How to pitch without being copied
- Published: 18 November 2008 09:21
- Author: Adrian Swift
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- Last Updated: 18 November 2008 09:21
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Q: How do I pitch my ideas without the risk of elements being copied?
I have a children's creative music company and have been running successful live workshops for the past five years. I already have a customer base of 2,000 families and a ready to go merchandise machine, all created to suit an international market.
Over time I have developed characters and songs, narrations and storylines and I am now ready to pitch my TV show idea for the under fives, which offers a strong message of love and security, along with health and happiness.
The question is how do I pitch? Getting my ideas across without the risk of elements being copied?
A: Adrian Swift, Director of Television, etv media group
A friend of mine has just been through this horror herself and found the whole process pretty difficult. The kids market is unlike normal television with co-pros, brand funding and merchandise-driven programming is much more common.
Therefore, I'd find yourself a production company that will 'umbrella' your idea. They'll be able to run it into a proper TV format. They'll understand what marketing opportunities hang off the idea and most importantly, they'll know who to pitch it to and when. You'll give up some of your equity in the idea, but as my sadly not-very-rich grandmother used to say: better 10% of something that 100% of nothing (those percentages are for the purpose of making a rather obvious point and are in no way indicative by the way).
The kind of people I'd be talking to are Vanessa Chapman at Create Media Ventures or John Bullivant Kickback Media.

