How To Package Your Concept For a Reality TV Show or Documentary Film
Posted: Monday, June 01, 2009
by Hector Herrera
Social Media Mogul
These five steps will help you set out on the path towards developing your own reality TV show or documentary film with a professional, well thought out concept and a solid 30 second pitch.
1. THE HOMEWORK: The first step in developing your reality TV show or documentary film is research. As you begin flushing out your idea, do your homework. Think of all the reality TV shows and documentary films youve seen in your lifetime. Which ones did you enjoy most? Why? Make notes of them and actively search for and try to find the most successful shows resembling your concept and ideas. You are going to need those in order to write an effective log line for your Reality TV style online video series, program or blog.
3. THE LOG LINE: Once you have a solid treatment down you can move on to step three. You will need to create a truly effective log line for your reality TV show or documentary film. Remember that a Log Line is a brief summary of your reality TV show or documentary film concept, it should give a brief synopsis of the main plot, and what makes it different or unique, as well as what makes it similar, to other programs.
4. THE STORYBOARDS: The fourth step in developing a good reality TV show or documentary film concept, is to illustrate your point and that means creating storyboards to visualize your concept. You want to give the reader a visual feel for your reality TV show or documentary film . Do some homework on branding techniques and search for royalty free images that will help illustrate your story. If your concept is for a reality TV show or even for a documentary film or series, dont be afraid to shoot stills with a digital camera or use stock photography to create your storyboards.
5. THE ONE SHEET: The final step in developing your concept for a reality TV show or documentary film is to put all of the pieces together into a single one sheet document that includes your log line, edited copy, a few key images and a brief synopsis of your reality TV show or documentary film concept. For an reality TV show or documentary film producer, this is the equivalent to a headshot for an actor or model, or a sizzle reel for a director or cinematographer. Its your calling card and the one thing anybody will ever really read all the way through. You need to grab the readers attention immediately or it will quickly end up under a pile of other really great ideas, or most likely, under another thousand or so really mediocre ones.
Utilize each of these steps to focus on telling your full story in a clear and succinct fashion. The reader will appreciate it and will likely give it do time and consideration, which is likely to be 30 seconds or less. But, then again, it only takes an instant to make a good decision. Believe me, the media industry is beaming with content created in this exact way! If you follow the general guidelines in these examples you will have a short document that explains your brand vision clearly and professionally.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Thanks for making this short and simple, I have some good ideas for shows but had no clue how to start. Thank you.
I do have one question though, There are websites that offer to do all this for you all you need is the idea for the show and the MONEY to do it. Are these types of sites legit or scams?
(New Show Studios) The called me back and loved my idea and said it had potential, but they need $800.00 to just develop the idea then they need $8000.00 to market it. They said they were willing to work with me. I am skeptical but I have a phone meeting with them Monday, I hope I can get some answers before then. THANK YOU....
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