Chapter 6: Pitching and Selling the Project

• Also called a proposal, prospectus, or pitch on paper (POP)

• In some cases, it includes a detailed business plan, put together by a professional

Pitch on paper

• A face-to-face, in-person meeting where you get a chance to share your idea, project your confidence and confirm your ability to produce it

• Advertisers

• A subscription base

• From an expanding range of other revenue streams

• Their current programming

• The company history

• What they’ve paid for similar content

• Other details that tell you if this is the right fit for your project

• Branding

• Programming schedule

• Public image

• Overall vision

• Financial capabilities

• Brand

• Logo

• Mission statement

• Demographics of the audience

• Primary advertisers or subscribers

• Budget range

• Family and relatives

• Friends and colleagues

• Fellow and former students and professors

• Actors

• Writers

• Directors

• Producers

• Lawyers

• Agents

• Managers

• Investment brokers and accountants

• Professors

• Other professional and creative people

• TV and its many formats

• The Internet

• Video on demand

• DVD

• Cellular technology

• Portable media players

• Video games

• Finding in-depth technical, creative, legal, and fiscal information

• Researching books and online information and articles

• Talking to producers, professors, and international producers and buyers

• Taking advantage of classroom instruction, and attending professional conferences and seminars that focus on television and new media

• Cable

• Syndication

• Other markets

• Start with the studio’s executives

• Come from independent producers or production companies, packaging agencies or other sources

• Local protocol

• Tastes

• Language

• Subtle change

• By selling your idea to a broadcast network, such as NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, or the CW, you are likely to be well paid because your program reaches an audience of many millions

• Networks are under pressure by advertisers to bring in high audience ratings and to adhere to certain constraints and formulas, so each network has a Standards and Practices department with strict guidelines that dictate parameters for a program’s themes and creative risk-taking

• Cable channels such as Discovery, The History Channel, A&E, National Geographic, or MTV are also advertiser-supported, yet tend to have lower production budgets with more creative leeway for the producer

• Ratings play an important role, but they are measured in much smaller increments than those of the networks

• Advertisers tend to create their ads around specific niche interests and demographics; they can object, to or withdraw ad sales if they disagree with programming content

• Cable’s creative latitude allows for storylines that incorporate more sex, violence, and adult content than the networks

• Creative control is a key benefit to most producers. You’re more likely to have that control from premium cable channels, like HBO and Showtime

• Their budgets tend to be lower than the networks’, they don’t have advertisers to harness them

• Their subscriber base is a loyal one, and their ratings aren’t as big a concern as they are for the networks

• There are few boundaries on adult content or complex themes

• Individual memberships

• Private corporations

• Grants

• City, state, and/or federal funding

• The traditional role of public television has been to air educational and entertaining programming via independent, noncommercial, local, and national public television stations

• A station can acquire programs that have been independently produced, or it can partially or fully fund and develop a project. Budgets are generally medium to low, and each station adheres to specific standards for the programs it broadcasts

• Many producers find that if their project is aired on a local public television station, it can subsequently be picked up by other local or national stations

• Children’s shows

• Daytime talk shows geared mostly toward women’s interests and social issues

• Home shopping

• Local weather

• How-to shows

• News

• Traffic

• Information

• Network

• Syndicator

• Producers

• Paid-programming infomercials

• VOD, or video on demand, is available everywhere

• You can download thousands of choices directly into an Apple TV or Xbox

• Some viewings are free, and others are inexpensive to rent or buy

Video on demand

• Some programs are the first broadcast on a network or cable station or online, are aired a second, maybe a third time, and then go into syndication or reruns

• Now, entire seasons of most hit shows are repackaged and sold in DVD sets

• These rights may be solely for home video, with other rights belonging to airing online or another repurposing of the material

• The opening and/or closing credits of a television show

• The Internet

• Variety

• The Hollywood Reporter