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Pitching seminar with Barry Devlin



Date Posted: October 13, 2020

Tired of having your pitches turned down by unempathetic, nameless development executives in terrifically successful film companies whose only qualification to judge your brilliance is an Oscar or two on their desks?

Tired of two sentence rejections from apparatchiks who wouldn’t know a great pitch if you managed to actually write one?

Well, so is Barry Devlin.

And to celebrate his 79 years in film he’s extending an invitation.

Barry Devlin – whose series My Mother And Other Strangers recently ran on BBC One’s Sunday night slot – has written extensively for film, TV and radio: from TV series like Darling Buds of May and mini series like Soul Survivors and Runway 1 to feature films like All Things Bright And Beautiful and A Man Of No Importance.

His day job is still as vocalist and bass player with Irish Celtic Rock legends Horslips – who are currently hunkering down waiting for Covid 19 to clear  off, so they can get back on stage.

If you care to join him on Zoom you can take part in a right old communal grumble while listening to some pitchin’ advice culled from his long history of rejection punctuated by the odd film and series.

Following this advice, of course will not increase your chances of getting your screeds accepted, even by members of your extended family but Devlin promises  ‘a greater than 60% chance’ of a better class of Dear John letter and ‘pretty much a cast iron guarantee’ your pitch won’t be circulated through the post room of a raft of production companies with six ‘crying with laughter’ emoticons attached.

And also that he won’t talk for very long.

So the date to start rearranging your sock drawer or finishing putting up that shelf is Monday 2nd November at 5pm.

To register your place email [email protected] by Tuesday 27th October.

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