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Development and Pitching 101: The TV Landscape

By TV Mole ⋅ September 4, 2010 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ ⋅Post a comment

Photo by Creativity103 CC BY 2.0

One of the biggest complaints TV channel executives have is that producers don’t know what’s already on the air. You should know not only what’s on the air, but also:

• What’s rating well with audiences and critics
• What a channel has just commissioned (but not yet aired)
• Which channel is a good fit for your idea
• Who at the channel is in charge of commissioning ideas like yours.

So where can you find all this out?

1. Sign up to the TVMole newsletter which delivers an easily digestible round up of recent commissions (UK and USA), commissioners who’ve recently moved jobs and new funding opportunities.
2. If you prefer to go to source, take a look at this list of resources, which includes the TV trade press, websites and newsletters.
3. Watch TV!

Get the full inside track on understanding the TV landscape with Greenlit: Developing Factual/Reality TV Ideas From Concept to Pitch, including why reality TV is so popular with TV buyers and, conversely, why it’s hard to sell a one-off documentary.

Read more in this series:

• Welcome to Development Hell
• Do You Have What it Takes?
• Originating Ideas
• Developing Ideas
• Multiplatform
• How to Write a Nonfiction TV Proposal
• Finding Onscreen Talent
• Pitching
• Finding Alternative Funding
• Getting the Greenlight