Networks do not buy or option completed pilots.

Looking for a lawyer and an agent is a find idea but you're right, taking the
finished pilot around to the networks won't get you anywhere.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

So my best course of action at this point would be to try and sell the script? I'm confident in the quality and in my ability to deliver. I have no illusions of getting what I currently have finished on air, I was kind of hoping that I would be able to use that as a part of my pitch. Show that I'm dedicated enough to the source material to actually spend my own money and time to produce it.

What I guess I'm getting at is that what I'm really trying to sell here is the IP, and most importantly, to keep myself attached to the project.

Do you think this is a possibility?

(Also, thank you very much for your time. ?:)? )

Television is much more difficult to break into than features. For the reason you already know: you can
make a feature film and get it released in the theaters. This doesn't happen with TV. You don't make
a pilot and have it picked up.

1) You write spec scripts for existing hot shows.
2) You get an agent based on those specs.
3) Your agent sends those specs to existing TV shows... but not the ones you wrote the specs for.
4) You get a job writing one of the two "freelance episodes" of some crappy show you would never
consider writing for.
5) That leads to writing other "freelance episodes".
6) That leads to getting a staff job on some awful show.
7) You climb the ladder of shows until you become a staff writer on a good show.
8) You get promoted to head writer of a good show.
9) The production company asks if you have any show ideas?
10) You pull out that pilot you wrote a decade or two ago when all of this started.

So, other than gradually working my way up the ladder, there's no other route I can try my hand at? Hmm... That's a little disconcerting. I've researched shows like Sunny in Philadelphia who shopped themselves (their idea/few completed scenes) around to different networks and got rejected by every single one of them, until they found F/X.

Is self-marketing to industry reps a possibility?

What exactly is the difference between your pilot and an indie short? Find that out and remove those differences. If folks like the short they may easily visualize it as a pilot on their own and that way it isn't wasted.

RJSchwarz

Well, the biggest difference between my pilot and an indie short is length. The final print of the pilot is aprrox. 48 minutes long. Now, from most things that I've read, that's too long to be considered a short, and too short to be considered a feature. I try to remove all nonessential dialogue and glamour shots before calling something 'final', as I'm not a huge fan of films or shows that like to take time showing off production value without moving along with the plot.

I'm a fan of hard work though. So, if things require me to press my nose to the grindstone once again, I really have no problem with that.

You can try anything you want.

If paying your dues is disconcerting to you then you can attempt
the fast track. Check out the VO of the creator of ?It's Always
Sunny in Philadelphia? - he worked for many years as an actor before
getting that show picked up. And he didn?t shoot a pilot or just
have a few scenes - he took the more traditional path of making
connections and shopping his written pilot around for many years.

Self marketing to industry reps is always a possibility. I see no
reason to not make your pilot and give it a try. It?s never
happened before, but why can?t YOU be the first, right?

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

So television is impossible to break into if you're an unknown, hmm? Yeah.

That was something I hadn't thought out when initially pursuing this project. It's been long enough since I've set my mind to it though, that I have an entire first season of the show written out. As RJ brought up, and I agree, I think what I'm doing here is try to take the easy way out by wanting to sell the product that I have 'now', rather than compromising with the way things work, and going out on the independent circuit, or as you (CI) have been saying, and paying my dues.

I've been trying to figure out how to get myself out there in the television world for a while now, and have been actively pursuing it for only the past few months. It's impregnable.

Would it be better, perhaps, to re-imagine and reshoot the script as an indie film, and market it to the festivals instead? It's looking more and more like that would be the more feasible way to get it out there, and seen.

I have a trailer available for anyone who might be interested, just in case you want to put a face to what it is exactly I'm so torn up about.

quote:

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Originally posted by morbidlyfunny

So television is impossible to break into if you're an unknown, hmm? Yeah.

---

It's not impossible and it's not impregnable.

You've been actively pursuing it for the past few months. The guys
who created ?It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? had been actively
pursuing it for several years. From inside the industry. Until
last week you didn't even know the usual path to Show Runner.

Now you do.

Armed with this knowledge you can continue actively pursuing
getting yourself out there in the television world. Frankly,
actively pursuing it from September to January (the past few
months) was destined for failure. You cannot get meetings during
the ?production season?. No one, not even the top show runners
like Dick Wolf and David Kelly can get their pilots seen during
that time.

But I get the impression all you?re trying to do is get your
product seen. That it doesn?t matter where it?s seen - only that
it?s seen.

TV doesn?t work that way. The networks and prodCo?s get more than
10,000 pitches per season. And that?s from insiders, people who
are following the ?pay your dues? path, people who have agents,
who have been staff writers, directors, producers and actors for
several years. And they actually buy around 50, shot around 25
and try out around 15.

So there is no real reason to take a meeting with someone who has
been actively pursuing it for a few months.

No path is going to as quick as you want. But you should at least
try, right?

Make an excellent short that gets picked up as a feature (Napoleon
Dynamite,Saw) and from that position in the industry pitch your
TV series (Ferris Bueller,Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Make a low budget feature that gets picked up at a festival
(Clerks, sex, lies and videotape, Blair Witch) and from that
position in the industry pitch your TV series.

Any way you chose to go, it?s going to take a long time. Think in
terms of several years not several months.

You?ve shot a trailer? When will you make the movie?

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Thank you, CI. I've never actually had the 'paths' laid out right in front of me before. And yes, I'm being sincere. Most of what I've been learning has been through trial and error, and it's nice to talk to someone else who has the same passion as I do.

As for the show, it's already been filmed! I showed it around to friends, family, random people that I met, just to get feedback, and see if word would spread amongst the people that those people knew. I hear interest being expressed from people I've never met before, which I definitely consider a success. Enough interest has been generated by the "pilot" that we put together, at least in my immediate area, that I'm being approached by a couple of low-budget investors (mostly friends, and friends of friends). The biggest problem with the production the way it is now, is that I filmed without professional sound. I'm currently being offered the chance to refilm the whole thing with an actual sound crew, and with a slightly bigger budget (seeing as it won't be completely self-financed.) I guess the thing that's been giving me grief is that, having just finished putting it together, I'm torn between trying to market it as is, or going back, doing some rewrites, refilming, and turning it into a more professional looking (and sounding), feature.

Talking about it here on the boards has definitely clarified some things for me.

The trailer can be found at myspace.com/skeether

I'm not opposed to hard work at all! I love it.