My guest this week is Melanie Iredale, Deputy Director at Sheffield Doc Fest, one of the UK’s premier documentary film festivals. As part of her remit, Melanie sits on the Doc Fest Programming Team, as well as co-curating the Rhyme & Rhythm strand.

Originally from East Yorkshire, Melanie's background is as a Film Curator and Festival Programmer. From 2009-2014, she was Director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, where she commissioned new, award-wining moving image work that toured festivals and galleries around the world. She is also a BIFA voter for the Documentary Award and regularly participates in international film juries.

We talk about what Melanie looks for when selecting films for the festival programme as well as what it takes to get your projects selected for the festivals legendary Meet Market’s one to one pitching sessions.

And last but not least, we discuss what makes a great pitching deck.