You might have a great TV show, but can you sell it? Watch and learn from an experienced TV exec how to bring your vision to the screen, whether locally or internationally. Television professional Grigor Stewarts approach to selling TV shows is practical and powerful. In his video lessons, Grigor teaches you his playbook for thinking like a television network, making your idea marketable to audiences, and ultimately landing television sales deals. Use his simple strategy to increase your chances of success. Dont waste another minute. Who is this course for? Among How To Your TV Shows students are television professionals, producers, and production companies, Film students as well as film schools. Grigor lays out every step of the TV show journeyfrom finding a partner to cross-border tradeand talks through the different roles in the industry. Youll learn how to sell your show to both traditional broadcast networks and streaming giants such as Netflix, as well as through a distributor or rep. Now these are some non-negotiable points below for starters if you want to play in this space. Buyers are very practical, they buy shows not ideas They have to consider their audience, their ratings and their advertisers can your show help It may do so IF you have done your homework on their channel and what they offer. I always get the question What sells? What sells is what you see on TV particularly the imports on your local channels and what is running on your international channels. If you think what you see on telly is rubbish then that is your opinion and maybe tv production is not for you. What you see on TV is what is actually selling and more importantly what is trending globally If you want to be an artist go and paint Ask yourself this Is this show relevant to the Network audience Im trying to sell to? Will it resonate with them? Can the TV network who I am trying to sell to sell advertising in and around it. This is how major commercial tv channels recoup their investment. Will my show assist in generating new subscriptions or ratings Producers must work within the existing television network framework Producers must work within the what is trending within the various genres It is the Network who decides on a strategic new direction based on audience research and some serious planning Trying to re-inventing the wheel will cause you great distressWe see the same mistakes over and over. We see TV shows and we think we can do better. We become passionate about our idea and take risks to make our projects come to life, we try to complicate existing formats of shows. While passion is a good thing we need to understand that its the audience who dictates a networks direction. The ego can prove problematic and expectations need to be managed this guide will allow you to address the Programme Purchasing process from a practical and non-emotional perspective. There is a structure that is in place with television channels around the globe and decisions are made not on the basis of how good the show happens to be but does it resonate with the networks target audience and will it resonate with their advertisers. Remember a TV channel buys content from the advertising or subscriber revenue it generates and as such must always consider these Sugar Daddies and keep them sweet at all times. The buyer or programme acquisition person is the first point of contact. They pull together all available shows that potentially could work for them. Commissioning departments just for the record deal with programme ideas and pitches for new shows that will be produced in conjunction with the channel. This normally happens with companies who have built up relationships over the years and are trusted suppliers. The content is pooled together and discussed at planning meetings to see if it can work with the existing portfolio of programmes and existing programme strategy and attract and maintain both audience and advertisers. Advertiser Funded ShowWhile you might think its a no brainer for a broadcaster to take a free show, think again. The network is in the business of keeping both its audience and advertiser happy so any ad funded show must resonate in the same way as if they paid for it. The producer must sell the show concept to both a sponsor/advertiser and the network. To make it commercially viable for both the producer to produce it and the advertiser to fund it, it must be a primetime show whereby generating as much value as possible. Also the network must love it to be giving up such a valuable slot. In some territories there are networks who will want you to pay to be on over and above giving them a free show and some lesser networks who will do a straight swop, however fact remains its a double sell to both network and advertiser.A couple of global ad funded shows: GILLETTE WORLD SPORT was broadcast on over 300 channels at one stageRED BULL TV brands and creates its own high octane shows and host broadcasts its own live eventsPOP IDOLS for example become ad funded shows due to their popularity. A pr
