The greatest thing you can do to move your pitch closer to a sale is to golf weekly with the Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming at a network that is right for your pitch (or with the executive producer of that net exec’s favorite production company).  If your short game needs work, the next best thing to do is truly know and love what you are pitching and present it passionately and engagingly to your prospective buyer. 

That means…do not wing your pitch!  Practice it so that you are so comfortable with what you have to say that your energy can be focused on the true unknown in the room: how the exec is going to respond.

Also, do not just practice just one pitch and get on the phone to set up a meeting.  I absolutely want you to take your applause for doing the hard work on this first pitch.  But if you only have one, you are not yet ready for a pitch meeting!  If the net exec instantly passes on your first idea, and you have nothing else to throw in the ring, all you will get is an incredulous stare.  You have just wasted the exec’s time.  So while this chapter will give you tips on how to practice your pitch, know that you will need to work through this book’s entire idea-through-treatment process for at least three shows because that is the minimum number of distinct pitches you are going to walk into any first meeting with. 

 

 

If you already have far more than three fleshed-out pitches, good for you!   What you must do before any meeting is select and/or tailor the top three that are appropriate for your buyer’s brand.  That way, if s/he limits your time or number of pitches in the room, you can seamlessly shift gears and begin pitching your hits.

To practice each of your pitches, first revisit the one-sheet and polish it up.  Is there any new or compelling information from your treatment that could boost the impact of the one-sheet?  Now take a final pass on your logline.  Does it sell the Five Key Pitch Elements and convey the true heart of this show?  What drives each episode forward, sets it apart from others and entertains and even changes your viewers? 

Remember this.  At the top of a pitch meeting, your logline’s job is to paint as vivid a picture of your show as if the exec were home watching it on a giant plasma screen TV.  For instance, I once moderated a Show Starter™ seminar on how to pitch a reality project, and one show runner on the panel recalled a pitch he sold with one sentence, to paraphrase: "It’s Mike Tyson…handcuffed…to a different guy each week."  That delivers train wreck talent, obvious conflict plus comedy and a visual grand slam in 10 words!  But this was not that executive producer’s first pitch.  There already was trust and a back-nine comfort zone in that pitch room, so nothing more needed to be said until the development contract was drawn up. 

If that were your first pitch, you might need to shift into explanation mode with a quickness, proving that you had Tyson optioned, what types of guys you were going to cast,  what you were going to have them do each episode, how legal issues of handcuffing two humans had been dissected, etc.  But in addition to that, far bigger than that, you would need to be prepared for the main reason you are in the room in the first place.

You are not pitching primarily to prove to an exec that you are brilliant, your show is clever, and s/he should love your idea and want to work with you.  You are there first and foremost to ring up dollar signs, as in "advertiser-pleasing, sky-high ratings," in that exec’s eyes.  The entire energy of your pitch has got to focus on why an audience should, will and must watch your show.  Audiences do not personally know you or need to like you or give you even five minutes of their time, unlike this exec who is trapped behind a desk and has to hear you out.  Your passion for making TV, friendly nature and commitment to the project means zero to Bobby Jo in Sioux City.  She just wants to be riveted to her television set.  How your show is going to achieve that is the mission of your pitch.

And yes, of course, you want the exec to adore you.  But s/he can forget your name the next day and still buy your show if it is an audience-grabber.

With all of that in mind, here is what you are going to practice to make your pitch more perfect.

 

Research Potential Networks

If you are trying to make a sale in reality TV, it is important that you know both the "show" and the "business" side of this industry.  In general, that means watching a wide variety of reality programming and checking the trades regularly to keep an eye on show sales, content trends and personnel changes at all of the networks. 

Regular reality research will help you develop timely shows and talk about them in a broader industry context when you finally get meetings.  It also will help you narrow down which networks are a good fit for your pitch.  Identify who is broadcasting shows that have a similar format and appeal to a similar audience as your show.  But before setting up a meeting there, be sure to do some deeper research:

1)    Know the network’s shows.  If you are not familiar with a network’s current slate (the shows they are developing, producing and broadcasting), you are going to sink in "the room" (the common term for wherever a pitch meeting takes place).  So before you pitch, watch at least one episode of each of the network’s reality offerings. 

Also, get a sense of their production style (high-end, generic, bootleg?), the energy of their shows (high-energy, life-affirming, butt-kicking?) and how they use talent and hosts.  Think about what works for you on some of their shows so you can incorporate that approach into your pitch, and so you can speak knowledgeably if they compare what you are pitching to what they already have on air.

2)    Know the network’s upcoming development focus.  The shows that currently are airing on a network do not necessarily reflect what they plan to air in the future!  When you first set up a meeting, you or your representative (or your insider contact) should ask if there is a branding sheet or set of development specs the network can send you.  If they do not (or will not) send one, ask if they can advise in what general areas they currently are and are not considering content.  Remember that only a couple years ago, the Game Show Network announced they were no longer looking for traditional game show pitches and officially renamed and re-branded themselves as "GSN"!

Never skip these first two research steps.  Otherwise, you might bring Club Darwin to Animal Planet or National Geographic, neither of which buy shows simply because animals are involved.  Animal Planet’s shows tend to emphasize a harmonious relationship between humans and animals.  And National Geographic is an action and adventure channel!

The audience for Club Darwin most likely would be twentysomething guys who love beer and probably indulge in other recreational activities and would die laughing every week just watching monkeys throw canned soup at uptight dudes.  So my research would probably lead me to Spike TV or even ESPN if they were actively trying to target a younger male demographic, which, thanks to advertisers, nearly everyone but women’s networks always is.

3)    Research the network executives.  It is crucial that you know the names of the manager(s), director, vice-president and executive vice president of Alt Programming, as well as the head of programming, of any network you plan to approach!  Trust that these names will come up in pitch meetings.  To begin, just go online to the network’s Web site and read the executive profiles.  If they do not provide them, go online and search "[Network Name]" and "[Title] of Alternative Programming" (for example, "CBS" "Vice President of Alternative Programming").   Be sure to check the date of any results to confirm the information is current!  If you must, call the network directly and ask for the names.  Just get them.

Next, do a general online search for the exec’s bios to see if they attended your alma mater or are from your home town (look for a connection!).  Read quotes from trades and personal interviews.  Get to know them before you go to meet them.  And, as always, database the information you collect, not just for this pitch, but for future ones.

Finally, in the week leading up to any pitch meeting, actively search the online trades for any news at all regarding the specific network you are meeting with.  That includes new personnel, new projects, terminated projects, etc.  Arm yourself with information!

 

Research Potential Production Partners

Of course, you may not be practicing your pitch solely for a network meeting.  Like many people, you might be planning to pitch to a production company, or even a well-connected show runner, with the hope that they will bring your show to their network contacts.  I will explain both of those options in detail in the next chapter. 

For now, just know that you will need to do similar research before meeting with a production partner.  That includes watching their current shows and getting any programming or personnel updates from their Web sites and the trades.  If you have no contacts at production companies to open with, here is some research you can do that can move you closer to a pitch meeting with the right potential partners:

1)    Start with who you know.  The simplest way to find a production partner is to approach a company you have successfully worked with before.   You start out ahead because you have some insight to how they run shows, what networks they have worked with and what kind of relationships they had with those networks (as in, if the shows were delivered on time and in a sane fashion). Even better, you have created real relationships with these companies and contributed honest sweat equity to their projects that warrants partnership consideration.

So as you look through your list of projects, first focus on those you might be able to bring to someone you already know.  Even if they do not want to partner on those particular projects, if you have gone through this book and crafted exceptional, well-thought-out pitches, the door will remain open for you to bring pitches back in.  They also might refer you to another company they know that might partner on the pitch–and it is more than okay to ask for such a referral.

2)    Identify other production companies your target network(s) work with.  That means reading the trades to see what companies are doing deals with which networks.  It also means watching the network’s shows and noting which production company logos are popping up in the end credits–particularly for shows similar in production style to your pitch.  Finally, it means researching online at the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) to check the company credits for shows currently airing on the network(s) you hope to reach.  It might surprise you how many times the same production company name pops up on multiple shows on a given network (take a look at HGTV’s slate and see how many of their shows are produced by the same two top reality companies.) 

Warning!  Just because a production company has produced a show for a network in the past does not mean the door is automatically still open for them to do another show for that network (executives change, network branding changes, etc.).  So when you meet with them, ask if they currently are pitching, developing or producing any shows for the network you hope to sell to.  If not, find out who they are dealing with now and see if one of your pitch variations might work for that network!

3)    Research the rest of the production company’s slate and structure.  Search online and visit the company’s Web site to research what shows they have produced and for which networks.  That will help you establish if your show is a good fit for their particular expertise and connections.  Other areas to explore include:  Have they recently produced projects on the scale of your show?  Has the company repositioned itself in terms of content?  Has the company recently itself split into new satellite companies, or have the executive producers parted ways entirely?  You must know who the company’s current owners are.  That will surely come up in a meeting; in fact, they might actually be the ones you will meet with!

Add potential production partners to your database, too.  Even if they are not right for this show, you can quickly access and update the research you just did for future pitches.

As you amass a list of networks and production partners who are a good match for your show, here is the best news:  it is perfectly okay, in fact, it is fully expected that you will shop your show to all of them at the same time.  Just keep track of who you have contacted and pitched to throughout the process by updating your database and adding that to your Show File (now with up to 13 items!):

 

SHOW FILE

•  Pitch Database

•  Five Key Pitch Elements

•  Reality TV Research

•  Logline (draft)

•  One-Sheet (draft)

•  Partnership Deal Memo

•  Talent Agreement

•  Talent Reel

•  Treatment

•  Registration applications (and final forms)

•  Sizzle Reel (only if absolutely necessary!)

•  Budget and Schedule Notes

•  Network and Production Company Research

 

Finally, as you start to fill your pitch schedule, be prepared for one common pitfall.  Networks re-brand themselves regularly and swiftly.  Even your best research cannot completely prepare you for the latest, last-minute edict of what is a great fit for the net.  But if you know your pitch extremely well, you can adapt it in the room to respond to any surprises.

 

The Practice Environment

It is important not only to practice what you are going to say but to be comfortable with where you are going to say it.  The number two place you will pitch a show will be at a chair on the other side of a desk from an executive.  So practice pitching in a mock office, leaning forward, keeping your body relaxed and making great eye-to-eye contact.  Then get up and move to a living room!  Because in nearly all of the pitch meetings I have been in, and that is literally dozens, I have walked into an office and immediately been escorted to a couch.  And there, I have either sat next to or across a low coffee table from, the exec I am there to pitch.  And that is a different energy.

Whatever you plan to wear to a pitch, keep that darned low couch in mind.  It is not a friend to bunchy blazers, above-the-knee skirts or high heels.  Pitches tend to be more casually-dressed affairs, perhaps because of those evil, low couches.  Of course, I am 6’1", so this is a particular laugh for all involved at every meeting.  But maybe the comfy couch and "pitch uniform" of loafers, khakis and a button-down blue Oxford with rolled up cuffs is all a conspiracy to get you to relax and just entertain the exec with a fun story!

 

Practicing Your Intro

Take a moment to decide how you plan to introduce yourself in the meeting.  That does not mean just your name; it also means how you came to be in the room with this exec.  If a contact pulled a personal favor to get you the meeting, verify that it is okay to drop their name on the handshake!  Relationships can change very quickly in this business.  Whether a well-connected agent or attorney set the meeting up, or you have a particularly pertinent credit you want to establish up top, just think through how you want to initially be perceived at the meeting.

 

Practicing Your One-Liner

You should know your logline by heart, of course, but sometimes what is wittily written sounds awkward being read off of the page.  For instance, Club Darwin’s catchy logline of "It’s the monkeys vs. man when a team of professional gamblers battles a team of primates on a high stakes casino floor" actually sounds too stilted spoken aloud.  So start by reading your own logline out loud and see if it flows like natural speech. 

If your written pitch does not yet work as a verbal one, I vote for what I would describe as the "ellipses" logline.  That is where you build verbal story with brief, dot-dot-dot ("...") pauses.  Let’s call it "Dragnet" pitching–just the facts, but with an ever-increasing punch.

Club Darwin’s Dragnet pitch might be: "We take over a high-end Vegas casino…assemble a team of uptight  professional gamblers…then introduce them to their rival team…which is made up…entirely…of monkeys.  Then it’s just mega-skill versus dumb primate luck to see which team racks up the most chips and wins a weekly grand prize."

With that pitch, I build from the innocuous (the Where) to the ratings-friendly (the Who, intense gamblers) to the visually outrageous (the other Who, their monkey opponents) to the Payoff (competing for a grand prize).  I kept the language very simple and fun to sell the playful energy of the show. 

But take a show like Biggest Loser, and your build will be different because the trump card is different.  For that show, the Dragnet might be: "We recruit a bunch of desperate, overweight foodies…strand them on a ranch with two ruthless trainers and lots of temptations…for three brutal months…to compete in teams for perks and completely up-end their diets and lifestyles.  Whoever finally loses the biggest percentage of their body weight wins $250,000 as the "Biggest Loser."

For that pitch, the Who is not the ta-dah moment we are building to.  Instead, we build from a generic but relatable Who, to an extreme, visual Where, to a Gut-Wrenching What, then wrap up, again, with a zinger Payoff.  Language further drives home the "last-chance" energy of the show. 

For either show, it is obvious that an audience would be compelled to watch.  The big question in the room, however, is…would the network’s audience be compelled to watch?  That is where your research will help.  It will tell you what to build to in this one-liner so your exec says, "This is our kind of show."

Now take a look at your favorite pitch on your list and break it down.  Of the Five Key Pitch Elements, which are you building to?  Start with whichever element is the "innocent" set-up information.  Now, what elements offer the distinctive fingerprint of your show?  Next, what is the shock value, the twist that grabs an audience?  Finally, what is the Payoff that establishes the whole goal of the experience?  These can be monetary, like Big Brother’s winners’ checks, or life-changing, like The Biggest Loser’s weight loss or Intervention’s detox commitment.  The stakes just must be high, dramatic, visual and organic to the energy of the show.

It is great to record yourself as you practice "one-liners" so you can play them back (and not forget exactly how you worded the good ones).  If you have a cell phone or answering machine, just use memo mode.  Be sure to add these verbal pitches to your Pitch Database, as well!

 

Practicing Your Pitch

If all goes well, your exec is going to lean forward and say, "Tell me more," or ask a deeper question about your pitch.  If you have prepared a thorough initial treatment, there should be no baffled pauses in the room.  You will be able to address questions about the ballpark budget (and how you arrived at it, if challenged), where you might want to shoot the show, who you want for talent, the format of the episodes, and much more.

Chances are, though, your exec will simply leave the door open for you to expand on the show concept, and this is where practicing your pitch will save you.  Unlike the one-liner, you are going to present your full pitch by starting with the hottest details and working down to the most mundane facts.  That is because attention spans are hilariously small in the room and BlackBerrys, assistants, cell phones and e-mail updates threaten to terminate your life support at every second.  Open big!

Take out your treatment right now and make some notes on the page.  First, where is the eye grab in your show?  If your exec asks for more information, start there and say, "What I love, what I can totally picture, is…"  Or, if the potentially enormous budget is actually manageable due to some element of the show, sell the budget fix!  "The best part is that Cedars-Sinai is actively excited about bringing a non-fiction format into its brand and even signed a letter of agreement to participate.  So you may want to work with someone else, but if you are ultimately good with Cedars, they are in!" 

Once you pinpoint the high notes of your treatment, practice selling them out loud in brief, bite-sized tidbits to one of your recently recruited team members.  If you do not have a partner in crime to join you on this, here is an old acting trick: pick up the phone and speak into it.  You cannot help but use natural inflection and enthusiasm when you talk into a telephone receiver.  You instinctively know that your voice is all you have to work with, so you use it.

Finally, to use another acting term, it is critical that you get "off book" before your pitch meeting.  It is perfectly fine to have papers in hand for reference to more intricate statistics or talent bios.  But otherwise boil your show down to entertaining nuggets across your Five Key Pitch Elements so it feels as simple as it is…and memorize it.  If the core of your show is too complicated for you to remember, it is too complicated for you to sell. 

 

Prepping Your Talent

If, no, since, talent will be a considerable focus in your first show, you also must practice how talent will be presented during your pitch.  If your talent is confident, enthusiastic and able to play second chair and follow your carefully constructed lead, and if your talent can easily demonstrate their particular skill in the room, then including them in your pitch is a big bonus.  Before you do so, though, walk them through their "nugget" of the presentation and how you will hand off to them. 

Your talent cannot open the presentation, but they should be near enough to the top of your program that they are not seat-shifting and thumb-twiddling while you passionately sell.  Work with them, too, to make sure you both understand and agree on what part of what they do will have the most impact in the room. 

If your talent is a bit strong-willed, is determined to advance his or her agenda for the show or disagrees with how you are presenting them or the show in any way, stop practicing immediately.  Work with them on any disagreements to see if their underlying concern can be addressed and achieved through changes to the show format.  Remember, unhappy talent is bad, bad, budget-jeopardizing talent.  Even if they ultimately get on-board with the final version of the show, have a serious talk with them about how they will behave in the room. 

If there is any chance your talent is going to argue with you or undermine your presentation, do not bring them into the room.  Of course, you also should reconsider their involvement in your show.  Please revisit the chapter on "Attaching Talent" to refresh yourself on why you should work with Big Picture rather than Big Ego talent.

One more caveat:  if your talent is late to practice or resistant to the idea of rehearsing, also reconsider bringing him or her to the pitch.  It absolutely will not do to have a talent-driven show and have talent arrive at the network half an hour late and/or surly.  You should also reconsider keeping talent attached in this scenario because they are going to drain the budget with that approach when you begin production. 

If your talent simply cannot accompany you to your first pitch meeting, that is all right.  What your exec really needs to see is your talent working magic on a subject similar to those who are supposed to appear on your show.  So for all talent-based shows, you need to practice incorporating their talent reel into the pitch. 

You should not open a pitch by showing the talent reel because you should be selling a basic conflict and set of stakes rather than just who will be on the show.  Talent is your icing.  If your talent is wildly famous, of course, you will need to drive home the show set-up quickly so you can get to the reel right away because that is why the exec took the meeting.  But do not let talent be the only reason you have a show.  It puts you and the show at risk of a short-lived run.

One exception is if you are pitching a vérité show and the talent is the driving force of all of the story.  If you are going to follow Danny Bonaduce in and out of home, work and rehab, the network is going to insist on seeing Danny Bonaduce himself to see that he is a willing participant in the madness–and also not a budget-threatening source of it.

To practice the talent or talent reel section of your pitch, identify and rehearse the minimum show elements you will need to establish before amping up your pitch with a talent presentation. 

For Club Darwin, for instance, I would surely bring Surfer Monkey Guy to the meeting.  Before introducing him, though, I would first set up the logline.  Hilarity ensues.  Next, I would brandish my letter of intent from the Maloof Boys so the net knows we have eliminated the biggest obstacle to production.  I might even address the second biggest concern by saying, "I’ve also talked to the ASPCA extensively, and we’ve worked out some great logistics for containing the monkeys on set.  And now, I want to introduce you to Surfer Monkey Guy so he can tell you how he came to train his little monkey pals to be ruthless gamblers."

Surfer Monkey Guy then would present his practiced rollicking tale of growing up in Namibia and traveling to Kenya for summer safaris.  In about 2-3 minutes, my exec would know that Surfer Monkey Guy is spontaneous, witty and deeply devoted to his primate pals.  Then I would say to the exec, "Surfer Monkey Guy and I shot a few minutes of serious monkey gambling at the secret Maloof Brothers spa in Reno; can I pop that in?  VHS or DVD?" 

During practice, please test both your VHS and DVD reels–as in play them all the way through.  If you cannot sit patiently through your own talent reel, it is too long or dull for an exec to endure.  Re-edit.

One important final talent tip: let your talent know that they will only be with you in the room during the pitch of their show.  They may not realize you have other shows to present in the meeting, and it can be very awkward figuring out in the room how to get talent out of there and proceed with the rest of your list.  So just let talent know that you plan to open with their pitch, and afterwards, you will give them an out to excuse themselves to the reception area.  Unfortunately, you cannot let them leave permanently because there is the chance an exec might think up something novel and want to talk to talent again.  But at least talent will not be stuck in the room–and possibly distracting from your pitch process–for the rest of your meeting.  And since they are out their waiting, it is a good and courteous idea to keep the pitch list for this meeting relatively short.

 

Practicing Your Goodbye

It is always helpful to have a couple of "exit lines" in your pocket for every pitch meeting.  I like to pre-determine a few practical follow-ups I can forward to the exec should they indicate interest in a pitch.  For instance, I might say that the Maloof Boys are completing the promo package for the new animal-friendly casino, and I can forward a copy when I get it.  Or I might offer to send them a link to a relevant Web site, or even a news clipping with more information they can share when they bring the pitch to a development meeting.  For your show, consider what supporting follow-up material you might be able to suggest.  Your exec might say no thanks, and if so, you can close with, "Okay, I will just have my rep send over a one-sheet on the show."

If your pitch meeting ends with no bites at all, that is disappointing, but it is normal (which is why a "yes" is such an achievement!).  Just wrap up by asking if it is okay to return with future pitches, so you can eventually get that "yes."  Have language for this in mind, too!  Do not wing anything on a first pitch–you underestimate the brain-emptying power of adrenaline.

Remember that people can completely characterize you in the first five minutes they meet you and often remember you only as you were in the last five minutes before you left.  Practice your exit so it feels as smooth, confident and comfortable as your entrance. 

 

 

"REALITY CHECK"

 

P	Pledge #5:  I will extensively research potential networks and production partners so I only bring them pitches that fit their brand.  Before I set up a meeting, I will practice every step of my pitch, out loud, to an audience and with my talent.