As a producer I used to work with a writer-director who was incredible at pitching - he just oozed imagination but more importantly was really good with words and could articulate his ideas not only with accuracy and narrative structure, but also with a degree of contagious passion. It probably helped that he'd been a rather successful stand up comedian in his time... Certainly not all of us have this so practicing in front of a mirror (or friends and family) can help... watch for those tell tale signs of yawning, or distraction - you'll know if you are selling the "sizzle" or the "steak" to use the hackneyed phrase, and shorten the pitch or cut out cliches as needed. Maybe first get the structure and content of the pitch right, but then work on your tone - so that if it's an exciting sequence you are touching on, sound excited - I think in NLP they call it being "congruent". So if your idea is a comedy, try to have and convey a good time doing it. You never know when the opportunity to pitch will come up, so it's definitely good to get yourself a range of pitches for one project. A 1 minute teaser, a three minute solid pitch, and then have enough knowledge of the characters and story that you can demonstrate both intimacy with the story but also passion if you are asked about any aspect of the film you hope to make. In the UK, the main point of a pitch is to get the script read, and maybe securing a meeting after that . So know when to stop as well. In terms of doing what it takes, I recently met one young producer in the US who was working with 2 new writers who had been working for the local water board, but now had a chance to pitch something to Steven Spielberg. Apparently to get them over their nerves, the producer colour photo-copied a picture of SS, and wore it like a mask for 2 days straight while he drilled the writers and honed their pitching skills. By the time they came to meet Stephen Spielberg, they were more than relaxed in his presence - and performed really well and got themselves a commission. The point is, do whatever works to give yourself the best chance of showing your idea off at its best, and if nerves are likely to be an issue because of the importance of the person you are meeting, then find someway to get around that hurdle, using silly aids if necessary. I met Barry Hanson, the producer of The Long Good Friday, once, and he told a small group of us about how he tried to pitch it to one of the broadcaster's execs in the late 70's, but they just kept being distracted - the phone would go in the office, an assistant would walk in and whisper in someone's ear, and Barry could see that he was losing the battle. At the next distraction, he removed his coat, and strapped into a shoulder holster was a gun - which he then pulled out and placed on the table in front of him, but without saying anything. Needless to say he continued with his pitch uninterrupted - he'd finally grabbed their attention ! During one memorable pitch at SWM when I first started, two local film makers came in to pitch a comedy thriller. They came in dressed as spiv gangsters with wigs and sun glasses and were carrying a rolled up carpet under their arm. They slapped the carpet down on our desk, and unrolled it to show us their design ideas... Because the idea was to be comic, somehow it worked and we were won over. But you have to be careful, as gimmicks can definitely back fire - and you have to judge when a bit of theatrics will work, or when it's best to just get on with a straight but enthusiastic pitch. Good luck and successful pitching !