"It's not going to happen for you."
"Just saying you can do things,
it used to work in the 80s."
"It's one in a million, even if you have Brando's talents."
"Everyone's making stuff, you have to be able to keep up with that competition."
"Just because you want it, doesn't mean it can happen."
"So you really have to stand out and make stuff on your own
and show your style and your voice."
Hello and welcome to StudioBinder`s series on: "How To Develop a TV Show?"
If you followed along with our series,
then you have a pinch, a show Bible,
and a pilot script in hand.
Great job, but what do you do when none of that works?
"- They don't want me. They don't understand me.
Maybe I don`t have what it takes.
- All I hear is no all day ,every day.
It's fucking hard man."
Let's face it.
Being a writer is full of frustrations.
Full of false starts.
And most of all, full of that two-letter word.
"No, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no."
For writer, every no should be seen as an opportunity to create.
"For the first pitch, you're probably going to fail
but if you do succeed that's worse
because I'd almost say
the best thing about pitching is to fail
and then afterwards figure out what you did wrong.
There's always gonna be another opportunity,
as long as you stay in the game, that's important."
By creating a sizzle that shows off both your concept
and your ability to make it work,
you double down on your hand.
"I pitch something that was like an online idea
and I wanted to copy the same style that I've done before,
so I brought in about four episodes to show them the style.
And that is always helpfu,l as a visual aid
because any time they can look at something,
as opposed to reading it, you're better off."
Let's take a look at how time-traveling sci-fi film "Lupo" was sold.
"Time travel is not been invented.
But in 30 years it will be."
Director Ryan Johnson was able to display a clear vision for the movie.
By showcasing key shots as well as his command of production and post-production,
he convinced execs not only of his idea,
but he was just the man to do it.
"I'm gonna find myself.
And I`m going to kill him."
"When you do a sizzle for your show,
it's very important to just be talking about the pilot.
You want to make it like this is the opening to your show.
It's important to not give them too much
but to give them like the best idea you can visually.
When Rob McElhinney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day
wanted to make a sitcom,
they used what they had around them.
VHS tapes and an old camcorder.
They shot that pilot, "It's always sunny on TV"
and relied on their acting and comedic chops,
instead of set pieces, to sell the concept.
Check it out.
"- Jesus, dude, I think my place look like shit.
- Oh,yeah, sorry.
- Do you have a party or something?
To me, you seem like you're a little hungover or some shit.
- No, it's I found out that I might have cancer.
-What?"
Several networks passed on it,
but FX saw the potential and hire the guys.
They set it in Philadelphia because FX thought
there were already too many shows set in Los Angeles.
Another perfect example of this is "Another Period."
The Comedy Central show starring Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero
was pitched as "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" meets "Turn of the Century."
"And we made a short, originally to sell the show
and most of the cast from the short is currently on the show."
- I'm Lillian.
I'm the pretty, smart, funny, ambitious, nice body, soon-to-be-famous one.
- And I'm Beatrice.
I'm the pretty one."
The show's gone on for three seasons since.
Comedy Central saw the value of the show,
but more than that,
they saw their ability to act, write, direct and produce.
"- I said, I wanted scrambled eggs.
- Les, you idiot.
You got egg upon my snood.
- He was gonna wear that today.
- Now, he has to select another snood."
"It's always smart to put stuff on YouTube.
Make sure that you have an online presence.
In this day and age, it's more important than ever.
And that's the best way to get attention
if you don't have any contacts.
And it's all about is your idea something that people are going to click on
or want to see.
Take a look at "High Maintenance."
The HBO Comedy started as a web series,
created, produced, written and starred in
by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld.
After they had a few seasons on the web under their belt,
HBO started paying attention.
"- You'd start the web series, it becomes kind of this viral hit.
How does HBO come into the picture?
- I think it was, you know, a couple of years ago.
We rolled out some episodes on Vimeo,
and they expressed interest in letting us join the family
and I don't even think we really discussed it for more than five minutes."
Here's another one.
Before "Insecure" was a hit on HBO,
Issa Rae made dozens of sketches online under the title "Awkward Black Girl."
"Let me introduce myself.
My name is Jay and I'm awkward.
And black.
Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be.
That someone was right."
The material and unique voice demonstrated to HBO
that she can make it happen.
A she hasf or the past three seasons.
"Since you guys are so intrested in my person life. Here it is."
So even if you don't get to use it in a pitch,
making a web series is a great way to boost your resume
and produce a body of work.
You know, what else has been a major game changer?
Crowdfunding, all of these properties were crowdfunded,
and all of them went on to see mainstream success.
"- Hey, you got a permit for those guns?
- I`ve got your permit right here."
So what can you do when you hear a no?
"- Hey, we can't give up, right?
When they told James Dean he wasn't good enough, did he listened to them?
- No.
- No. No fuck that. All right, he kept fighting.
He showed them all and that's what we're going to do.
- I just don't know how, Greg.
- I wish we could just make our own movie."
Showing that kind of initiative
can be the thing that turns that no into a yes.
"That great idea."
Also, by writing your pilot in StudioBinder,
you can seamlessly transfer it into a script breakdown.
Thank you for watching our TV development series.
Our goal is to help you express your creative vision
and hone your craft through articles, resources, and videos like this.
When you're ready to write your script or shoot your project,
check out StudioBinder screenwriting and production management solution.
So you can take your ideas from vision to reality.