pitching

After pitching a behind-the-scenes film about the workings of Channel 4 to a panel of big wigs, Summer School placement Catherine Madden reflects on how it felt.

So you’ve worked on an idea that you feel passionate about. You know it has potential, and the thought of anyone ripping it to shreds and making you feel stupid is terrifying. But realistically, how many commissioners ever say, “Wonderful, I love everything about that idea, here’s £10k to develop it?” I went into the boardroom knowing that it wouldn’t be perfect, but prepared to learn something so that next time, I’d be better.

Each of the four ideas we were pitching was very different, but hopefully shared the following characteristics: challenging, insightful, funny, visual, intimate, and the list goes on. You’d almost think I really knew what I was talking about.

I felt confident that we’d come up with great ideas, but that’s what everyone thinks before going into a pitch. But more than anything else, this experience taught me that while there’s no such thing as the perfect idea, presenting your pitch perfectly is a good start.

I was given several tips, all of which are simple to follow. Make things as visual as possible when you describe them: a commissioner wants to visualise the story. But definitely don’t hand out paper before you start: they’ll spend their time reading that rather than paying attention to you. And to introduce your pitch, sum up your idea in one line.

But the best bit of advice was to be yourself. Commissioners are only human; they’re not waiting for you to slip up. If you’re not quite sure about a certain aspect, ask for advice. Don’t try to sound like you know what you’re talking about when you don’t: they’ll see right through you. But providing you’re passionate about the idea and you prepare well, all you can do is learn - even if you don’t get the commission.

Watch this space for updates on how the Summer School placements get on.

Film-maker Chris Bates blogs about his second day at Britdoc festival, pitching his film to commissioners.

A big day today. My first time pitching face-to-face to an actual commissioner.

Current TV is a great platform for first time filmmakers, and if I can get a few pieces on their channel, then that could provide some serious opportunities further on down the line. We met at 10, and informal as it may have been – sat on the grass outside the café – I was nervous. Had I prepared enough for this? It was a simple idea, but had I fully thought it through?

My fears were confirmed when I ran out of things to say. Current TV liked the concept – it was modern, linked to youth culture and urban social conflict – but it needed more development. Obviously being a documentary we do not know exactly what will happen during filming, but it is essential to have some knowledge of the film’s structure beyond the original concept, and this was my stumbling point. ‘Go away, think about it and come up with some structural ideas, then get back to us.’ Ok, let’s chalk that one down to experience.

So I had lost my pitching cherry, and it was all over rather quickly. But hey, it’s never that good first time round anyway, right?

Before arriving at Britdoc, I had arranged through the online delegate messaging system to meet with Brian Woods – 3-time BAFTA and 7-time Emmy award-winning documentary director and producer. He had been involved with films in Eastern Europe before, and if I could get his interest with my Bosnia project, then possibly he would act as my mentor, maybe even come in as executive producer.

Brian was fantastically helpful, but unfortunately here was more of the same: my story needed more character-based development: conversations, arguments, convincing, desperation to achieve the goal; and specific knowledge of how this was to be filmed.

Brian also said that the reason the pitch and proposal are so important to get right (which seemed obvious once he’d explained it), was that these things were all the commissioners had to make the decision whether to fund the film or not. If some details of the pitch end up different in the film, or even if the main character changes for example, that is generally fine, but you need the pitch to be good enough for the funders to agree in the first place, otherwise there’s no film.

I watched several screenings after this, all excellent documentaries. But for the most part I was distracted, thinking about what my next steps were for my Bosnia project. New pitch, proposal and trailer; character struggle, secondary narratives, arguments, build-up to a final event… I really have my work cut out.