Just another meeting

I was rooting through last years diary looking for a telephone number and saw a hastily scribbled note on the very last page. A note of a meeting scheduled with a prodco for this Thursday.

I had forgotten to put it in this years diary and had forgotten about the meeting. Whew!

It's one of those meetings that could be very important or just another meeting. You just never know.

It was set up after the prodco read a proposal for a series I'm touting. Actually they read 2 proposals for 2 series I'm touting but didn't like the other one. And that's really all I have to go on at the moment. They like the idea. But what does that mean?

Not a lot really. Which is why I say this could be very important or just another meeting.

It's a high concept big budget idea. So the first words they say could well be 'It's a high concept, big budget idea, and we like it. But we ain't gonna do it. Because the networks aren't going to bite on it.'

Then it becomes just another meeting. But the truth of the matter is there is no such thing as 'just another meeting' They are all sphincter tightingly important. The impression you make could potentially be worth a hundred thousand pounds or more. That's a scary thought. And definitely one to put to the back of your mind when you walk in.

So they don't actually want to do my project? So what? I'll pitch them a couple of others. Show my range. Be charming and easy going and sharp as a tack. Show them I'm a good guy to work with. Make the kind of impression so that the next time they have a project green lit it is my name that comes to their mind as a writer on the series rather than the 50 other hopefuls whose agents are saying would be perfect for it.

Just another meeting? No chance.