Are you bringing any talent to the table? No, I’m not being mean. I mean do you have any talent attached to your show.

If your show revolves around a specific person, it could be in your best interest to enter into a legal partnership agreement with them before you begin pitching your show.

But, like most things in life, there can be an upside and a downside to this type of deal and you need to be prepared. …readmore

I got an email from a reader a few weeks ago with a pretty good question. It went like this:

Do u have a producer friend? Seems its best to have a producer on board when pitching to a network. Does the same go for a director?

To start, I’m not going to take issue in this blog with the writer’s grammar, spelling and punctuation.

But the question asked about whether it is advantageous to attach a Producer and/or a Director to a project is a good one. When I was getting started I asked it too, and the answer is pretty darned simple. …readmore

You can’t win if you don’t play

I was sitting in an airport lounge this morning waiting to fly to LA for some meetings and I struck up a conversation with a fella sitting beside me. We were talking about the Super Bowl and gambling and the conversation eventually came around to lottery tickets. He was saying his Mother spends upwards of $300 a month on the lottery.

Apparently she always tells him, “You can’t win if you don’t play.” …readmore

I received the following email the other day and thought I would share it, and my suggestions to the sender, with you.
 
There are a lot of “opportunities” out there where companies are willing to “help” develop your show for you. All you have to do is sign over the show to them and they’ll “take it from here”.
 
I’m not suggesting whether this is right or wrong (this is me covering my ass) but I’ve always thought the best way to get my show made is to develop it as thoroughly as I can hang before I have to sign the rights away. The show stays truer to my vision, and I get a better deal.
 
Here’s the email:

…readmore

After the final no there comes a yes

And on that yes the future world depends.

-Wallace Stevens-

Folks if you stick with this long enough, one day you will hear a “no” when you were sure you were going to hear “yes”. Plain and simple, it’s gonna happen.

I don’t say this to scare you, but rather, to prepare you, so you can ready yourself for that day, because, if you are not ready, it can wipe you out. Your work. Your time. It will be gone because a surprise “no” has the power to make a person want to quit. It can honestly feel like the world has ended.

But the world hasn’t ended. Not even close. …readmore

A friend of mine who recently sold his show to a Canadian production company is thinking about taking his next show to the US. It’s a super cool show and the Trailer is awesome, but he’s wondering if he should get an agent. He thinks it could help him get a better deal than he did his first time out.

I thought you might be interested in a few of his questions and the answers I gave him.

1) Does your agent hook you up with a production company and the broadcaster? Or just the production company? …readmore