HOW TO PITCH a TV sHOW: NETWORKING, ACCESS aND LOTS OF PATIENCE

I'm writing up so many TV show concepts lately that you can see the steam coming out of my ears. Good news - I'm now collaborating with a big UK production company trying to pitch my/our own ideas , begging brands for money and convincing people that their stories deserve to be on telly.

Back in the day - you had a good idea, a couple of paragraphs, you went to the channel if you knew the right person and usually you got your show commissioned if you had a decent enough track-record. Done. Nowadays, its so much more complicated since advertisers turned their back on old school telly (unless the target audience is +50) , and there's not that much money left to make original programming sponsored by the channel itself. Of course, there are some exceptions, but more often then not, you need outside funding.

I could do my usual producer/directing gigs, but I know - deep down in my heart- that development is what I want to do in the future. I still enjoy storytelling on set, but I'd like to have a bigger influence on carving the idea and I also enjoying the sales part of the jobs.

Loooots of networking, meeting people and seeing what/who could lead to a deal. My diary is full to the brim with meetings. Some might lead to something, many will not. Numbers game.

Also learning how to use AI and how it can come in handy for online projects. I'm so far amazed by it and the opportunity it gives me to easily recreate on screen what I have in mind. Great for testing stuff out.

Career pivots are NOT that simple as I thought. But step by step.