Direction-and-Drive Opportunity Loop
Choose a direction, make the ask, follow up, and keep moving
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 95%
McCall combines a destination metaphor with persistent action. Knowing where you want to go is like setting a satnav, but the car still has to move: send the email, ask for the number, make the pitch, and follow up. Each action can lay more of the path and expose an adjacent opportunity that was not visible at the start. She illustrates the loop with years of contacting MTV, accepting a new contact when the first route stalled, and later pitching television ideas directly. The process also includes release: after trying for years to turn one post-Big Brother concept into an online product, exhibition, or programme, she concluded that she was swimming against the tide and let it go. Persistence therefore serves direction, not endless attachment to one format.
Origin
McCall describes using this pattern across her television career, including repeated MTV approaches and direct pitches after Big Brother.
Core principles
- 01Direction without action leaves an ambition stationary
- 02Movement creates contacts, evidence, and adjacent opportunities
- 03A direct ask can reveal options that waiting cannot
- 04A rejection may justify a respectful follow-up or a different contact
- 05Release an idea when repeated effort produces no viable path
How to run it
- 1
Set the direction
State the outcome you want clearly enough to guide the next move. Treat it as a direction, not a guarantee that the route will be straight.
Pro tip Name a destination that can support several possible routes.
Watch out A vivid goal is not a substitute for evidence or action.
- 2
Find the next reachable contact
Identify the person, company, or setting most likely to move you one step closer. Ask for an introduction or alternate contact when the first route cannot help.
Pro tip Make it easy for someone to redirect you rather than forcing a yes.
- 3
Make a specific ask
Request a concrete next action such as reviewing a reel, considering a pitch, or allowing a shadowing opportunity. Avoid leaving the other person to invent what you need.
Pro tip Keep the ask direct enough to receive a usable answer.
Watch out Respect privacy, boundaries, and an explicit final refusal.
- 4
Follow up with new value
Return with another piece of work, a clearer proposal, or a timely reminder. McCall repeatedly sent reels and contacted relevant people over several years.
Pro tip Give each follow-up a reason beyond merely asking again.
Watch out Persistence without relevance becomes noise.
- 5
Read the path as it forms
Notice introductions, neighbouring roles, and unexpected offers created by movement. Be willing to take a useful adjacent route rather than insisting on the original map.
Pro tip Record every concrete response so you can distinguish traction from hope.
- 6
Continue or release
Keep moving while actions produce learning or opportunity. When sustained attempts across sensible formats produce no viable path, stop steering that idea and redirect your effort.
Pro tip Judge the pattern of responses, not one rejection.
Watch out Do not use persistence to justify unlimited time, money, or emotional cost.
In the wild
After an MTV Europe event, McCall asked for a contact, sent several show reels a year, and kept calling. When the first contact could not offer a job, she requested someone else to approach. A later vacancy led to a screen test when she was six months clean and sober.
→ Repeated directed action eventually put her in reach of a real vacancy and screen test.
McCall says she directly emailed ITV about presenting a midlife version of Love Island. The company did not accept that exact pitch, but told her it was considering something similar and might consider her for it.
→ The ask did not secure the original idea, but it made an adjacent opportunity visible.
Common mistakes
Setting the destination and waiting
McCall and Bartlett distinguish having an idea from sending the email or making the ask. Direction creates value only when paired with movement.
Treating one route as the whole goal
A contact, format, or pitch can fail while an adjacent path remains viable. Preserve the direction while adapting the route.
Ignoring the stop signal
McCall also describes abandoning an idea after trying several forms for years. Persistence is not a requirement to pursue one concept forever.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for uncertain but reversible goals where emails, pitches, applications, or conversations can produce real feedback.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for harassment, unsafe persistence, or repeatedly pursuing a clear final refusal.
From the transcript
“just start walking in that direction and something else will come along”
“You've got to make opportunities happen they never just come to you”
“you've got it's all very well putting it in the sat nav”
From the episode
Davina McCall: “I was doing cocaine with my mum at 15!”