Reality TV Business
What does a reality TV production company do?
A reality television production company conceives, pitches, sells, often makes a pilot, and then hopefully goes to series with a reality television concept. They produce the show from beginning to end. They set up the location or the crew or the cast or the concept and they produce it. Then they edit and deliver it as a finished television show for a network or a customer of some sort.
What is a production company's relationship to the TV networks?
A production company does not usually work for the network in a boss-employee relationship; they deliver products to the customer. The relationship is the network is funding the production. Usually, the money for a reality show comes from the network to the production company. The production company spends the network's money to make the television show, and then hands the network back and episode, or a series of television.
How do reality TV producers know what networks are looking for?
Reality TV production companies keep an eye on all the networks to see what they're looking for, and the way they know what the networks want is in several different ways. Some networks are very open about what they're looking for and will even publicize it. You can sometimes even open a newspaper and find out what they want, or you can hear a network executive claiming that he wants to find the next something or other. Some networks are more closed about what they want to develop but they will tell the agents in Hollywood what they're looking for, and then many of the big agencies send out an email to all of their clients saying, "We just talked to Lifetime. They're looking for the next women's game show. It should cost about this much and should be deliverable before the end of the year." Then the clients all think, "Oh! I have something like that" or "I can make up something like that" and go pitch that. That's another method through which you can find out what the networks are looking for in terms of reality television. Another method is just directly going to the network, getting a meeting with a network executive and saying, "What is it you're looking for?" And usually they say, "The next big hit."
How much creative control does a reality show's production company have?
The amount of creative control that a reality television production company has runs the gamut from none at all - and they're just execution arms of the network's will - to almost complete total creative control over their show. In this event, they're delivering it to a network that's happy to get it, and it just depends on how much leverage or how much reputation or what the relationship is to the network. Usually, the amount of creative control is somewhere in between. It's give and take. I feel that if I'm doing a good job, I don't do everything that the network wants me to do. If I feel that the network is wrong, I will push back and say, "I don't want to do it that way. I think it's bad for the show for these reasons," and they often listen because you are spending all your time thinking about the reality television show. They have seventy shows that they have to deal with. You have the one show you're producing for them, and so when they have a conference call with you and they're thinking about your show one time that day and they make a suggestion, you need to take it because they're your customer and it's their money you're spending; but if you feel it's wrong, I feel it's your duty to push back and say, "It's not right for this reality show". Creative control over your project runs the gamut from total to none, and usually it's somewhere in between.
What is a network 'development department'?
A network development department, when we're dealing with reality television, is usually called the alternative development department. The alternative development department's job is to go to the producing community, all the producers in town, and find projects to bring in that are appropriate for their network, and buy those projects, which usually involves stages of buying. Firstly, they'll just buy the idea or treatment, then they'll buy a pilot or a test or a presentation and then hopefully they'll buy a realty TV series. That's their job and usually the development department takes it from initial pitch or initial concept to the point it premieres on the air, and then they step out and current programming steps in and takes over. They go off to develop the next generation of shows. Some development departments at networks actually do their own creative work. Some development departments will have creative meetings and come up with their own reality show ideas. They'll go out and say, "We have an idea for a show, would you produce that for us?" And that's largely what they call work for hire. They'll hire a television production company to come in and execute their idea for a show. But that's much rarer than when they just sift through all the pitches and all the ideas out there and try to pick the ones that are right for them.
What function do network executives serve on a reality show?
Network executives oversee the spending of the money and they oversee the creative vision of the reality show, making sure that at every step the show is meeting what the network needs. The network usually knows, especially in cable, that they have a specific audience they're going for. They might be going for 30 year olds with middle income or they might be a niche show. They might be the Food Network and they know their viewer is somebody who loves food, so they want to make sure that they know how their viewer loves food. They've done a lot of focus grouping and a lot of surveys and they know their viewer. Their job is to make sure that the TV production company who's probably producing for lots of different channels is specifically producing for what that channel needs, wants to know what day part the show is gonna go into, and what audience its looking for. They oversee that in all respects; every creative choice made. Some network executives are very hands-on and involved and some are very hands-off and trusting.
What does 'greenlighting' mean in the television business?
When a reality television show is first pitch to its network, it won't be greenlit but it might get purchased, meaning that something will be committed. They'll say, We want the rights to this so don't pitch this to anybody else. It's not a TV show yet. We are not promising it's gonna be on TV. We just want the right to look at it further." They'll pay for that right to look at it further. Then they'll go through some internal process to figure out whether they want to greenlight the reality show, and greenlighting it is actually saying, "We're going to commit millions of dollars to making this an actual television show on TV for people to see."
How do networks decide which shows to 'greenlight'?
That moment, when a show is greenlit, is a big moment, because that's the moment that the network has committed millions of dollars to the idea. But to get there, you have to jump through several hoops, usually, to convince them that it's a good idea, or that it's the right idea at the right time, or to convince the network that you're the right person to produce the show. Maybe they have an internal process where they have to look at multiple projects, and they can only afford to greenlight one of them, and they've got five. They have to pick which it's going to be. That process is different at every network. Some networks want pilots, some networks want conference room presentations if its a game show, some networks want a full first episode that they can put in a focus group situation, and some networks go with their gut. It's done in all kinds of ways, and it's really down to individuals.
Who pays for the cost of producing a reality show?
Traditionally, television shows are paid for by networks. Networks take in money from advertisers - the people who make products who want to get ads in the shows to get them in front of people's eyes. Advertising money is what drives the business. That is the money coming into the network. The money going out is the money they spend to make the television shows and if the network is successful, it is taking in more ad money, so then it is putting that out in television show budgets. But the money is flowing from the network. Ultimately, the money came from the sponsor. Ultimately, it was the fact that Coca Cola bought ad time on CBS that allowed them to have the money to give to a producer to make television shows.
What are some new trends in reality show funding?
Recently, there's been a trend to cutting out the network in the middle, and there's more and more companies trying to fund shows directly, where, for example, Coca Cola would actually pay for a television show, call it The Coca Cola Hour and put it on a network. The network doesn't have to pay for the show, but the money came ultimately from the sponsor. That's still rare. It happened in the early days of television, it was the primary way shows got funded - Texaco Star Theater and things like that. It died out completely for a very long period of time while networks had all the power and money, and now it's coming back again because the sponsors are not sure that the networks are where to advertise any more. They want to own the show so they can put it on the internet or use it in other ways.
What makes a good reality TV producer?
Being a reality show producer is a collaborative process. You need to collaborate with your customer, the network, and in a very likable, nice way, work together to get a common vision realized. Television is very difficult to produce as one person. You need the support of creative editors and creative producers. There are many, many creatives in the process underneath you, and you need to be collaborative with them as well. It's too complex and too fast-moving a medium for you to be a micromanaging, over-controlling presence.