The Art of Pitching for Funding
Session Description:
You have a great idea for a film. A vision with a script. There is just one issue…you need the money to make it happen.
Award-winning writer and producer Brian Bird will talk about pitching projects to financiers to get your idea into production.
Brian has made those pitches for both successful television series and films. He is the executive producer of top-rated hit Hallmark Channel cable series When Calls the Heart, now in its 14th season. Brian’s credits include three dozen films and nearly 450 television episodes.
Brian will be joined by award-winning screenwriter and collaborator John Wierick to answer the questions on your mind:
Who should you be meeting with?
How do you get a meeting?
How do you prepare for the meeting?
What do you need for that presentation?
What are some do’s and don’ts in trying to get money?
Brian and John will also take your questions
Bios
Brian Bird is an award-winning writer and producer who has worked on projects big and small across his three-plus decades working in film and television.
He has written and/or produced nearly three dozen films, including THE HEART OF MAN, THE CASE FOR CHRIST, CAPTIVE, NOT EASILY BROKEN, THE ULTIMATE LIFE and BOPHA! and nearly over 450 episodes of television, including two spinoffs of When Calls the Heart -- WHEN HOPE CALLS and HOPE VALLEY 1874 -- MYSTIC, TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, STEP BY STEP and EVENING SHADE. His newest TV series, HOME TO HARMONY, will come out with Angel Studios in 2026.
Additionally, his feature-length documentary, THE STORY OF EVERYTHING, came out in theaters nationally April/May, 2026. He is also writing four new feature films, NORTHERN LIGHTS, THE JOURNEY, THE JOHN WOODEN STORY, and THE CASE FOR THE BIBLE.
His work on WHEN CALLS THE HEART, THE CASE FOR CHRIST and CAPTIVE have earned him Telly, Christopher, MovieGuide and LA Webfest Awards. His production of son Taylor Bird's screenplay for A LITTLE WOMEN'S CHRISTMAS was the highest-rated Christmas movie of 2024 for Great American Family and won a MovieGuide Award for Best in TV.
A native of Illinois, he worked first as a newspaper magazine journalist but carved out his 30-year-plus film/TV career. His most important production to date is his 45-year marriage to wife Patty and their five children, and three grandchildren.
John Wierick has written for television and film since 1989. Recent projects include A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love (Hallmark), and other rom-coms including Memories of Christmas and A Time to Dance.
Twice he’s been nominated for the Humanitas Prize (Crossed Over, starring Diane Keaton and Life Interrupted, starring Lea Thompson), and in 2003, he received the prestigious Paul Selvin Award from the Writers Guild of America for the Emmy-winning docudrama The Matthew Shepard Story (starring Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston).
John is married to his high-school sweetheart, Shelley, and they have two children, Rachel and Mason.