Reality TV: An Insider's Guide to TV's Hottest Market (21 page)
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Authors: Troy DeVolld
It also provides you with an escape hatch in the event that the production company you’ve partnered up with doesn’t deliver. Same drawer, different scenario.
Did I mention that production company agreements don’t usually come with a check? These alliances are about forming a partnership that will strengthen you and your show in the room with a network by proving that a viable, experienced company is standing ready to produce your show if they decide to say “Yes.”
Let’s say you’ve managed to pitch directly to a network without a production company onboard. The network will likely either partner you with a production company who’s successfully produced something for them in the past or recommend a handful of production companies for you to meet with and select from.
In the case of an unproven newbie, your agent or entertainment attorney will negotiate an agreement for you after which you’ll most likely have virtually nothing to do with the show other than sit at home and watch your credit roll by every week. If you’re a mid-career Reality or other entertainment media professional, you’re far more likely to successfully negotiate a role in production and remain involved. Be realistic in your expectations.
Remember that vision you had about wrapping your hands around the wheel of your new Mercedes? Trust me, that first sale isn’t likely to land you in Malibu.
7
But what it will do is give you credibility as a creator that you can bring with you to the table next time. The career of a Reality show creator isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Your first sale won’t make you rich, but a second, a third, and a fourth very well may.
CHAPTER NINE EXERCISES
CREATE A SHOW
Start with writing a simple logline that conveys the concept for your show. Share it with a few friends. Do they “get” the concept when they read your logline?
Develop a pitch. How would you sell the show if you only had one minute? How about three?
Move on to writing a three- to five-page treatment. Again, share with friends to see if the treatment adequately clarifies your concept and conveys what an episode would look like and where the show could go in subsequent seasons.
Finally, write a script for a one- to three-minute sizzle reel. One more time, share with some trusted friends to ensure that the sizzle conveys a clear idea.
Notes:
1. Loglines serve a number of purposes, most importantly kick-starting the imagination of anyone who reads them. Think of them as the calling cards for your project.
2. A “one-sheet,” in fact, is sometimes referred to as a “leave-behind.”
3. Unless you’ve already had a string of giant successes, don’t pull the
auteur
card.
4. Even the greats like Burnett have a misfire once in a while. A so-called “failure” that makes it to air and puts a check in your pocket is still, by my definition, a success.
5. Evidence that your show will work
6. Don’t do this.
7. I strongly suggest reading Donna Michelle Anderson’s
The Show Starter Reality TV Made Simple System: Ten Steps to Creating and Pitching a Sellable Reality Show
for more on the realities of selling a first show.
Parting Shots
S
ometimes good advice doesn’t fall into neat little chapters, which brings us here. I’ve asked fellow Story Producers and show creators to share their own thoughts and stories on their careers in Reality Television.
NICK EMMERSON
Nick Emmerson is President of Shed Media US, and has developed and executive produced hit Reality shows like
The Marriage Ref
,
Supernanny
, and
The Real Housewives of New York City.
He’s a very funny guy with a solid sense of story, named by the
Hollywood Reporter
as one of the “50 Most Influential Players in Reality Television.”
1
On creating shows: What’s imperative to have in place before you go out with an idea?
The more work you’ve done on an idea, the harder it is for someone to steal it, so do a write-up, make a sizzle DVD, and let your lawyer know you’re pitching it.
Is it smart/not smart to create shows piggybacking on the zeitgeist?
I think Keith Richards once said something like “There’s no such thing as an original song. There’s just one big song in the sky and we all take bits of it.” I might be wrong, but anyway, there’s nothing wrong with pitching ideas that are derivative — as long as they have something extra that appeals to a particular buyer that you have in mind.
What’s your greatest heartbreak — a show you loved that didn’t happen?
Dancing With the Cars
; my stock car ballet show.
2
BRIAN GIBSON
Brian Gibson has worked as Supervising Producer for
Supernanny
and was the original Story Producer for
Dancing With the Stars
at the time of its debut in 2005.
What was your professional history prior to beginning your Reality TV career?
I used to work as a development assistant for production companies, reading scripts and giving notes. Plus, answering phones, making copies, that kind of thing.
Did any of your skills from your pre-Reality career carry over?
Not particularly. A development assistant needs to have a fundamental understanding of storytelling, and in particular, film storytelling, but I feel like I acquired that from a lifelong love and study of film, TV, and literature.
Do you agree that it is necessary to obscure the writing process for Reality in order for audiences to invest in shows? Why?
Not at all. People don’t really expect their entertainment to be real — look at wrestling. People still love magic, don’t they? Any form of entertainment requires suspension of disbelief, and being comfortable with illusion. The audience for these shows are smarter and more aware of how things are done than ever before. I think that fans enjoy an understanding of how their favorite shows are made, and in Reality TV I think they enjoy knowing what is and isn’t written, and why.
What’s the most valuable piece of advice you could give to someone considering a career in Reality Television?
Take some pride in what you do. Even though you might have other career goals outside Reality, work hard, don’t wait for your ship to come in. It probably won’t. Network, save up a little, be prepared to find a new job every four to six months.
PAM MALOUF
Pam is an experienced Editor whose stellar credits span film and television projects from
Star Wars
to
Dancing With the Stars
,
MacGyver
to
The Apprentice.
As you can imagine, she really knows her stuff.
What kind of story staff makes a job wonderful/awful for you?
A lot of Story Producers say that they can’t provide bites or a bite structure without seeing all the shot material. Yet as Editors, when we are confronted with 20 to 80 hours of material, it can become overwhelming and if we have a bite structure, even if it’s a “wish list,” then it gives us a direction and we can cut much faster and efficiently. The bite structure is like the spine, and we can find and build the reality (body) around it. Sure, sometimes the reality is great and a clear story presents itself and then the bites (or spine) are requested and inserted into the body. Sometimes it’s a bit of 50/50. Often, the story can go many different directions, so at least a bite structure as a guide — preferably double the needed bites so we have options to use based on the material — then it’s much easier and faster to craft the reality around the bite intentions. It’s awful when, as an Editor, you’re wading in hours and hours of material, with many different options of directions to go in or focus on, and a Story Producer tells you they can’t give you any bites unless they see everything! Come on, Story Producers — surely you know that Editors can manipulate and manufacture moments — so give us some kind of guidance in the form of bites.
What do you wish newly-minted Story Producers knew about your process?
Often, as Editors we have pulled interesting moments (selects), but we’re not sure what to do with them or if they could have value. A Story Producer who knows what “selects” are (also referred to as “pulls”) and can view these selects and understand that they are not in any particular order but instead are moments that can be rearranged and formulated into a story is helpful. A Story Producer who starts giving editing “notes” on selects is very annoying. Just tell us which ones you think have value, if you think we might have a story somewhere, what order could these go in? Listen to our bite suggestions.
How important is it for story people to have a good “ear”?
With the proper bites, we can help you make a story out of nothing or anything.
It’d be nice if every story person knew what a “frankenbyte” is and that not just anything will cut together. You need endings of sentences, consonants cut up better than soft vowels. In other words, be realistic when you hand us bites on paper.
Also, transcriptions, logs, whatever you want to call them, often oversell content, so if something is critical to the story, ask to see it right away so that if it doesn’t work (like when a camera is on the floor, shooting the wall or wiggling, making content unusable), we can go in another direction or down a different story path.
How do you handle “problem” story folks, those who you find difficult to work with or who ignore your needs as an Editor?
Problem story folks often are not focusing on the story. They are trying to talk you, as Editor, into cutting in something that they think is really funny but is a total
non-sequitur
and has nothing to do with the story. Or, if you cut in the piece they want, they have no bites to tie it in or make it work, creating a problem sequence.
Sometimes a Story Producer gets stuck on something they read in a transcript and even when you show them that the camera was on the wall they still insist on trying to work it in when it’s impossible. They need to know when to move on and take a different approach, come at the story from another angle.
Or they hang out in your bay and go online and make noise (talking on the phone), park at your desk while they eat their lunch and talk to you about personal issues while you are trying to edit. This type of behavior in the edit bay is just a distraction and slows down the cutting process. Once you’ve told us what we need to know — get out! Tell us to call you when we are ready to show you something else, or ask us to call you as soon as we have more selects pulled, but don’t just hang out.
1.
The Hollywood Reporter
, May 17, 2009
2.I warned you he was funny.
Closing
I
’ve spent nearly a year composing this first edition of
Reality TV
, and am grateful for the participation of my industry colleagues and friends who candidly related their experiences and so freely offered their advice. I’m especially grateful to those whose input and early reviews of material helped me to arrive at an informative end product that didn’t blow holes in any of the shows we’ve all worked so hard on. I’ve never wanted to be the guy who ruins a magic show by yelling out to the crowd how a trick is performed, and I don’t think this book does that.
Along the way, I also discovered that I still had much to learn about a genre I already thought I knew fairly well after more than a decade of working in it. As with professionals in any corner of media, everyone in Reality Television has their own take on what works and what doesn’t, what’s appropriate and what isn’t, and what kind of workflow works best. There is always a approach or a method yet to be learned, and the more of them that I can absorb, the more tools I have at my disposal when trying to figure out what’s best for me as a storyteller trying to engage an audience. After many interviews and countless email volleys, you can bet I came away from the experience with some fresh thoughts.