Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sometimes you have a great conversation with a producer or network exec, and you promise to send them something right away. Then you get a bunch of ideas. But you promised it right away!

Don't worry about being speedy. Unless you're in production, or the producer specifically mentioned wanting to read something before an important meeting with a potential buyer, the only deadline is in your head.

Make the piece as good as you can. If you like, shoot the producer an email saying, "I know I promised you this thing, but talking with you gave me some great new ideas, so I'll send it as soon as I'm done revising." 99% of the time the producer's reaction is: great.

They are probably not in a hurry to read your stuff. They may take two or three weeks to read it. So why rush to get it in?

It is not the speed of delivery, but the sheer quality of your work, that sets it apart from the vast pile of ordinary, unproduced material.

Everybody wants to read the best version of your pitch or spec, so take your time and make it as good as you possibly can. Even if that's just 5% better, it may be that last 5% that pushes it out of the "hmmm" pile into the "yes!" pile.

So take your time, get comments from your readers/friends/cronies, and send it in when it's ready. If you can make it better, you will lose nothing, and possibly gain everything, from the delay.

Labels: getting to yes, pitching

1:26 PM

1 Comments:

Great advice. It's such a common error to send your work too early...I know I've been guilty of it plenty.

By  Eric M, at 4:00 PM  

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