If you’re not familiar with Ryan George’s “Pitch Meeting” YouTube channel, you can thank me later.
Basically, George has a series of videos picking apart popular films. The concept is that George plays two characters, “Writer Guy” and “Producer Guy.”
In each video, Writer Guy is pitching the film to Producer Guy, who has lots of questions and feedback as he considers investing to get the film made.
There are a number of catchphrases or situations that are staples in the series, and I wanted to pick them apart to show what writers can learn from each of these scenarios.
First scenario:
WRITER GUY: *Explains an intriguing concept that will be introduced into the film*
PRODUCER GUY: Wow, I bet we’re gonna see more of (THAT)!
WRITER GUY: Actually, sir, we’re never gonna see (THAT) again!
This situation is never a good one. You don’t want to leave Chekov’s proverbial gun sitting on the mantel. It needs to go off by act two.
Basically, George uses this trope when an opportunity exists to flesh out a intriguing concept that SHOULD be fleshed out, but that opportunity is wasted. Don’t leave your readers saying, “I wish I could have learned more about this aspect of things … It feels like it could have impacted the later plot.”
Catchphrase 2:
PRODUCER GUY: Why doesn’t he just do (LOGICAL THING TO DO)?
WRITER GUY: Because I need the movie to happen.
Don’t be like writer guy. Don’t force plot points you want to happen even when they don’t make sense and they makes things feel stilted. Let your characters be who they are and they will authentically drive the plot. (I wrote a post a while back about how I learned this lesson writing my first unpublished novel.)
On to number 3!
PRODUCER GUY: I guess that makes sense . . .
If a choice a character is making is out of character enough, or stupid enough, that it needs to be thoroughly explained in order to make sense, and it then elicits this reaction . . . your character should probably be doing something else.
ANY time you have to explicitly justify the decisions your characters are making, you might want to consider whether you can adjust circumstances in the novel (perhaps the information available to the character?) in order to make that choice more logical. Conversely, you might want to consider taking your story in a different direction after your character does something that makes more sense. It could end up being amazing!
Number 4:
PRODUCER GUY: And where does he go?
WRITER GUY: Into the sequel.
Don’t forget to wrap up subplots.
Now, last but certainly not least, and almost certainly the one you’ve been waiting for, if you’re familiar with Pitch Meetings:
PRODUCER GUY: WOW, I bet it’s going to be really hard to do such and such!
WRITER GUY: Actually, it’s going to be super easy, barely an inconvenience!
I read really great writer advice somewhere that said that, basically, you should figure out what your characters need to do, consider all the obstacles in front of them, and then make things harder for them.
That’s what makes a story interesting. Raising the stakes in an authentic way keeps writers engaged and will really bring your characters to life by pushing them to their limits.
So, what do you think? Have you seen any Pitch Meeting videos? Which are your favorites?
I LOVE the Lord of the Rings pitch meetings, and The Rings of Power pitch meeting is deliciously brutal.
Mark your calendars for June 15, launch day for the second edition of “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope!
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