Polish, Pitch, and Promote

This capstone unit guides students from draft completion to marketplace readiness by focusing on revision, professional formatting, pitching, festival strategy, and career management. Students will produce submission-ready materials, practice pitching and marketing strategies, and develop a personalized plan addressing ethics, networking, and ongoing revision.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze narrative structure, character arcs, and subplot integration (drawing on Aristotle and middle-third strategies) to identify at least three concrete revision targets in a peer or original screenplay
• Apply industry-standard screenplay formatting and adaptation conventions to produce a submission-ready packet that includes a properly formatted screenplay, a one-page synopsis, and a concise logline
• Demonstrate professional pitching and marketing skills by composing a written pitch, delivering a concise oral pitch, and developing a targeted festival/market submission plan with at least three appropriate outlets
• Evaluate ethical and career-management considerations (agent relationships, integrity, handling rejection, and sustaining productivity) to create a personal action plan outlining networking steps, rewrite schedules, and short-term career goals