One needs to know the essentials of the show bible before the big pitch meeting. All images courtesy of iStockPhoto.com.

In pitching animation, not only do you need the passion, have a thorough understanding about your property and know the broadcaster and their needs, you need to demonstrate what your story it about. Your pitch materials are your sales tools.

The Pitch Bible is a tool that helps convey your concept. It is a tool to help you present and is a leave-behind to trigger the decision maker’s memory.

There are no hard and fast rules about what form a pitch bible should take. At it’s very best, it should reflect the concept of the project, whether it is a television, feature or home entertainment project, to help the buyer visualize the story as you pitched it. The size, color, number of pages, how it is put together is up to you, the creator, to determine what best conveys your creation.

What are the basic elements and what should not be left out? This is the question that most creators ask. Sometimes we can get hung up in terminology and get lost in what is important. Let’s review a glossary of common pitching terms.

Glossary For The Pitch Bible
Character Descriptions:
Written descriptions of each character, what are their characteristics and how they interact with the other characters in the story.

Concept Art:
Drawings, illustrations or images of the characters and the environments of the story.

Episode Synopsis:
See “story springboards;” One-paragraph description of episodic plots that spring from the original concept; each episode’s synopsis should contain a beginning, middle and end.

Images:
See “concept art;” Drawing, illustrations of the characters and the environments of the story.

Key Art:
A drawing, illustration or image of the cast of characters in significant action poses in their environment that best visualizes the characterizations and story.

Log Line:
A one-sentence description of the story often similar to the one-line description in a television scheduling guide.

Pilot:
A fully produced episode to show as a sample of the animation and story.