In his blog, film-maker Chris Jones says:
"I am working on my film Rocketboy with concept artist, Matt Allsopp, and have again been struck by much impact large colourful and imaginative images from the story [such as the one at left] can have. We are talking to film companies and we often get ‘WOW, let’s do a meeting…’ after they see it. But the biggest impact comes with private investors. This artwork tends to make the movie ‘real’ in their heads.
I am working now with another film maker friend, on a huge trilogy, and again, this artwork just gets people excited. The lesson? A small investment upfront can make all the difference to getting your movie funded."
Chris reports that he's in discussions about getting $20 million of backing for this project, so having these pictures may really pay off in a big way! (Fingers crossed, Chris.) One of the "rules" that most scriptwriting teachers tell you is "Don't use any graphics--just the script!" That's fine in the conventional studio/network setting, but Chris' experience suggests that private investors don't know this 'rule' and get excited by good images. So the sub-lesson: sometimes it's good to ignore the rules.
Chris' strategy doesn't apply just to film-makers, there are ways to use images to help you sell all kinds of writing projects. If you're pitching a book, including some visuals (when appropriate, of course) can also help, and magazines and newspapers always give preference to article pitches for which the writer can also supply interesting photos or other graphics. And in a recent post I shared with you a video I sent to a publisher to help increase interest in my new book proposal--that's another kind of image that may be useful.
