I've spent twenty years producing documentary films — from first pitch to festival premiere. Fourteen feature documentaries, co-productions across three continents, and enough broadcaster rejections to wallpaper an edit suite. I've been rejected by every broadcaster in this country at least twice, and I've also sat on the other side of the table assessing pitches, so I know exactly what a commissioning editor is looking for and what makes them stop reading. These days, alongside producing, I help a dozen or so first-time filmmakers a year get their story made: shaping the idea, structuring the treatment, finding the funding path that actually fits the project, and getting through the long middle where most documentaries die. If you're trying to break into documentary, or you're partway through and stuck — on story, on money, on momentum — I've probably stood exactly where you're standing.