I was at Barnes and Noble last night when I picked up a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide for the first time — it’s been out since 2003.

I flipped through it, fascinated by the crude pictures and historical accounts of zombie attacks throughout the years, until I found this excerpt:

“Studies have shown that given the trauma of battle, the closer a human is to a zombie, the wilder his shooting will be.”

Take this same advice and apply it to the screenwriting world:

“Studies have show that given the trauma of sharing your work, the closer a writer to a producer, the wilder the pitching will be.”

If you’re anything like me, then you probably freeze up a bit when given the chance to pitch or share your work. Luckily, further reading provided a simple solution …

“Establish a range for repeated acccuracy.”

In other words, practice any scenario until you can nail it every time. Whether it includes practicing a pitch session (as you might experience during a meeting) or a casual one-on-one pitch (as you might experience at a party), the key is to be able to get your story across every time, quickly and accurately.

And while some might say the story speaks for itself — and that it doesn’t matter whether or not you talk about it, it will somehow find its way into a producers hand — I can assure you that talking your work up is a must.

Overall, I think this excerpt from the book — and perhaps even more — applies to the challenge the screenwriter faces in pitching their work to the potential producer — or director, actor, or anyone for that matter.

What do you think about practicing your pitch? Do you do it? Have you found success?