The pitch for the original Alien movie is widely considered to be one of the smartest pitches ever made.
Legend has it that it was only 3 words long.
It could have been 3 hours long, explaining in great detail how the story works, detailing the dark mood, forecasting box office sales, introducing the creation team, diving into their track record, …
… and many more aspects that an advisor would recommend you mention in a pitch.
The creators chose to dismiss all of that. They saw two things that made all of it redundant information:
- It was shortly after the mega success of Jaws which created a hype for the thriller genre.
- It was the dawn of science fiction, with Star Wars just having conquered the world and other films around the corner.
Hollywood wanted thrillers and it wanted science fiction. What it wanted even more was a thriller science fiction movie. And that was all the Alien creators needed to know. Here’s their pitch:
“Jaws in Space”
These three words sparked the producers’ imagination: If we can make a film as thrilling as Jaws but located in Space, box office success would be a no-brainer. The future success felt so present for them, that it made them beg the creators to tell them more.
Now they wanted all the info.
And that’s the perfect moment to give the info. After your audience wants it, not before.
Most leaders do the opposite.
They walk into the room with a 47 slide deck complete with market analysis, implementation plans, background, history, risks, methodology, definitions, roadmap, and more. They have anticipated every possible question and are determined to answer it before a single one has even been asked.
Five minutes in, the audience is already exhausted.
This is a bitter pill to swallow for everyone who’s doing extraordinary work. Because, undoubtedly, the information itself is solid. The logic is sound. The deck makes sense.
The investors should care. But they don’t because it’s simply too exhausting.
I’m not arguing here to delete the detail. The detail was relevant for Jaws. But not until after curiosity kicked in.
The exact same detail that feels exhausting before curiosity feels fascinating after it.
You see the same costly mistake everywhere:
- A founder who starts a pitch with TAM calculations before investors care.
- A strategy presentation that explains execution details before people understand why the change matters.
- A keynote that starts with credentials instead of tension.
- A product launch drowning in features before the audience even wants the product.
So many bright minds think the challenge in high-stakes communication is explaining their idea clearly, completely, and in great detail. But clarity and detail only matter to someone who wants it.
The bigger challenge, the one almost nobody prepares for, is therefore creating that want in the first place: “Tell me more!”
When people want the answer, you can say less and land harder.
If you have a pitch coming up and want your audience to desperately want to hear what you’ve got, reach out.
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
PS: There’s another fascinating aspect of the Jaws pitch: The way it sparked a complete story in just three words. Issue 14 of What the Best Leaders Say explains how the Story Spark works and how you can find your own spark. If you’re not yet a subscriber, you can find it here.
