The Second Light Documentary Pre-Production Lab in association with Dochouse was above and beyond my expectations. I hadn’t been to any training workshops before; not for film or anything else. If I hadn’t been granted this opportunity, I would have probably still been suspicious about just what one could get out of them. After I graduated from university I was desperate to continue to collect up certificates to make me feel worth something. As if it isn’t real knowledge if you don’t get a certificate at the end of it saying so. Maybe it’s because my world-view has been partly informed by video games: in games, collecting things is a way to level-up and even your progress acquiring intangible qualities such as wisdom is measured by a glowing bar onscreen. Yet, in real life, it’s what you do with your knowledge that counts.
Over four days in October 2012, we were taught skills that would be useful to us as filmmakers, always with the expectation that we would use them. We learnt about how every documentary must have a story, or it will be just a procession of facts. We learnt what makes a good teaser tape and how to format a written pitch. We learnt where to source archive footage and about filming rights. And we learnt the importance of believing in your own idea; or if you don’t, maybe find a new idea.
I met the other participants in the foyer of the BFI Southbank, having taken a long route through four sets of traffic lights because I didn’t know there was an underpass. We chatted, but the back of all our minds was the entry on our workshop schedules: ‘Pitching to a panel of industry professionals.’ ‘A test!’ I thought. ‘They didn’t say there would be a test!’ When on the last day we concentrated on pitching, it wasn’t at all some punitive trial aimed at forcing us out of the industry should we fail.
The practice pitch was scheduled for the last day, which meant that by that time we’d edited and refined our proposal several times, with the help of development producer Nicola Lees. On the morning of that last day we got used to speaking in front of an audience by doing this within the group. Then we split off into pairs and practiced pitching one-on-one, speed-dating style. By the time the pitch came round, explaining our idea in this way seemed like a routine thing. Nicola was also part of the panel, in addition to documentary filmmaker Marc Isaacs and the Director of Dochouse, Elizabeth Wood. Having Nicola there reminded us that whoever you’re pitching to is a person too. Not a gorgon. Not scary. Not holding your life in the balance. There will always be other ways and opportunities to fund your film, if you seek them out.
Suky Goodfellow
Second Light Blog 
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