After five years in the business, we’ve come to the following conclusions:
Period (historical) films are impossible to sell, unless you have a major A-list actor or director attached.
Action films are too expensive for us and need to be pitched to studio-type producers with access to studio-type financing. So unless the action takes place in a garage, you can forgo pitching us.
We are also looking for thrillers and horror films that can be shot pretty much at a single location.
Horror films work if they’re confined to one location and can be produced for under $1 million. We’ll take a look at that pitch, but we’re avoiding the following subgenres – vampire, serial killer, zombies and Big Foot.
Coming to us with some money attached is a plus. It takes you out of the large holding bin of scripts with no financing attached which gets higher every year.
We no longer have time to develop any idea from scratch. If you don’t have a fully finished script, don’t bother pitching us. It’s a waste of time for both of us.
Documentary projects are good, but once again they have to be on subjects of international interest with some pre-sold elements. Obviously, every film can’t be “Fahrenheit 911,” but Michael Moore had the biggest pre-sold element attached to that film – President George W. Bush. So try not to pitch subjects that are obscure and of no interest.
Pitches that interest us: new takes on old subjects (think the Hilary Duff film “A Cinderella Story”), well-known biographical subjects (with “Ray,” there is an upswing in interest in bio-pics). Smaller films with stories that appeal to all demographics. Family pictures with unique twists. The aforementioned horror films that take place at a single location. Contemporary military stories of a unique nature (we have a strong interest in this world).
