#28 - Paul Bae - Writer, Director, Producer

What It Covers

Paul Bae, writer-director-producer of Marvel's audio dramas and The Black Tapes podcast, shares his approach to pitching screenplays and TV shows, emphasizing personal storytelling, reading the room, and building relationships with executives.

Key Questions Answered

• •Personal Story Framework: Structure every pitch with a one-minute personal story at the beginning that connects to the project's theme, then weave that narrative throughout character descriptions and plot points to answer why you before executives ask.
• •Reading the Room: Develop nunchi, the Korean cultural skill of assessing room temperature and social dynamics, to adjust pitches in real-time by cutting characters or plot points when executives show disengagement through body language and timing cues.
• •Relationship Over Transaction: Recognize when executives are exhausted or mismatched for your project and offer to reschedule rather than forcing the pitch, building trust that leads to future opportunities and sales with that same executive later.
• •Collaboration Mindset: Approach screenwriting expecting multiple hands to improve your work rather than protecting original vision, working with showrunners as mentors who can elevate dialogue rhythm, joke placement, and structural elements beyond your current skill level.