26 Wordstock – – 9 November 2013 Pitch your Idea! Brief Eight writers (or groups of writers) will have the opportunity to present their original idea for a film, TV drama or series to the Oscar‐winning film production company, Trademark. This is a unique and special opportunity as film production companies do not normally accept unsolicited scripts.
The pitches will be held live at
Wordstock, where the audience will also play a role. Who knows? If the producers like your idea, you might find your project moving to the next stage.
Trademark Films Trademark is fronted by David Parfitt, the Oscar‐winning producer of Shakespeare in Love, The Madness of King George and Henry V. Trademark was launched with an
adaptation of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle and most recent productions include My Week with Marilyn and the critically‐acclaimed TV serial, Parade’s End. “Every production production company needs good scripts and we read many that are at best mediocre. We’re keen to hear original, interesting and thought ‐ provoking ideas from the writers of Wordstock 2013.” David Parfitt
A framework How do you to pitch your idea to David Parfitt and Trademark? Here are the rules:
Pitch your Idea is only open to Wordstock ticket holders.
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Every idea must be original. This means the idea cannot be doing the rounds
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at other studios, or up for consideration elsewhere. Neither should the idea be based on a book that is in copyright.
Know your audience. Trademark are happy to consider any idea. However,
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they tend not to take on projects about serial killers, or slasher horror stories.
Feature length. This opportunity is to pitch an idea for a story that can last 90
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minutes or more. It will have an audience and might be suitable for either TV or cinema. E.g. feature length films, a one‐off TV drama, a series or serial.
How will it work? If you want to take part you need to submit your idea in advance.
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We only have time, on the day, to hear 8 pitches at Wordstock and we’re
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anticipating there’ll be more than that.
Trademark will select the 8 they want to hear on the day.
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Parade’s End
How to Submit your Idea Each pitch must have:
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A title (max 6 words) and a description of your idea (max 150 words).
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To be considered for Pitch Your Idea, you must submit your pitch to
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[email protected] by 5pm on Friday 25 October.
What Happens on the Day? st
Successful pitches pitches will be told by Friday 1 November giving you a week to prepare. prepare.
One‐ pager. Successful groups and/or writers will be asked to write a one‐
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pager which builds on the 150 word description sent in advance. This fuller synopsis will describe more detail about the arc of the story, the characters, and their emotional journey. journey. Take care in your preparation of this one‐pager as you will leave it with Trademark who will refer to it when they head off to make their decision on the day.
Each group has a 5 minute slot in total. Your pitch should be no more than 2
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minutes, leaving time for an exchange between Trademark and you. Avoid reading out your pitch. Bring it to life in some way, e.g. you might want to include the odd prop, some images or music.
Rehearsals and support. This will be an important moment for those selected. For those who want it, the Wordstock organisers will have people on hand to
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help you rehearse your presentation. We will help you make sure it comes within the time allowed and has maximum ‘oomph’ and impact.
The Wordstock audience. Everyone in the audience will also have a role to
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play. They will be given a comments card to complete on each pitch. Trademark will refer to these when making their decision and giving feedback.
Deliberation. After all 8 pitches, Trademark will take an hour to consider what they’ve heard, reflect on what ideas, and writers, they liked and to see if
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there’s further potential in any of the pitches. They’ll then give their thoughts at the end of the day.
Writing Teams Got a great idea, but not sure how to pitch it? Rather than tackling this yourself, what about using this unique opportunity to bring one or two writing friends together to form a Writers Room? Often a small team can create a good self ‐editing unit which allows the strongest ideas to rise to the top quickly.
Who’s your Audience? Here’s the best tip we can give. If there’s one thing that many film pitches get wrong potential audience? So, it is not knowing the answer to this question: Who is your potential
before you put pen to paper and submit your idea, we suggest you ask yourself:
Who are they? Who is going to come and see your film, series or drama? Where, when and how are they going to watch it?
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Who’s going to pay money?
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Want to know more about how to pitch? Watch Richard E Grant in The Player . There’s a great scene where he’s pitching an idea to movie exec, Tim Robbins at night by the pool. It’s totally over the top but great fun. Click here to watch the movie clip. Read what Peter Capaldi has to say about pitching your film ideas. Taken from a Guardian Article at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. Click here to read the article.
Submitting your Idea If you are interested in sending in your original idea it must include:
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A title (max 6 words) and a description of your idea (max 150 words).
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If you want to chat things through before pitching in, do contact Alastair.
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All submissions must be sent to
[email protected] by 5pm on
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Friday 25 October. th