Having been involved in the Mini Masterpieces project, along with the likes of Charlotte Black, Talent Executive from Channel 4, Paul Appleby, Series Producer from BBC, as well as Chris Moll from Southwest Screen, I thought I would jot down some of the comments that we, as panel members, made to those who pitched their ideas to us during Encounters Film Festival.

• Who’s the audience? – make sure you’ve really thought about the slot, if it’s for TV, what the commissioning editor for that slot likes.  If it’s a Channel 4 slot – make sure you get yourself along to events where the commissioning editors will explain what they’re looking for.
• A pitch is a dialogue – draw the panel in – whet their appetite – so they’ll ask questions.  Create space so that they can input their ideas and ask questions.
• How is your idea fresh?  How is it different?  “It’s got to be a new story which can be quite hard or a fresh angle on an old story,” Says Charlotte. What are the benefits of going with your idea?
• What’s the competition like?  Don’t let the panel make links with similar films without you having first flagged them up.
• Make your pitch easy for the panel to hear – ie don’t tell the entire story and all the characters.  Give the structure – start, middle and end.
• Ensure the panel feel that they’re in safe hands with you – what have you done before? Who’s working on the film with you?
• Work out carefully who is going to pitch – if the director’s not part of the pitch, the panel may think they’ll need to meet him… so you’re making the panel have to work harder which may put them off.
• What else have you got?  What happens if they really like you – but don’t like your idea and ask you for something else.  Make sure you don’t miss this golden opportunity by just having one idea.
• What do you want from the meeting?  Be clear on how much money etc you need before you go in.
• What are you going to leave them with?  A script?
• What else are you going to leave them with?  What do you want them to say about you when you’ve left the room?  How can you demonstrate that with your behaviour? What do you want to teach them about you?
• Take control of the space, speak slowly, use pauses – they’re so powerful, careful not to over do your hand gestures, make eye contact and enjoy your chance to shine.
• You may want to bring along a visual – a photo of the main character, if it’s an animation – bring along a sample of artwork
• Enthusiasm is better than confidence – why are you connected to this story idea?
• People buy people ultimately – this may be the start of a long relationship – they want to feel like you’re somebody they can work with – so be yourself.