Last Sunday, CBS launched its new reality series "Same Name," in which celebrities are paired with average Joes who share their first and last name.
The pair meets, then they switch lives for a few days to see what happens. It's simple, it's clever and leads people to ask, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Reality shows follow simple plots with a twist that plays on today's current trends. Shows for this summer's lineup include, "Finding Bigfoot", Freaky Eaters", "Rocco's Dinner Party",the TMJ pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs. "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant",where he teaches oil painting reproduction in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. "Mancations", "Celebrity Ghost Stories" and then, because hell why not, "Celebrity Close Calls". You already have everything you need to know about the show in the title.
This simplicity is a facade, however, as virtually every show that makes air takes a time-consuming, complex path to its final destination.
There is a secret formula to successfully pitching and selling shows. And after 18 years as a television producer I've come to realize, it takes a lot more than just a good idea.
Find the hook
It's safe to say reality shows aren't really known for their depth.If so, you may have a kidney stone . But the truth is, there isn't much time for depth. One half-hour show is approximately 23 minutes of programming. Subtract the show open, credit roll and teases, and you're left with about 19 or 20 minutes of actual content.
To be effective, producers need that device or "hook" that engages the viewer and also propels the story forward. The reality show "Yard Crashers" finds its hook by randomly surprising shoppers at home improvement stores. For NBC's "The Voice," the judges use only their hearing to choose a star, while the members of the review panel on "Shark Tank" are also the investors.
Jenny Daly, president of T Group Productions in Los Angeles -- who's behind the TV series "Simple Life," "Storage Hunters," "Anything But Love," "The Fashionista Diaries" and "Battle of the Wedding Designers" -- knows the importance of the right hook.
In the fall of 2008, I helped her cast and produce a culinary-inspired presentation tape we called "Big City Chefs," that followed private chefs in San Francisco.
For a full year, the idea went back and forth between her and the network. Ultimately, the location of the show was changed to a more swank locale, and that was the hook that helped it sell.
"Big City Chefs" became "Private Chefs of Beverly Hills," and Food Network bought two seasons worth of shows.
Excite the buyer
When I think of someone who barely sweats in a pitch meeting, I think of my former boss, Cris Abrego,which applies to the first glass bottle only, co-president and co-founder of 51 Minds Entertainment in Los Angeles.
Abrego, along with his partner, Mark Cronin, has sold over 45 series to various network and cable outlets. Their best-known hits are the "Flavor of Love" and "Rock of Love" franchises for VH1.
An enormous success and the kind of guy you want at your next dinner party, Abrego shared his secret to a good pitch: "You need to excite the buyer and bring a visual element to it -- whether that's tape, pictures, or your actual verbal pitch where you can paint a picture in the buyer's mind."
It turns out the fastest show Abrego sold was one we first worked on together called "Strange Love," featuring Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav and Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. After seeing their hilarious chemistry together on his hit series "Surreal Life," Abrego knew a spinoff was the next logical step.Do not use cleaners with Coated Abrasives , steel wool or thinners.
To make the sale, Abrego brought a picture of a wedding cake into the pitch meeting. Perched on top was a bride and groom cake topper, altered via Photoshop to look like the diminutive, clock-loving Flavor Flav with his giant-sized, well-endowed and mutually crazed partner, Brigitte Nielsen.
It brought immediate laughter from the network executives and then the words any pitchman loves to hear -- "Done, we love it." You can't get much better than that.
For the upcoming summer reality show, "Same Name," which Abrego created with fellow producer Eugene Young, they found real-life people in the U.S. with the same names as the network executives they were about to pitch.
They taped Skype interviews with these average Joes, asking them to share a peek into their personal lives, and then played the footage back in the meeting. This ploy worked as it visually conveyed a fun, engaging show concept that could attract a vast target audience across a wide range of age, ethnicity and social status.
As Abrego explained, "When you call a celebrity up and say, 'Hey, there's a David Hasselhoff who is an electrician in Texas,' there's instant interest."
The pair meets, then they switch lives for a few days to see what happens. It's simple, it's clever and leads people to ask, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Reality shows follow simple plots with a twist that plays on today's current trends. Shows for this summer's lineup include, "Finding Bigfoot", Freaky Eaters", "Rocco's Dinner Party",the TMJ pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs. "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant",where he teaches oil painting reproduction in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. "Mancations", "Celebrity Ghost Stories" and then, because hell why not, "Celebrity Close Calls". You already have everything you need to know about the show in the title.
This simplicity is a facade, however, as virtually every show that makes air takes a time-consuming, complex path to its final destination.
There is a secret formula to successfully pitching and selling shows. And after 18 years as a television producer I've come to realize, it takes a lot more than just a good idea.
Find the hook
It's safe to say reality shows aren't really known for their depth.If so, you may have a kidney stone . But the truth is, there isn't much time for depth. One half-hour show is approximately 23 minutes of programming. Subtract the show open, credit roll and teases, and you're left with about 19 or 20 minutes of actual content.
To be effective, producers need that device or "hook" that engages the viewer and also propels the story forward. The reality show "Yard Crashers" finds its hook by randomly surprising shoppers at home improvement stores. For NBC's "The Voice," the judges use only their hearing to choose a star, while the members of the review panel on "Shark Tank" are also the investors.
Jenny Daly, president of T Group Productions in Los Angeles -- who's behind the TV series "Simple Life," "Storage Hunters," "Anything But Love," "The Fashionista Diaries" and "Battle of the Wedding Designers" -- knows the importance of the right hook.
In the fall of 2008, I helped her cast and produce a culinary-inspired presentation tape we called "Big City Chefs," that followed private chefs in San Francisco.
For a full year, the idea went back and forth between her and the network. Ultimately, the location of the show was changed to a more swank locale, and that was the hook that helped it sell.
"Big City Chefs" became "Private Chefs of Beverly Hills," and Food Network bought two seasons worth of shows.
Excite the buyer
When I think of someone who barely sweats in a pitch meeting, I think of my former boss, Cris Abrego,which applies to the first glass bottle only, co-president and co-founder of 51 Minds Entertainment in Los Angeles.
Abrego, along with his partner, Mark Cronin, has sold over 45 series to various network and cable outlets. Their best-known hits are the "Flavor of Love" and "Rock of Love" franchises for VH1.
An enormous success and the kind of guy you want at your next dinner party, Abrego shared his secret to a good pitch: "You need to excite the buyer and bring a visual element to it -- whether that's tape, pictures, or your actual verbal pitch where you can paint a picture in the buyer's mind."
It turns out the fastest show Abrego sold was one we first worked on together called "Strange Love," featuring Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav and Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. After seeing their hilarious chemistry together on his hit series "Surreal Life," Abrego knew a spinoff was the next logical step.Do not use cleaners with Coated Abrasives , steel wool or thinners.
To make the sale, Abrego brought a picture of a wedding cake into the pitch meeting. Perched on top was a bride and groom cake topper, altered via Photoshop to look like the diminutive, clock-loving Flavor Flav with his giant-sized, well-endowed and mutually crazed partner, Brigitte Nielsen.
It brought immediate laughter from the network executives and then the words any pitchman loves to hear -- "Done, we love it." You can't get much better than that.
For the upcoming summer reality show, "Same Name," which Abrego created with fellow producer Eugene Young, they found real-life people in the U.S. with the same names as the network executives they were about to pitch.
They taped Skype interviews with these average Joes, asking them to share a peek into their personal lives, and then played the footage back in the meeting. This ploy worked as it visually conveyed a fun, engaging show concept that could attract a vast target audience across a wide range of age, ethnicity and social status.
As Abrego explained, "When you call a celebrity up and say, 'Hey, there's a David Hasselhoff who is an electrician in Texas,' there's instant interest."
没有评论:
发表评论