There’s a lot of talk about pitching movies and TV shows in Hollywood, but we never really hear about all the success stories behind-the-scenes. Sure, thousands of people in Hollywood pitch their ideas and they don’t go anywhere, but there are also thousands of other people who pitch ideas and sell them for a lot of money (or, better yet, see their ideas turned into movies or TV show).
Having worked as a producer in Hollywood for many years, I have had the privilege to see people successfully pitch their movie ideas and TV ideas both in a room and by email. So in this post I thought I’d list a bunch of successful pitches that have been successful.
Now, I can’t list every pitch I’ve seen, that would be impossible because I’ve seen and been involved with too many successful pitches. Therefore, I’ve decided to list some of the more interesting pitches that I’ve seen and the unexpected success stories.
Successful Movie And TV Pitches
Hollywood doesn’t care about where you come from…
I remember a single mom once sent me an email with a very simple pitch for a movie: The story was about a single mom who setup her own business baking cookies. Then, somehow, her child adds a secret ingredient to the mix and the cookies take on a magic power.
Everyone who eats the cookies becomes super happy and their wishes and dreams start to come true. The only problem is that the cookies are in limited supply and the woman doesn’t know what the secret ingredient is. The woman was able to sell this pitch for close to $80,000. It just goes to show that Hollywood doesn’t care where you come from or who you are or what you’re doing.
Hollywood loves a true story…
Another time I was contacted by a man who wanted to pitch his life story. He sent the pitch in as a treatment to our office. They say everyone’s life could make an interesting movie, and this guy was no exception. His story stood out, however, because he was lucky to escape a real-life serial killer. It was a chilling story and one that we couldn’t resist optioning the rights to.
Hollywood doesn’t care about your past…
I remember one interesting pitch from a man who had spent twenty years of his life as a pastor. His pitch, however, was not what I was expecting at all… His pitch for a movie was about a man who is a hopeless loser and who can’t get a date to save his life. Then, one day, this hapless hero is struck by lightning. From that moment on, every time he touches a woman an electric charge would jump from his body and make the woman instantly attracted to him.
Overnight, this man went from no women and no job to a man who could get any woman in the world. But just as having no dates is a problem, having too many dates can be an even bigger problem. This pitch was sold for $120,000 and was a great idea for a comedy. Everyone who heard this pitch loved it.
In Hollywood you can make it out of nowhere…
One interesting pitch that I heard came from a homeless man who had been trying to make it in Hollywood as an actor. This guy had come to Hollywood with nothing, no job, no friends, no family and no support and had spent time sleeping on the streets.
This guy didn’t have anything, except for a great idea. His story was about a rich man who is critically injured when someone shoots him. This man wakes up in a coma and is later given a very strange offer. A man comes to him in his hospital room and says that there is a new technology that can give him his life back. They can remove his brain and his spine and transplant it into another healthy body.
The man agrees to the operation and then goes about trying to find out who the person was that shot him. I liked the premise behind this pitch. It was a really great, original idea. But what I’ll always remember even more was this—this man came to us with a pitch for a movie when he was absolutely broke (no money and no job), and he walked away with $135,000 for this movie idea. It was really inspiring to witness this first-hand.
Hollywood doesn’t care about your age either…
I remember when I started out working in Hollywood. My colleague received an email from a retired gentleman who had a simple idea—it was the story of a man who could go back in time and give his younger self advice. This simple idea earned this retired gentleman over $100,000. It just goes to show that Hollywood doesn’t care how old you are or who you are, as long as you have a great idea, that’s all that Hollywood really cares about.
Another time I remember I got an email from this Kid in New York. And when I say kid I mean kid. But I didn’t know it at the time. I received an email pitching a TV show idea. The idea was about a boy who found a hole under his floorboards in his bedroom.
When the boy went into the hole he found himself transported to Mexico. The rest of the idea was about the boy making money bringing Mexican immigrants into the country, which escalated into a full-blown military stand off as the FBI, CIA and Washington eventually learned about this strange portal in the boy’s apartment. It’s a strange idea, but it sold like hot cakes.
The kid who pitched this idea was only 16 at the time and I remember having to negotiate the sales contract with the kid’s mom and an entertainment lawyer.
Your Idea Could Be Worth A Lot
The movie and TV pitches in this post were all pretty good, but that isn’t the reason that I mentioned them. The reason that I mentioned these pitches was because the people who pitched them had interesting and unique backgrounds. I’ve literally seen thousands of successful pitches, but it’s always inspiring to look at those people that are a little outside the box and find success out of nowhere.
*Liz Fairbanks has worked as a reader, development assistant, and talent agent in Los Angeles over the last seven years. Liz loves traveling, reading and yoga. Liz also works as a freelance consultant for Script Mailer (a company that connects screenwriters with agents and producers in Hollywood).