RTS Futures Commissioner Session: The Only Way Is… Zai – Monday 20th February, 2012, London

Zai Bennett, one of the youngest ever Controllers in the UK television industry, now sits at the helm of BBC Three. Before that, he ran the portfolio of digital channels at ITV and is famed for bringing Katie Price and Peter Andre to our screens, as well as Celebrity Juice, original drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl and real-life soap The Only Way Is Essex. In less than a year at BBC Three, his impact has been felt with brave new commissions – and de-commissions – as he makes his mark on the brand.

Radio 1′s Greg James talks to Zai about his ideas on television, his vision for BBC Three and how he made his way from the post room at Carlton Television to Controller at one of the most formidable broadcasters in the world.

If you submit a pitch in advance of the session, you may be chosen to pitch your idea to Zai in a one minute elevator pitch on the night. It’s a rare chance to sell your own idea direct to the Controller.

Brief for your pitch: your idea must be for one of the following two slots:

a) non-narrative comedy (eg panel/ game/ hidden camera/ clips show) for the 10.30pm slot

b) factual entertainment (formats/ series/ one-offs) for 9pm slot (Photo by Noël Zia Lee CC BY 2.0)

PUMA Creative Catalyst Development Funding Call for Applications – Deadline Monday 27th February, 2012

The PUMA.Creative Catalyst Award offers up to 5,000 Euros to help develop documentary projects in their early stages – it can be used to fund that all important trailer that will allow you to pitch to broadcasters and other funders for production money.

The fund is open to filmmakers of any nationality and is open to both aspiring and experienced documentary filmmakers.

Your one-off documentary can be of any length, style or form (PUMA.Vision will look especially favourably on projects that have themes of Safe, Peace and Creative). (Photo by Jen and a Camera CC BY 2.0)

Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket Call for Applications – Deadline Thursday 29th March, 2012

The call for applications for the 2012 MeetMarket at Sheffield Doc/Fest is now open. MeetMarket is Doc/Fest’s pitching initiative offering matchmade meetings between the world’s best documentary and digital creators and the top funders and mentors who can support them. It is your opportunity for pitching new documentary, factual and cross-platform projects to over 200 decision makers, buyers, funders and mentors in one of the world’s top factual media marketplaces.

For MeetMarket 2012, approximately 65 projects will be selected to pitch over two days, and each can expect 15-20 meetings with key funders and decision-makers match-made and scheduled based on their requests and needs. MeetMarket 2011 generated millions of pounds in deals done and in negotiation, with the matchmaking personalised format meaning you can discuss your project creatively in detail. (Photo by lizjones112 CC BY)

Can You Spot a Story?

Television is all about telling stories, as is pitching TV ideas to commissioners. But do you know what a story actually looks like? Test yourself by taking this short test in which you are asked to decide whether a short piece of text constitutes a story or not. After ten examples you get your score. [...]

Greenlit: Developing Factual/Reality TV Ideas From Concept to Pitch by Nicola Lees

There are some simple principles to successfully developing and pitching your ideas, whether you are working for a global ‘super-indie’ production company, or are a documentary filmmaker pitching a passion project. The extraordinary thing is that no one will tell you what they are! Greenlit is the first book to reveal, step-by-step, how to originate, develop and pitch your factual/non-scripted TV ideas in a global market.

Get insider tips from: * 10 TV development producers – who have a combined 50+ years experience of developing and pitching ideas at all levels; * 20 senior executives who have sold some of the world’s most successful shows, to: * 16 channel executives, who between them have worked at: * 18 TV channels in: * 7 countries across 4 continents.

Greenlit is available now from Amazon and all good bookstores.

Commissioning Etiquette Workshop, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Monday 8th November, 2010

Northern Film + Media are holding a master class in commissioning to help guide you through the process and manage your relationships with key decision makers. The session is led by Adam Perry (The Community Channel) and Barbara McKissack (Heaton Pictures), who will also answer questions 1-2-1.

When: Monday 8 November, 2.00pm- 5.00pm
Where: Northern Film & Media, Studio 2, The Kiln, Hoults Yard, Walker Road, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, NE6 1AB (click here for travel info)

How much? Free

Click through for a link to the website and details of how to register. (Photo by Alex_Mayer, CC BY SA 2.0)

Development and Pitching 101: Pitching

Two years ago, when I was writing Greenlit: Developing Factual/Reality TV Ideas From Concept to Pitch, I had to write a book proposal before I could submit my book to an agent. Knowing nothing about the world of publishing I bought a couple of books on proposal writing and studied them carefully and followed their advice to the letter.

While a TV proposal is no longer than one page (at least in the first instance), a book proposal runs to about 25 pages, plus sample chapters. At first glance, the two types of proposals seem like very different beasts, but as time went on, it became apparent that there are a lot of things we can learn from a book proposal that will help us with pitching TV ideas. (Photo by Tim Morgan CC BY 2.0)

So You Think You Can Pitch – Deadline 8th January, 2010

Realscreen Summit’s So You Think You Can Pitch is your opportunity to pitch your TV project to a panel of executives, including: Amy Introcaso-Davis, SVP, Original Programming and Development, Oxygen Media, Rob Sharenow, SVP, Non-Fiction & Alternative Programming, A&E, Nicole DeFusco, Vice President, Original Programming & Development, Sundance Channel and Gary Lico, President & CEO, CABLEready. Andy Cohen, SVP Original Programming & Development at Bravo hosts the session.

Five producers will pitch in front of a live audience on 2nd February at the Realscreen conference in Washington DC. The best pitch wins a year’s subscription to CableU, an iPod Nano and a free pass to Realscreen in 2011.

Find out more at Reelscreen.com.

(Photo by the1secondfilm CC BY-SA 2.0)

How to Pitch 360 Degree Content

At the recent Sheffield Doc/Fest, a panel of Multiplatform commissioning editors and producers talked about developing and pitching 360 degree content (i.e. content that exists on more than one platform: TV, online, books, DVD, live events, YouTube, Facebook etc).

The panel included:

* Lyndsay Duthie (etv productions)
* Nick Cohen (BBC Multiplatform commissioner)
* James Penfold (etv productions)
* Matt Locke (Commissioning Editor for Education and New Media at Channel 4)
* Jane Mote (UKTV Director of lifestyle, factual and new media, UKTV)

Click through to see what they said.
(Photo by gadl CC BY-SA 2.0)

Westdoc Twitter

If you weren’t able to make it to Santa Monica to attend the Westdoc conference, you can keep up with what’s going on in real time – who’s commissioning what, and how to pitch -  via twitter. Just follow the #westdoc thread.