The pitch for the original Alien movie is widely considered to be one of the best 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:
First, it was shortly after the mega success of Jaws which created a hype for the thriller genre.
Second, 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.
How can you create the urge for your audience to want the info before you give it to them?
