Frank Capra was desperate.
He reached for a lighter, struck up a flame, and set fire to his new film.
The year was 1937, and Capra had just finished shooting a new movie, called Lost Horizon. At the time, Capra was already a huge Hollywood success, having won the Academy Award for best director twice. However, this new film was long (three and a half hours), confusing, and test audiences hated it.
The legend goes as follows:
After the first sneak preview, which was a complete failure, Capra started agonizing. How to fix this monster of a film?
In a moment of inspiration, he hit upon the shocking solution. Even though it was dangerous and possibly crazy, he burned the first two reels of his film. This eliminated the dull intro scenes, and put the audience smack in the middle of the action.
Problem solved.
I thought of this Hollywood legend because I’m currently writing a new sales letter. It’s for sun-protective clothing, and the angle for the sales letter is skin cancer. So I decided to open with a story of a wife whose husband has been diagnosed with melanoma.
While I was planning this, I kept hearing Chris Haddad’s “Talk dirty to me” VSL in my head. It literally opens up with the words “Talk dirty to me,” and then goes to tell the story of a woman whose boyfriend made that request.
That’s some Frank Capra stuff.
Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to sum up my audience’s fears in such a clear and powerful phrase.
But I do start the story immediately, with the husband in the hospital bed, his wife at his side, and the doctor delivering a horrible verdict. It’s much better than beginning with a sermon about how skin cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer.
So in short, if you want a stronger sales letter lead, look to cut out some filler. Make sure to get to the dramatic stuff right away, and capture your audiences attention in the very first sentence.
Talk dirty to me…