All About The One Page Pitch

Is there any more misunderstood and feared document than the one page pitch? Sometimes called a ‘one pager’ or synopsis (especially for novels), the one page pitch can make or break your submission.

Lots of writers want to avoid writing a one page pitch. This is is a big mistake. Never, ever, ever send your work without a one page pitch.

A One Pager is a GREAT opportunity to sell your story “off the page” and get in that reader’s good books. Wait … What’s that you say? You already have a one page pitch! GREAT …

… Is it any good, though? How can you tell? 

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Always Include A One Page Pitch

Of course, in an ideal world, One Page Pitches would *only* be judged on whether the idea behind them is appealing or not.

In reality, having read hundreds (if not thousands) of the the damn things, I can tell you 9/10 they’re judged in the negative. In fact, too many succeed only in demotivating the reader from wanting to read your script or novel. Eeek!

That however does NOT mean you should leave a One Page Pitch out altogether.

There is a way to turn this around and make your script’s One Page Pitch do what it’s supposed to do … Which is MAKE your reader WANT to devour your work whole in one sitting (no mean feat).

So, let’s get down to business.

FYI, there’s no “right” way to write a One Page Pitch

Before we begin, I need you to understand …

• There is no industry standard on the way it looks or how it reads.
• There’s no special font you’re *supposed* to use.
• There’s no special way you’re *supposed*  to lay it out.
• Here is a free ONE PAGE REFERENCE GUIDE to download from the B2W resources page (it’s the red one in the PDF gallery, scroll down if you can’t see it immediately).

Now we’ve got the above out of the way, let’s move on.

What You Need Your One Page Pitch To Do

In short, write your one page pitch whatever way you want. But DO remember just two things …

• Make it clear
• Make it interesting

I would venture the majority of one page pitch are CONFUSED and/or BORING. So if you can nail those two, teensy tiny things (that mean SO much)? You’re way ahead literally 90% of the competition. FACT.

To Make Sure Your One Page Pitch Is CLEAR …

1) Put your logline at the top

That’s right – AT THE TOP MOFOS. Use 25-60 words, tops. you can even write LOGLINE next to it if you want. But whatever you do, don’t skirt round it and DON’T LEAVE IT OFF ALTOGETHER.

Make sure your logline really sings, too – and isn’t a tagline. The same goes for a novel, by the way. You may not want to call it a logline. Novels with a short pitch of 25-60 words at the top of their synopses are inevitably clearer than those without, too.

2) Start with the SET UP

This is who we’re dealing with, what they’re up against and WHY. So in other words, who’s the protagonist? What does s/he want? Who’s the antagonist? How is s/he going to try and stop the protagonist? If you’re not writing a feature but a TV pilot for a returning drama or a pitch for a sitcom, give us a sense of the series as whole. Same with novels!

3) Tell us HOW IT ENDS

I cannot stress this enough. Lots of writers *think* it adds to the intrigue by leaving the ending out or worse, ending on a question (shudder), but think about it: why would someone INVEST their time in reading your story if they only know how it starts? The notion of “spoilers” is not applicable in this scenario – and if you REALLY don’t want to spoil a dramatic twist ending, why not say it has a dramatic twist ending? In an interesting way, natch. Leading us to …

To Make Sure Your One Pager Is INTERESTING …

4) Match the tone of the document to your GENRE

If it’s a comedy, make your One Pager FUNNY. Thriller, Action/Adventure or Horror, use vocabulary and writing style reflect that. If it’s a drama, make it EMOTIONAL. Do whatever it takes to get the reader ON BOARD.

5) Avoid the nuts and bolts of the plot

“And then ... then …  then ...” It’s yawnsome. We don’t need the meat of the story yet, that’s for the script or novel itself. Remember: SELL us the c0ncept OFF THE PAGE instead. Make us excited to read your writing.

6) Less really is more!

We all know this when it comes to screenwriting, yet we don’t always do this in one page pitches. Break up text, don’t write one big black block. Make it LOOK appealing, be economical with words. And don’t go overboard on fancy fonts or design, either. And yes, same with novel synopses too.

Don’t forget to grab your ONE PAGE PITCH REFERENCE GUIDE, either. (It’s the red one in the PDF gallery on the resources page, scroll down for it).

Good luck!

DYK? This post is now a brilliant infographic. CLICK HERE to see it.

Like This Post?

Then check out my screenwriting books, available in eBook and paperback from Amazon and all good book stores. Click the pics or to look inside Writing & Selling Drama Screenplays, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to read an excerpt from Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays about the iconic character of Driver in the movie DRIVE, courtesy of B2W friends Film Doctor. Click on the pic or HERE, to look inside in the front of the book.