Sep 2024
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Sep 2024
Sep 2024
darshanpillayy
Sep '24

Introduction: Hi. I want to be a comic writer. Here is a fun little pitching game that I made up to help get the brainstorming juices of creation flowing. Hopefully, this will help you come up with something useful that you can use and create the next mega-hit with! I believe in you! This is loosely based on the pitch format that I have always used for television shows and learned at SCAD as a Dramatic Writing major, writer for scripts, TV, plays, and movies. Also more experimental script types, like narrative podcasts, VR games, and Interactive Experiences. But never mind all that, I'm getting distracted and showing off too much, like the nerd I am. Damn, my ADHD! Lol.
** Sigh... Another Introduction:** Here's the layout to use for your pitch, to keep a sense of uniformity and readability to this thing overall: It is also sometimes fun to have a template that you can just jump into without having to think about how to do it.
Logline: One sentence summary of the overall idea behind the story, try to keep it to one sentence and keep it simple, stupid, about the main narrative drive/conflict/set-up, and so on.
Arc Logline: Same thing as the log line but what is the first arc about, how are you breaking the seasons up, and what is the focus of the first season? Remember, one sentence, and keep it simple, stupid.
Genre: What genre or genres is your story in? Be as broad, or as niche as you want. Heck, combine two genres that don't usually go together. Honestly, I recommend it, as it is so much fun.
Similar Media: This is what other media your story is like. This isn't really important to your story, it just helps sell it to higher-ups, as corporate overlords love it when new media is exactly like other things that have made a lot of money. An unfortunate fact that has led to the homogenization of the fiction market in all mediums. Unfortunately, you still have to do it if you want to sell and support yourself with your art.
Synopsis: A paragraph piece of writing about what happens in the first arc of your story, think of this as an expanded version of your logline where you focus on all of the events that take place in your story, try to be as detailed as possible, but don't include everything that you can think of.
Scope: How big the project will end up being, how many pages, episodes or even just how many panels can you tell it in?

Rowan_Lane
Sep '24

This sounds like a good way to get your concept stolen lol

Vassia
Sep '24

I love this idea! I'll write a post when my brain is a little more awake for the ideas I have brewing in by back burner :grin:

Vassia
Sep '24
Rowan_Lane

Lol as a fellow writing major I can tell you this is pretty industry standard in film and in classic publishing. Something many professors would tell students at my uni was "Every story has already been told, but only you can tell it your way." In addition not many people will actually go through the effort of writing someone else's story because us creatives who will put in the effort to write stories, we're already crazy passionate about our own. I see this as more of a tool for brainstorming with others.

Rowan_Lane
Sep '24

It's not that pitching is a new process. I have pitched stories before to other writing platforms. I just don't think it's a good Idea to post on a public forum like this lol.

Yeah, you're probably right most people don't want to write other people's stories, but people will put all the information you give them and plug them into chatGPT no problem. Kinda don't want to come across my story on youtube shorts mangled by AI and read by a bot. at least, not until I share it myself in full, first.

Vassia
Sep '24

Oof sometimes I forget about AI and how scary it is :sweat:

Rowan_Lane
Sep '24

Yeah. It might be different if OP had a comment history but note this is their first post. Like, not saying 100% they're fishing for concepts to use nefariously. But isn't it interesting this is their only post, only comment, and they didn't even share a pitch themselves?

Not to mention, a lot of online lit places have a rule that your pitch can't have been shared online before. Wattpad has that rule for pitching paid stories to them. So yeah, not a really good idea imo.

No hate to you or OP if this was an innocent post. Just my thoughts.

darshanpillayy
Sep '24

yeah, that's fair, I didn't even think about it from that perspective. I just wanted to make a thread where I could get feedback on some of my ideas and provide the same for others

darshanpillayy
Sep '24

Here's my idea:
Learn To Bake Garlic Bread!: A Vampire Hunting Story
Logline: In a world where chefs use food to hunt vampires, Garlic Academy is the most prestigious vampire-hunting school in the world. This is the story of the academy’s greatest hunter, Alucard Van Helsing, a half-vampire.
Arc Logline: Alucard Van Helsing, a vampire, has been allowed to take the entrance exam at Garlic Academy, baking a loaf of garlic bread that is good enough to cure a vampire spawn, but will he be able to succeed? Will the other students learn that he is a half-vampire? Will he be able to keep his secret?
Genre: Supernatural/ Vampire / Cooking / School Life
Similar Media: Food Wars / Vampire High / Vampire Knight
Synopsis: Alucard Van Helsing, the adoptive son of Van Helsing, and the biological son of Dracula, has been permitted by the headmaster of Garlic Academy to take the entrance exam of the school, despite being a half-vampire. When Alucard arrives at the school, he learns what the entrance exam is, he has to bake a loaf of garlic bread so good that it’ll cure a vampire spawn. The only problem is that Alucard has never made garlic bread in his life. However, he follows the recipe and selects the right ingredients, using his vampire senses to select the ingredients that hurt him the most, to pass the test successfully.
Scope: Five to ten-episode arc with the potential for a full series. Potentially even just three episodes with the potential for a full series.