You’ve probably dreamt about it when you should be sleeping. Daydreamed about it when you should be working. So what happens when a production company calls to say they want to shoot some footage for your show?
First, if you think you’re going to get a call saying “We’ve got the green light. It is a go.” you’re probably not going to get that much clarity. (that’s why I was waiting to find out if I was being Punk’d)
If you’ve watched the videocasts you know about the text message and my beers with the EP in NYC – but it was the process after that, that was practically tormenting.
There were cryptic texts back and forth before I finally got a message saying. “They’ve asked for a demo.”I texted back “Is this the green light text I’ve been waiting for?” The reply? “Well they’ve asked for it so it should happen, but until we roll camera anything can happen.”What the hell?!?
A big part of the shoot is scheduling. It has to work for everyone, and it has to work for the show. We went from trying to shoot in May, to trying to shoot in June, to definitely shooting in July, to actually shooting in mid-August. (it was not a really relaxing summer at my house)
As we pushed forward there was an incredible amount of business to take care of.
To preserve your sanity one of the most important things you can know about the process is there are way more steps to getting to a shoot than you can anticipate.
If you think there is only one “yes” or “no” decision to be made, there are probably five.
If the Broadcaster is paying for the shoot like what just happened with my show, you have to negotiate the deal that will stand if the show gets picked up. It is a long process of back and forth and you absolutely need an entertainment lawyer and an agent – so this is when your networking pays off. I was able to make a call and have a lawyer lined up in LA the same afternoon.
It’s a tough process as your lawyer needs to fight to get you the best deal, but you need to ensure you don’t damage the working relationship with the production company and Broadcaster, because if things go well you will be working with them for years to come.
There are too many small steps in this process to go through them all in this blog, but the main thing for you to know is, expect along process. Don’t get sucked into thinking“All I need is one more ‘yes’ and I’m set.”It can feel painful because you are so close to your goal, and you’ll most likely feel like you seem to only be getting about half the answers you want.
But if you set your expectations,and know that there are people working for you and your show at the production company and the Broadcaster – they just do not have time to fill you in on all the little steps, that should help you from driving yourself and everyone else around you absolutely frickin’ nuts