How Pitch Vault Is Simplifying and Securing the Pitching Process

“Pitch Vault is a simple, highly-secure, web-based tool that helps agency producers solicit more relevant director submissions, more efficiently, while helping manage those submissions from initial outreach through to award. And it’s free.”

CoMPANY Films’ executive producer Ron Cicero is the brains behind Pitch Vault, a tool that he says will facilitate more suitable director pitches, more quickly, by helping production companies and their reps communicate with agencies. Eventually, the plan is for the platform to encompass the entire bidding process.

The Pitch Vault journey began with a chance encounter. Ron, a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu for 20 years, faced off with a software developer one day who, upon hearing about the challenge, was keen to jump on board and help solve the problem. And three months of mapping out the site, testing and ensuring security later… here we are.

Speaking to LBB’s Ben Conway about the project’s inspiration, Ron says that as a 15-year EP, he’s seen “an explosion” of two things: available directors and client NDAs. Limiting the information available to share with prospective directors makes it harder to find the right talent for a job, he explains. “This often means 100 to 150 submissions on every job, many of which are not a close fit for the project. For many reps, it can feel intrusive to reach out to busy agency producers for clarification when a lead comes in.”

This is where Pitch Vault comes in. While making it easy to send and organise email responses, the tool closes the communication gap and maintains confidentiality for clients.

“The main roadblocks are often harried schedules and the feared client NDAs,” says Ron. “Pitch Vault provides simple prompts for a variety of project types, and it accounts for the collection of NDAs. It also allows the exchange of critical information for better submissions while protecting client-specific disclosures.”

Referring to feedback he received from executive producer John Hilmer (formerly McCann, BBDO, Johannes Leonardo and Grey), he says that Pitch Vault also has potential as a learning tool. By showing new producers what information is useful to send out and help them “overcome the reluctance to err too much on the side of caution”, he notes that John praised the tool’s educational opportunities - especially since covid disrupted a generation of young producers’ tutelage.

So, how does Pitch Vault work? According to Ron, it’s essentially a bespoke combination of Google Surveys and Google Forms - software many agency producers already use - but on a more robust and secure platform. “The program provides a series of prompts and questions that can be answered quickly by the producer, with the data automatically entered into an email form that is then checked and, once confirmed, sent out to whomever the producer has indicated.”

Built on a foundation that provides enterprise-grade technology and automates threat detection along with a dedicated security team, the information is secure, he adds. “As the platform administrator, even we don’t have access to this information.”

For those responding to the request for a submission, the platform provides a simple form that, once checked, the rep or EP can submit and send it to the agency producer. “The beauty for the recipient is Pitch Vault standardises the email subject line so it becomes a breeze to sort submissions in your inbox,” says Ron. “As the platform grows, we will be implementing additional tools like a dashboard to make the entire production process even easier and more efficient. We are super excited by the capabilities now and even more excited by what the future has in store.”

The future of the app is already being shaped by the response from producers and reps who are using Pitch Vault, sending their thoughts to Ron for where to take the platform next. The suggested ideas include widening its application to independent filmmakers.

Reps and producers can get involved free of charge today at pitchvault.app, and are encouraged to experiment with the platform. “For EPs and reps, you don’t need to receive a request from Pitch Vault to respond to a submission inquiry using the ‘Submit a Pitch’ function,” says the founder. “Test it out so you see how easy and effective it is. Put your own email in the submission line so you can see how it works. Then, just start using it!” 

He adds, “So far, the response has been incredibly encouraging. This will be a tool that will be mentioned in the same breath as Wiredrive and Film.io. In fact, we are speaking with the founder of one of those earlier platforms to come on as an advisor and/or investor. More to come!”