Record Breaking Hammer Pants

Posted on: Wednesday 20 July 2016 9:23am by Tim Bain

What has the CMC ever done for me? Writer Tim Bain reveals not one, but his top 5 positive outcomes.

I attended my very first CMC in 2012 with only a single kids’ TV episode credit to my name. I knew nothing and no one. I felt like a freshman who’d crashed Spring Break. But it changed my career in more ways than I could have imagined…

1. Meeting great mates. Two of my best writer friends were found at the first Wednesday night drinks, Tony Cooke and Andrew Viner. They’ve become great movie dates – I no longer look so sad and creepy attending kids films at the cinema.
2. Shameless networking. Meeting VIP execs who later hired me on shows such as ‘Fireman Sam’, ‘Bob the Builder’ and ‘Counterfeit Cat’.
3. Disney execs “on the town”. Serendipitously bumping into them at 3am and continuing the party in a their Disney suite. Fooling them that I was talented enough to write for several upcoming shows.
4. Getting involved. Helping to organise CMC’s 10^th year anniversary party in 2013 and seeing Alexander ‘Elvis has left the building’ Bar strut his stuff on stage.
5. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. This year, my CMC buddy Tony Cooke and I risked our careers in embarrassing costumes (Hello Hammer pants!) and pitched our own collaborative creation, ‘New Girl on the Block’ to a panel of Dragons. To our delighted shock, a bidding war broke out between Zodiak and CBBC and we received a record-breaking option offer from CBBC. We’re still buzzing!

If you only attend one kids’ media conference this year, make it CMC! It’s Kidscreen, meets LinkedIn, meets a super-fun class reunion!  It will literally change your career.

Read the Report on ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ at CMC 2016.

Other articles in the “What has the CMC Ever Done for Me?” series.