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How to Pitch a Reality Show in 5 Steps. Read this free guide. Fully understand how the unscripted television and film business works. Prepare your pitch for different TV networks and streaming platforms. Determine if you need to team with a third party approved production company.
- The Reality of What They Are
- Conceiving & Creating
- Make It Marketable
- Pitching Your Reality TV Show
- Sample Pitch Treatments
- Examples of Reality TV Shows, and Why They Work
Formatted reality shows are essentially game shows, because there is a specific structure, set rules, and a clear winner. What makes them exciting to watch is the fact that they are often clever dramatic social experiments. To truly connect with an audience and have entertainment value in a show, the idea needs to be as fun to watch as it is to par...
Be Specific in your idea, and try several approaches. Here’s a typical scenario that will give you an idea of why being specific and unique is important: “Ms. Network Executive” gives a production company executive the inside scoop that they would love to find a show that places contestants in some sort of "fish-out-of-water scenario" and would lik...
Titles are very important. They should roll off the tongue easily, provoke conversations, and simply tell you exactly what you’re going to be watching. The Bachelor, The Apprentice, Gold Rush, Wife Swap, The Biggest Loser, America's Got Talent, InkMasters, Flipping Out, Blind Date, Little People-Big World, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, Pawn Stars...
Docuseries:
When pitching a docuseries it’s all about the characters and the world they live in. Having video on the persons involved is great, but you’ll want to clarify their roles and relationship to one another. Explain how experiencing their world is unique and compelling. Describe their plight in life, and how they handle adversity. Check out our article on creating docuseriesfor some deeper insight.
Formatted:
Formatted reality series have a very clear structure, rules, and a progression to a winner. When pitching these types of shows, keep in mind that everything needs to feed and build drama. Be it a relationship series, or competition series, it's all about creating the right components that deliver key dramatic moments. The logline will describe the unique premise and agenda for the series, and the synopsis will take us through the specific steps detailing how the show unfolds. The most importa...
Sizzle Reels
Having a "proof of concept" reel is great, but it's critical to understand that it can both help and hinder. If you're pitching a docuseries, then having video that allows the producers to see who and how the people are, their personalities, their perspectives, their world, is great. BUT if you try to have produced a "professional" reel it can quickly become overproduced and more of a turn off. Why? Because what a network or production company will fall in love with are the people, the subjec...
In formatted and docuseries reality TV, a written pitch treatment is the roadmap that describes to producers what we’re potentially watching in the produced series. In a formatted reality series, it's all about the structure and escalation of drama leading to an end-game. Further below in article we give a very basic outline which includes Title, L...
Unique Professions or Lifestyles: One of the simplest and most successful sub-genre of reality show is the documentary style series covering unique professions or lifestyles. These stories serve the insatiable curiosity viewers have to gain insight into other peoples lives and jobs. Bravo's The Real Housewives of Orange County is a guilty-pleasure ...
Aug 27, 2015 · Producers Joke and Biagio get real about pitching reality TV by helping writers reveal reality TV material they may already be sitting on, and giving them a shot at earning some extra income from unscripted television. Script Magazine. Aug 27, 2015. Joke and Biagio make unscripted film and television, and invite their podcast listeners to pitch ...
Dec 3, 2023 · Write a 1 to 4 page pitch. Download Article. Don't make your pitch too long or too short. Once you create and write your Title, Logline, and Synopsis, you should ideally have a very brief but impactful pitch between 1 and 4 pages. 6.
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- 1. Identify the category of reality series you want to create. This may be a "Docu-Style" series that shows viewers a unique world, family, lifesty...
- 2. Create the unique "hook" for your show. This will be the unique premise and agenda that fuels the events in the series, and the ultimate result...
- 3. After you've decided on your show's premise and unique hook, you'll be able to create a captivating Title for your reality show that supports th...
- 4. If you're creating a "Docu-Style" series idea, you'll want to focus on writing a synopsis including these three things; describing the specific...
- 5. If you're creating a competition format, focus on writing a synopsis of the "arc" of the series that describes how the competition works and pro...
- 6. Once you create and write your Title, Logline, and Synopsis, you should ideally have a very brief but impactful pitch between 1 and 4 pages.
- 7. Prior to any exposure in the marketplace (Production Companies, Agents, Networks, or Marketing Services) get proof-of-creation by researching on...
- 8. Research Production Companies that produce similar shows within the same genre as yours. Never send your pitch unsolicited, but DO send a direct...
- 9. Use TV Industry Websites that Producers use for scouting new TV show ideas and formats. Production Companies scouting online at websites like th...
- 10. When pitching Producers in person, be very direct by immediately communicating the unique agenda of the show. Follow that with specific descrip...
When you first set out to create a reality TV show idea to pitch, you're going to propose either a formatted concept, or a documentary style concept. A format has a specific structure that takes place in each episode and provokes dramatic or compelling competition, typically resulting in one person winning. "Survivor", "Top Chef", "Wipe Out ...
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Dec 11, 2022 · Make sure the episodes are all a little different so you can convey that your show won't feel stale or formulaic. Stale and formulaic are not words you want associated with your how to pitch a TV show process. This TV show pitch template is designed to give your pitch a roadmap. Being "in the room" can be intimidating and there are endless ...
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Reality TV Decoded goes beyond standard textbook strategies – it teaches you how to crack the code to create a show or just grow your skill in entertainment. It will walk you through a set of “under-the-radar tools” used by some of the biggest names in the business. This information will swiftly put you 5-10 years ahead of your competitors.
