MA Documentary Film Students Pitch to Commissioners at BBC

Making documentaries is challenging work, on top of that we had 20 students from the current MA Documentary Film cohort pitch their ideas to two BBC Commissioning Editors for BBC Documentary – Beejal Patel and Carl Callam.

Beejal Maya Patel is currently Commissioning Editor at BBC Documentary, previously hailing from a filmmaking and producing background. She was nominated for the BAFTAs for her work in Educating Essex.

Carl Callam is also working as a Commissioning Editor at BBC Documentary and comes from a filmmaking background with works as a producer and director. He was an executive producer on Steve McQueen’s Uprising.

We caught up with Jordan Kelly-Linden, one of the students in the current MA Documentary Film cohort to learn about her experience on pitching to Commissioners.

Jordan has spent the last six years working as a multimedia journalist for the likes of Sky News and the BBC. In October 2022, she went freelance to complete her MA in Documentary Filmmaking from LCC.

Can you tell us about your pitch idea to the commissioners?
This term, MA documentary film was lucky enough to pitch our final project ideas to Beejal-Maya Patel and Carl Callam, two commissioning editors from BBC studios. Both of them have worked with our course tutor, Jeremy Williams in the past and almost every year he invites them or other commissioners from outlets like Channel 4 in to hear and feedback on student pitches.

I decided to pitch my documentary idea about online misogyny. It’s a pretty timely topic following the arrest of Andrew Tate. I tried to come up with an angle often overlooked and had to imagine creative ways to bring the story to life. For example, how can I represent my contributors if they want to remain anonymous? How can I guard against platforming extremists? And, if I can, how do I make sure my documentary balances the darkest stories against the light, and negate negatives with positive ones so I don’t leave my audience feeling burnt out and hopeless. Jeremy and our other tutors really helped us to think about these considerations and a number of other factors before the pitch. 

What was the experience like and how was the feedback?

Long-form, independent storytelling is slightly uncharted territory for me, so pitching my 20-minute doc idea was a pretty nerve-racking experience. Alongside my studies, I work as a freelance journalist for major news outlets. I have to pitch ideas or creative treatments fairly regularly. However, these are usually for fast-turn-around breaking news items. Most of the content is already made and I just have to revise it for online platforms by resizing it or adding captions. It’s a completely different game. But Beejal and Carl were really encouraging and had great feedback for us all. Beejal, who sat in on my group, took particular care to listen to us and respond to everyone’s pitch. She offered her opinion on how to approach tricky situations, using her experience to help us think about how we could tell any story in a different way.

How does it feel to have this kind of access to the industry?
I found the whole experience pretty invaluable. The direct access to industry insiders was one of the reasons why I picked this MA Doc Film course over others. That said, this idea probably won’t end up being my final project. Our films won’t enter the festival circuit until 2024 so it’s important to work on a story that will still feel relevant in a year’s time. I do want to keep working on it alongside my studies, though, and have taken on Beejal’s feedback. 

How important do you see pitching as part of the wider filmmaking process?

Coming away from the pitching session, I’ve realized it’s not just important to think about the story and how you are going to tell it, but also the impact your film may have – whether that is positive or negative. Documentary making can be an incredibly intimate and intense craft. Often you’re asking people to share some of their most personal experiences. Establishing, maintaining, and taking into consideration how your film may impact those relationships will always be a challenge.

Jeremy Williams, course leader of MA Documentary Film said the pitching session which included students pitching their major project ideas was done as an exercise that certainly gain confidence and turbocharge their ideas.