Commission Impossible
Yesterday morning I went to TV Centre to pitch my series idea to a commissioner. I鈥檇 planned to use the two-hour train journey from Manchester to prepare witty and intriguing things to say in the meeting, but then I bought a newspaper, tried to do the crossword and was fast asleep by Stoke. So I turned up for the meeting with newsprint on my forehead and nothing to say beyond 鈥淗ello,鈥 and 鈥淩ainy, isn鈥檛 it?鈥
Luckily the producer I鈥檝e been developing the idea with was considerably better prepared and came out with a string of reasons why our show could be funny, unusual, yet still relevant to a mainstream audience. I chipped in a couple of times, we discussed some of the commissioner鈥檚 concerns about the tone of the programme, and by the end of the meeting we had a script commission.
Brilliant. It feels like a great achievement, and I have to remind myself that despite all the weeks of meetings, research and drafting pitch documents, I still haven鈥檛 written a single word of the script. Only when that鈥檚 done will we really know whether the idea is any good or not.
High on adrenaline, I got back on the train to Manchester, opened my writing pad and was asleep by Watford.
Comments
Did the cross-gender underwear work then? If so I must get some.....
By the way Daniel I heard a story about a guy who fell asleep on the North bound train and put a notice around his neck saying 'please wake me up at Luton' He work up in Leicester and some one had scrawled...Ha Ha! the other thing with sleeping on a train is dribbling...not a good look on light coloured clothing. Well done on getting the commission!!
Hi Daniel: Ah, man. That's good overall. I posted in your last blog my thoughts about pitching (I'm afraid I was a little late. Sorry, Daniel). Good for you. I hope it goes well for you. Good luck on the scriptwriting. I know how that can go--lots of fun and lots of hard work!
I would be interested to know what exactly is in a one page pitch or synopsis. Thanks. And good luck
Cheers David. I've had a go at answering that in a later post: Pitch.doc