This article provides aspiring authors and creatives with a step-by-step guide to creating and launching new ideas for new reality TV shows.
Steps
Step 1. Identify the category of reality show you want to make
It may have a documentary style that shows viewers a particular family, world, lifestyle or profession. Or it can be a competition with a well-structured format, which leads to a winner or a specific result.
Step 2. Create the “hook” of your show
It will be the premise and the succession of events that keep the series alive, and the final result we are witnessing.
Step 3. Once you have decided what the premises and hook of your show will be, you will need to be able to give your reality show a catchy title that highlights the key concepts
A headline needs to be clever, clear and impactful, and it needs to essentially spell out what we're looking at.
Step 4. If you want to create a documentary-style series, you will need to focus on writing a summary that includes these three things:
description of the specific people involved and the relationships between them, description of the world in which the show takes place, and finally description of the potential events that could happen.
Step 5. If you want to create a competition-based format, write an overall summary of the series that describes the rules of the competition and how it unfolds over the course of the season
This includes eliminating entrants through competition or due to choices made by judges or other people, and can involve points or votes to be earned leading to a single winner at the end of each episode or season.
Step 6. Once you have conceived (and written) the title, summary and short script, you should ideally have a short but incisive text, between 1 and 4 pages
Step 7. Before any possible presentation on the market (production houses, agents, networks, marketing services) get a validation of your idea by searching among the online storage services
This provides third parties with proof that you have created this specific and particular TV format, specifying the place and date of creation.
Step 8. Look for production companies that do similar shows of the same genre as you
Never submit your idea without asking for permission first, instead send a direct request asking for permission to submit your format for their consideration.
Step 9. Go to the television sites that the producers themselves use to recruit formats and ideas for new programs
Production companies that recruit on online sites (such as “The TV Writers Vault”) are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and access to the material and your work is electronically tracked from the database. While most companies do not consider unsolicited scripts, it is even more difficult to strive to find direct contacts from executive producers and other production house officials. Some companies will ask you to present your idea, and you will be asked to sign a form for the publication of the material; it recognizes their role within the creative television industry and includes a statement that the company may already be working on a similar (if not identical) project, and therefore has the right to produce it.
Step 10. When personally exposing your idea to the producers, be very direct by communicating the key points of the show immediately
Do this through specific descriptions of what progressively develops on the show. Be careful not to get bogged down in a thousand details. It just points out the main things at a pretty fast pace. This includes very specific challenges and endings, or the faces of competitors or participants.
Step 11. When a manufacturing company is interested, you will be offered an option agreement for your project
This will give the company the exclusive rights - for a limited time, usually 12 months) - to sell your idea to a network.
Step 12. Consult a lawyer before signing any agreements
For a TV show, a standard production deal would include the presence of "Made by" in the on-screen credits, some kind of production credit, a fixed per episode (usually a percentage of the show's budget per episode)., and a small percentage of the manufacturing company's profits.
