The Big Top- Pitch

The Big Top - Pitch

The idea for our show was to have a variety act of circus performers, these would range from strong men and contortionists to fire eaters and ceiling performers for our VTs.




We decided to call our show The Big Top, this was relating to our research about the large circle tents used to perform in where called Big Tops.

We decided to use our VTs for acts that could not be performed in a studio due to health and safety risks and just practicality. In the studio we would've included classic circus acts like clowns.

The channel we decided to go for on our show was BBC 2, this was due to it's remit for 'Drama and arts programming' we felt that included our show very well.
We choose a viewing time of 8:30pm due to the potentially distressing nature of circus acts, we felt the audience at this time was in general more appropriate for this show.

Due to our viewing time and the nature of the show we choose to have a target audience of families with older children.

I contacted various circus schools and independent performers, I tried to stick to free performers to save on money. I had 2 people solidly interested in the show and the concept who were both free and I had contacted over email.

Health and safety for the show was a huge importance which is why big acts like trapeze's etc. were all decided to be on VTs to try to minimise the risk to the audience. We did research into the BBC commissioning health and safety requirements and worked from there.

For our pitch our over all idea was received very well, we were praised for it being something new and interesting that hadn't been attempted before.

We had minor set backs such as:

• We should've researched more into the channel and audience that the show would've been aired to. This way we would've known that the show was more suited to children then it would be adults, therefor it would be better aired on CBBC rather then our original choice.
• We didn't include enough visual detail about our set.

From our pitch and the input we received from Del I learnt, that next time I pitch an idea I will need to make it a much more visual product rather then all text and words. 

I also have to do more institutional research to allow me to find the right channel and target audience for my show.

This over all experience will go on to help me make better pitches and be more confident in my idea and pitching skills.