Lean times are the best times to pitch an idea. With producers and commissioning editors jumping out of the hot-air balloon as it plummets to earth, they’ll be snatching at anything to justify their existence. In fatter times they sit back easy, spoilt for choice with most of us trying to grab their attention. Now is the time to strike, brothers and sisters, while the iron’s hot!

The Challenge of Treatments  I’m trying to work out the age-old problem of selling a movie from an original unsolicited screenplay.  OK so I’ve got this idea, I let it stew until it feels ready to move on  and catch some interest. Who’s out there?  The lone Producer and  the corporate Production company.  But what am I offering at this point?  I can give them a pitch, a treatment (anything from 1 to 50 pages) - what do they want?  In any case it’s a document that won’t bear much  resemblance to the final cut.  And here my sympathy is with the receivers – how on earth do they make a  judgment?  Past record of the writer?  A flavour of originality?  This year’s fashion!  Leaving aside the number of treatments that end up in  a pile,  unsolicited or sent by reputable agents,  this route is still pretty forlorn.  At best  the response is ‘It’s interesting but we need to do some work on it  (We?  Who?) or  ‘These days we really do need to see a screenplay’.  Well I’m very happy to do that – no money but no interference, just alone with the simple joy of writing,   Now, my subject needs some research and travel  – and special music.  The music and landscape may be the lasting memory of this film even after its clever plot! And how do you convey the value of the ‘music’ of a film on the written page?  I need my director. I call up a respected one, a friend. He enthuses. We put in some work (no fee) and now I run the risk of submitting the piece to a company who likes the work but not the director.  Come to that, they may like the work and the director but not the writer – and then after months of toil and tribulation they cool on the subject!   So is  it worth trying to catch the attention of the bankable actor?   Yes but they need  to know the director, the script and what  the money is!   Well you get my drift now.  Anyone cracking the challenge of treatments?   Do let me know!