Pitching a documentary idea...to the documentary's subject.

Oh no need to ask, I'll be happy to be the focus of your 24 hour epic.

Ned, you blew it.

*weeps bitter tears...AGAIN*

"It was in 1989 when the hair first made its concerted appearance."

I was hoping it could be shown at the WorldFAP™.

Now I will just make a PowerPoint presentation abour your tie.

So long as you get the color right.

The standard way is to write a treatment so that the subject (and anyone else involved) takes you seriously.

It's like a delicate courtship ritual, only without the snogging.

No, Forest, it's this.

um, to answer the question... i don't have a lot of experience with it but we got asked for some of our bands quite often (working for their press company). most people would send a couple of paragraphs' description of the project in a covering email, with a slightly more detailed treatment attached in a word file, and an offer of something more full-on should we/the band/management/label wish to see it. i suspect the general approach may have been a bit more informal than the same situation in other instances (with non-music/less do-what-the-fuck-you-feel-like-doing (in a good way!) bands or um something), but so long as it seemed that the person pitching had a good idea of what they wanted to do and a decent understanding of what the band were about, everything got considered... i think whoever makes these decisions is different in each case but i'd think the most important things are to make yourself stand out, make it clear that you already have an above average grounding in/understanding of your subject and interesting/un- or under-explored/relevant/new questions to explore. oh yeh and some clue what you are doing eg previous relevant experience. i have no idea if any of this is helpful but i hope it is.