Translate Your Brand into Cable-Bait

A few of our clients have asked us about creating a cable television show. We’d like to dedicate the next few weeks to a series of blogs addressing that very question. Because this is an ongoing project, we encourage you to send in your comments and questions and we’ll try to build them into the series.

A development executive at Fox Reality Channel recently noted that he takes 8 pitch meetings every day. That’s 40 show pitches a week. Give the guy a couple of weeks of vacation, he’s still hearing over 1900 pitches in a year. Our point: it’s competitive. Do your homework.

Translate your fantasies

Many pitch-planners, instead of figuring out what their show will be, get stuck imagining how great it will be once they get it.  No arguing there. Talk to Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer, National Geographic Channel) about what his show has done for his dog training business. He now heads up a mega-empire.

The challenge goes way beyond expanding your brand. If you want to get serious attention you have to understand the cable market, so when you come to us or any production company, we'll ask you to think about what you’re trying to do. Insider secret: take a look at a few of the successful shows in your genre or for your target demographic. Then do what the pros do, take them apart. Dissect them.

Sizzle Reel Sample

To make a couple of key points, we’d like you to take a look at a sizzle reel produced as a talent-driven pitch in the style/fashion reality genre. (Sizzle reels have become an essential part of any pitch package).

CouTourist does a couple of things well. We meet the quirky talent. We understand the target market, the hip, youth and young adult fashionistas. And the second half shows us what an episode might include -  an in-the-moment visit to a designer. So far, so good.

Now the bad news. After watching this reel, can you tell me what’s going to happen in this show? Yes, we’ll meet interesting designers all over the world and yes, this might work well for a blog or a webisode. But no way will it be enough to convince a cable executive to develop this project.

Why? Because something needs to happen that I, the viewer, can relate to. Every week, same basic structure. A fashion-challenged guest gets a makeover. A dog gets trained. A bad kid learns to behave. Ambitious entrepreneurs compete and plot against each other. In simple parlance, you need an emotional hook. Whatever your age, your work or your pastimes, you will surely relate to having a dream, making a change, improving your life, struggling against difficult odds, competing. These are the basics of human nature and they’re the hooks that pull you in. They convince you to invest your time in a show, over and over again.

Series and Sustainability

A cable series usually means a weekly show, so in the interest of building and maintaining your viewership, it’s smart to think about that emotional hook right at the start. Review the shows that bring in the ratings and you’ll find an excellent hook. Understand why they work. Then consider hooks that might work for you. 

Related blog: Who's Going to Broadcast Your Show?