If a network likes a reality show pitch, what is the next step?
After you've pitched your reality show, if you're going to the next step, there are a lot of different possible next steps. It could be that they want a treatment, meaning that they'll pay you a little bit of money to actually write it up and describe to them what all the episodes are going to be like, or how you would produce it, or do basically a written document of what you imagine the full television show would be. This is much more detail than you could get in a little pitch reading. Another next step might be past that one and right into: "You know what? We'll give you fifty thousand dollars, or ten thousand dollars, to do some tape of that concept." That happens when you're trying to pitch, for example, a funny workplace-based reality show. For example, "I've got this motorcycle shop, and the people who make the motorcycles are crazy, kooky people. They're so funny, and it's this great reality show. It's the relationship with a father and son that is so conflicted, and it's really interesting." You can get the network all excited verbally, but they will probably say to you, "That sounds so great that I'm going to give you ten thousand dollars. You come back with a tape of these people and show me who these people are, and what they're like in real life at the motorcycle shop."
