Pitching a TV show by TheSomnambulist

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Pitching a TV show

POSTED BY: THESOMNAMBULIST
UPDATED: Monday, September 6, 2004 08:14
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Saturday, September 4, 2004 3:57 AM

Hello fellow Fireflies

Just wondered if anyone else has thought of pitching a TV show?

I only ask because my friend, who I've introduced to all of Joss' worlds, is keen to team up with me and have a crack at it...

Seems the ol' Wheedonmeister has inspired us both to such an extent we thought we'd give it a go.

Just for fun really.

It just got me thinking if any of you out there have either had a go, or may even be giving it a go right now?

What direction would you go in. Over here there's pretty much only the BBC to aim for and they provide a really detailed account of how they want scripts presented and how to pitch a TV show idea. Which is very useful, but knowing the Beeb they will probably be in complete contrast to other production companies, especially to those in the US.

Do any of you know how to go about it ? Have any of you tried?

I'd love to hear your approaches/methods/genre choices etc.

Cheers
TheSomnambulist.

www.cirqus.com

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 4:26 AM

CAPNRAHN

Yes, a few of us are working on a concept that I have come up with as a spin-off of Firefly.

Here is the working thread ...
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3530
...Which has only a minute fraction of the background and character information -- in turn, much has actually changed or been 'mutated' since the thread was started.

Pitching a show concept is a hard thing to do. You must first find out who is the actual 'decision maker' and determine their sensibilities. You have to have a detailed concept, but yet be able to distill that into a brief concise summary.

Setting it up in a business plan format is usually a wise decision. Try to have all the dry facts and numbers, but also have proposed cast pictures, concept drawings etc. It helps to have really good visuals ready for the person or group that you are pitching to.

Just remember -- their time is severely limited, so you have to make the greatest impression in the shortest possible time!

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 4:38 AM

SPOOKYJESUS

I'm sure you've hit the BBC writers room site and, as you say - it spells everything out for you right there in terms of how to make your approach.

Really, just give them as polished and professional a script as possible with good strong characters and stories with a begining middle and end.

Remember two things

- There's a ton of competition from people who may have spent the last 10 years regularly pitching shows to the BBC.

- In america you'd never have a big network even open the envelope your script was in let alone read it.

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 5:54 AM

MAUGWAI

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Spookyjesus is right. The chance of a network actually even taking a meeting with you is about one in a bazillion. They usually won't even consider ideas from writers unless they've worked as showrunners. I don't know how it works overseas, but here you'd have to submit a spec TV script to your favorite show's executive producer via agent (if you can get one) or on your own if you know somebody who knows somebody.

If they hire you, you'll write episodes for a couple of years as you work your way through the system. If you're talented, you'll be chosen as showrunner while the executive producer works on other projects. Then, if your idea is really good, somebody may be willing to listen to it. It takes years, sometimes decades to get into a position to pitch a show.

Or, you could write a brilliant movie script, enter it into contests, get yourself an agent, and be hired to write a few films. If your films ever get made, you may be able to get a meeting with an executive.

Hollywood is a viscious, lifesucking whore, but everybody wants in.

But if you're dedicated, I'd recommend reading "Television Writing from the Inside Out" by Larry Brody, a couple of books on screenplay or teleplay format, and a few script books from your favorite TV shows. "Firefly" scripts are free on the site.

Which I realized as I proofread my post is all moot because you were talking only about pitching just to the BBC, which I know absolutely nothing about.

"Dear diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy."

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 6:34 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Wow thanks Capnrahm, Spookjesus and Maugwai.

I appreciate the feedback.

Don't worry about bubble bursting - I'm used to the ups and downs with creative stuff.

[I'm a freelance cartoonist here in the UK and I've had many a misfortune - these guys below for a start:

http://www.hoburne.com/sammy_seahorse/membership.cfm

(All those characters on the page are are mine and I never got paid for it)

... No that won't deter me. I realise the hard work involved and I understand the odds are stacked against the idea ever being taken.

It won't stop me having a go. It's just nice to hear what the process is over there in US.

It sounds even harder actually your way than it does here. At least here the Beeb guarantee that they will read all proposed scripts and they will definitely reply with a yes or no... This is something at the very least and there's no need for an agent at that point.

I'm not sure what happens if you wanna approach a production company I guess they would need an agent, but the process of showrunning then working your way up sounds draining! That must take a huge amount of commitment....

But this is all interesting. I wonder with the way the net has the ability to hook up like minded people wether there couldn't be a change coming? Or is that me just dreaming?

In this day and age of cameras and online communications is it not just a question of time before an online channel starts up where shows are "aired" over the net rather than over the TV and there's a need for writers/actors/producers but on a much smaller scale who are more about the show than the business?!?

Could this happen do you think?

I mean get yourself a bunch of mates make a low budget show and broadcast it online and execs be damned!!! Ok I know I've gone off in dreamland a little there but y'know... Why not one day.

Anyway thanks for the time being. Capnrahn I'm gonna go read your thread now - I like the idea of continuing a Firfly spin-off.

Cheers

TheSomnambulist

www.cirqus.com

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 7:03 AM

JAPPAR2001

Hi, well i got to pitch a show to the BBC and it got comissioned i was so lucky. What you need to do is just get yourself into the BBC through any means possible. Ask for work experience in Entertainment Development, it's great. They wouldn't simply let you in to picth your piece, but once your in you can find a way to pitch your idea. I got on the BBC Mentor Scheme 2004. I heard about it through my college, but it wa savailable to everyone through the website. There are 3 rounds you have to get through.
1/A massive application form, including a treatment incorporating a specific theme. My task was to incorporate cultural diversity into an existing BBC show. I went ahead and wrote a sample Buffy episode which they loved.
2/If your lucy enough to get your appliaction form accepted you are called in to do an assesment. Mine took place in a group were you are given a chance to work together as a development team and your scored on how you work within that group.
3/ If you have got through those rounds you then have to have a final interview and guess what i mananged to get in.

I had 4 months training. Then the 12 who got on the course were eached required to pitch a pilot episode to BBC comissioners. 3 of the 12 Pitches were accepted and mine was one of them. I never had a specific dream show i wanted to pitch so i pitched a documenatry of SCI FI fans and conventions. It was great. It took 4 months to produce and i had full reign on it and we had a decent budget. At the moment it's being showcased to to see if theres any interest for it to be comissioned as a full series. Thats on Thursday night and i'm nevrvous. Anyway i have Joss Whedon to thank for all this, and i inetend to thank him one day.

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Saturday, September 4, 2004 8:08 AM

DRAGONFLYDIRECTOR

THESOMNAMBULIST : Cap'n Rahn here again, under my ID for the Dragonfly RP we were going to play with.

Thanks right back at ya! Please let me know what you think of the concept! You have to be open to input from others, you know.

One of the best ways to get a pitch session is to work your way through a side door. I have a few friends in the business that do props, costumes and even are stands-ins. They can be VERY helpful at getting your name around and even setup introductions.

I was real close to getting a spec-script & breakdown started through the submission maze for Deep Space 9 through my contact, Dennis Tracy {Patrick Stewart's Stand-in}, but was a day late and a dollar short - Paramount had just ended their script submission policy roughly a year before the series ended. Dennis had intro'd me to Lolita Fatjo, the first stop on the Trek script submission path. Again, unfortunately, I was too late.

To quote Captain Taggert "Never give up, never surrender" -- the well trod path is not always the best one!

Not to mention your idea has huge merit - "Tripping the Rift" on SciFi started on AtomFilms.com, if I remember correctly. So there may paths you can take to get your ideas realized. Just takes time, effort, dedication and creative usage of limited funds!

"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers

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Monday, September 6, 2004 8:00 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Jappar2001

That's fantastic - what you did! I'm very impressed. No doubt the competition was very fierce aswell - those things usually are so well done...

So what next? Are you going to continue pursuing ideas through the beeb? I'd love to know what you get up to, that's a real success story.

I think for myself for the time being the criteria that the bbc require for a script is a good guidline and a readable way for my friend and I to start. It's not easy this lark especailly when you're trying to maintain a full time job in the process and undertake things like this after work hours, when generally you're not at your best to come up with stuff. But I guess it's a test of endurance. We'll have to see, but it's a fun thing to do and if nothing comes of it then at least I'll have five or six stories done :)

Cheers for your imput let us know how things go.

TheSomnambulist

www.cirqus.com

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Monday, September 6, 2004 8:14 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Quote:
Originally posted by DragonFlyDirector:
THESOMNAMBULIST : Cap'n Rahn here again, under my ID for the Dragonfly RP we were going to play with.

Thanks right back at ya! Please let me know what you think of the concept! You have to be open to input from others, you know.

One of the best ways to get a pitch session is to work your way through a side door. I have a few friends in the business that do props, costumes and even are stands-ins. They can be VERY helpful at getting your name around and even setup introductions.

I was real close to getting a spec-script & breakdown started through the submission maze for Deep Space 9 through my contact, Dennis Tracy {Patrick Stewart's Stand-in}, but was a day late and a dollar short - Paramount had just ended their script submission policy roughly a year before the series ended. Dennis had intro'd me to Lolita Fatjo, the first stop on the Trek script submission path. Again, unfortunately, I was too late.

To quote Captain Taggert "Never give up, never surrender" -- the well trod path is not always the best one!

Not to mention your idea has huge merit - "Tripping the Rift" on SciFi started on AtomFilms.com, if I remember correctly. So there may paths you can take to get your ideas realized. Just takes time, effort, dedication and creative usage of limited funds!

Hey Dragonflier - I like it Dragonfly has a good ring to it also.

I'm still reading your concept but I'm impressed by your level of detail... I imagine the ramifications for this are huge and it's probably difficult to pinpoint a single area to focus on, but your approach is solid.

Shame about your Star Trek script though... Man so close! Is star trek still going? (Sorry I'm not into star trek as much) I liked the next generation of characters but they had short term appeal for me - they so I never ventured much past that one. I heard good things about Voyager and Deep space nine...

However knowing someone in the business has gotta help. I think my friend knows a script writer for BBC radio - she did mention that after we're done we should drop it to her first so that may be a certain option...

It's funny given how difficult it is to penetrate the system, just how much rubbish is broadcast anyway! I guess this drives me more than anything. There are a number of TV shows here in the UK that are so bad, so mundane and unimaginative - that I feel almost compelled to have a go just on the simple premise that it can't be as bad as what is aired already. OK of course I'm not coming up with Hamlet or Macbeth, but at least I can impose a little imagination... Who knows we'll see. But by actually completing a script I double my chances, right, so why not.

Cheers again.
TheSomnambulist

www.cirqus.com

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