A lot of writers and creatives have big dreams of getting that big break in television and launching their careers with a hot new idea for a TV show. It might seem like a distant dream, a far-flung possibility, but you couldn’t be more wrong. The good news is, you don’t even need to have a script for your TV show to pitch it to Hollywood. All you need is a great idea.
A lot of people don’t even think about pitching their ideas to the film and television industries. They think they have to have a fully-formed, written screenplay first.
The truth is you just need to have a great premise and idea to pitch and sell your idea to the film and television industries here in Hollywood. What’s more, pitching a TV idea can be extremely lucrative… it’s not uncommon for people to easily get as much as or more than $100,000 just for an idea. Sounds incredible doesn’t it… but I’ve seen it happen myself over and over again.
Success Stories
Let me give you a couple of examples from my own career working as a producer (I’ll just include a couple of interesting ones here, because I literally saw this happen thousands of times).
I remember when I started out working in Hollywood. My colleague received an email from a retired gentleman who had a simple idea—it was the story of a man who could go back in time and give his younger self advice.
This simple idea earned this retired gentleman over $100,000. It just goes to show that Hollywood doesn’t care how old you are or who you are, as long as you have a great idea, that’s all that Hollywood really cares about.
Another time I remember I got an email from this Kid in New York. And when I say kid I mean kid. But I didn’t know it at the time. I received an email pitching a TV show idea. The idea was about a boy who found a hole under his floorboards in his bedroom. When the boy went into the hole he found himself transported into Mexico. The rest of the idea was about the boy making money bringing Mexican immigrants into the country, which escalated into a full-blown military stand off as the FBI, CIA and Washington eventually learned about this strange portal in the boy’s apartment.
It’s a strange idea, but it sold like hot cakes. The kid who pitched this idea was only 16 at the time and I remember having to negotiate the sales contract with the kid’s mom and an entertainment lawyer.
I have hundreds more success stories like this, but these are just two extreme examples that go to show that the film and television industry doesn’t care about who you are. The film and television only cares about one thing… do you have a great idea that they think they can make money from.
Even if a producer never uses your idea (in the two examples above, the ideas were never used), producers want to stop other producers and studios from using your idea—just like any business, the more copyright and ideas they own, the more opportunities they have. Now that you know there is demand and opportunities to be had in the film & television industry, let’s talk about the different types of TV shows you can pitch.
Pick Your Genre
What kind of television show idea do you have? – Reality TV – Drama – Comedy – Documentary – Talk show – Children’s TV show – Game show – Book adaptation – Comic book adaptation Now you know exactly what type of TV show you want to sell and pitch, it’s time to take a look at the best way to construct your pitch.
Pitching Your TV Idea
The format for pitching your TV idea is pretty much the same format you want to use when pitching a movie idea. Here’s how it goes:
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Dear Producer,
I would like to submit the following TV idea for your consideration.
Title – title of your TV idea Genre – the genre of your idea (drama, comedy, reality TV, etc.)
Logline – at this point you want to use two to three sentences to describe your idea. This is a very important part of the pitch because the logline is the part that really sells your idea and makes producers and studios want to buy your pitch.
Synopsis – the synopsis is a more detailed explanation of your TV idea. This goes into detail about who the characters are, the beginning, middle and end of your story. The synopsis should also engage and intrigue the reader to want to know more about your script.
If you are interested in this idea, please let me know and we can discuss this further.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
(Name, email address)
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Remember when pitching an idea for TV show, you might be asked to sign a waiver or contract before your idea can be considered. This is okay and to be expected.
*Liz Fairbanks has worked as a reader, development assistant, and talent agent in Los Angeles over the last seven years. Liz loves traveling, reading and yoga. Liz also works as a freelance consultant for Script Mailer (a company that connects screenwriters with agents and producers in Hollywood).