Pitch reels. Sizzle reels. Mood/tone films. Multimedia lookbooks. Whichever name you prefer, these pitching tools are becoming more prevalent. Recently, we posted about Joe Carnahan's sizzle reel for Daredevil that inevitably was not the chosen vision. And of course, our own Ryan Koo shared his lookbook for Manchild here on NFS. Now, thanks to Slashfilm, we get another example of a pitch reel for a major studio project, The Hunger Games, from filmmaker Kevin Tancharoen (Fame (2009), Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series) with a substantially darker tone than Gary Ross' finished film.
In his Slashfilm interview with Peter Sciretta, Tancharoen explains the current expectations for directors pitching their visions to studios:
Trying to pitch a vision to a room full of people is always very difficult verbally. In the past two years, the pitch reel has significantly become more demanding since technology allows for people to make mini movies in their own homes. It’s almost expected for a director to show some visual materials, but the need to impress has become elevated.
Like Carnahan's Daredevil pitch reel, Tancharoen's Hunger Games pitch reel plays like a theatrical trailer, immersing the viewer not only in the style and tone of the proposed film, but also the story itself. Tancharoen even goes so far as to pitch a potential cast so studio executives can start to put faces to the characters.
From a screenwriter's perspective, while we may not think about creating pitch reels for projects, pitching is a necessary skill for all aspiring screenwriters. While pitch reels may be considered the director's domain, screenwriters may want to consider creating pitch reels for their own projects to help producers and executives see their visions.
Make sure you check out Slashfilm's complete interview with Tancharoen to learn more about his process of creating a pitch reel.
Have you made a pitch reel for one of your projects? Share your experiences with us in the Comments.
Link: Slashfilm - Kevin Tancharoen's Hunger Games pitch trailer and interview
[via The Story Department]
