when you have an idea for a new tv show or series, what to do first?
Mistara
Posts: 38,675
i was looking at the M6 promo pics, fabulous idea came to me.
i don't know what to do first?
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Hire an agent to represent you.
You're not going to get anywhere without a script for the pilot episode, so make that your priority. Also prepare a range of pitch documents, including a one-line tag, a brief synopsis of the direction of the show, an analysis of the core audience for the show. Produce different, tailored versions of each document for each network you intend to submit to. Learn their submission guidelines and follow them. Then don't submit - get an agent to do it for you.
Note that very few people go straight into a showrunner role. Most of them have worked their way up from proofreader to staff writer to showrunner. If you have no prior experience working in TV (and specifically, dealing with writing deadlines, network feedback, budget management, and the pressures of running a creative team), realistically, your chances of getting picked up are extraordinarily low. Your pitch is going to have to be absolutely perfect.
You could Google it. I'm sure there are procedures online for submitting stuff to television. I doubt anyone here will be able to help you.
it's such a fabulous idea, they should give me an advance to hear the idea :lol:
Having worked in film for a bit in the past, Shane's suggestion is exactly right. You need to put the idea down on paper in a concrete form, and a pilot script is the best place to start. When it's done you have to copyright it through the copyright office of your country and the Library of Congress in the USA. That's a minimum to protect your ownership of the story idea, then you start to add to the creative package. Then you can approach an agent for representation, they'll quickly determine if the project has merit and if they can make money with you as their client.
where does one meet agents in r/l?
Print up some business cards with your name on it with the title Television Producer. Create a one sentence log line and a short elevator pitch. Keep it simple. Go to industry parties and network. Meet as many executives as you can. Become their friend. Spend time going to as many inside the TV industry functions as you can. They are going on all the time. Listen to what they are looking for.
Like I said, Google it.
It depends where you live. NYC and LA have agents and agencies galore. If you live in a small town in the middle of the prairie, it might not be so easy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xU57gP0Kzw
Check to see if the Simpsons already did it.
you will be suprised
there is a saying, "there is nothing new under the sun"
chances are your unique idea has already been flogged to death somewhere!
since you cannot share we all can only speculate but unless it is a breakthrough discovery of an incredibly awesome nature there are only so many senarios imaginable that can be put to film or televison or written in a book, the creativeness lies in how the artist, produce, writer etc depicts it and communicates it, the Lord of the Rings for example without JRTolkiens wordsmithery would just be another shortarse fella and a bunch of weirdos running across a country at war with a bit of jewelry.
It depends where you live. NYC and LA have agents and agencies galore. If you live in a small town in the middle of the prairie, it might not be so easy.
i'm an hour by train to nyc.
how did that wyrmtongue ride into isengard without noticing the armies?
He used a plothole to arrive directly at his destination. ;-)
And there were so many of those it reminded me of Eden-Evans Center in the spring after the county has finished plowing up the asphalt.
Another thing to not be surprised at is what can happen AFTER it's bought, if it is. After all the executive meddling is out of the way, your (as an example) modern supernatural horror story might end up as a kid's afternoon show with no supernatural elements at all, or a science fiction show with the horror replaced with genetic engineered villains, or something.
You might want to submit the idea to Amazon Studios (Google for link). They're specifically looking for new movie/TV show ideas.
i'm an hour by train to nyc.
Looks like I got here just in time.
First, I live in NYC so its good to know you're less than an hour away. Living so close to NYC is a major plus for you.
Second, you need to format your script in the proper manner if you want anyone to look at it. There is a free software called CeltX. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the free version made for Windows.
https://www.celtx.com/desktop.html
Use this application to create industry standard script formatting. This application also allows for story-boarding. In fact, it can convert a stage play into a screen play in a mere click. Maybe you want to change it into an animated cartoon....this too is possible with a single click.
Basics:
1. You need to write the pilot episode at a bare minimum, if you can accomplish the entire first season go for it. Why? because as someone already stated, the people who will put their money behind the project will also want to have input, so they can affect (often adversely) the content. Best bet is to have enough writing to demonstrate that you do have a plan and that they should have some faith in your writing process. But no matter how perfect, you should expect the money to come at a price so know well which elements you can compromise on and which elements you cannot compromise on.
2. Read a screenplay or two. This will give you some insight as to HOW these types of documents are written.
3. You should be able to describe your target audience. Is it geared toward small children, young adults, males, females...ets. Though all shows have a certain degree of crossover appeal, when the money starts being invested these investors want to know what kind of gamble they are getting themselves into. The clearer you are as the writer on who your audience is, the more faith everyone involved will have in the project.
4. Generally, one page of text equals about a minute of performance. This is another reason why the formatting of the script needs to be correct, as the number of pages of the document typically indicates roughly the number of minutes it will take on screen. If the formatting is wrong you may end up with too many or too few words per page, throwing off the expected time needed. A one hour show should be around 60 pages when formatted properly.
5. Characters and story synopsis are essential. You need to have a 1 page breakdown of the story idea itself. You also need a written statement (mostly for your own purposes) that describes the basic ideals of the main characters, such as age, occupation, and personality quirks. This will be very useful when it comes time to present your script to the guys over at Netflix. However, guard this information, as if not carefully guarded, one could use this info to steal your project away from you.
6. Exposition, the task of introducing characters and the given circumstances can be very challenging. Finding active means of introducing characters is best. Use actions in place of words whenever possible. One writing teacher explained to me that characters only say what they need to say, otherwise they save their breath. Try to find the most efficient way of saying things. So instead of having a man say to a boy, "I am your father."..... it might be better to instead have a scene where the child falls from a tree and scrapes his knee, then an older man walks out and starts consoling for the kid. Though no one is saying verbally that this man is this kid's father, we can deduce it from the action taking place in the scene. If we learn later that the man helping the kid wasn't the father, but the next door neighbor who was just released from prison three days ago....we have some drama to play with.
7. Keep scenes short. Scenes for TV shouldn't typically be twenty pages long.
8. Don't worry yourself too much about being "original." There is nothing original when it comes to storytelling. There is however work that is more truthful than others, and what you want to do is tell the truth, even if it is a story that has already been told.
9. Allow people you trust to read it and give feedback. Realize that most people dont have a professional vocabulary to describe their opinions. Trained professionals will say things like "I don't understand her motivation for pressing the red button here." whereas a less experienced lay person might say, "I don't get her in this scene." Both are valid forms of feedback, you just have to know how to translate feedback into a language you can utilize. All feedback is useful so long as it is honest and so long as you know how to internalize it in a way that is useful to you.
10. Lastly, I will offer this as a tip that helps me out a lot. I try to pattern written characters based on people who I actually know in my real life. For instance, imagine there is a child in my neighborhood who is especially charismatic, use his quirks as a tool to help unlock your creativity when writing for the emperor child of your story (not that there is an emperor child, just creating a random example). Patterning written characters from living ones helps us remember to treat the written characters as real people, with both good and bad qualities, strengths and weaknesses, which can be utilized in all sorts of fun ways for you as a writer.
11. Also as a plot point, is the ideal of loss. In many classical stories, the "hero" is often a victim of some great loss early in the telling of the story. Seeing the main character lose something important to him makes us as viewers secretly want good things to happen for this character. Example; If a story begins with a mother and child in a car riding to an afterschool baseball game when suddenly a truck smashes into them and the mother then dies...we as viewers will spend the rest of the film rooting for this kid to succeed at whatever goals he is setting, almost as if we want to correct the bad math left by his fallen mother and seeing the kid succeed at his goals accomplishes that for the viewer.
It's all about manipulation. Fun fun.
Another route is to go into traditional fiction writing, then write, publish, network, and transition genres. A couple of my instructors from grad school did just that - one wrote a few episodes of a recent show on HBO, and another wrote a few episodes of a current show on FX. They were already well-established as writers first, however. Whatever you do, please keep us updated. We're all interested in hearing your experiences.
If you are unfamiliar with script writing and the other steps listed above, you might consider starting with a web comic format, making use of your 3D rendering skills to illustrate. :) If you pick up a lot of traffic, it would help in getting the attention of the TV types, I would think. You might hook up with a professional with script writing skills later.
(We seem to have some actual experts in TV land here... what do you folks say? I'm more familiar with text and image publication.)
I'm going to disagree slightly with the "there are no new ideas" claim, but agree with the note about Tolkein's writing being valuable. What I mean is, there are lots of great ideas around. Actually turning them into a finished product is what's hard, whether it's fiction, a comic book, a tv show, a game design, or whatever. And while there are certainly some barriers to publication that are helped by getting an agent, the main obstacle is in the step of turning an idea into a good working draft. You need to get at least that far before you can get an agent.
Sadly, there's just no market for brilliant ideas with no concrete form. ;-P