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Story for
Pitch Decks

The training

You’ve got a great idea and a script you think industry producers and execs should read. But how do you convince them?

Location:Online

Duration:2 Weeks

Skill Level:Intermediate

Take your pitching to the next level and add pitch-deck creation to your skillset with this live professional development training.

Our tutors pitch their own scripts and factual ideas day-in day-out and will guide you through the process. You’ll walk away with a template you can tweak to fit all your ideas, no matter what genre or format. Plus the reassurance that producers and commissioners will see your vision in the way you do.

This practical training is designed in mind for anyone with a script or factual/documentary idea looking to deliver a memorable, professional industry pitch for their story. It’s taught live and online to UK time, but everything’s embedded and archived in our online classroom – so you can join us from anywhere.

Our team

Meet the experts

Emma Millions

Emma Millions

Course Director

Emma has been a development producer for multiple broadcasters and independent production companies alongside writing for the likes of Ant & Dec, The Chuckle Brothers and the director Ken Russell. She teaches screenwriting at several film schools and is passionate about finding the perfect format for every individual story.

More about Emma

John Yorke

Course Consultant

John is widely acknowledged as the UK’s foremost expert on story and Into the Woods is the bestselling book on the subject in the UK. John’s worked on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama, from EastEnders to Shameless, Life on Mars and Wolf Hall.

More about John

Maria Carranza

Course Moderator

Maria Carranza is a Mexican writer, script consultant, development executive, historian, and translator with 12+ years of international experience in film and TV. She’s worked as a script and book reader for Original Film Netflix UK, Austin Film Festival, and the Athens Film Office, amongst many others, as well as a script consultant for dozens of projects in the UK, USA and Mexico.

More about Maria

Bursaries & Funding

See our full list of UK-based funding opportunities with application guidance. As this counts as CPD training, you may also be able to get funding from your employer to do it.

ScreenSkills

This course has been made possible by the support of ScreenSkills, and has been approved as part of an informal or formal continuing professional development (CPD) programme. You may be eligible for a training bursary for this course. Apply direct to ScreenSkills here, at least four weeks before the course start date.

Things to know

Story for Pitch Decks is for anyone who has to pitch ideas, including screenwriters, documentary makers, and those working in development for film or TV.

The workshop is suitable if you:

  • Want to craft a compelling pitch that prompts industry insiders to ask to see your work
  • Have found it tough to get responses from enquiry emails
  • Know you need to learn to make visual decks, but don’t know how
  • Want to discover why your pitches aren’t hitting home – and how to fix them
  • Want to learn the underlying framework behind successful pitches, and how to apply it
  • Have access to and a basic knowledge of Powerpoint, Canva, Keynote, or equivalent presentation software as this cannot be taught during the sessions
  • Can dedicate 2 days to the learning

This professional training allows you to:

  • Perfect your pitching skills and learn how to see your story in a more effective visual way
  • Move forward with a template that can be applied to all your future ideas
  • Refresh your story skills and use the principles of narrative to explain your idea to others
  • Distill your thoughts, and exert greater control over the drama of your pitch
  • Gain greater understanding of industry expectations and processes
  • Practise giving effective feedback and receiving critical notes
  • Network with others in the industry, and with the tutor team and special guests

Zoom Workshop 1 – 10am – 5pm (UK time)

Discover the blueprint pitch-deck structure that works for any story idea, then learn how to build it using PowerPoint or your preferred equivalent (Photoshop, Keynote etc.).

From the ‘must includes’ to the ‘don’t do’s’, we’ll guide you through the process with masses of practical tips and exercises to get you exploring and making alongside a peer group of creatives all looking to develop their skillsets.

After the first workshop, apply the template to your story idea in your own time, with support from your peers.

Zoom Workshop 2 – 10am – 2pm (UK time)

Pitch your deck to your tutor for incisive feedback to hone your words and images – and learn new tips and tricks.

Join our alumni – After your course, you can join our online alumni community where you’ll meet our growing network of past students. You’ll be able to.

  • Rejoin your classmates in a private forum
  • Continue to access an archived version of your course materials
  • Meet alumni from other courses and share work for feedback
  • Join discussions about screenwriting, script editing and the industry
  • Attend live chats with guest writers and industry folk

Mentoring and one-to-one feedback – Our team offer mentoring, script reads and reports. We are happy to quote by job or script, or to arrange a longer mentoring scheme as you work on a specific story idea. We’ll create a package to suit you, so please email [email protected].

How it Works

Our training’s taught 100% online in small groups with a designated tutor and moderator on-hand throughout.

This course is taught live to UK time, but everything’s embedded and archived in our online classroom – so you can join us from anywhere.

It’s an active learning experience where you watch, reflect and practise exercises on Zoom and in our online classroom before submitting assignments for peer and tutor feedback. You’ll then refine your work as you improve.

It’s both flexible and structured. Social and yet gives you space. Find out more about how we teach.

Book now Ask us anything
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Our Alumni

What people say

Julian Unthank

Screenwriter

I attended the Story for Pitch Decks course as I was keen to update my skillset, and I’m so glad I did. I brought a live commission with me and developed a deck in tandem with the course, receiving fantastic feedback from Emma and the other attendees in the process. The result is a new set of skills and a deck that has gone down a storm with my Development Producer and will hopefully lead to a script commission. Watch this space!

Ryan Hooker

Script Consultant

I want to thank [Emma Millions] for running the Story for Pitch Decks course. I enjoyed working on my pitch deck, and felt that I learned more than I had planned! More than anything, it helped me reinforce many of the storytelling tenets that I learned during the Story for Script Development course, and I’m hoping to start using these new skills with writers soon.

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