rubin5
A plain explanation

The sizzle.

Everything I know about the thing I make, written for someone who has never commissioned one.

A sizzle is a short film cut from material that already exists. It shows a financier, a producer or a buyer what your film will feel like, so they can decide to pay for it before anyone shoots it.

The names move around. Feature financiers say proof of concept. Television says sizzle. Trailer houses say rip reel. It is the same job every time: make whoever is watching feel the finished film.

There is no standard length. A few markets set a minimum before you can pitch, so you cut to that number. Everywhere else the cut ends when it runs out of things worth showing.

Definitions

What a sizzle
actually is.

Made to be felt The job is to make someone feel the finished film. A plot summary or a list of what you plan to shoot will not do it.
Yes
Aimed at one specific viewer A financier, a producer, a network or streamer, a market panel, a piece of talent you are trying to attach. Each of those wants something different, so I ask who is watching before anything else.
Yes
It is not a trailer A trailer is advertising for a film you can go and see. This is a pitch document, and the person watching it is deciding whether to fund the thing.
No
It is not a montage with music Clips in a row with a needle drop underneath is what people mean when they say sizzles feel cheap, and they are right. This gets written, structured and scored like a finished piece.
No
It is not a substitute for the film If the underlying project has no story, no sizzle rescues it. I would rather tell you that on the call than take the money.
No
Timing

When you
actually need one.

Usually one of five moments. If you are not in one of them, you probably do not need this yet, and I would rather say so.

A market or lab with a submission deadlineFrontières asks for two to five minutes of original footage. The Gotham asks for the short itself. Hard date, fixed format, no extensions. The most common reason the phone rings.
01
An investor or financier meetingSomeone with money has agreed to give you twenty minutes. Three of those minutes should not be you talking.
02
Attaching talentA director, an actor or an executive producer is deciding whether your project is real. Nothing answers that faster.
03
A network or streamer pitchIn unscripted the sizzle is simply expected. In scripted it is how you show tone instead of asking an executive to imagine it. They will skim the deck and watch the tape.
04
A crowdfunding launchKickstarter's own handbook says projects with compelling videos succeed at a much higher rate. The film at the top of the page is the campaign.
05
Money

What it costs.

Quoted on the call

A fixed project fee, quoted on the call once I know what you are building. Half to begin, half on delivery of the master.

Start a project

Tell me what
you're building.

Tell me what it is and who you are pitching. I will say whether a sizzle helps, and whether I am the right person to make it.

Direct sean@rubin5studio.com
Studio New York
Reply From me, usually within a day
Prefer to talk first Book a call

This opens your mail app with the brief filled in. Nothing is stored on this site.