My first year at LSF, Pitch Factor was my favourite event, marred only by me not winning it, so I came back the following year with a game plan; I wrote a pitch that followed all the rules, that did everything a pitch was supposed to do.
It wasn’t for a script I had already written or even one I was planning to write – I actually think it’s easier to pitch something to which you don’t have an emotional attachment – it was just a good pitch.
And it worked, I won!
What I didn’t anticipate was the number of people who gave me cards saying how much they liked this non-existent story and asking what I was planning to do with it. As it happened, one of these people was a writer I had met the previous year who, she now revealed, also worked in development and said that if I ever wanted to do something with it, would I please give her first refusal.
Since then I have had to work out what actually happens, how the story ends and all those details that never bothered me in the pitch. My writer friend is now attached as development producer and has given me extremely valuable notes through which that rough idea has evolved into something quite marketable. We’re hoping to do sit-downs with production companies before the end of summer.
It’s still early days and it could all fall apart tomorrow but it’s already been a great experience. My biggest takeaway is that when you network at events like LSF, there’s a temptation to leap on anyone who might help your career, but what worked for me was finding people I liked and who I could imagine working with – you never know how those connections may work out in the long run.
Robin Bailes
Posted by a member of the London Screenwriters’ Festival team.
