Pitch Like Hollywood: What You Can Learn from the High-Stakes Film Industry

by Peter Desberg, Jeffrey Davis

Overview

Inside tips on how to craft pitches that seal the deal—no matter what industry you work in—and banish presentation anxiety forever

From impromptu elevator pitches to full-board presentations, sales and marketing professionals face an “audience” daily―often with make-or-break consequences. As the person delivering the performance, you need to know you have a great script and are able to maintain composure throughout.

To help you perfect both pitch and performance, there are no better coaches than clinical psychologist Peter Desberg and writer/producer Jeffrey Davis. With experience and insights from both the film industry and the corporate world, they understand the pitch process.

In Pitch Like Hollywood, they show you how to up your game substantially —no matter what business you’re in—by incorporating elements of a classic Hollywood pitch: driving emotion, piquing curiosity, and ultimately winning over decision makers with powerful persuasion and performance. They take you on an insider’s tour of the entire process, from defining the fundamentals to designing effective presentation strategies to overcoming stage fright.

With chapters that include Persuasion Boot Camp, The Pitch Panic Cycle, and Creating the Pitch II (The Sequel), Pitch Like Hollywood provides a front-row seat in a master class on giving great performances for any audience, every time—at board meetings, sales calls, and whenever else you want to make a case to get the results you want.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781264268566
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	02/28/2022
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,110,276
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Peter Desberg is professor emeritus at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award and Outstanding Professor Award. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the area of stage fright and performance anxiety. The author of 23 books, he has been quoted by such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and The New York Times, and has consulted for companies including Apple, Boeing and Toyota in the areas of pitching and persuasion, corporate presentations, and using storytelling and humor in business presentations.

Jeffrey Davis is a professor of screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and served from 2009-2019 as the department chair. Davis has also written and produced trade shows for Dick Clark Productions and counted among his advertising clients Dell Computers, Toyota of America and Honda. His has more than 30 credits to his name, including Night Court, Remington Steele, and documentaries for A&E, Discovery, and The History Channel. As a consultant, his areas have also included writing, pitching, and employing storytelling and humor in business presentations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Pitch Basics 13

Chapter 3 The Hollywood Pitch 29

Chapter 4 Persuasion: At the Heart of Decision-Making 59

Chapter 5 Persuasion Boot Camp 75

Chapter 6 Persuasion: Personological Variables 93

Chapter 7 The Roots of Pitch Panic 107

Chapter 8 The Pitch Panic Cycle 131

Chapter 9 Dealing with Pitch Panic Emotionally 155

Chapter 10 Changing Your Thoughts 165

Chapter 11 Doing Your Homework 187

Chapter 12 Post Prep: Making Decisions Based on Your Preparation 201

Chapter 13 Creating the Pitch (1): The Setup 217

Chapter 14 Creating the Pitch (2): Structuring the Pitch 233

Chapter 15 Practice Strategies 259

Chapter 16 Displaying Creativity 283

Chapter 17 In the Room 297

Notes 311

Index 327