My biggest freelance pitch was in 2001. My good friend Terry Castagnola was helping to produce a new reality show called “The Amazing Race” and he called to see if I was interested in doing the graphics package for the show. A few days later my partner on the project, John Ridgway and I met with Bertram van Munster, one of the show’s creators at Jerry Bruckheimer’s office in Playa Vista, California. Bert and his team were very excited about the project and they were open to our initial ideas for the graphics. We were told that only one other design company was doing a pitch. That company was John’s former company and my former employer, Novocom, also in Playa Vista. We had SOME challenge ahead of us. We spent a week or so brainstorming and storyboarding some ideas. We thought that they were pretty strong. We met with the producers again and receive very positive feedback. A day or two later we were told that Novocom had been dropped from the pitch process. We of course assumed that the project was ours. We didn’t hear anything for a few days. I called Terry and it turned out that Bruckheimer’s people had hired an FX company that they used for their films, and decided not to go with us. We were, of course, disappointed, but the process was enjoyable and the producers were very professional throughout the process. Pitching is a risky race to enter, but as long as you are paid for the pitch, it is all part of the game.

storyboard for interstitial element

Early Open Storyboard

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