Can I insist on meeting with a high-level executive when pitching a reality show?
Of course you want to pitch your reality show to the highest level person you possibly can at the network, but depending on your level you may not get that big meeting. Top producers with long track records who have had many successful series can often push and get themselves in the room with very high level executives. Junior producers who don't have as big of a track record, who are not that well known, who maybe aren't walking in the door with a big talent sitting next to them - some kind of A-list celebrity or something - probably won't get that big meeting and may only get somebody who can't even spend money. But it doesn't matter. I recommend that you pitch your reality show, get a meeting at a network and pitch to the highest level person you can, but don't try and lever yourself into higher meetings. Another thing that happens sometimes is that people think that they want to sit in front of the person who can greenlight the show, and they don't want to take lower level meetings. What that can actually do is anger the people who you are telling, "I don't want the meeting with you, I want the meeting with your boss." You can get to a place where the people that you're angering can torpedo you even if you eventually get that meeting with the boss. They're the ones in the room after you walk out and if they say, "I don't like that guy," then they can torpedo your whole project. It's better just to be friendly and take the meeting with who you can. If you can do it in a nice way and say, "I'd like to get as many people in the room as possible" or "I'd like to get this as high level meeting as I can," it's not that insulting a thing to say, but to push repeatedly for it can be insulting.
