The train is leaving to Newcastle, are you getting on?
Now compare that to the question below.
Would you like to come with me for a drive and I’m not sure exactly where we’re going and if you don’t want to go then I probably won’t go anyway, and by the way, I know how to drive, I swear!
One has momentum, clarity, urgency and scarcity.
The other is vague, includes unknowns, and lacks conviction.
For those in the position to do so, deciding to make a story regardless of it being commissioned (or just straight up completing it) can be a handy strategy to successfully get an idea over the line.
It fundamentally changes the power dynamic with the commissioner.
Their choice, in part, becomes easier because it reframes the discussion; am I getting on board the train that’s about to leave… or do we need to decide on where exactly, how, when, who and existentially, why?
Deciding to make something without knowing where it might live is challenging because it forces us to take a leap of faith. To muster the courage to back us, whatever the way the wind blows, and to be OK that it might not live anywhere.
And there are lots of shows that want or need to work with the producer from the initial concept point. In some cases, starting the project before commissioning could be an easy reason to reject it.
But work in motion or complete is proof of ability, which can be like gold when you don’t have runs on the board.
When we’re starting out, we have nothing to lose. And depending on how you look at it, all of us have only just begun.
This is a tactic I especially recommend to university and community radio volunteers who are required or specifically willing to work for no financial award anyway.
Taking a leap of faith is one way to close the experience gap.
My break at the ABC was a four-minute piece for a university assignment. It was worth 5% of my grade, but I sent it in, they wanted to use it on air, and I was able to use that as leverage to ask for an internship.
At worst, this approach is an excuse to have a discussion with someone you might be able to work with down the line.
Saying all of that, I’ve been sitting on a (finished) killer story about a cat for over two years now because I haven’t found the right home for it yet.
