FactualWEST 2017

“We all have ideas.  We all have stories to tell.  But how do we turn that spark of creativity into the creation of an enjoyable, watchable, profitable television (or new media) series?  Is it the characters?  The location?  The story engine?  Or is it simply a matter of timing, relationships, and opportunity?

Most pitches fail.  But a few take flight.  What separates the winners from the losers?  Why do networks embrace some ideas while turning their backs on others.

Don Young has pitched with the best of them.  He’s taken pitches.  He’s given pitches.  He’s spent millions of dollars as a network commissioning editor.  And most remarkable of all, he’s stayed in business as an independent producer for 30 years.

This seminar discusses how story sense and common sense combine with business sense … to earn dollars and cents.

Notes are a critical part of making great TV. But they can be hard to get and challenging to give. Using scenes as examples, CTV’s Robin Johnston and Trish Dolman from Screen Siren, will walk through the notes process, touching on why networks and senior producers give the notes they do; the secrets of giving great notes; how to deal with notes you don’t like or agree with; and how the notes process can make TV better.

Shooters are increasingly being asked to direct, and more and more “one man bands” are covering story in the field. This session offers tips to help DOPs follow the puck in the field: making sure they have the stories covered, and that they’ve got the set-up and beginning and endings of scenes.

We’re all in this business because we love to be storytellers. But what does that mean? Executive Producer Beth Wichterich’s - whose credits include Swamp People (History US), Yukon Gold (History Canada), Cold Water Cowboys (Discovery Canada) and First in Human (Discovery US) - discusses the art of storytelling.