Life’s a pitch
By Karen Miller

Character
Background information about your characters should help explain why events happen and how the story relates specifically to them. The person you are pitching to will need to know whether things happen to your characters purely through bad luck or whether they occur because of the actions or personality traits of the character.

Setting
Strong emotional feelings can be evoked through an interesting description of setting or atmosphere. “Paint a picture” to bring the producer into the world of your screenplay and explain the purpose of this atmosphere or setting in terms of how it will affect the audience.

Premise
Themes and ideas should be explored extensively and ‘taken beyond the first thought’ in order to avoid the obvious and surprise the audience. A simple idea or an old story will only engage an audience if the world it’s set in is extraordinary. Strange details should be inherent to the world you are creating if it’s to seem authentic; they should not be tacked on for the sake of it.

Pitching
Paint your picture then hit them with your story. Never underestimate your passion for your idea because ultimately that is what will sell it.

What the big channels are looking for
Kate recommends building relationships with the BBC as they are committed to encouraging new talent through initiatives like the Writer’s Room website. They are currently interested in ideas for series, six-parters and single factual or docu-dramas. ITV like their 2-parters however they are unlikely to commission these from new writers; ITV’s most prolific writers have usually worked on the channel’s soaps and serials before being promoted to the big features. Of course if an idea is good enough it will be commissioned whatever the format and regardless of the recent trends.

The power of radio
Having a script performed as a radio play is a great way into the industry. If you can get an idea commissioned for radio it will be a great calling card for getting into writing for TV.

How to be Kate
For either script writing or development a great way in is to begin by script reading for production companies. This is a good way to gain experience that could then lead to a script editing job and ultimately a career in script development. Another way in, particularly if you are interested in production, is to start off as a runner. In both instances networking is essential and will lead to new career opportunities.
Says Kate: ‘The hardest job to secure in the industry is your first one.’