How would I pitch 'A Boy's Live?'

How would I pitch 'A Boy's Life'? In order to pitch a boys life properly, I would have to focus on the main points that relate to the viewer. I would pitch the moral values of accepting another of a different kind, two different beings coexisting as equals, and the ups and downs of a boy who cares about a young alien named E.T. One must pitch these values because they are the ones that the audience/viewer can relate to. We all have a little boy's imagination somewhere inside us, or remember the days where we only wished something like this would happen to us. Elliot is the child that is in all of us, and that is the appeal that brings the audience in. When you can relate to the main character, you care about them, and you care about what happens to them or to the ones they love. We begin to care for E.T. and what will happen to him. If you can somehow relate these ideas through a pitch, the audience/viewers will certainly cling to something like that. Regardless of where each person has come from, they still all remember the innocence of childhood.

So, as said before, the main ideas/concepts of the movie/screenplay to focus on when pitching would be the core values of the movie. Elliot's struggle to keep E.T. a secret and keep him out of danger. We all relate to Elliot's imaginative innocence and we all care about him. That relationship that is formed between the main character and the audience is exactly what draws us in. Movies that develop relationships and bonds with the audience are the easiest ones to pitch. 

-Drew Barontini

Discussion Questions:

1.) In the real pitch of this movie, how long would the pitch be?

2.) Does an accredited director such as Steven Spielberg still have to pitch his movies in a formal setting?