Advice on selling TV Show

[Bill Sepaniak]

All the advice previously given is very good. My additional recommendation is to investigate NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives). Their convention is next week in Florida. Basically, it is a trade show for content producers and content buyers. People attend the show to sell and buy programming. If you are not in the "industry" it is a somewhat difficult show to get into. (Great food, drink, freebies and tchotchkes ... I remember having lunch at one "booth" with Fran Drescher and we were served by Wolfgang Puck! It is a real eye-opener.) The bad news is that you might have to join NATPE to get in. However membership has its advantages. For instance, they have a "pitch seminar" where you are given tips on how to pitch your show to actual TV executives. (They had it last month in Hollywood.)

Here are some links with all the information you need:

http://www.natpemarket.com/natpemarket/
http://pitchcon.org/

Good luck!


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[Nick Morrison]

Its very hard to pitch Networks directly, w/out an agent. And even if you do get an audience, it will serve to give them ideas. When you make a pilot in advance, when you shoot it...and edit it...what happens is it gets CEMENTED in their minds, and it becomes hard for programmers to imagine it as ANYTHING ELSE. What happens is..."it's good...BUT"....You'll be asked to make X changes for one programmer, and Y changes for another.

It's all doable. But I for one ended up realizing it wasn't worth it. It was TOO MUCH work. I'd rather put that energy into other medium's that interest me more.

And that's the point. Make a show you PASSIONATELY BELIEVE IN. Don't try and make a quick buck. It doesn't work. Besides, if you are lucky enough to even get a pilot picked up, it will be for a bare bones $$$. The money comes only from truly original, amazing ideas. And even then...they need to be molded by great programmers that know what they are doing.

Anyone who thinks making a show is a get rich scheme, is deluding themselves. I'm not saying anyone here is, but I'm just saying this upfront. Getting a show made is such an uphill strenuous battle, that if $$$ is anyone's objective they better be willing to put in 5 to 10 years and be truly committed to the medium.

Good luck guys. If it's useful, I can post one of my pilots so you can get a sense of what I was doing. Learn from my mistakes.