Greenlit: The Book

Greenlit: How to Develop Your TV Ideas From Concept to Pitch by Nicola Lees reveals how to get an idea for a documentary or factual/reality TV series such as Touching the Void, The Apprentice or Supernanny from concept to commission.

International Factual TV Conferences and Festivals 2010

Roll up, roll up! It’s time to get this year’s factual TV conferences and festivals in you diary so you don’t miss out on any schmoozing and pitching opportunities. There are many film festivals every year: this list only contains festivals and conferences where you can pitch/sell your factual TV ideas and documentaries and network/get a little tipsy with TV channel execs. Can’t decide which one to go to? Visit AJ Schnack’s excellent guide to the Top 25 Documentary Festivals. Click through for more information and links.

Best of TV Mole 2009

As the year is drawing to a close and everyone winds down for the holidays, this is the last feature for 2009. TV Mole is almost one year old, so we thought we’d look back at the most popular articles and programmes of 2009 (and some you might have missed).

We’ll be back in 2010 with more TV industry news, inspiration for ideas and tips on how to get your ideas commissioned. There are also some exciting new developments that a will give YOU a better chance of winning those elusive commissions.

An exclusive handful of people are already in on the secret – and have contributed their expertise – and a global buzz is growing (from LA to Cape Town, London, Mumbai, NYC and Amsterdam). Tom Archer, Controller of Factual, BBC said “it could revolutionize the TV industry…” Sign up for the newsletter to be the first to hear the official announcement and find out how you will benefit!
Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus!
(Photo by /eye.contact! CC BY-SA 2.0)

Greenlit: American Pickers, History

American Pickers w/t  (10x ) – Docuseries about expert antique hunters Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz who travel the back roads of America looking for treasures.
Channel: History
Producer: Cineflix Productions
TX: 18th Jan 2010  UPDATE: The premiere a total of 3.1m viewers – History’s highest premiere since Ice Road Truckers.
Source: Cynopsis

Greenlit: The Children Who Fought Hitler, BBC4

The Children Who Fought Hitler (1×60′) – which tells the forgotten story of a heroic battle to help liberate Europe from the Nazis fought by the children of the British Memorial School. The school served a unique horticultural community of former-First World War soldiers and their families who tended the war graves in Ypres.
Channel: BBC4
Producer: [...]

Greenlit: Stacey Dooley’s Child Labour, BBC3

Stacey Dooley’s Child Labour w/t (2×60′) – Former shop assistant and Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts contributor, Stacey Dooley, is to get her own two-part documentary that explores the issues around child labour in Nepal and the Ivory Coast.
Channel: BBC3
Producer: Ricochet
TX: September 2009
Source: Broadcast

Greenlit: Restaurant in Our Living Room, Virgin 1

Restaurant in Our Living Room ( 8×60′) -  Hell’s Kitchen meets Come Dine with Me format in which two couples have three days and £500 to set up a restaurant in their home. They open their homes to the public, asking the diners to pay what they think the meal is worth. The couple that [...]

How to Write an Arresting Logline: Quiz Answers

Last week, we looked at loglines – where you boil your concept down into one succinct, hooky sentence – with a fiendishly difficult quiz. As promised, here are the answers (click on the headline to go to the answers). Remember, the first thing your buyer will look at is the title, so the logline should complement and build upon it, so they get an instant feel for the tone and content of your programme. Give yourself a point for each one (and subtract five if you failed to get no. 6 correct).

If you didn’t do that well, you can console yourself with the thought that the loglines weren’t doing their job properly.

And, as ever, feel free to share, tweet or comment. (Photo by ♠ le max)

How to Write an Arresting Factual TV Logline: A Quiz

When you are selling factual television show, whether you are sending an email, writing a proposal or pitching in an elevator, you need to capture the attention of a buyer within seconds. The best way of doing that is to boil down your concept into a single succinct sentence that captures the essence of your programme, suggests the content and makes your commissioner want to know more.

A successful logline (aka tagline or strapline) looks deceptively simple and obvious, but they are fiendishly difficult to devise; and you need to have thought your idea through thoroughly in order to do it right. That means a lot of work, but you knew that, right?

The best way to understand loglines is to look at what other people have come up with, so here’s a quiz to get you going.

I’ve given you 20 taglines that have been attributed to factual TV shows – can guess which show each one refers to (I’ve removed the actual name of the shows in a couple of instances)?

(Photo by Nick J Webb)

Developing Factual TV Shows – How to Get the Best Out of TV Mole

TV Mole is now six months old and has grown hugely, so I thought it would be good to look back at some of the best articles and signpost how you can get the best out of TV Mole – whether you’ve been here since the beginning are are just dropping by for the first time. You’ll find 350+ potential ideas ideas for new programmes, information on 97 TV channels in the UK and USA and a range of resources to help you successfully develop and pitch your nonfiction TV ideas.

Read on to find out how TV Mole can help you generate new ideas, write a punchy proposal, research potential buyers, pitch, and engage with your audience.

(Photo by blmurch

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