Wow.
I just watched four (4!!!!) outstanding demos for four different shows. They were incredible. What was so fantastic about them? I’ll tell ya…
Each demo covered four vital subjects: Characters, Settings, Stakes, and Stories, and showed me how they could sustain the subject matter (inclusive of the four points above) for a season or more.
Each demo showed a TV show. Not an idea. A show.
Each one took me deep into the subject’s world, and that is what building a successful pitch is about: showing the world, drawing in the viewer, and making that viewer want more.
If you haven’t properly prepared your show, you simply cannot achieve that draw. And by “properly prepared”, I mean worked through a season of episodes to make sure it actually works as a TV show and not a one-off documentary, and answer the questions the Execs are going to ask before they get asked.
I see so many pitches that are fine ideas, but they are pitched while they are still just ideas and not shows. If a pitch is not covering those four elements and showing the ability to run for multiple seasons the pitch isn’t ready.
By doing the work and answering the questions before they were asked the person who created these show demos is separating himself from the hordes of people who are out there pitching ideas in lieu of shows.