Congratulations on your new show concept!  Not everyone trusts their gut and creative muse enough to dream up an original idea.  Now for the bad news. There is not a thing you can do with a concept.

Let us please start with this crucial shift in perspective:   having an idea is not the end of the show-selling journey; it is actually the beginning.  If you have what you feel is a terrific concept, the next step is not to set up pitch meetings with networks and producers (or to mail, fax or e-mail your idea unsolicited to their offices).  It is to develop the idea.

Not only can you not sell an idea for a show, you cannot even legally protect it.  That’s right, you cannot copyright an idea.  Or safeguard one by mailing it back to yourself (stop doing that!  When you are ready, a copyright is only $45). 

 

Please let me explain why I am so passionate about an interesting idea not being enough to pitch or sell a show.  As I speak nationwide on "The Realities of Reality TV," the number one question I get is how audience members can take their one-sentence show concept and exchange it for a network check.  Hear me out on this.  Selling your "idea" to a network to make a show would be like you sketching a picture of an office tower then asking Big Downtown Corporation (BDC) to hand over a $40 million check so you can start building their new suburban headquarters.  Uh…slow down. 

Before they pay you to create the vision in your picture, BDC first would like to see your architectural degree, license and certification.  And what other buildings you have built.  They want to talk to previous employers, contractors and vendors who have worked with you in the industry.  They also want to see your detailed blueprints and contingency plans for each phase of the project.  Maybe you could even present a series of 3-D models to them?  And by the way, what is your schedule for building the corporate headquarters, and how soon can they get a glimpse of your budget for the project? 

That is when you tell them…and this is awesome…that you actually are not an architect…and you have never even built a building before.  In fact, you have no idea if this building is even structurally possible or how that would be achieved.  But you are addicted to skyscrapers!  You dreamed of being Mr. Brady when you grew up (even if you were a girl)!  Plus, you’ve spent a lot of time downtown staring up at the buildings, and no one has ever drawn a skyscraper sketch that looked just like this.  This is your very own, original concept!  Now where is your money?

You understand why BDC is not about to hand you or any other sketch artist millions of dollars to create something based on a picture when you have no experience or training to construct a habitable building.  Even if it is a gorgeous concept, BDC’s money is going to go to whatever company actually fully designs and builds the building–and the person who can effectively oversee that process. 

So now you understand why broadcast and cable networks (the "nets") won’t hand you millions, not even thousands, of dollars to create something based on an idea when you have no experience or training to create a shootable show or only have work experience that is not yet at that level.  That is why I am writing this book.  The Show Starter™ system fills in the blanks between your idea and your final pitch so you can create something that actually can be sold.  It is not incredibly hard.  It is just not as easy as many expect it to be.

Wait a minute, you say!  I don’t want to learn how to make reality TV shows!  I don’t want to work on anyone else’s anymore either!  I just want to sell my clever idea and make my money and get on with my life.  Wait a minute, I say!  You have mistaken reality TV for those other lucrative, union-negotiated, minimum-fee-establishing, created-by-credit-giving, residual-paying arenas of Hollywood (like fiction TV).  Sorry.  Again, as hard as it is to sell a reality show; it is even harder to make money off of one!  As I said before, in reality TV, the money is not in selling the shows; it is in producing them. 

One final reason I want you to stretch far beyond just having an idea for a show:  the less you actually bring into a pitch meeting, the less chance you have of remaining attached in any way to the show if it eventually sells.  This industry has its own special business model, which this book will help you navigate more successfully so you can craft a detailed reality pitch package that you will have grounds to stay an active part of. 

If you still long to just make some one-shot cash that will translate into future passive income, may I recommend you put down this book and read my 1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple System book instead?  You will still have to work hard (my own expertise came from my early years as a story analyst at a major Hollywood film company), but the 1-3-5 book will teach you how to write a structurally sound screenplay, and navigate that sales process. 

However, if you still want to sell a reality TV show because you actually want to make one…let’s go.