The following is a true story.

Several years ago, my team and I had scheduled a pitch meeting at FOX Studios. I elected to be the team member to pitch the project, a spinoff of sorts of the Matt Dillon film “Drugstore Cowboy,” which was based on the true-life misadventures of author James Fogle. My buddy held the rights and is is the executor of the late Fogle’s estate. The two of them shared nearly a thousand letters while Fogle was in and out of prison, and my friend kept copies of all the back-and-forth correspondence.

Those letters formed the basis of our proposed one-hour weekly television series, “Letters of a Drugstore Cowboy.”

The Night Before

11:40 PM.

As David Madden, who was then the President of FOX Studios, was the individual with whom we would be meeting the following day, I figured it would be prudent to perform some last-minute diligence. I went online, and found that Dave had actually produced a short video that was airing on YouTube … about how best to pitch him if one received the opportunity.

This is that video:

I came across it by accident, and suddenly I had to relearn my pitch from the beginning. The pitch I had prepared did not have the narrative drive of the one David discusses here. No, mine was more detailed and plot-oriented. As this was my first big pitch to a studio head, and I had one shot to make a great impression … I reworked my pitch overnight to meet his standards.

Pitch Day

I broke the ice early.

“I’m all ears,” David said.

“You know,” I said, “before I start I just want to tell you … I had this entire damn pitch down, I practiced, I committed it to memory … and then I saw your YouTube video last night just before midnight and I was pissed!”

Dave laughed. “Just for that, I’m giving you two minutes (as opposed to the attention-getting “one minute” as recommended in the video).”

I pitched. That pitch sold in the room. I took the time to heed his advice.

A deal was made, some money changed hands with the rights-holder, but the show was never produced.

I had bragging rights, though.

Welcome to Hollywood.