Thread by @David_Mac13

As shooting on #TheRig continues I've recently been doing Q&As with groups of screenwriting students. The UK TV industry is hard to learn about from outside, so as well as talking to the students I'm going to start sharing here too. Which means it's time for the return of...

🚨THE BIG HELPFUL UK SCREENWRITING THREAD🚨

This week's topic is: Pitching.

This is a topic I get asked about A LOT. It's one that new writers always want to know about and it's also one that I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about.

As with previous threads, this is all based on my personal experience and focuses on the UK industry. For other writers things may be different, so none of this should be read as strict 'rules'. Take what you like from it and feel free to bin the rest. Okay, here goes...

And we're starting big. Because in my experience 'pitching' - in the sense of giving a detailed, preplanned, structured presentation on your TV show idea to a producer or panel of producers, with or without supporting materials - does not exist. Not in the UK anyway.

This kind of Dragon's Den style approach to pitching IS common in the US and because many people learn about TV writing from US podcasts (myself included) the idea seems to have taken hold here, but for me it doesn't ring true.

Rather than delivering a 'pitch', when I bring a new idea to a producer what happens is a 'conversation'. And so my aim in those meetings is not to deliver a perfect presentation to a passive audience, it is *to bring the other people in the room into that conversation*

The more engaged in the conversation I can make them the better. I don't want them to wait until I've finished to ask questions, I want them to dive in with me. I want it to get messy, I want ideas to fly both ways and I want to know what excites *them* about the idea.

Because my aim is *not* to deliver to them a completed product. It is to excite them about an opportunity to collaborate. I want to let out all my best hooks and then, as they take hold, focus the conversation on the ones that get people most engaged.

If you try too hard to stick to a script when 'pitching' you can miss these moments. But if you treat it as a conversation, you're free to switch midstream to a more promising position. And if you don't manage to hook anyone, unlike a pitch, a conversation is never a failure.

But how do you get into these conversations? And what do you bring to them if not a slick fancy powerpoint about your amazing story?

For me, the answers are:

1. Your agent sets them up.
2. You bring You. Because that's what people are buying.

So, breaking those down:

Number 1 - When you sign with an agent in the UK the most likely thing that will happen first is that they will send your samples to a wide range of indie production companies and then set up a series of 'general meetings' (also called 'generals').

What are generals? These are essentially 'getting to know you' conversations, normally with a development executive or a producer (or sometimes both). They act as an intro between company & writer and, if they go well, can lead to more pitching opportunities later.

If the project you're looking to set up is one of your samples, then the producer will have read it before the meeting (or they should have)...

...so (after some brief 'getting to know you chat' where you can deploy some interesting facts about your life - come on, don't be shy, you've got some) you can get straight into 'the conversation'.

After (or sometimes before) this part the producer will then tell you about some of the ideas they are currently working on. These may be shows in production, shows getting ready to be sent out, books they like, or just vague areas/subjects they are interested in.

Pay attention here because what they're doing is *trying to see if you're interested in any of their projects*.

That's right folks, sometimes people will be pitching ideas *to you*. And they will be looking to see if you engage with *their* material too.

That's another reason I like framing these early interactions as 'conversations' rather than pitching. Not all the pressure is on the writer. They need something from you too. And in the end it all comes back to collaboration.

The aim at the beginning is not necessarily to find the answer to: "Does this person like my project?"

It's to find the answer to: "Is this someone I'd like to work with on projects in general?"

And that's a street that goes both ways.

Because if you did a perfect preplanned pitch and the other side of the table asks no questions but says they want to buy it - Congratulations, you have no idea who you are selling your 'new born/still even in the womb' baby to.

But most people are nice, so let's assume the ones we're going into our first general meeting with are too. Which that brings us to question Number 2: What do you bring?

As I said above, You bring You.

What do I mean by that? You don't need to tell the producer your whole life story, butttt it can be helpful to think of your life as a story. And in particular, for me, as an origin story.

At the start of your first meetings, they are likely to ask you 'How did you get here?'

But what they really want to know is - What is your unique perspective. Not just on the project you might be pitching, but in general.

What tools in your writers toolbox, or experiences in your life, can you draw on?

Now this doesn't mean you have to talk yourself up and pretend to be amazing at everything or have had an incredible, exciting life (although if you have - great!).

Rather, it means you should be sincere... while also leaning into the best hooks for the situation.

I can't tell you what you should say, but looking back objectively at the early projects I got picked up there is a clear pattern - they were all projects where I could demonstrate a personal connection to the material.

That's not to say they were all about me, or about my life. I've never written anything that is autobiographical. But each of the projects I got away early had some kind of link to me or my experiences.

So The Rig came from stories my dad told me about his life working offshore. Wrath (my first optioned script) came from growing up in the Highlands and my frustration with how it is generally portrayed. And so on...

And the shows that didn't get picked up were always the 'cool ideas I'd like to try out'/'It's like that really popular show that's just came out' kind.

During those conversations with producers, it was generally when I brought in the personal angle that their interest was piqued. Because when you make it personal you make it relatable.

And that's when conversations really start.

Again, I'm not saying write autobiographical or that over-used phrase 'write what you know'.

Far better to show you know what you write, and why it's important to you.

So if it's a show set in a very particular place - why is that place important to you? If it's based on a book - why that book? Did someone important give it to you? Did it change you? Did you find it when you really needed it?

Because if you start talking about these things, you won't need to worry about what questions they might ask. You'll have all the answers inside anyway. If you can make them feel the way you feel about the idea, they don't have to understand the specifics of plot or story.

Not yet anyway. That can all come later.

Finally, this all doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare. You absolutely should. Get working on that origin story. But hopefully this framing will help you prepare better, and give some reassurance to those who fear pitching is going to be like facing down a dragon.

Anyway, that's my take on it. As I said at the start, could still be totally wrong, but there it is.

And next week I'm going to do another big topic. One that almost never gets spoken about but absolutely should: Money.