3 Reasons You SHOULD Produce Your Own Reality TV Pilot

By Biagio on July 23, 2009 in Producing Advice with 7 Comments

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Yesterday, we talked about three reasons it’s a bad idea to produce your own reality television pilot.

However, if you are trying to break into the business with no showbiz credits, investing in your own television pilot may be the best move you ever make. This is especially true if you’ve taken our advice to become a Hands-On-Producer.

In fact, the two of us produced two 22 minute pilots, soup to nuts, self-funded, when we were starting out. That move was instrumental in launching our career. That’s why I’d like to share:

Three reasons you SHOULD produce your own pilot:

1. The Experience.

Until you produce, write, shoot, direct, edit, create the graphics, sound mix, output, and view your own pilot it will be hard to truly understand what goes into every aspect of production.

Be as involved as possible in every step, and the experience you’ll gain will be priceless.

Now, you may not want to take on all (or any) of these tasks. Many producers don’t do most of what’s listed above. If being a Hands-On-Producer is not appealing to you, there is still immense value in overseeing your own project from beginning to end. Be as involved as possible in every step, and the experience you’ll gain will be priceless.

2. The Asset You’ll Create.

Knowing that no one will ever watch your full pilot, you’re going to be smart and implement a two-part plan:

  • A. You’ll finish your pilot, and then…
  • B. You’ll finish a pitch tape for your show.

What’s a pitch tape? It’s a 3 to 5 minute promo featuring your best footage, and it’s your greatest asset when trying to get people excited about your show idea.

While agents and execs will most likely never watch your full pilot, they will find 5 minutes to look at great tape. Get them excited with this snack-sized version of your show, and great things can happen.

(BTW, lots of tips and tutorials on making great pitch tapes are coming your way…be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the new posts at Joke and Biagio.)

3. Proof that You are a Producer.

Why should anyone take a chance on you if you’re not willing to take a chance on yourself? Want to prove you’re serious? Put your money where your mouth is, and make an excellent show.

Why should anyone take a chance on you if you’re not willing to take a chance on yourself?

The first time we ever met with an agent (a story for another day) we showed him one of our best pitch tapes. He was impressed, but pointed out that a short tape wasn’t proof we could make a TV show.

So we pulled out our 22 minute pilot. 3 minutes in he turned it off and said, “This is great. I’ll set some meetings.”

Our Advice on Producing Your Own Pilot:

Do it…for the right reasons.

Do not shoot a full pilot purely for the purpose of selling a show.
Produce a full pilot because you’ve never done it, you need the experience, hope to learn a lot by doing it, and want to prove you’ve got the chops to execute.

Whether the final product is great or not, you will be a better producer, and miles ahead of wannabes who’ve never produced a thing.

Be Careful

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If you DO decide to produce your own reality TV pilot, it’s CRUCIAL not to jeopardize your finances. Doing every job yourself (or as many jobs as you can) not only makes you a better producer, it saves you money! As a rule, we never spent more than $500 out of pocket on any of our pitch tapes. The rest was sweat equity.

Finally, make sure the experience of producing a pilot is truly useful. The process should benefit you even if you don’t sell your show, get an agent, or impress anyone. That’s why you need to read the next post in this series:

5 Rules for the Hands-On-Producer Making Their Own Reality Television Pilot.

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About Biagio: Biagio married way out of his league when he bamboozled Joke into saying "I do." Together he and his wife produce television, film, webisodes, and anything else that requires no sleep and a touch of crazy. Find Biagio on Twitter: @jokeandbiagio

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  • John

    Suggestions about where to get money for a pitch tape if you cannot do the actual production and posting yourself…don’t include family and friends.

    Thanks,
    John

  • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

    John,

    You don’t want investors for pitch tapes. The truth is pitch tapes are not a good investment. You have to make so many pitch tapes in the hopes that just one will sell…or lead to other opportunities…that gathering investors for just one pitch tape is a waste of time (and money.)

    If you do not possess the desire to produce or post the initial pitch tape, then this is not the way for you to break into the business. Remember, rule 1 in getting your project off the ground–if you want to have a meaningful role and credit on that project–is to make yourself valuable. This means more than an idea or a write up.

    For instance, a great tape is one sure-fire way to make yourself valuable (a great tape helps sell the show, and you made the tape, so they need you.)

    Another is to attach a great piece of talent (for instance, getting a known celebrity to commit to making a show with you.) Yet another is to gain access to a unique world (for instance, permission to shoot a show at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.)

    Unfortunately, it’s usually hard to gain talent or access without a great body of work.

    For this reason, if you’re a hands-on-producer (or aspire to be) pitch tapes are a great way to go. You’re honing your skills as you produce, write, shoot, edit, and do the graphics for each tape. Even if you don’t sell the show, you’ve invested in yourself.

    The only people who will give you money to make a pitch tape will either want to take so much away from you in terms of ownership that you’ll feel taken advantage of, or else they’ll be a well-meaning person with money who knows nothing about the business, and will be upset when you don’t sell your show after a few weeks of pitches.

    Sorry, as of yet, I don’t know of reputable people putting money solely into pitch tapes, and would have to advise would-be investors against it.

    • Ross

      but how do you get investors to invest in a pilot that needs 100k to make it possible if you are sure that once the investors are on board you can get other companies to invest also and create and everlasting commodity with future lending as an ultimate goal

      • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

        Simply put, you can’t. There is no money to be made in producing a true pilot. None. And in the current market, you’ll never own the show…ever. Networks simply won’t let you “own” a show these days…not even part of a show, in most cases.

        The real reason to produce a pilot (or any kind of tape, for that matter) is to prove you have the talent, drive, and gumption to make it in showbiz. We produced dozens of tapes before we ever had a “real” job in the industry. All were done for under $500 out of pocket, most for less…and that’s why we became hands on producers…we couldn’t afford to break in any other way. http://www.jokeandbiagio.com/become-a-hollywood-producer-with-hop-hands-on-producing

  • Jonathan

    Thank you for the information. Is it best to find an agent when you have the finished pilot and pitch tape and if so what kind of agent?

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      Jonathan,
      Ahh…this is tough. It’s kind of like a right of passage in Hollywood…no agent wants to meet you, so you have to find a way to get noticed. It’s no easy. The best thing you can do to start is be amazing. If you, your work, and your attitude are amazing, you’ll have a leg up on most of the other aspiring producers out there. It won’t be enough (and it wasn’t for us.) We had to team up with other established production companies early in our careers. Once we had made deals with companies, we reached out to their agents, or agents who worked with other people who worked with those companies. Most wouldn’t give us the time of day. Just the way it goes. So…we just kept making more stuff, and kept coming up with new reasons the agents should meet as. As for what agents, here’s a short list of the one’s we know of (most won’t take your calls yet…don’t let it discourage you) APA, WME, CAA, UTA, ICM, Paradigm, Innovative You can find contacts for most online.

      Again…it’s not easy. Being by producing lots of great stuff…then do the same thing we’ve all had to do…go hustle yourself an agent.

      • Jonathan

        Right on, thank you very much again for sharing. The insight is very much appreciated.