An Insider's Guide on How to Pitch a Reality TV Show

The television writers' strike is in its second month now, and talks have broken off due to a major disagreement about new media residuals. What does that mean to the new media consumer? There's no time like now to pitch a reality TV show.

While reality shows always appeal to TV producers due to their low cost, right now they're needed to fill empty prime time slots. Reality shows are technically unscripted, so their writers do not need to be members of the WGA. But if your heart sides with the writers, don't despair. Correctly pitching a reality show idea will generate a small amount of revenue to the striking union.

First you need to come up with a good idea and properly present it, though. Your idea should be original, high concept, and current. Let's deal with those criteria one at a time:

Check the originality of your idea at www.sirlinksalot.net, which lists current and previous reality shows, as well as upcoming shows. While I was working on my pitch I came across a show in production which I hadn't heard of before. It had one similarity to my idea, so I downplayed that part and tweaked my idea to concentrate on what was different. You idea needn't be 100% dissimilar to anything that's gone before, but it must at the very least present a new angle.

High concept means you can state the concept of the show in two sentences or less and anyone will understand it. "Amish In The City" is a good example (even if you haven't seen it, those four words give you a good idea of what it was about-much like "The Real World" but half of the participants were raised Amish). The more specific the idea is, the easier it is for reality show producers to sell to networks and cable channels. If you find that you can't adequately explain it in two sentences, it's too vague.

"Current" means you need to research trends in reality television. Anything with celebrities is very hot. You also need to learn what's passé. For example, due to the failure of the most recent "Bachelor" to pick a winner, ABC is shying away from shows with romance themes.

Once your idea has been refined to meet these criteria, you can develop the pitch itself. The format is simple. It should be one typed page with the title centered at the top. Skip a line and center the words "Reality Series" below that. Skip another line and center your by-line. Skip one more line and center the words "Registered WGA #". (You can leave the number blank for now; I'll explain how to obtain it in part two of this series.)

Skip again and left-justify, then create categories for "LOGLINE," "BASIC PREMISE," "RELEVANT FACTS" and "EPISODES." The logline is the two-sentence concept you created above. The basic premise section should be a 3-7 paragraph development of your logline. Be as detailed as possible here, writing about the show as you envision it unfolding, because this is the section that will make or break you.

After this section, include reasons your show idea will make money, and reasons why you're qualified to write it. If you were pitching a reality show about an animal rescue team, you might write, "Three quarters of American households have one pet or more. Pet owners will be fascinated by the inner workings of animal shelters, which I am very familiar with, since I've volunteered at North Shore Animal League for 10 years now."

The episode section, which concludes the body of your pitch, should describe potential episodes of your show. A good guideline for reality shows is 10 episodes, with the first one introducing the participants and the last one providing closure (if a contest is involved, this is when the winner will be announced). You don't have to have every one figured out yet, but provide details on the first and last ones, with at least a general description of the ones in between. Using our example, you could start with, "Episode 1 will introduce us to a new volunteer at the North Shore Animal League. She starts off with great enthusiasm but become disturbed when an animal is put to sleep."

Come up with a compelling ending as well. If your idea doesn't involve a contest, bring the story full circle to satisfy viewers. For example, "In Episode 10 the volunteer will save a dog from euthanasia and give him to a widowed neighbor, giving her a reason to live."

Below the episode section, put your contact information in the lower right hand corner. Congratulations! You've now successfully completed your pitch! See part two to find out how to get it to producers.

Sources:

www.johnaugust.com

www.tvwritersvault.com

www.marinerblue.com