TV Development Guide
How an Idea becomes a TV Show
By Stephanie Varella
Copyright © 2019 Stephanie Varella
Book Cover by: Victoria Case
All rights reserved.
ISBN:172624539X
ISBN-13: 9781726245395
DEDICATION
T o my sweet, inspiring,
beautiful and wise daughter,
Sage.
TV Development Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
‘TEASER’*
13
What You Can Learn From This Book
19
Act 1 WHAT IS ‘TV DEVELOPMENT’?
23
History of the Television in a Nutshell
25
Who Invented the Television?
26
TV Development
28
The Players
28
The Process
30
The Biggest Misconception
31
Kids Programming
31
Reality Programming
32
What is a Reality Show?
33
How to Develop a Reality Show
34
The “Business” of TV
35
The FCC and its Impact on TV?
36
Developing a TV Series vs. a Movie
37
Questions to Consider
39
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TV Development Guide
Act 2 THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
41
The Idea
41
Where Do Ideas Come From?
42
How to ‘Reverse Engineer’ a Project
44
The Different Formats of TV Shows
45
Do You Have a Good Idea for a TV Show?
47
Should You Pursue a Particular Project?
48
How to Option an ‘Intellectual Property’ (IP)
48
and/or a ‘Spec Script’
Have a Great Idea? Now What?
50
You Protected and/or Optioned a Project. Now
51
What?
How to Put Together a ‘Writers List’
51
You Have a Writer. What’s the Next Step?
53
The ‘Pitch’
54
How to Get a Pitch Meeting with a Network
54
Goals of a Network Pitch
55
What is a ‘Bible’ for a TV series?
55
What is a ‘Pitch Document’?
56
A Good Pitch vs. a Not-So-Good Pitch
59
After the Pitch
59
The Standard vs. Newer Ways of Pitching
60
What is a 'Sizzle Reel’?
61
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Table Of Contents
How to Make a Sizzle Reel
62
Now What?
You Have Pitched and Sold Your Idea. What’s
63
the Next Step?
Script Development
63
What is a Spec Script?
64
What is ‘Coverage’ of a Script or Book?
64
How an Idea Becomes a Script
65
How Producers and Executives give ‘Notes’
70
Helpful vs. Harmful Notes
71
Assignments
73
Act 3 THE MARKET PLACE
77
The Networks
77
The Buyers
77
Know the Audience and the Network
78
What is a Buyers List?
79
Selling to Broadcast Networks, Streaming
79
Platforms, Premium Cables, and Basic Cable
The Future of Broadcast and Basic Cable
82
Networks
Do Networks Own the Shows (content) on their 83
Channels?
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TV Development Guide
Do All Networks Produce Original Content?
83
What is a ‘License Fee’?
84
How Do Studios Fit into the Picture?
84
“Let’s Make A Deal”
85
Types of Deals
86
Strategies for Selling a TV Show
88
What is a Transmedia Campaign?
96
What is a ‘Competitive Development Report’?
97
‘Indie TV’
98
Assignments
100
Act 4 Q & A WITH INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
103
Ted Gold
104
Andrew Plotkin
110
Christina Davis
117
Adam Bonnett
122
Taylor Latham
129
Geoff Silverman
134
Marty Berneman
139
Advice from Top Network Executives
143
Advice from Top Literary Agents
147
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Table Of Contents
Act 5 FINAL THOUGHTS
155
Beyond the Pilot
155
Statistics on Television Viewing
157
What Some Actors Said About Working in TV
161
Take Note
162
Final Takes
162
What Do You Do Now?
163
Go Make Your TV Show!
164
Success
164
GLOSSARY
167
SPECIAL THANKS
173
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
175
*Words with single quotes denote TV industry terms, which are
defined in the Glossary.
!9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A SINCERE THANK YOU TO:
Susan Musillo for all her help with this book. She inspired me to
write it, edited it and encouraged me throughout the process.
Lew Musillo for his steadfast support and all he did to advance
the completion of this book.
The industry professionals who generously contributed and
shared their experiences.
My students, the next generation of TV developers, who inspire
me every day.
TEASER
Do you think your life would make a great TV show?
Almost every person, after I’ve told them that I develop TV shows for a
living, tells me about an idea, or that their life would make a great show.
The truth is creating a TV series is not as easy as one might think.
In the 1990s, when I started working in the entertainment business,
there were certain do’s and don’ts about how to develop TV shows. To-
day, however, A LOT has changed. Back then there were just a few net-
works you could pitch to in order to sell your show. There were “rules”
about what you could and could not develop. For example, shows had to
have a specific structure to them. They had to have c
haracters who were
likable and non-offensive. Overnight ratings were everything! Today
the measure of success is so much more. It’s all about getting a second
season, critical acclaim, awards, cutting through the clutter, ratings and
getting subscribers!
Also, since TV had been around for many decades, it was difficult to
come up with an original idea because it seemed that everything had al-
ready been done. On top of that, this was a huge challenge because the
shows had to appeal to a mass audience. That is not at all the case today.
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TV Development Guide
At the time, I was a young, eager, green (newbie) executive. All I knew
was that I loved watching TV. I was the kid who couldn’t get enough of
it. In college, we had parties centered around watching TV shows. It
was a fun to get together each week to find out what was going to happen
with our favorite shows.
When I moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1993, one week after I
graduated from college, I knew one thing. I wanted to work in enter-
tainment. I had no idea what anyone did, other than the actors… and I
knew I didn’t want to be an actor. I bought a one-way ticket, knew abso-
lutely no one, sent my boxes to an address sight unseen and started my
new life. Somehow, I knew I was meant to live in LA. It may not be for
everyone, but for me I loved the weather... and it felt so clean, so open,
and so full of possibilities.
My first job was at a very big and famous talent agency, The William
Morris Agency (WMA). Prior to this, I had several internships where I
worked in casting and as a production assistant. But this was my first
real, paying job and it was a great foray into the business. Initially I
thought I wanted to learn about making movies (feature films), because I
loved movies. However, the only desk that was available at that time was
in ‘TV Talent.’ Of course, I took it. Getting this first TV job opened my
eyes to a business that I had not considered at all up to this point and yet
would find myself enjoying, thriving and spending the rest of my career
pursuing.
It didn’t take long for me to find out that TV Talent is the department
that works with actors and fills all the acting jobs on TV. At that time
the big stars didn’t want to act on TV shows…they wanted to be on the
“big screen” vs. the “small screen.” They believed that TV was sort of a
step down for them. Also, the independent (‘Indie’) movies were for up
and coming actors, not big stars. But, over the course of my career, I
have seen all of that change.
When I think back about that first position at WMA, the only way I am
able to describe it is that it was like being in a sorority or fraternity. The
other assistants were my pledge brothers and sisters. We worked from
8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every day and on weekends. It was a whirlwind
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TV Development Guide
of hard work, but we gained tons of knowledge and experience in a rela-
tively short period of time. We were exhausted, but we loved it. To this
day I am friends with many of those assistants. Some of them became top
executives of their field. Some stayed in the agency/management world,
some became development executives at networks and studios, and a few
became producers and/or writers. Overall, I found it to be a fulfilling
experience and very beneficial for networking in the business.
After a year, I was ready to leave WMA because I knew I did not want to
become an agent. The first non-agency job I heard about was in TV De-
velopment. Since I had worked in ‘TV Talent,’ I didn’t know what it was
development people did, but I was eager to find out.
In the mid 1990s, I was lucky to be offered an assistant position at Spell-
ing Entertainment. I remember AARON SPELLING (from whom I
learned so much) used to say that “Stars make movies. Television makes
stars.” So true! He was a legend in the TV business. He was a produc-
er who re-invented TV shows every decade for 40-50 years. It isn’t likely
there will be another like him, probably not in my lifetime.
While at Spelling Entertainment, I went from being an assistant to a
young development executive. It was there that I learned all about what
TV development is, and now I am able to pass on that knowledge to you
with this book. My mentor was JENNIFER NICHOLSON. During the
six years I was there she taught me how TV shows were developed. She
got married, became JENNIFER SALKE and had three babies during
that time. She went on to become the head of 20th Century FOX Stu-
dios, the number two executive at NBC, and is now the head of Amazon
Studios. She is one of the top female executives in the TV business today.
While working at Spelling Entertainment, I was very proud of the fact I
was part of the team that helped AARON SPELLING become the record
holder of the most scripted shows on TV at one time, which was nine.*
Side note: *Months before going to print on this book, this
record was broken by a writer/producer - GREG BERLANTI.
He has fourteen shows in production (9/2018). It is important to
remember that today there are over 50 places to sell to. When
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TV Development Guide
AARON SPELLING was producing, there were only six. Hav-
ing nine shows at six places is an amazing feat, and it took 18
years for someone to break that record!
When I started working as Vice President of Series Development and
Production for JERRY BRUCKHEIMER in September of 2001, although
he was very successful film producer, most people did not know who he
was. Once CSI became a huge hit that next year, he became a household
name. It was incredible to be there at that exact moment in time. CSI:
Las Vegas and Amazing Race were just about to premiere and, during
my tenure there, we grew to having seven shows (scripted and unscript-
ed) on the air at one time! This is still his personal best.
Today, there are more TV shows in production than ever before and over
50 outlets to sell shows. Everything I learned and saw back when I start-
ed has literally been turned on its head. There are no more rules, mean-
ing you can pretty much develop any kind of show you want and you
will probably find a home for it.
It’s the Golden Age of the TV business and it’s also the Wild Wild West!
*****
!16
To The Reader:
My hope in writing this book is that people who are thinking about get-
ting into the TV business will now have a foundation and better under-
standing from which to build their journey.
One of the things I’ve done in the past few years is to create and teach a
course on TV Development at UCLA Extension, and to offer private con-
sultations through TVDevelopmentcoach.com. To my surprise, I discov-
ered that there were no other classes like it, and there is no book on the
market today that explains how an idea becomes a TV show before it is
produced. So here it is.
Many people wouldn’t think there is a specific proces
s when developing a
TV show and as a development executive, you normally do not get a
“credit” on the show, but there is a team of people who truly contribute
to the show beyond the credits.
I hope you can see from this publication how much I enjoy developing
TV shows. Being a part of a business that impacts people personally, and
both influences and reflects world affairs, has always been fascinating
and thrilling to me. I hope your journey brings you as much satisfac-
tion.
I am really proud of the projects I have personally been a part of develop-
ing, whether they ended up getting on the air or not. When they are suc-
cessful, wow! It’s awesome. There is truly nothing like it.
So whether you want to write, direct, produce for television, or have a
more secure position as a development executive, this book is a great way
to start.
With respect and gratitude,
Stephanie
!17
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS BOOK
• How to transform an idea into a TV series
• To think about TV in a more comprehensive and expansive
way
• What TV Development is and how it works
• What is and isn’t working on the TV landscape
• How to move forward with your own project
• How to build a career in TV Development
• The dynamics between the writer and the producer
• What goes into selling a TV show
• What studios and networks are looking for in a TV series
• Who the players are in TV Development
• Where ideas come from for TV projects
• A good idea vs. a not-so-good idea for a TV show
• Whether or not you should pursue a particular project
• How to copyright your idea
• The different formats of episodic television
• The tools to protect ideas and get options on intellectual prop-
erties (IPs)
• How to pitch your project
!19
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS BOOK
• The best ways to present your project
• The pitching process for the networks
• What’s included in a pitch document
• A good pitch vs. a not-so-good pitch
• How to improve the quality of your pitch
• How to get a pitch meeting with the network
• The standard, older ways of pitching vs. the new ways
• What a sizzle reel is?
• Why you should or shouldn’t produce a sizzle reel
• The process of developing original scripts with a studio and
network
• What a bible is for a TV series and how to put one together
• How a script is developed with a writer and a producer
• The importance of a script when developing a TV show