美語情景對話 第614期:How to Pitch a Film 如何推銷

Todd: OK, now Jeff, you've been talking about your documentary. Can you talk about how do you actually pitch your documentary? How do you get it out there so people can see it on television?

託德：傑夫，之前你談了你拍攝的紀錄片。現在你能談談你是如何推銷你的紀錄片的嗎？如何吸引更多觀衆在電視上觀看你的紀錄片？

Jeff: Because like I said before, it's independent so we have no one distributing this for us or we didn't sell this first before we shot the documentary which is usually the regular process so it just requires straight salesmanship, going door-to-door, talking to different channels and stations and seeing if they're interested, really trying to be convincing and making them think that this is something that the audience really wants. Just door-to-door.

傑夫：就如我之前所說，我們是獨立製作，所以沒有人幫助我們推廣，在拍攝紀錄片之前我們並沒有先銷售出去，而這其實是紀錄片的常規程序，所以我們要推廣就需要有推銷技術，一家一家地去推銷，和不同的渠道以及各電視臺商談，看看他們是否對我們的紀錄片感興趣，要說服他們，讓他們認爲這是觀衆想看的內容。就是要一家一家地去談。

Todd: OK, so let's say you go into a television studio and you have your documentary on hand, what do you say? Like, how do you get someone to even look at it?

託德：好，那你拿着紀錄片去電視演播室推銷，你會說些什麼？你如何說服其他人看這部紀錄片？

Jeff: Yeah, that's very difficult. Usually in this world a good saying is everything is who you know and without having a foot in the door somehow, you're usually rejected, so and the good thing is that I do know a few in a few different countries so I can usually get a connection somehow who works in a studio or in the television station somewhere and they're recommended, we're recommended to them by our friend, so usually it's a foot in the door or someone else.

傑夫：嗯，這非常難。通常來說，會說話就是一切，沒有門路就會被拒絕，不過我的優勢在於我在幾個國家都有認識的朋友，所以經過朋友的推薦，我可以和在演播室和電視臺工作的人取得聯繫，這就是邁向成功的第一步。

Todd: OK, and actually, let's talk about money. Like how did you actually pay for this documentary? I mean, did you put it on a credit cards or what?

託德：好，我們來談談資金吧。你拍紀錄片的費用是如何支付的？你是用信用卡還是別的什麼方式？

Jeff: Well, doing a documentary is very expensive, very very expensive, and luckily there's three of us, three brothers who did this so we split the costs and one of the reasons we chose India is because it's one of the cheapest places in the world, which allowed us a little bit of mobility to stay as long as we did, and film as long as we did because everything is so cheap there so. And then yeah, we just put it on credit cards. All our savings. Spent all our savings on this documentary.

傑夫：拍紀錄片的費用非常高，非常非常昂貴，幸運的是，我們三個人共同製作了這部紀錄片，所以我們三個兄弟均攤了這些費用，我們選擇印度的其中一個原因是印度是世界上最便宜的地方之一，所以我們能掌握一定的靈活性，儘可能長時間地待在那裏，直到我們拍完紀錄片，那裏的所有東西都很便宜。我們是用信用卡支付的費用。我們所有的存款都用來拍這部紀錄片了。

Todd: So for a filmmaker, or documentary personnel, how do you get your money back?

託德：那電影製片人和紀錄片攝製人員是如何賺錢的呢？

Jeff: Getting your money back in not easy. Getting a portion of your money back in not easy. If you're lucky, if it's a good documentary and it's a good idea and it's something and audience wants, then you can sell it. You can manage to sell it, but it's a gamble. It's a gamble. It's like anything else. You might sell it or you might not sell it, so if you do sell it you get your money back. If you don't, it's a loss so be prepared for that.

傑夫：賺回本錢並不容易。賺回一部分本錢也不容易。如果幸運，如果是一部優秀的紀錄片，或者說是觀衆想看到的好點子，那這部紀錄片就能賣出去，能成功地賣出去，不過這就像賭博一樣。和其他事情一樣，你也許能賣出去，也許賣不出去，如果你能賣出去，那就能賺回本錢。如果賣不出去，那就要做好虧本的打算了。

Todd: Well, I hope you strike it rich.

託德：希望你能掙大錢。

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重點講解：
1. foot in the door （通常指難以成功的領域中）邁向目標的第一步，成功的開端；
例句：The bondholding may help the firm get its foot in the door to win the business.
債券的持有可能是有助於該公司贏得業務的第一步。
2. a portion of 部分；
例句：I have spent a fairly considerable portion of my life here.
我生命中相當長的一段時光是在這裏度過的。
3. strike it rich （尤指）暴富；發大財；
例句：He hoped to strike it rich by investing in ginseng.
他希望通過投資人蔘發大財。
4. be prepared for 準備好的；有準備的；
例句：We must be prepared for any eventuality.
我們必須有所準備以防萬一。