For his first TV show, Mike Flanagan knew he had to make an impression when pitching it. So that's exactly what he did.
A key early milestone in the writer-director-producer's prolific career in the horror space was selling his terrifying 2018 adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House to Netflix as a miniseries. Based on Shirley Jackson's classic novel, Flanagan's character-first updating of the material centered on a fractured family that once called the titular manor home before a past incident there left this family both physically and metaphorically haunted in ways that threaten their present. (See the Bent-Neck Lady.)
Flanagan knew his approach to the material would include genre staples like jump scares and things that go bump in the night, but he also knew that his "familial drama-infused horror" sensibilities — and the tone of his miniseries — would need to be presented in an easily digestible way. Something that, Flanagan says, "execs in the pitch could see and immediately get" what he was selling them.
To that end, he generated custom visuals that not only encapsulated the vibe that his Hill House was aiming for, but also showed Netflix that his show would be a natural fit for the streamer.
"I created a graphic that looked like a show [already] on the service," Flanagan recalls via Zoom. "It had the banner, the title and the synopsis. It also had a thumbnail for each episode — with actors and an episode title and an episode description — so that we could show them what The Haunting of Hill House would look like."
On Zoom, Flanagan shares the custom art he made for his pitch / Photo credit: Mike Flanagan
Flanagan generated the images for his pitch presentation himself. He also mounted printouts of the images on foam core and placed them on the wall behind him when presenting to Netflix. (He employed similar means when pitching Netflix his 2021 vampire series, Midnight Mass.)
What impresses Flanagan most about translating his pitch into an actual television show is how close he got to his dream list of actors: "The funny part is that half the cast I [imagined] for it is in the show," Flanagan says.
Some actors on his wishlist got lost in translation, though.
"I had initially written the role of [patriarch] Hugh Crain with Sam Neill in mind — he's pictured in the pitch — but it ended up going to Tim Hutton." Another small but noteworthy difference involved the character played by Carla Gugino, an actor who has appeared in many of Flanagan's projects. "Her character was originally [named] Mary Crain in the pitch, but we changed it to Olivia in the writers' room." (The Bent-Neck Lady was also a character native to the original pitch.)
As proud of his presentation materials as he was, Flanagan notes that "all of it was dramatically improved upon once the show was sold and the marketing department got involved."
Photo credit: Mike Flanagan
Even with a certain level of success under him that could help greenlight a project simply by attaching his name to it, Flanagan still sees the value of going the extra mile when it comes to using visual aids to present one's creative vision.
"It's just to help your partners see it as the product they need it to be and to understand how a user would interface with it. We pitched the show accurately — and made a show that was pretty close to what we pitched — so I feel really good about that."
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
The Haunting of Hill House is now streaming on Netflix.
