Building a show that sells: the art of pitching

The Art of pitching
Building shows that sell from concept to pitch
with Blake Masters

Do you want to know how to pitch your show in a way that truly engages executives?

Pitching is one of the most crucial and often underestimated steps in the development of any project. It’s your chance to communicate not just what your show is, but why it’s irresistible.

In this five-part online workshop, Blake Masters, creator award-winning Brotherhood (Showtime) and Falling Water (USA Network) draws on decades of experience pitching, selling, and showrunning series across the U.S. television industry. Blake will guide participants through every element of developing and delivering a powerful pitch that sells

Session one
Intro – the basics of pitching
Wednesday January 21 2026

The de facto pitch structure: what goes into each of the seven sections, why it’s important and how to organize your pitch so that executives will take away a clear picture of the show you are trying to sell. Along the way we will introduce the elements of the pitch format that are sneakily relevant as you turn your idea into a show.

Session two
What makes something a good idea and how to turn that idea into a clearly defined show with a sustainable story engine
Thursday January 22 2026

This session will cover the core elements that define the nature of your show including: the importance of sustainable conflict, the pitfalls of backstory mystery, the importance of insuring that you have both internal and external story triggers, and generating alignment between your character’s internal conflict and the nature of their world.

Session three
Defining your characters and relationships to generate story. Then distilling all that to pitch-able form
Friday January 23 2026

How do you define your main character and how to position your secondary characters around them so that you have sustainable tensions and don’t end up with siloed characters that take away from the core essence of your show.

Session four
Building a strong pilot story and successful teaser
Wednesday January 28 2026

This part will follow how you generate a strong pilot story that defines the nature of your show (for the audience as well as buyers) and how the teaser section (of both your pitch and your script) plays a secretly important role.

Session five
Working out your season one arcs and everything else for your pitch
Thursday January 29 2026

Finally, we will focus on how to plan out your first season in a way that is both specific and flexible, how to generate episodic stories and how to distill all that down into a digestible form for your pitch.

ADD-ON session
Private one-to-one pitching session

Wednesday February 4 2026
For an additional fee, you also have the opportunity for a private one-to-one pitching session with Blake where you can receive personalised feedback on your pitch. This is an additional chance to put what you’ve learned over the five sessions into practice, as you will have 45 minutes to pitch and receive feedback (25 minute pitch/20minutes feedback) on whatever idea you’ve been developing in conjunction with the course.

(PLEASE NOTE: in order to qualify for the one-to-one surgery you need to have attended the previous five sessions)

For more info 
https://mediaxchange.com/scripted/the-art-of-pitching/

Bursary applicable

There are ScreenSkills bursaries available to cover some or all of the costs of this training course - including travel, accommodation, subsistence, care or disability access support to attend this course. To find out more about the support you may be eligible for, click the button below:

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About this listing

This training course is not funded or commissioned by ScreenSkills, but has been reviewed to ensure it is meeting agreed standards such as industry-led diversity targets, appropriate business insurance, and evidence of previous quality training provision.