Lots of readers responded to our revealing interview with producer Stephen Harris about his commissioning practices at A&E and TLC.
They asked for more detail.
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Who Gets in the Door?
Stephen reminded us that his door was relatively open to pitches:
- “You never know when a hit idea is going to cross your desk!”
- “But other commissioners and networks may only accept pitches from agents and super-producers.”
Pitches / Day
- “I took an average of 5 pitches / day.
- “Or around 25 / week.
- “That’s 1,250+/- concepts / year.”
- Office / Personal Meetings: 60%
- Phone Calls / Email: 40%
- Elevator Pitches / Print: 40%
- Sizzle Tape / Character Tape: 60%
- “The more developed the pitch, the more likely it will make it through to the next round.
- “That’s when I developed the concept to the point where it was ready to be presented to a team meeting.”
- Newbies / 1st Timers: 5%
- (“Often after my speaking engagements at an industry conferences.”)
- “Producers with whom I have a personal relationship and who are giving me a 1st look”: 60%
- Agents / Super-producers who are pitching to multiple networks: 35%+/-
- “They are often on a tour of channels with a strategy of sparking a bidding war for a hot property”:
Agents
- Producers alone: 60%
- With agents: 40%
We will continue to update Stephen’s really helpful insider observations on the pitch process.
The Good News
Although the odds are tough at each individual channel, the good news is that there are lots of potential buyers.
- We are experiencing a Reality Boom.
- There are dozens and dozens of US channels who are taking pitches for character-based series.
- When we surveyed the 2012 Upfronts, we counted 3,600+ episodes and more than 1,000 program concepts commissioned by the leading factual channels. There were dozens of channels that we didn’t count!
- Here’s a partial list: Its from our quarterly’Who’s Hot?‘ assessment of nonfiction channels
Feedback
A friend who once headed up program development at one of the Discovery US channels responded:
- Remember, your numbers are from only one member of the development team, not the entire network!
- I had 5-6 Senior Development execs taking pitches
- And this didn’t include the more Junior team, myself, and the Production team that also took pitches in
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SOMUSHO WORKSHOP
- I’m just back from Tokyo where I was honored to participate in the Somusho Workshop.
- It was a full-day presentation on industry fundamentals and trends for Japanese producers and executives.
- The seminar was a very well-organized event arranged by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications, advertising giant Dentsu and Bang Productions Singapore. Many thanks!
- My co-presenter was Rights.TV business affairs expert Sam Knowles.
- The ‘Great Eastern Earthquake’ and its twin catastrophes of tsunamis and Fukushima have deeply challenged Japan’s tendency to insularity.
- Japan’s nonfiction producers and networks are eager to join the currents that are shaping our industry worldwide.
- Watch out for future posts about Japan and Asia’s fast-evolving documentary and non-fiction market.
- And if you’re following the rapid evolution of the Asian video market, don’t miss our monthly posts on DocumentaryTelevision.com/Chinese
- Or our Weibo page.
NEW CASE STUDY
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At the other Cannes Market