Copyblogger Articles You Need to Read Before You Write Your TV Proposal: Part I

Writing a concise, compelling proposal is a task that many TV producers and filmmakers find difficult: coming up with the idea and visualizing what it will look like probably comes easily to you; but being able to put your idea into words in a proposal or in a pitch is a different matter entirely. You have to switch from thinking like a director and start thinking like a copywriter. Copywriters (at least good ones) sell stuff and that’s the purpose of your proposal – it’s a sales pitch.

Copyblogger, named by The Guardian as one of the World’s 50 Most Powerful Blogs, is a site all about marketing online content, but you can adapt Copyblogger’s principles to help you write your TV proposal. In the first of this three-part series on turbocharging your development skills we look at some articles that explain the simple writing rules that you should use to polish your proposal so it looks professional. Click through to read more. (Photo by AuthenticEccentric CC BY- SA 2.0)

Panic Attack!

BBC News reports that Fede Alvarez, a Uruguayan film producer, struck YouTube gold when he uploaded short sci-fi film he made for $300. Four days later he was inundated with offers from Hollywood and has been offered a $30million dollar deal to produce a feature-length sci-fi film set in Argentina and Uruguay. Read the full […]

Interview: Lionel Chok

This week we have a special treat: an interview with Singapore-based filmmaker and executive producer Lionel Chok. Lionel’s TV credits include Culture Shock for Channel News Asia International; Lifestyle – a health series for overseas broadcast fronted by Nadya Hutagalung; and Activate Your Camera – Singapore! an eight-part Hi-Definition local series on photography fronted by Tom Ang (whose last photography series was commissioned by the BBC). Lionel also has theatre and feature film credits and works as a Film Instructor at SAE Institute. Click though to read the interview. (Photo (C) Lionel Chok)

How to Pitch 360 Degree Content

At the recent Sheffield Doc/Fest, a panel of Multiplatform commissioning editors and producers talked about developing and pitching 360 degree content (i.e. content that exists on more than one platform: TV, online, books, DVD, live events, YouTube, Facebook etc).

The panel included:

* Lyndsay Duthie (etv productions)
* Nick Cohen (BBC Multiplatform commissioner)
* James Penfold (etv productions)
* Matt Locke (Commissioning Editor for Education and New Media at Channel 4)
* Jane Mote (UKTV Director of lifestyle, factual and new media, UKTV)

Click through to see what they said.
(Photo by gadl CC BY-SA 2.0)

Three Things That Will Make Your Documentary Big Enough for Theatrical Release

At the recent Sheffield Doc/Fest, there was an excellent session that asked Feature Docs: What Makes a Doc Theatrical? Here are three things that could make sure your doc makes it onto the big screen:
1) Borrow some attitude from the movies.

Simon Chinn, producer of the Oscar-winning Man on Wire, revealed that the film’s approach was inspired by Reservoir Dogs and a French heist film, Rififi.
2) Get a director on board who can deliver a cinematic experience.

Simon said it was also vital to get a good director on board, who can deliver something that works on the big screen. Kevin Macdonald delivered on One Day in September, and that brought him to the attention of John Smithson, producer of Touching the Void. Acquisitions exec Paula Crickard said that you need to shoot the film ‘big’ and use music and FX that suit the cinema environment.
3) Make people want to get up off their sofas

You are asking people to leave the comfort of their home and spend good money on watching your film, so you have to make it worth their while. Jon Battsek, producer of In the Shadow of the Moon, The Age of Stupid and the Oscar-winning One Day in September said that if you want your film can’t be off-putting, even if you have a hard message to convey. For example, The Cove – the story of dolphin slaughter in Japan – tackles a distressing subject, but it is told as a detective story so you get pulled in to the story without feeling like you’re being bludgeoned over the head with its message. There needs to be something uplifting and inspiring about a theatrical documetary film, such as the portrait of human spirit in Touching the Void. (Photo by B Rosen CC BY-ND 2.0)

Current Goes Long-Form

Current TV are well known for commissioning short films (or ‘pods’) but they’re now starting (in the UK) to commissioning and acquiring 30′, 60′ and feature length documentaries from new and emerging documentary producers. Keep up to date with what they’re looking for by emailing  Charlotte for a commissioning brief. Budgets:  £5k for a half-hour […]

BrandDirector

Brandirector makes looking for programme sponsorship, ad funding or product placement partners much easier. It’s a ‘dating agency’ style site that aims to match independent producers with brands, such as BMW, Sony and Extreme, that are looking to team up with content creators. HarperCollins is the latest to sign up, and will put 120 of […]

Redub Reader

Redub Reader bills itself as “an experiment in improving the way long texts are read on screen.” Just one edition old, it takes articles that Redub’s founders found difficult to read online and put them in a ‘reader’ that allows you to scroll sideways instead of down, to read text arranged in newspaper-like columns. Features […]

Westdoc Twitter

If you weren’t able to make it to Santa Monica to attend the Westdoc conference, you can keep up with what’s going on in real time – who’s commissioning what, and how to pitch –  via twitter. Just follow the #westdoc thread.

Help a Reporter Out

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a free service for journalists who need to get information or sources. Since it launched in March 2008,  more than 30,000 journalists have used the resource and are now sending 3000+ requests for info to more than 100,000 sources.

4Docs Relaunched

4Docs has been relaunched as the home of short documentary in the UK. There are screenings, funding opportunities and a filmmaker wiki (from 9th September 2009) that will give advice on funding, producing and screening your short. There will also be regular short film competitions. Visit the newly revamped 4Docs website for more info.

Storyboard Tutorials

If you can’t film a pitch tape (trailer, sizzle, mood tape, whatever you want to call it) for some reason – perhaps it’s too expensive because your location is too remote, or you need to build a complicated set – you could try visualizing it for your commissioner with a storyboard. Filmmaker Doug Lentz has […]

How to Write an Arresting Tagline: Quiz Answers

Last week, we looked at loglines – where you boil your concept down into one succinct, hooky sentence – with a fiendishly difficult quiz. As promised, here are the answers (click on the headline to go to the answers). Remember, the first thing your buyer will look at is the title, so the logline should complement and build upon it, so they get an instant feel for the tone and content of your programme. Give yourself a point for each one (and subtract five if you failed to get no. 6 correct).

If you didn’t do that well, you can console yourself with the thought that the loglines weren’t doing their job properly.

And, as ever, feel free to share, tweet or comment. (Photo by ♠ le max)

Addict-o-matic

If you want a fast way to research a subject without having to trawl through lots of websites or, god forbid, actual real newspapers and magazines (all that dirty newsprint), visit Addictomatic, which is searchable and indexed into a number of themes, including business, TV, politics, parenting, fashion and gadget among others. Click on a […]

How to Write an Arresting Factual TV Tagline: A Quiz

When you are selling factual television show, whether you are sending an email, writing a proposal or pitching in an elevator, you need to capture the attention of a buyer within seconds. The best way of doing that is to boil down your concept into a single succinct sentence that captures the essence of your programme, suggests the content and makes your commissioner want to know more.

A successful logline (aka tagline or strapline) looks deceptively simple and obvious, but they are fiendishly difficult to devise; and you need to have thought your idea through thoroughly in order to do it right. That means a lot of work, but you knew that, right?

The best way to understand loglines is to look at what other people have come up with, so here’s a quiz to get you going.

I’ve given you 20 taglines that have been attributed to factual TV shows – can guess which show each one refers to (I’ve removed the actual name of the shows in a couple of instances)?

(Photo by Nick J Webb)

New York Times Article Skimmer

Here’s a handy way to cut down your newspaper reading time without missing something vital: The New York Times Skimmer, which rather handily sorts the news into sections and displays the headlines in an easy to scan grid. You can skim your news according to newspaper section, topic or browse the blogs.

The Best Selling Factual TV Shows in the World (That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of)

These days it’s not enough to come up with a factual TV show that gets commissioned by one TV channel – in order to make money you’ll need to be able to sell it around the world too. And that means knowing what will sell in the global market.

As a rule of thumb, in order for documentaries to be successful around the world they need to stay away from parochial, local subjects and concentrate on themes that people can identify with wherever they are in the world: March of the Penguins (survival against the odds); Touching the Void (friendship/human spirit); Blue Planet (the wonder of nature); The Apprentice (the American dream/ rivalry).

Formats also need to deal with universal themes, but they can be tweaked to suit the local market.

You’ll no doubt be familiar with the likes of Who Want’s to Be a Millionaire? (sold to 100+ territories), Idol (40+ territories), Dancing with the Stars (30+ territories) and Wife Swap (20+ territories). But, according to major distributors, there are a lot of best selling shows that might not be so familiar.

Click through the headline for a list of some of the top sellers.
(Photo by: JasonRogersFooDogGiraffeBee)

Developing Factual TV Shows – How to Get the Best Out of TV Mole

TV Mole is now six months old and has grown hugely, so I thought it would be good to look back at some of the best articles and signpost how you can get the best out of TV Mole – whether you’ve been here since the beginning are are just dropping by for the first time. You’ll find 350+ potential ideas ideas for new programmes, information on 97 TV channels in the UK and USA and a range of resources to help you successfully develop and pitch your nonfiction TV ideas.

Read on to find out how TV Mole can help you generate new ideas, write a punchy proposal, research potential buyers, pitch, and engage with your audience.

(Photo by blmurch

)

A Summer Rain – An Experiment in Crowd-Funding

Ela Thier is a NYC-based independent filmmaker who has been writing screenplays for 20 years (to the detriment of her school grades when she first started out because she insisted in submitting screenplays instead of essays). But Ela is still struggling to get any of her 20+ screenplays sold or made. She’s decided to take action by sending an open letter to all her friends and acquaintances explaining her frustration. Ela faces the same frustrations that many TV producers face – years of backbreaking development work and little to show for it but rejection. Her letter should act as a reminder, that if you really believe in a project, and you can’t get anyone else to take an interest start looking for other, more creative, ways to get it off the ground. UPDATE: * People have been so inspired by this letter, that it ended up at NPR and they contacted Ela to do a story about it.

* An journalist contacted Ela from Israel to run a story about this letter in Israeli newspapers

* Just yesterday, a woman she has never met wrote to tell her that she was so moved by this letter that she forwarded this letter to her contact at the White House.
(Photo (C) Ela Thier)

Workshops for Creative People – That’s YOU!

Workshops for Creative People – That’s YOU! If you are in London this summer, Mark McGuinness is running a series of workshops for creative people, three of which are relevant to anyone who is working in TV  – How to Motivate Creative People (Including You) – 8 July 09 Time Management for Creative People – […]

JournalistExpress – Research Resource

JournalistExpress is a useful site aimed at helping journos find and stay on top of breaking news. It doesn’t look fancy, but you’ll find links the broadcast media, online press and newwires as well as a range of research sources from databases, stats, maps and encyclopedias.

Foreign Newspapers

If you need to research stories in another country, Indekx is a quick way to find foreign newspapers that you can access online. Click on the flag of the country (helpfully placed on a world map, in case your knowledge of world flags is a little rusty), and you’ll be given a number of newspaper […]

Help – I’ve Been Asked to Develop Some TV Ideas But I Don’t Know What to Do!

Have you been put into a TV development team for a few weeks but don’t know where to start? Don’t panic. Here is an easy (some might say cheat’s) guide to developing TV programme ideas, fast. All you need to get started is the TV Mole website, which will give you everything you need to […]

How to Work the Room During Your TV Pitch and Secure a Commission

Everyone has their own pitching style and every commissioning editor will prefer a certain kind of pitch – which is why it helps to know your enemy.

In the UK, commissioners at all levels tend to prefer an informal ‘creative conversation’ in which you both collaborate.

In the US, you might have a one-to-one pitch with a development executive, or you could face a room full of senior executives who sit back and listen to your pitch. If it’s the former, you’re likely to be grilled about the details of your proposal, as they have sell it up the chain of command when you’ve gone. If you manage to secure a meeting with senior executives, you”ll need to make a more formal presentation, before moving on to deal manage a discussion and field questions.

Whichever kind of pitch you face, there are a number of principles you can apply to make things run smoothly and move you closer to a commission.

TV Proposal Writing Lessons from George Orwell

When writing a proposal for your TV show, you have to impress your commissioner, right? Wrong. You need to communicate to your commissioner exactly what you’re proposing as succinctly and clearly as possible. And that means cutting out long words and jargon. Less, in this instance is definitely more. And that’s because your proposal has […]

Experts and Interviewees – USA

Radio-TV Interview Report is a free magazine that is published every two weeks and lists  100-150 US-based experts and interviewees on a variety of subjects from business to parenting, pets, relationships and war. The experts credentials are listed such as published works or previous TV appearances, along with their email and phone numbers.  You can […]

The Surefire Way to Stop Your Brilliant TV Idea Being Stolen. And Five Better Suggestions.

Here is a guaranteed way to make sure no-one steals your idea: Don’t tell anyone about your idea. Ever. That’s is. That’s all you need to do. Unfortunately this strategy has a major drawback – if you don’t pitch your idea you will never sell it?  And what’s the point of that? There is always […]

Six Ways to Allay Your Commissioning Editor’s Fears and Sell your TV Programme

You might think that all you need to get your TV programme commissioned is a good idea. Not so.

Assuming you have a really good idea, and have sprinkled it with fairy dust for luck, it is still unlikely that you will get your idea commissioned. Why? Because your commissioner is scared. They’re scared of commissioning a programme that might fail. And failing programmes put their jobs on the line. Which makes it your job to allay those fears and make it easy for them to say yes.

Here are six fears you need to address in your proposal and pitch. (Photo by Kables)

David Lynch on the Value of Keeping Random Ideas

David Lynch has just launched David Lynch TV which has short video tips on film-making and also explores transcendental meditation as a tool to help young people deal with stress and aggression. There is a really short clip in which he talks about developing ideas. Watch it here (and substitute ‘idea’ for ‘film’). The lesson […]

How to Avoid the Commissioners and Still Get your Films Made

The usual route to getting your programme commissioned is to:

* Get the channel brief and bang your head against a brick wall to come up with something that fits. And then hate yourself.
* Refuse to bow to the lowest-common-denominator-populist-dumbing-down-reality-TV peddlers and continue to pitch your save-the-world documentaries. You never eat and your children are in rags.

There is a third way, based on the US model of indie film production. Read Realscreen’s interview with Christo Hird of Dartmouth Films (ex-Fulcrum RIP) to find out how he’s doing it it.
(Photo by Lee Jordan)

Alom Shaha’s Top Tips for TV Development Success

Alom Shaha has spent a long time working in factual development, both for companies like Lion TV, Pioneer and the BBC, and his own projects such as Why is Science Important?

Here he shares his thoughts and top tips for successfully developing and pitching your TV programme ideas.

The Poetry of Storytelling

No documentary shows THE truth. Every documentary shows ONE truth, and no matter how observational your documentary is, it always carries the bias of the filmmaker, so why not exploit this possibility to engage the audience even more? The secret of poetry is to be bold enough to express your voice by playing with or breaking conventions. Keeping that shot longer than it would take the audience to get the literal meaning. Cutting between impossible times and spaces. Using counterpoint music or voice-over to create a disconnect between sounds and image. Using colour tones to confirm or contradict assumptions. Using symbols or metaphors as motifs throughout your narrative… (Article by Catalin Brylla, Photo by Sebastian Fritzon)

Where to Pitch Your Idea (and Avoid the Commissioners)

Pitching is a bitch. Especially when you are just starting out. There seem to be so many different channels, all of them with closed doors.

But do you actually need to pitch your idea to a TV channel? No. It depends on your motives for pitching. You might think that the only reason to pitch your ideas is to sell them, but depending where you are in your career, there may be different reasons for pitching, and cleverer ways of pitching. (Photo by heiwa4126)

Development Insider: Rejection, Rejection, Rejection

This is the first of a new series from a development insider: it’s the the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the dirty truth about TV development. Written by someone (who must remain anonymous), who knows, from painful experience, what really goes on behind the commissioners’ doors. Read, enjoy and join the debate.

(photo by das.viereck)

Online mind mapping

Bubbl.us is an interactive online mind-mapping tool that you can use to create mind maps, collaborate with other people in your team, save as an image and email and print.
It’s really easy to get started, but you need to create an account if you want to save or share your work.

The Secret of Finding Fabulous Free Photos For Your Television Proposal

A well-chosen image makes your proposal stand out. It helps communicate the tone of the show and allows the commissioner to visualize how the programme might look stylistically. The finished show won’t look anything like your photograph, but at this stage you are in the business of seduction – and you wouldn’t put a ropey photo on your online dating profile. Would you..? (Photo by anarchosyn under Attribution-Share Alike CC)

Seven Lessons from a Life in Development

When TLC rebranded in 2005, they introduced the notion of ‘life lessons’, along with collectable ornaments and a section on their website for ‘grown-up fun”. In the same spirit I’d thought I’d share some ‘development lessons’. Unfortunately, I don’t have matching knick-knacks, and you’ll have to provide your own grown-up fun. (Photo by pimpexposure)

Pitching a Home Run – Part II

NYC-based Fernanda Rossi is an internationally renowned author and story consultant. She has doctored over 200 documentaries, scripts, and fundraising trailers – including the Academy Award® nominated The Garden by Scott Hamilton Kennedy – and she has served as festival juror and grant panelist. In this two-part article Fernanda explains how to pitch your documentary film. This week she looks at how to end your pitch positively. (Photo by Tania Retchisky)

Development 101: Why Your Idea Will Never Get Commissioned

Do you have a great factual programme idea but are frustrated by other people’s lack of interest? What are you doing wrong?
You’re probably pitching a subject rather than a programme idea.

If you have an idea about gangs, dinosaurs or cooking you have a subject idea not a programme idea. What makes your idea unique, and commissionable, is the execution of your idea – the specifics of where its set, who it features, number of episodes, narrative arc etc. And depending on your interests or production niche, you will tackle your subject in a different way. (Photo by piccadillywilson)

Development Lessons from the ER – How to Triage Ideas

I have often danced with drunks and stuck needles in toddlers’ faces – what I learned during my 10 years as an Accident and Emergency nurse has served me well in TV development, as there are  many similarities: Life in the ER: In A&E you never know what crisis you’ll have to face when you […]

Pitching a Home Run – Part I

NYC-based Fernanda Rossi is an internationally renowned author and story consultant. She has doctored over 200 documentaries, scripts, and fundraising trailers – including the Academy Award® nominated The Garden by Scott Hamilton Kennedy – and she has served as festival juror and grant panelist. In this two-part article Fernanda explains how to pitch your documentary film. This week she concentrates on the opening statement. (Photo by Tania Retchisky)

Research: Find any Documentary in the UK

Visit findanyfilm.com to find documentaries (indeed, any film) available on DVD, on TV, online, for download or to see at the cinema. If it’s not currently on a certain format you can sign up for alerts when it becomes available. (Inspired by Nicola Colley)

How to Use Google Reader

Having trouble keeping track of all the websites you’re supposed to read in order to stay abreast of what’s happening in the world and generate new ideas? What you need is a feedreader that collects and aggregates all the new material that is published on your favourite sites, so you can find it all in […]

How to Write a Proposal a TV Commissioner Will Actually Read

Commissioning editors can receive up to 80 programme proposals a week; few will be read from start to finish.

Many commissioners never read past the first paragraph, or even the title. On average, they make a decision within 40 seconds. Usually that decision results in the proposal being filed in the bin.

So how can you make sure a commissioner keeps reading to the end of your proposal? Here are ten ways to make your proposal stand out and keep your commissioner reading to the end.

Interview: Virginia Mouseler of The Wit

Meet Virginia Mouseler, founder of The Wit – a research company that publishes weekly and monthly reports about all the new TV shows around the world. Explore the database of 80,000 TV programmes from around the world; search using keywords, country, genre or production company; and watch full length videos of any TV show online. Sign up for a weekly email report with news of new pilots and projects, and a monthly report on new shows aired in 35 countries.

Trendhunter Videos – Tech

Check out the latest Trendhunter tech trends, including: Futuristic Shopping Experiences, 23 Viral Must-Have iPhone Apps, Ads That Age You, Politics from Space and Bad Breath Detectors.

I Feel….in Toronto, NYC and London

Planning a trip to NYC, London or Toronto? Been a few times and bored of the same old haunts? Live there but too hungover/broke to venture out? Or are you planning a romantic/naughty Valentine’s trip and need some pointers? Visit I Feel to get suggestions based on your mood – you can also choose from […]

World Super Hero Registry – Coming Out of the Phone Booth

The World Superhero Registry is a register of ordinary people who do good deeds or fight crime whilst wearing costume. Active superheroes include: Foxfire, patrols the streets of Michigan; Entomo, a crime-fighting environmentalist in Naples; and Ghost who fights crime in Salt Lake City, Utah. Inclusion in the register is generally by invitation only; if […]

How to Become a Millionaire in a Recession.

Back in the early 20th century, during an economic downturn in the US, a penniless and jobless writer managed to get a poorly-paid writing job, when he was asked to interview famous men about their success stories. The writer was Napoleon Hill , and his first interviewee was Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie told Hill that anyone could be successful, but that, “it’s a shame that each new generation must find the way to success by trial and error, when the principles are really clear-cut.” Carnegie challenged Hill to interview great men and compile the secrets of their success into one book. Hill accepted the challenge and worked tirelessly on it for twenty-five years.

The result was Think and Grow Rich, first published in 1937, and is still in print, 60 million copies later. It is claimed that Hill’s book has made more millionaires and inspired more success than any other book in history. It could also inspire TV programmes in a number of genres – history, biography, business and reality. (Photo by Unhindered by Talent.)

Six Pitching Lessons from the Dragons’ Den

Dragons’ Den: Success From Pitch to Profit, is a book that profiles the dragons and examines case studies of people who have successfully or unsuccessfully pitched in the den. If you read it with your development head on it has a number of lessons that can be applied to the development and pitching of factual TV programmes. (Photo by e-magic.)