Pitch your idea for a documentary.

You’ve got five minutes with a big donor who loves documentaries. Your goal is to get them to invest in your film.

You may submit your pitch as a one-pager – a one page written document (about three or four short paragraphs) with a few photos that tells the story you want to capture – or as a powerpoint, a short pitch deck (about three or four slides) – or as a short film trailer – or as something else.

I’m asking for a short pitch. It does not need to cover budget, market analysis, distribution, etc. But it should explain what the story is and how you will tell it. It should include: log line (one sentence summary of the story) that captures the story, a discussion of your approach to it, details on the characters at the center of your story, essential background…

You need to show what your film is about and why it is worth our time.

If you are trying out different ideas, feel free to come to office hours to discuss. I might be able to share a quick note over email (but sometimes get overwhelmed with messages).

Submit your assignment on Moodle.

Some resources you might check out (though these examples are far more complicated than what I am asking of you:

• Jonny von Wallström, “Mastering Netflix Documentary Pitches: A Filmmaker’s Guide to Success” (2024) – online at Medium.com

• “Skate in Japan” – website and pitch deck

• Austin Canary, “How to Create a Documentary Pitch Deck (+ Examples)” (2024) – online at @rev

• Greg Shaya, “Chainsaw Michelangelo” – one pager (2010)