Full Sail Stories

From April 10-19, the Florida Film Festival was held at the Enzian Theater and sponsored by Full Sail University. One day during the festival, Full Sail’s Film MFA Program Director Anne Russell led a workshop titled Inside the Film Pitch: Creating a Movie Deck Live, which gave film students and movie enthusiasts alike the opportunity to develop and present mock film pitch decks.

Students from local schools including Full Sail, Valencia College, and the University of Central Florida teamed up and took on the roles of directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, and art directors. They had 30 minutes to develop a pitch for the audience-voted logline “The Last Shift,” a psychological thriller following a security guard at a pharmaceutical corporation who uncovers nefarious goings-on in the company.

Together, teams decided on storyline, cast, visual style, world-building, and production approach, and then created a slide deck to visualize their pitch. After their time was up, one representative from each team presented their pitch deck in front of the audience. They were also challenged to consider two key questions filmmakers must answer when creating a pitch: Why this story and why now?

“What made this workshop distinct is that the audience was given a window into the process as it unfolded, observing how filmmakers generate ideas, make creative decisions, and shape those ideas into a cohesive pitch,” said Anne. “It offered a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how filmmakers ideate, refine, and communicate their vision.

“Full Sail’s involvement [in the Florida Film Festival] reflects our commitment to creating experiences that bridge education and industry, while making the creative process more visible and accessible.”