Communicating a solid vision for a film or television project in a competitive market place is complex and stressful task for filmmakers. In order to secure the confidence of support of collaborators such as distributors, agents and funding partners, The Pitcher House assists in developing emotionally impactful tools to help projects stand out from the crowd. Proof-Of-Concept trailers, posters, look books and Pitch decks aim to communicate a clear and compelling understanding of story, audience and potential avenues to reach that audience. We’ve developed tools from only a few paragraphs of written text to hundreds of hours of archival footage. By working closely with directors and producers we can help develop concepts and stories into full formed packages to garner the attention of the smallest distributors all the way up to large players such as Marvel and Netflix. 

“It was a huge privilege and responsibility to work with Cate on the trailer for Marvel” says founder Danny Lachevre. “There were so many other directors in the running for the role.  We had to create something totally original that captured Cate’s unique approach to filmmaking yet still revealed her understanding of what is at the heart of the Black Widow story.”

The Black Widow project combined story, character, music and mood in an emotionally charged 2 minute 15 second concept trailer to capture Shortland’s vision for the stand-alone film. It was edited over a 3 week period in time for the director to personally present it to Marvel executives in LA.

“It was a stressful race to the finish line.” says Lachevre “Cate’s films always have complex and compelling female characters at their core. She wanted to show that Natasha Romanoff would be a unique, multilayered character whilst at the same time being the hero that audiences are dying to see in her own film. That’s a lot to convey in a 2 minute trailer, especially with the world’s experts on Black Widow needing to be impressed!”

Lachevre first worked with Shortland on her first feature ‘Somersault’ in 2003 which won over 41 awards across the world and premiered at Cannes. He also worked with her partner Tony Krawitz and producer Emile Sherman [The King’s Speech, Lion] helping to pitch Krawitz’s debut feature ‘Dead Europe’ to funding bodies in 2010.

“Trailer editing is a very specialised craft that teaches you a lot about storytelling, finding its core and then pitching that core back to audiences. ‘Proof-of-concept’ trailers are a type of reverse engineering of that process. Trailers have informed so much of what I do in the film industry today.” Lachevre continues.

Lachevre also runs cinema-on-demand distribution platform FanForce films that helps independent filmmakers release their films into cinemas in over 36 countries. The company’s in-house marketing team specialises in trailers, posters and social media campaigns primarily for FanForce campaigns but has been increasingly involved in early stage development on projects such as Black Widow. The Pitcher House offers the team’s skillset for projects regardless of how they get distributed and already has projects in front of Netflix and PBS as well as a number of independent distributors and broadcasters around the world.

The company brings together a team of industry consultants with backgrounds in distribution, production and government funding alongside a marketing team including trailer editors and designers. Most interesting however is that the company also have finance partners able to fund the development of pitching or P&A materials for projects that don’t have the budget set aside.

“We’ve seen too many campaigns suffer because they don’t have adequate budgets to properly pitch a project at development stage or market it at release. Our finance partners in Australia, the UK and the US will be able to provide small amounts of finance for a limited amount of projects each year – from $15k to $100k.” says Lachevre. “This could help with a proof-of-concept trailer like Black Widow or with final stage trailers, posters or social media campaigns for documentaries like ‘In My Blood It Runs’. This will act as a bridge to enable projects to get off the ground or garner public attention at release.”

For financing, there is a 3 stage process of Project Assessment, Finance Application and Materials Development. Filmmakers first submit projects for assessment which will require a small fee. This provides them with a comprehensive report on the concept and its viability. One of the industry consultants will assess the project in terms of its story, market potential with recommendations for improving the project overall. The report will also include suggestions for pitch materials such as pitch decks, concept trailers and posters. Filmmakers can take the report and use it to help leverage outside finance or they can proceed to stage 2 and apply for finance directly from The Pitcher House. If approved, the project will then proceed to stage 3 where the marketing team will produce the materials required.

“This a great platform for filmmakers to receive constructive feedback to elevate their projects. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form, so bringing together expertise from a range of industry sectors will help to ensure projects are thoughtfully pitched, with a firm focus on connecting with audiences. I’m excited to be involved and to see some of the projects that will be coming through.”
Tania Chambers OAM, Producer, Feisty Dame Productions