The short answer
A development executive finds and develops projects for a production company or broadcaster. They source material such as books, true stories and original ideas, secure the rights, attach and guide writers through drafts, build a slate of projects, and prepare the pitches that take projects to commissioners or financiers for a green light.
Finding material
Much of the job is reading and searching: books before publication, articles, podcasts, true stories, public domain classics, scripts from agents. A good development executive knows what their company makes and what buyers want, and filters everything through that.
Securing rights
Once a property looks promising, they find out who controls the rights and whether they are available, then negotiate an option. For public domain works they confirm the status in every territory that matters.
Working with writers
They attach a writer, give notes on each draft, and track progress against deadlines. Clear, specific notes and a realistic schedule are a large part of the craft.
Building and running a slate
A slate is the set of projects in development at any one time. Development executives decide what stays on it, what is dropped, what to pitch and when, and keep track of options, deadlines and costs across all of them.
Pitching
They prepare the treatment, the pitch deck and the case for each project, and take it to commissioners, streamers or financiers, matching each project to the buyer most likely to want it.
BlackSlate is built for this job: finding material, tracking rights and options and running the slate in one place.
Questions
Wide reading and taste, an understanding of what buyers want, the ability to give clear notes to writers, negotiation for rights, and the organisation to run many projects at once.
The set of projects a company has in development at a given time, from early ideas to scripts ready to pitch.
In BlackSlate