't wrap up what you're selling.

BBC Academy: Pitching

• This is an actual podcast, and a somewhat more extensive version of the first BBC link. There is a particular focus on humour, and while I think it would do my topic a disservice to make light of it, this has some good advice about tonally standing out if you're one of many in a long line of pitches that day. Even if your topic isn't funny, you can still deliver your idea in a way that doesn't put people to sleep, mainly through expression and emphasis.

CBC: Radio Pitch Guide

• Most of their tips are similar to BBC's, so I won't repeat them, but CBC additionally stresses the importance of conveying tone and values, even a potential running time — sometimes the idea is not enough, and whoever you're pitching to wants to know that the overall feel and sound of it won't be jarring in comparison to their existing work.

The Open Notebook: Pitching Errors

• While this isn't specifically outlining what to do for oral pitches (it's concentrated on written pitches via e-mail), I found a lot of it applicable for the scripting process. This is essentially a group of editors from several successful magazines (e.g. New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American) weighing in on common pitch errors, and a few stuck out with me as complimentary to what we were advised in lecture: one, that too many applicants make it about what they're excited to write, their own credentials, rather than a mixture of that passion and a focus on what the audience would be interested in hearing; the second, that that excitement was also too much about the topic as a broad umbrella, and not the story thread one could pull from it — in other words, tossed out facts without real substance or build-up. This is a great resource for remembering how to make the pitch the beginning of a narrative that people want to continue, to hear more of.

I consider all of the above resources reliable because every involved contributor has a history of working in an established broadcasting medium, and with multiple works to show for it. They know what they're talking about through multiple experiences of trial and error.

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Clancey, Jane. "Pitching." BBC Academy. n.p. Web. n.d.

Helmuth, Laura. "Pitching errors." The Open Notebook. Web. 4 Jan. 2012.

"The killer pitch - pitching tips." BBC Academy. n.p. Web. n.d.

"CBC Radio Program Development Group Pitch Guide." CBC Radio-Canada. n.p.
   Web. August. 2013.