What makes a successful television pitch

Christopher Mack was previously Senior Vice President of Scripted Content for Stage 13, overseeing all of the brand’s original scripted series and development slates across multiple genres, including Emmy nominated Netflix series’ Special and It’s Bruno. Before Stage 13, Chris headed the Warner Bros. Workshop, the writing and directing program for professionals looking to start and/or further their careers in television. Over a period of 10 years in this role, Chris curated a roster of close to 100 writers and 50 directors representing the breakthrough emerging voices working on high-profile television shows today. In addition to these responsibilities, Chris has covered hit shows such as “Two and a Half Men” and “Smallville” for the Current Programs department. Prior to joining Warner Bros., Chris spent seven years writing on various one-hour dramas including “ER,” “The Practice” and “The New Twilight Zone.” After graduating from Loyola Law School, Chris got his start in television at NBC Studios as an associate and he quickly rose to become an executive. During his time at the newly created NBC Studios, he oversaw a varied list of shows including: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” "In The House,” among others.

Overview of session: Christopher will delve into what exactly makes a television pitch work. He’ll focus on how to write an effective pitch document and give you ideas on how best to communicate your show’s overview, world, tone, and characters. Christopher will then discuss how season summaries should be built and give you ideas on how to think about and present potential episodes. You will leave this presentation with the understanding of how to structure and present your series, not in theory, but directly from the source.