THE PITCH – GET IN THE GAME!
We look at the ins and outs of pitching your story - your movie or series idea. Learn the process of creating pitches that will set you apart and get you noticed. Find out about selling the presentation of a logline or a good idea so that its uniqueness grabs the attention of production executives, agents, and producers who will want to develop it. Learn how to stand out and kick the door open!
Moderator: Ian Steaman (TV Writer)
Ian Steaman is a recovering music industry executive turned award-winning screenwriter. A graduate of the CFC Bell Media Prime Time TV program, he has gone on to develop an original half-hour workplace comedy with CBC and completed stints as a Story Editor for the interconnected family comedies, The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker, Junior Story Editor for CBC’s Pretty Hard Cases and as Executive Story Editor on the NBC Peacock family comedy, Take Note.
Panellists
Carolyn Wu (Development Executive, Original Programming, Scripted, Bell Media)
As a Development Executive in Original Programming with a focus on developing scripted originals, Carolyn (Jay) Wu (they/them) works with the Development team to develop scripted content for CTV, Crave and the Entertainment Specialty channels of Bell Media. They collaborate with independent production partners, writers, and creatives to develop a slate of scripted projects that are diverse, culturally relevant to Canadians and specific to the programming needs of the individual channels and services. Carolyn is also a writer, director, and community organizer. Their short film IN MY MOTHER’S CLOSET has screened at NSI Online Short Film Festival, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT Film Festival. They won Breakthroughs Film Festival’s 2019 Emerging Filmmaker Pitch. From 2015 to 2017, they moved from intern to Acting Senior Producer of Q on CBC Television. Carolyn enjoys making cozy, intimate relationship films and centering their bold POV as a Canto transmasc storyteller in all the work they do.
Maya Annik Bedward (Producer, Writer and Director)
Maya Annik Bedward is a Jamaican-French Canadian filmmaker and co-founder of Third Culture Media. Working primarily in documentary film and television, Maya’s work has screened at Hot Docs, TIFF, Black Star and the New Orleans Film Festival. She is a fellow of the DOC Institute Breakthrough program and the EFM DocSalon Toolbox Programme. Maya is currently in production on her first feature Black Zombie with the Documentary Channel.
Nic Meloney (Executive in Charge of Production--Unscripted Content, CBC)
Nic Meloney is a mixed-race Wolastoqi/Canadian journalist and Executive in Charge of Production with CBC Unscripted’s Factual and Doc Units. A member of Woodstock First Nation in Wolastokuk/N.B. and a Cape Bretoner, Nic lives and works in Mi'kma'ki/N.S., the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq.
