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TV pitching secrets revealed

Coffee in polystyrene cups, broken chairs and DVDs that don't work. TV Tonight lifts the lid on pitching to TV execs.

2013-09-03_2316Coffee served in polystyrene cups. A broken chair. A DVD player that nobody knew how to operate.

What’s it like pitching to our TV networks? It depends on who you ask. But for Producers there’s a lot riding on the do-or-die meeting with television executives.

Some networks bend over backwards to create relaxing atmospheres that lend themselves to creativity. Others are more frugal with what they can afford.

TV Tonight spoke to several Producers on the grounds of strict anonymity, to take you inside the lions dens at ABC, Seven, Nine, TEN, SBS and Foxtel….

On the question of the nicest offices, some suggested Foxtel’s North Ryde offices but others nominated Seven in Pyrmont.

Absolutely, hands-down Foxtel. It’s like you’re walking into a 5 star lounge with subdued lighting and really nice coffees. They do proper lattes. The building in North Ryde is very pleasant with a lot of action going on. Downstairs you have the news stuff and upstairs are the production offices.

There’s a closed, fishbowl room with sheer curtains and a round table. So it’s like you’re sitting at a posh restaurant for a dinner party. You feel like you’re in there for a lovely chat.

Another said:

Probably the plushest offices are at Seven. Certainly when we’ve pitched we’ve been shown in to their boardroom at Pyrmont and we’ve sat around this huge table that must seat about 12-14 people. Very swish. And what’s more tea and coffee served in china cups rather than polystyrene. Off street parking is arranged and you are made to feel reasonably special.

Nine also got a good rap:

Pitching at Nine is usually in Michael Healy’s office with Andrew Backwell or someone else there. He’s got a large office and a couple of couches and is definitely more upmarket. He’s got a number of monitors constantly flickering and can play a showreel immediately on one of these. Nine also has a small theaterette on the third floor with a larger screen and surround sound and this can be particularly effective if you can preview your showreel there. Well worth inquiring about if you don’t know about it. Tea and coffee are definitely in china cups.

Another said:

At Nine it’s intimate in Adrian Swift’s office with a normal telly. Nine was alright, but nothing flash. Their building is from an old era with wooden furniture and hallways. If only they could talk!

Pitching at TEN could prove to be a bit of a challenge:

At TEN you usually crowd in to Beverley McGarvey’s office which is a squeeze if there are more than three of you. No overly special treatment here. A coffee or tea out of a polystyrene cup … and usually pretty average. There are a bank of monitors in the room and it’s geared so you can play a showreel off DVD. You know you’re just a bit special when an assistant can arrange a park in the TEN carpark. Otherwise you’ll be hard pushed to find a space close to TEN.

At the ABC things are a little bit tighter:

Fairly pedestrian offices with one monitor and a DVD player for any showreels. Coffee and tea usually arrive in real cups. Again you’re a bit special, if you can get a park within the ABC complex at Ultimo

But things sound dire over at SBS:

SBS has small nondescript rooms. Hard to give a creative pitch in a room that’s devoid of creativity.

Another suggested:

At SBS it was just meetings in cafes! And we paid.

On the question of refreshments:

Foxtel had the best refreshments but the best lobby magazines were at Seven because they had all their Pacific mags. I don’t mind if someone is late for a meeting at Seven because you can sit in the foyer and easily pass half an hour. At Foxtel it’s just the Foxtel mags which is just a Guide.

Seven offer sparkling water. Their boardroom has frosted glass but about 50cm below you can hear all the clip clop high heels of the Seven ladies (staff). 

Technical equipment to play DVD showreels varied from network to network:

Foxtel’s board-room is state of the art with little speakers embedded in the table for live conferencing and Skype. They have a DVD player that actually works. Seven (equipment) wasn’t bad but nobody knew how to use it. But Foxtel got their tech people in, then down comes the screen and the lights dim. 

On the plus side the ABC has working DVDs but a broken chair.

TEN’s DVD player was there but there were no leads. It was on a window sill. There were no drinks, no water, nothing.

On the question of which network responded fastest to a Producer pitch:

TEN took the longest to get back to us. ABC was probably the quickest. Once Seven had decided on everything they were quick. But Nine dilly-dallied and were distracted by The Voice and Bake-off.

If you’re not Fremantle and Shine going in with a big kick-ass format with a bunch of stats about what a show has done in this territory, that territory, you have to work a lot harder to get bang for your buck. It can get quite depressing. When you look at the available slots for programmes that are in the schedule it’s so limited once you take out those big, stripped shows.

Another suggested:

Response times vary greatly. Seven, ABC and Foxtel are the best in our experience. Nine varies depending upon who you are dealing with. Michael Healy is great, the others less so. TEN seemingly has one set of rules for Shine and another set for everyone else.  

One says timing is everything:

Select your times too. Don’t set a pitch meeting for a Thursday morning if Wednesday is typically a ratings disaster for the people you’re scheduled to see.

So who gets the big tick in terms of being the most desirable network to pitch to?

Depending on the idea, pitching to the commercials is usually where you’d start. Nine is pretty good at getting back fairly quickly with a yes or no. So is Seven. TEN tends to take longer.

Another also nominated the commercials:

Seven is first cab off the rank, but it depends on the genre. SBS would be on the bottom because they have a Charter that is used selectively.

But one also said that at the end of the day Pitching isn’t about nice offices, coffees and parking:

From my viewpoint and that of most clients the most important aspect of pitching is to get access to the right people in an honest and receptive forum with the prospect of clear and timely feedback. On top of that the next most desirable thing would be a level of discretion/confidentiality so that you don’t hear back about your pitch from another producer, network or artist manager.

Were that set of elements achievable I don’t think it matters whether a pitch takes place in a network office, a boardroom, on a golf course, in bare feet on a beach in Cannes or in an edit suite at a production facility. If we had to choose, the latter is most desirable simply because the producer has a degree of control over how the development materials are viewed for the first time.

19 Responses

  1. Thanks David, really interesting read. I love hearing about what goes on behind the scenes. I think 10 should give Shine the flick after what they did to MasterChef this year.

  2. If you need a DVD to make your pitch you need to head back to the 90’s to order your wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli. By all means bring a DVD but also have back up: USB, IPad, Vimeo link (password protected of course) or Laptop. I guess you didn’t really want it after all.

  3. Just a note to all those people out there with ideas they want to pitch….unless you’ve got a track record with the network, you really should consider talking to a production company first. Think of it from a network’s point of view….who are they going to give a couple of million dollars to? Someone they don’t know who’s never produced a TV show? Or a production company like Screentime or Southern Star who they know will deliver. Plus, you get the advantage of working with professionals who do this every day.

  4. @Dr_Rudi – I expect the same – the pitcher is the one that needs to do the work all the network needs to do is pay the big bucks.
    You need to impress them, not the other way around.

  5. I’d love to pitch a show, but I’m not in the entertainment industry or anything. I’ve always had some good ideas up my sleeve, maybe I should try one day……… Hmmmm…………

  6. @Dr_Rudi… hear, hear!
    Who are these people that were interviewed… how self important!
    A sh!te show is still sh!te even when you’re drinking out of china while you regurgitate it..
    And if the ‘room is devoid of creativity’… pack up go home, your idea is clealy rubbish to start with.
    Lastly… smart people of importance or with any sense of knowledge aren’t searching for a Who Magazine to flick through in the lobby of Foxtel, they’re reading emails/scripts/treatments, researching, reading on their smartphones… And if you really have nothing to look at on your phone in the lobby.. pick up the Foxtel guide.. thumb through it, and realise your bad idea is on three times a week across various channels anyway.

  7. Wow, this was so interesting. Poor Ten, I almost feel like donating a working DVD player to them. I really want to see these so called luxurious Foxtel offices.

  8. David, Thanks for the insight. Since I am not in the TV industry and will never pitch a show, it is funny how the seemingly small things matter like coffee and working equipment with staff that know how to use it.

  9. A really fascinating insight. It would be interesting to see how many pitches are made to networks a year versus how many actually end up on air. For commercial networks big productions companies would appear to get a good look in but any smaller ones might as well not bother.

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