July 2016 Newsletter

Rocky Mountain High

Mark and I met our Pitch TV Buyers Tour clients this month at Banff World Media Festival. We all pitched our TV shows to top media execs, attended impressive sessions, went to too many parties, and got in a little trouble with the Canadian mounties. (Maybe Mark’s sequined shirt is illegal in Canada.)

Tour Pitch Meetings

We set up pitch meetings with high-level TV media buyers at all conferences for our Pitch TV Buyers Tour clients and the Banff 2016 meetings were phenomenal. We met with the co-founder of Breakthrough Entertainment, Peter Williamson, pointed out by the big arrow below. We also set up pitch meetings for our clients with an E.P. from Fascination TV and Director of Int’l Sales and Acquisitions for Portfolio Entertainment.

Netflix Meeting

We set up a private pitch meeting for our Tour members with John Derderian, Director of Content Acquisitions Netflix. The arrow is pointing at John in the photo below and that is Mark on the left and our clients on the right. John took our pitches, shared how Netflix acquires shows, and gave good suggestions to our group.

Speed Pitching

That’s me on the back left pitching the Director of Original Programming for Women and Children for Corus. The speed pitching at Banff is for 10 minutes (you can pitch several shows) and you can get as many as 10 per day!

Face Time with Buyers

My favorite way to get to know media execs is at the Breakfast and Lunch with Decision Makers at Banff. These are among the best ways to get to know top buyers over the course of a leisurely meal, get critical insights, and talk about your show. The bonus? The other people at the table are invaluable contacts and often help each other.

We Kick Off Banff 2016

Our session called “Don’t Blow Your Next Pitch Meeting” kicked off the festival. The room was packed and many attendees told us they changed their pitches based on our presentation. We’ve already been booked for Banff 2017!

Inspiring Sessions

Banff has amazing sessions going on all day, every day with industry heavy weights, such as, Jenni Konner, writer and showrunner for HBO’s Girls. (She is pictured left with HBO exec.)

I had not watched Girls before Banff and it was the first thing I did when I got home. The show is controversial because it does challenge commonly held beliefs about women, relationships, and body image. I think the writing is brilliant!

Feature film and TV director Jay Roach, on right, talked about his latest project with HBO, All the Way, starring Bryan Cranston.

He also said the funniest scene he ever directed was the naked fight in Borat. Just thinking about it makes me cringe and laugh.

Simon Says….

Mark and i were both interviewed by Marvin Polis, Co-Producer and Co-Host of Monetizing Your Creativity Podcast at Banff. The podcast is ranked as high as #10 in the iTunes business category. We’ll post Mark’s as soon as we get it. Here’s the link to my interview https://soundcloud.com/monetizingyourcreativity

Double Rainbow

I took this photo looking out the back windows of the Banff Fairmont Springs, the beyond beautiful festival venue. We were at a party and every one whipped out their phones to get a shot of this breath-taking sight. We all agreed it was good omen. I’ll keep you posted on how good it was for our clients in the months to come.

Mini Tours

We’re providing pitch training for Television Animation Conference (TAC) in September and for MIPCOM in October. If you plan on pitching your show this fall at a conference call us at 407-351-0893 and find out how we can get you and your show ready to impress top media buyers.