An Early Martin Scorsese Interview Shows the Director Pitching 'Taxi Driver'
How would you describe Taxi Driver to someone who had never seen it?
One skill you really need to hone for your time in Hollywood is pitching. Pitching distills your idea down to its essence and lets someone know what it's about, moving them in a certain way, to excite them to read and see the project.
But you know how hard it is to pitch your work to someone who has no idea what it's about!
Well, even the greats find themselves in similar situations. In fact, Martin Scorsese found himself in that very situation in the mid-1970s, when a reporter asked him about his follow-up to Mean Streets, Taxi Driver.
Check out this clip unearthed from Know The Movies, and let's talk after.
I loved seeing how Scorsese worked this story out to the reporter. He used a current event, the shooting of George Wallace, to relate to a character. And he used general knowledge of how bad New York was at night to let the person's mind wander.
I thought this was a very effective and tight pitch for a TV interview. It was maybe the perfect distillation of an elevator pitch I have ever seen. We get all the emotion, intrigue, and importance that makes us want to dig deeper into the story.
What were some of your takeaways from the short clip?
Let us know in the comments.
