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Lost
Much of Disney’s programming for the youth market incorporates
a transmedia campaign.
Many comic books have been adapted into video games, feature
films, TV shows and animated shorts, e.g., Superman and Spider-
man. This includes prequels, origin stories, sequels and spin-offs.
Having this strategy prior to selling your show can prove to be
helpful. Oftentimes, when you achieve success in one medium, it
seeds success in others.
WHAT IS A ‘COMPETITIVE DEVELOPMENT REPORT’?
This is a list of projects the networks are actively buying for de-
velopment. It’s a good idea to start putting together this list be-
cause it will give you a sense of what each network is actually
buying.
You can do this by reading the entertainment trade publications,
e.g., Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline. When a net-
work buys a pitch, there is usually an article about the people in-
volved and the premise.
Each year, this is one of the jobs that a younger, lower-level execu-
tive would be responsible for putting together.
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The Report consists of:
•
The buyers
•
Names of the projects they have in development
•
Auspices (the people and affiliations attached)
•
Logline or summary of the idea
Agents, managers, executives and producers feel it is imperative
to have this list because, when selling shows, knowing what the
networks have bought will inform them for both active and future
development.
Side note: Each year, I find it interesting to try and guess which
shows in the competitive development report will get picked up
and have a pilot shot based solely on the logline and auspices.
(This is only possible with broadcast networks as the cable net-
works don’t usually just shoot pilots.) I read the scripts and
watch the shot pilots. Then, I like to guess which pilots will be
picked up to series.
INDIE TV
Truly independent television (Indie TV) is when you get indepen-
dent financing for a pilot and/or a season of a show to produce
and sell it to the broadcasters. While independent financing does
occur in the movie industry, in TV this is not the norm.
A good example in the feature (movie) business is Blumhouse
Productions. The model is to have a really low-budget idea for a
movie with no big stars attached. The goal is to make A LOT
more money that it costs to produce. Great model! Sometimes a
big star/talent will be a part of these low-budget movies, often-
times taking a reduced acting rate while participating on the back-
end. That means after the film is released, if it is successful, they
get a piece of the profits.
For TV it is different. Indie TV is far more expensive to produce
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than Indie movies. Currently, low-budget shows have not yet per-
formed well or competed with the very expensive shows on TV.
Typical budgets for shows are upwards of $4,000,000 an episode!
Also, the networks rarely buy fully-produced seasons of TV
shows. In my career, I only know of a handful of successful shows
that were independently produced and sold. A couple of exam-
ples are, Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Comedy Central and
High Maintenance on HBO. One reason this is rare could be be-
cause the networks like to put their “stamp" on the show, meaning
they like to have a say about the development of the show. By
giving them a completed series, it takes them out of the creative
process.
As previously stated, one way to make an Indie TV show on a
very low budget that’s available to everyone, is to air it on You-
Tube. This is where viewers can watch episodes of shows that
were produced with money from investors and/or advertisers of
that channel. These shows have yet to become mainstream and
don’t have the success model of the movie business, but that
doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It just hasn’t happened yet.
*****
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Assignments
Put together a Competitive Development Report by tracking
projects in the trade publications. Then, take a guess as to which
projects from the Report will become a pilot and/or series. (Of
course, only for the ones that don’t have series commitments.)
In six months or so, you can find out if you were correct. It’s a
good way to see if your instincts are right about which ideas will
make a good series or not.
Another version of this assignment depends on whether or not
you can get your hands on the scripts. If you are working as an
assistant for someone in an agency, network or studio, or you
know someone who is, perhaps you can get a copy of the scripts.
Then you can read them and make an educated guess as to which
ones will become great shows.
Yet another version of this assignment is being able to see the pro-
duced pilots before they air and then making your choices. If you
are working as an assistant in the business, this is not difficult to
get. If you don’t, maybe you know someone who is. Ask around,
sometimes they are even online.
These assignments are good exercises as they will help you when
you are listening to, and pitching, ideas. You will know what
works and doesn’t work. The more knowledge you have of the
current TV landscape, the more persuasive you can be when you
are selling your show.
It is true that sometimes a great show does not become a hit, but
some of them do become cult classics. This is due to timing as
most are/were ahead of their time.
*****
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ACT FOUR
Q & A with Industry Professionals
• Network Executives
• Studio Executives
• Production Company Executives
• Managers
• Agents
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INTERVIEW WITH TED GOLD
Executive Vice President, Paramount Network (fka Spike)
Executive Producer, Parkes/MacDonald
Senior Vice President, FOX Network
Vice President, Spelling Entertainment
I met TED GOLD when we were both working at Spelling Entertain-
ment. He is an accomplished, thoughtful, smart professional with a great
sense of humor. He has always been very passionate about developing
TV shows and I learned a lot from him. Ted went on to become a buyer
at two different networks, and here’s what he had to say about develop-
ment. We met at the Viacom Hollywood offices in January, 2018.
Stephanie (SV): How did you get your start in TV Development?
Ted (TG): I sent out 70 resumes blind, around town. Eventually I
got a call from STEPHEN J. CANNELL Productions. They were
one of the last independent television suppliers and I got a job
there as a messenger. Then, I was the receptionist and I soon
learned about this area called, “Development.” I volunteered to
read scripts for them for free and give my comments. Then even-
tually I got a job as an assistant in the development department.
SV: Why did you choose development as opposed to a different job
within the industry?
TG: I was an English major and I knew I wanted to work with
writers. I realized quickly that this was the creative side of the
business to making stories, making projects happen, and knew
this is where I wanted to be. Thought it would suit my tastes, my
skills.
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SV: For people wanting to pursue a career in TV Development,
what would you suggest they do?
TG: Read and watch as much material as you can! I would rec-
ommend writing coverage and develop your point of view on
things. The most important thing is to understand what you like
and why you like it. It’s a lifetime endeavor. It changes over your
life. But the more that you can analyze and express yourself, the
better you get at it and, at the end of the day, that’s what someone
is going to hire you for. They are going to hire you for your tastes
and your knowledge of writers and material.
SV: Regarding development, what would you do if you heard two
very similar ideas, but the one you liked better came from a lesser
known entity?
TG: That’s a very good question. First of all, if there’s a lot of
overlap between the projects in terms of characters, I’d probably
excuse myself from hearing one of them and let them know up
front that I just heard this from another person. But forgetting the
legality of it, I would go with the project I liked the best if I can. I
would probably try to package it up. I mean, so much is about
who is going to execute 50 episodes. So the lesser one might start
off good, but it’s harder to get on the air because nobody knows
who that entity is. But I would probably lean towards the lesser
one and see how I could bolster it and make it a sexier, stronger
project by adding elements. Maybe you can combine the two.
SV: What is the most memorable pitch you’ve heard?
TG: ( laughing) There are too many for me to answer, but one that
comes to the top of my mind is when I was at Spelling (Enter-
tainment), with you actually. It was a pitch that I developed
which was the precursor pitch to Lost, which was developed with
JEFFREY LIEBER, (creator/EP). It was a really well-thought-out,
deep pitch because, at the time, it was almost considered a stupid
idea to develop a show about people stuck on an island. Like,
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how could that last? And Jeffrey had a lot of specific ideas on how
to keep that show going. That’s one that comes to mind. I’ve
heard, I think, over 1,000 pitches probably in my career. ( laughing)
I’ve got some funny ones, people falling asleep, people screaming,
some pretty crazy ones.
SV: What is the most challenging aspect to developing a script?
TG: It’s always different, but what I would have to say is figuring
out what the story is. What is the core story and character point of
view from which you are going to tell the story? I would always
come back to that. What is the story or stories that you want to
tell with your show? We can talk about the process. Sometimes
it’s working with writers and figuring out the best way to bring
out the best in them. How do they respond to notes? Not just cri-
tique, but what’s the best way to get them inspired and bring out
their vision.
SV: What are your thoughts on spec scripts?
TG: Love ‘em. I love spec scripts. I always try to read a spec
script with an open mind. Still to this day I know how much
work has gone into it and I think a good show can come from
anywhere. Again, if it’s a spec script without any track record,
you have a giant hurdle of how do you get it on, and that would
be a lot of producing.
SV: Which project that you produced are you most proud of?
TG: Well, I haven’t produced a lot of projects. but I would say if I
can count the one that is about to air right now, it’s Waco.
SV: What about projects you developed?
TG: I really liked this project that was ahead of it’s time that I de-
veloped at Spelling (Entertainment) called, Kingpin, which you
probably remember. That was always one of my favorites. At
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FOX, it was Prison Break. And people don’t think it was a sexy
show, but Bones was a very successful series.
SV: What is your favorite part of the TV Development process?
TG: I like research a lot. I like reading articles and books on a cer-
tain character or certain world. I can sometimes go down a rabbit
hole doing research. I really enjoy doing that. I love figuring out
who the characters are and breaking the story. That’s probably
number one. When it goes right, it really comes together and sell-
ing a project is fun. That’s a pretty good feeling. Validation. All
your hard-earned efforts… somebody thinks there is some merit.
velopment?
TG: The prolonged nature of it. That a project doesn’t stop with
development. That a project is not just about developing a script,
it’s about developing a team of people that can keep it going and
keep developing it.
SV: What advice do you have for a young writers/creator who is
looking to pitch a TV show?
TG: My advice would be to not spend too much time on a pitch
when you are starting out. My advice would be to write your
script. The reason is that there are too many people out there sell-
ing shows. You’re competing against a lot of big name people.
SV: What do you feel will be different about the process of TV De-
velopment, specifically in five years or ten years?
TG: Things are much more package-dependent now. If you want
to compete, there is so much out there. How do you get people to
notice? One of the ways is having great people on your project,
working on your project and in your project. That seems like a
trend that is going to continue. Also, I don’t know if this will
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happen in five years, but this format of half-hour vs. hour vs. two-
hour movies… it all goes out the window. Maybe we can make a
43-minute project? Maybe we can make a 12-minute project? I
think the formats of the projects should be more driven by the
projects themselves vs. trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
I think some of that is changing now.
SV: What about Indie Television?
TG: The bottom line is, if you’re talking about traditional scripted
television with actors, it’s a lot of money to figure out how to fi-
nance it. I do think there will be people who will figure it ou
t. It
seems that to me with the old model, with advertising content,
seems to be diminished. Ratings are all down. Nobody knows
how they are going to make money. Still, the advertisers need to
find ways to get their product out there. So where are they going
to go? Maybe there will be people who will pull in a few adver-
tisers to sponsor their own projects independently.
SV: In today’s market, what is the measure of a successful show?
TG: Depends who you are, depends what your job is ( laughing).
SV: As a network executive?
TG: I am mostly concerned of how my project is viewed creative-
ly, as a project of quality and as a project that would fit the brand,
both internally and externally. So I would say reviews. Internally
if a lot of people are really excited about our project and then, if
that gets reaffirmed on the outside that people like our projects.
At the end of the day, even though I can’t control it, if you don’t
get ratings, you’re out. So ratings are super important. You’re still
judged by the thing that is much harder to measure - ratings. But
ratings themselves are changing. It used to be live plus same day,
now it’s live plus three.
Side note: ‘Live plus three’ refers to the ratings during a live
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show plus the next three airings of the show.
SV: Do you think everyone is going to be streaming, and that tra-
ditional broadcast and cable TV will go away in some way?
TG: Yes, I think it will go away in some way. But I’ve been saying
that for ten years. So it’s slow. It’s always slower than I think it’s
going to be. I mean, who wants to watch a program live any-
more? Who wants to rush home at 8 o’clock on a Thursday night
to watch something? Very few people, unless it’s news or sports.
People don’t really care. So it’s all going to be on-demand and
streaming, if you ask me. I don’t know if all the channels will dis-
appear or the linear channels will disappear. It might become
some kind of hybrid, which is kind of what you’re seeing now
where if you miss something that is live, you can find it some-
where streaming, although it takes forever to figure out where.
And then what is TV? Most kids don’t even watch a lot of TV,
which is a whole bigger question.
*****
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Act 4
INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW PLOTKIN
Senior Vice President, Drama Development, Sony