How to Pitch 2
09 Dec 08
How to Pitch 2 kicked off the second year of RTS Futures events. Chaired by Tim Hincks, Endemol UK's Chief Executive Officer, the panel: Peter Fincham Director of Television, ITV, Camilla Lewis Head of Factual Features, talkbackTHAMES, Walter Iuzzolino Deputy Head, Features, Channel 4, delivered insider information on the pitching process
“Somebody once pitched me a gay quiz show called ‘Yellow Brick Road’ and before I had time to explain that we didn’t do quiz shows, they were singing and dancing. It felt very embarrassing and I wanted to die.”
Few pitches are as misconceived as this effort, which the current Channel 4 deputy head of features Walter Iuzzolino recalled from his days with Five at the RTS Futures event, “How to Pitch 2,” held in early December.
Some, though, run it close. ITV director of television Peter Fincham remembered an idea he pitched to the then C4 head of comedy, Seamus Cassidy, a decade ago when he was working at Talkback. “Seamus was very good at comedy but slightly scary. I was jointly pitching with Rupert Gavin from BBC Worldwide and Rupert thought the way to convince Seamus that he needed this new idea was to come in with a series of press clippings saying how bad Channel 4 comedy currently was. That was not a good idea.”
“How to Pitch 2” brought together two broadcasting executives — Fincham and Iuzzolino — and one from the independent sector, Talkback Thames head of factual features Camilla Lewis, to discuss pitching with panel chair Endemol UK boss Tim Hincks. The forum was a follow-up to the RTS Futures event, “How to Pitch”, which was held at the BBC’s Blue Peter studio in November 2007.
Pitching is a difficult art to master. Iuzzolino reckoned that only “one in 100” pitches knocked him off his feet. Pressed by Hincks to offer one piece of advice to would-be pitchers, he said: “Find a good title for your idea.”
Fincham recommended: “Don’t come over like a salesman; it won’t work.” Beyond this simple advice, he said it was difficult to generalise: “There are commissioners who you instinctively know want to add their own ideas, so it’s best not to join all the dots.
“Then there are others who pride themselves on saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I’m distrustful of the person who favours decisiveness over enquiry and discussion. Every time you commission a programme it’s going to be on telly in front of millions of people and it deserves a bit of thought and consideration.”
Lewis’s advice was, “Don’t be afraid.” This maxim was clearly close to her heart. “Camilla’s at the scary ‘Commission this or I’ll shoot the puppy’ end of pitching,” reckoned Fincham.
Hincks asked whether ideas had to be original. “There’s too much fuss made about [ideas] being derivative. I think of the viewer first: is there enough scope for another programme about houses? If there is, I think about what I can bring that’s fresh to it,” argued Lewis.
“Everything is derivative. In my area, which is lifestyle, whether it’s food, cookery or makeover, everything’s been done a million times before,” added Iuzzolino. “The question is, ‘What’s your angle?’”
Fincham offered an example to show why originality was over-rated: “Is The X Factor derivative of Pop Idol, which was derivative of Popstars, which was derivative of Opportunity Knocks? In a sense, yes, yes and yes. Does that mean The X Factor isn’t a definitively brilliant entertainment programme? No.”
Moving the discussion to the pitch itself, Fincham said that pitchers had to show passion: “Mark Thompson once said to me when he was controller of BBC2, ‘I want to know that they care about it more than I do.’ That was a good observation.”
Fincham warned about over-pitching: “It’s the ideas that matter and their execution.” And, of course, a song and dance routine is never a good idea. “I hate pitches that are based on performance where you have to clap like a seal,” said Iuzzolino.
Both Iuzzolino and Lewis reckoned that building a good relationship with commissioners was the key to a successful pitch. “It’s all about dialogue and interaction with the commissioners. The worst pitches I’ve had have been so precise and specific that they are almost hermetically sealed,” said Iuzzolino.
“In every pitch I’ve been to, the first few minutes at least is about what you’ve seen on telly or what’s going on in the industry,” added Lewis. “That’s really important because if you haven’t got rapport with the person sitting opposite, then they’re not going to have faith in you.”
Being tenacious is also crucial: “You have to dust yourself down and come back with another idea after rejection because that will happen a lot of the time. It doesn’t mean anything other than at that particular time that was not the right idea for that person on that channel,” said Fincham.
Lewis told the audience that she recently had a “cracker” of an idea rejected just 10 seconds into her video presentation because the broadcaster was already making a show on the same subject. “See it as a compliment, not an insult, because it shows you are spot on with your ideas. If you’re an ideas generator, be robust, you will have another idea,” she said.
Looking at the pitch from the commissioner’s perspective, Fincham said: “How you behave when being pitched to is very important. If you’re turning down an idea, you want that person to think, ‘I will bring you my next idea.’” Recalling his days as a producer, Fincham added: “There’s one person I remember at the BBC who would consult their Blackberry in the middle of a pitch. That is not good behaviour and we [as commissioners] should have our own code of conduct. We are in a privileged position hearing the best ideas that very talented people bring to you.”
Mostly, though UK broadcasters are a well-bred bunch. “I was once at Mipcom in Cannes and got involved in pitching to an Australian broadcaster,” recalled Fincham. “About 10 seconds in, the broadcaster interrupted and said, ‘That’s a pile of shit.’ Nobody ever does that in Britain; we’re all far too polite.”
How to pitch: Q & A
How do you get an appointment to pitch?
Walter Iuzzolino: “Link up with an indie … Find out which independents work in that area and have credible, interesting executives that have brought those types of ideas to the screen and start liaising with them.”
When do you give up on an idea?
Camilla Lewis: “When I’ve let go I invariably regret it … There was a guy who did a children’s programme for me called Serious Jungle. I filmed a tape of him killing, cooking and eating a rat on Hampstead Heath and took it to the then controller of factual at BBC2. They knocked me back and I gave up on it. That was Bruce Parry. That was a stupid move.”
How will the recession affect TV?
Peter Fincham: “We’ll have a couple of difficult years and it will put a squeeze on budgets … but I’m very confident we’ll come through that. The appetite for television is very robust.”
CL: “Not much depresses me. The channels are still there; they still have slots and want programmes, though the budgets will be tighter across both commercial and public sector broadcasters. But that consideration shouldn’t stop you being creative … you need to be developing ideas all the time.”
PF: “If you’re a smallish indie, a recession might not even affect you. I was running Talkback during the recession of the early 1990s and we hardly noticed it. If you’re a broadcaster, it’s impossible to ignore. For Channel 4 and ITV it’s straightforward: if your advertising revenue goes down, it has direct consequences.”
Is there a role for agents in pitching in the UK?
PF: “I’m very glad that agents aren’t pitching the ideas. You need to look into the whites of the person’s eyes and ask, ‘Do you believe in and want to make that programme?’ If agents started acting as brokers for ideas, I’d find it depressing.”
How To Pitch 2 was an RTS Futures event held on December 1 at BAFTA. The producers were Melanie Leach, managing director Twofour Broadcast, and Nick Mather, deputy creative director, Endemol UK
