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To all the knowledgable minds of game show ideas and behind the scenes action, I need a little help.
My college has a TV station (college is roughly 1200 students) and has been around for three months. Finally after showing movies over and over again, they are asking students for ideas on some original programming. I submitted my name and suggestion and now they want me to pitch the idea to them.
I have been racking my mind on exactly how to show them the game, and I was thinking of letting them play a computer version I found on the internet.
Anyhow, is there any tips you can give me to help sell my idea? It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Rebelwrest
P.S. The game I want to pitch is the British Game Show COUNTDOWN.
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 12:40 PM\']I have been racking my mind on exactly how to show them the game, and I was thinking of letting them play a computer version I found on the internet.
P.S. The game I want to pitch is the British Game Show COUNTDOWN.
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"Here, go to this website, and play this for a while" is not a pitch.
Make up some cards, bring a clock, and actually have them PLAY the game. Bring a laptop with Lexpert installed so you can show them the Dictionary Corner angle. Let them experience firsthand the experience of being a contestant, and interacting with a real person instead of a screen.
And then expect to be shot down because you are pitching a preexisting copyrighted format that they are not gonna pony up the bucks to buy the rights to so they are covered legally.
But at least you'll have actually pitched it instead of taking a half-assed shortcut.
And oh, by the way: One low-power station does not a "network" make.
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Thanks for the suggestion Lemon, I will use cards with letters and numbers so they can actually feel like playing the game.
However, If my game gets accepted, is there anyway to get around the copyright issue.
I ask this because of the many times my college has played games by using Jeopardy, Hollywood Squares, and Family Feud in the titles and with the exact same rules.
Also, we know its just a channel, but a lot of us call it a network. It's just how we talk sometimes.
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 03:40 PM\']To all the knowledgable minds of game show ideas and behind the scenes action, I need a little help.
My college has a TV station (college is roughly 1200 students) and has been around for three months. Finally after showing movies over and over again, they are asking students for ideas on some original programming. I submitted my name and suggestion and now they want me to pitch the idea to them.
I have been racking my mind on exactly how to show them the game, and I was thinking of letting them play a computer version I found on the internet.
Anyhow, is there any tips you can give me to help sell my idea? It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Rebelwrest
P.S. The game I want to pitch is the British Game Show COUNTDOWN.
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You could also:
1. Show them episodes
2. Let them play the home game
I can help you with either or both (mmb5@earthlink.net)
--Mike
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 01:43 PM\']However, If my game gets accepted, is there anyway to get around the copyright issue.
I ask this because of the many times my college has played games by using Jeopardy, Hollywood Squares, and Family Feud in the titles and with the exact same rules.
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Then maybe they don't care about such things. They're small enough that they might think it's no big deal.
Though I ask this: were those done on a broadcast TV station? Big difference between a produced television program and a dormitory activity.
Also, we know its just a channel, but a lot of us call it a network. It's just how we talk sometimes.
Okay, well, if you're at a college, learning television production, you would do well to learn the correct terminology and use it now, lest you look like an idiot when you get out into the real world.
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Whatever you do, don't call it "Countdown".
Lemon has the right idea. Make a tabletop demonstration and play a mock-up game.
I'm not familiar with Countdown. Is it material intensive such that it will require a writing staff of 12 to produce?
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 08:26 PM\']I'm not familiar with Countdown. Is it material intensive such that it will require a writing staff of 12 to produce?[/quote]
Heh. I don't think there exists a less material-intensive game show. The writing for the show consists of one scrambled nine-letter word per half hour (two scrambled nine-letter words if there should be a tie).
That said, is there any realistic chance of this game being picked up? I mean, I love Countdown as much as anyone. But if this is a station that's just been showing movies (i.e., generally non-mentally-stimulating programming), I have serious doubts.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 08:26 PM\']I'm not familiar with Countdown. Is it material intensive such that it will require a writing staff of 12 to produce?
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Not material intensive, not prop intensive (once you make the sets of letter and number cards, you have them forever), not even terribly host-intensive (and you could even get away with a Dictionary Corner cheating with a laptop in this country, I bet)...it's really a fine idea for a collegiate student production....if it weren't a copyrighted property.
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In many respects, I'm in the same scenario...I'd love to do Match Game...have done it as a college basketball between game giveaway thing and it went well...and I think it'd be a fun thing to do at the college. Of course, FremantleMedia would say otherwise, which I respect.
My advice: Study the genre and maybe create your own game or if you feel the need to do a favorite show, use it as merely a springboard...and build many components around it to differentiate it. Hell, game shows steal from each other all the time if you really think about it. Be prepared for a let down, but if it comes off, more power to ya.
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There's a lot of rabble rabble about using copyrighted formats in an educational setting where the production is not for profit...I did a very heavily modified version of Password, complete with a different title, for Millersville University (http://\"http://www.milersville.edu/\") while a student there a year and a half ago. I think they still rerun it.
The head of our comm department okayed it and said as long as we aren't making a profit from the show, we could produce it. Millersville's MUTV (http://\"http://mutv99.com/\") (website designed by a new kid who, while talented, needs to get out more) is not broadcast outside of campus, which eliminates most of the viewing audience who would care about trying to sue us for copyright.
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[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 12:25 PM\']The head of our comm department okayed it and said as long as we aren't making a profit from the show, we could produce it. [/quote]
I hope he at least expressed the difference to you between "nobody at Fremantle will care" and "if you don't make a profit, then it's legal." Because the second one just isn't true.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 04:14 PM\'][quote name=\'mitchgroff\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 12:25 PM\']The head of our comm department okayed it and said as long as we aren't making a profit from the show, we could produce it. [/quote]
I hope he at least expressed the difference to you between "nobody at Fremantle will care" and "if you don't make a profit, then it's legal." Because the second one just isn't true.
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They have a couple of things going for them:
1 The show isn't seen off campus
2. Nobody is watching anyway
3. The producers of Countdown are across the pond
4. Nobody involved with the production of Countdown is likely to be watching
5. It would be a P.R. gaffe for them to come down on a bunch of college students with a full-blown lawsuit. They would more likely send a nastygram.
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Besides, the format is "Des Chiffres et des Lettres" it's the French you need to be worried about.
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[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:47 PM\']it's the French you need to be worried about.
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And how often do we get the chance to say THAT?
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 11:08 PM\'][quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:47 PM\']it's the French you need to be worried about.
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And how often do we get the chance to say THAT?
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"French people piss me off." -- Eric Cartman
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[quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 08:09 PM\']"French people piss me off." -- Eric Cartman
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Damn you for stealing my line.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 12:18 AM\'][quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 08:09 PM\']"French people piss me off." -- Eric Cartman
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Damn you for stealing my line.[/quote]
The good news, of course, is that direct quotes are not eligible for "Line of the Day" honors.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 07:14 PM\'][quote name=\'mitchgroff\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 12:25 PM\']The head of our comm department okayed it and said as long as we aren't making a profit from the show, we could produce it. [/quote]
I hope he at least expressed the difference to you between "nobody at Fremantle will care" and "if you don't make a profit, then it's legal." Because the second one just isn't true.
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Like I said though, the format was very, very loosely based on Password. My show borrowed from Password, Feud, and a little Pyramid. My own format to avoid any problems. And Chris is right, nobody was watching anyway.
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"The last time the French wanted more proof, it came marching into Paris under a German flag". - David Letterman.
Still my favorite anti-french line.
Sorry, I just veered this thread way off course....didn't mean to. Honest.
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Would there be any interest on campus in a game show that requires translations of foreign words?
Maybe like a "Call My Bluff" or "Wordplay" with translations.
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 06:25 AM\']Sorry, I just veered this thread way off course....didn't mean to. Honest.
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I still say that the "France/French" incident from P+ is not that funny.
There, fixed it. :-P ;-)
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France/French...much like In the Butt Bob and Yolanda Coming on Out...it's all overrated.
And, if someone's gonna poke fun at the French, someone call in Monty Python...
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[quote name=\'FOXSportsFan\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 12:02 PM\']France/French...much like In the Butt Bob and Yolanda Coming on Out...it's all overrated.
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The difference is that "In The Butt, Bob", and Yolanda were funny the first time. They just got old the next 67,325 times they aired. France/French had me gaping at the TV the very first time I saw it, saying "THIS is what everyone has been creaming themselves over? THIS?"
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Thanks for the ideas
and the French and in the butt jokes,
but back to the pitch. Mmb5 suggested that i show episodes, but I think it is better if I just show clips of a letters, a numbers, and a conundrum just to show how it would be executed. Is that a good idea?
2. Nobody is watching anyway
Well gee thanks for the put down of my school's channel. My school probably spent tens of dollars to put it up.
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 10:34 PM\']but back to the pitch. Mmb5 suggested that i show episodes, but I think it is better if I just show clips of a letters, a numbers, and a conundrum just to show how it would be executed. Is that a good idea?[/quote]
If your opinion is that they'd be bored watching an entire half-hour, that doesn't bode well for what you intend to produce, now does it?
Personally, I'm still old-school enough to think that the way you get somebody interested is by coming in with a simple mock-up of the game and playing it right there in front of them. Maybe even WITH them. I'm also curious about how hard a sell you need to do. Is there really a cutthroat competition to get original shows on the air? It seems to me that a school channel like that would be grateful for ANY competently produced original programming they can get.
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[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 06:34 PM\']but I think it is better if I just show clips of a letters, a numbers, and a conundrum just to show how it would be executed. Is that a good idea?
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This is what Mike meant. Edit together a three-minute-or-so pitch tape showing the basics of the game, and maybe have a whole episode on a separate tape that you leave with them if they are interested.
Well gee thanks for the put down of my school's channel. My school probably spent tens of dollars to put it up.
Unless you and Mitch go to the same school, 1) Chris wasn't even REFERRING to your station, and 2) he's right, nobody IS watching, and you'd do well to understand this and develop a sense of humor about it.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 11:29 PM\'] 2) he's right, nobody IS watching, and you'd do well to understand this and develop a sense of humor about it.[/quote]
I was of the opinion that "my school probably spent tens of dollars to put it up" showed a pretty well-developed sense of humor about the whole thing. The rest might easily have been sarcasm. Slap your Detector on the side a couple of times, Chris.
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From my experiences, sometimes you can be surprised who watches college channels. When I hosted a debate show in fall 2004, a lot of people on campus and some even about town (we're not closed circuit) recognized the voice and the face...then again, I do tend to stand out in a crowd...yeah...
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[quote name=\'FOXSportsFan\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 01:23 AM\']From my experiences, sometimes you can be surprised who watches college channels. When I hosted a debate show in fall 2004, a lot of people on campus and some even about town (we're not closed circuit) recognized the voice and the face...then again, I do tend to stand out in a crowd...yeah...[/quote]
I have more than twenty years of public access experience, three years of government access experience, and fourteen years (and counting) of educational access experience. I long ago stopped being surprised that people are watching.
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I think it is better if I just show clips of a letters, a numbers, and a conundrum just to show how it would be executed. Is that a good idea?
It's not a good idea because it tells the people taking your pitch that you're going to copy an existing show and if anything will do it, that will raise concerns about copyright issues.
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I'm still old-school enough to think that the way you get somebody interested is by coming in with a simple mock-up of the game and playing it right there in front of them. Maybe even WITH them.
Just out of curiosity, who among us has ever pitched a game show, either using the above technique or some other, or taken a game show pitch? What were the circumstances?
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 03:04 PM\']Just out of curiosity, who among us has ever pitched a game show, either using the above technique or some other, or taken a game show pitch? What were the circumstances?
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Not yet. However, like rebelwrest, I am attempting to pitch an idea to our local college (for those of us Michiganders here, Delta College). Unlike rebel, mine is original. I am waiting to pitch the idea until I have all of the specifics (i.e. set design, payouts, nitpicky stuff.) set and decided on.
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:33 PM\']France/French had me gaping at the TV the very first time I saw it, saying "THIS is what everyone has been creaming themselves over? THIS?"
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And I thought I was the only one who thought that.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 02:04 PM\']Just out of curiosity, who among us has ever pitched a game show, either using the above technique or some other, or taken a game show pitch? What were the circumstances?
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I did, as a senior project. Taped a pilot for the local educational TV station, with the station manager there. Decent enough, and we taped 6 episodes...and that was the end of it, as I choose to cease production (I was getting no additional benefit from it; the only benefit I did get was a front page mention in the Sunday paper).
Would have continued production if the school would have give a damn. But they didn't.
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:50 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 02:04 PM\']Just out of curiosity, who among us has ever pitched a game show, either using the above technique or some other, or taken a game show pitch? What were the circumstances?
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I did, as a senior project. <Snip>
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High School or College?
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France/French had me gaping at the TV the very first time I saw it, saying "THIS is what everyone has been creaming themselves over? THIS?"
And I thought I was the only one who thought that.
I saw it when it was originally broadcast, and I thought it was quite unusual at the time. However, in seeing the rebroadcast on GSN years later, I agree - it didn't seem as "wild" in the rerun as it did originally and I didn't think it was that big a deal. Oh well...I guess things are sometimes different in our memories than they were in reality!
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[quote name=\'PYLclark86\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 03:52 PM\']High School or College?
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High School. I again had the opportunity last year to do some work again--this time as a college sophomore, and be the leader of the high school video club. Unfortunately, no one from the school would sponsor it.
Screw them again...not to mention that I filed a legitimate complaint about unsafe gym equipment with the state athletic union--and subsequently found myself barred from officiating there again.
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 01:31 PM\']Screw them again...not to mention that I filed a legitimate complaint about unsafe gym equipment with the state athletic union--and subsequently found myself barred from officiating there again.
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Imagine that. I believe the expression is "don't sh** where you eat." :)
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:33 PM\']Imagine that. I believe the expression is "don't sh** where you eat." :)
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You just can't get away from that gazpacho, can you?
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:53 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 04:33 PM\']Imagine that. I believe the expression is "don't sh** where you eat." :)
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You just can't get away from that gazpacho, can you?
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Especially that McDonald's Gazpacho to go...ugh.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 11:04 AM\']Just out of curiosity, who among us has ever pitched a game show, either using the above technique or some other, or taken a game show pitch? What were the circumstances?
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I pitched a game show, but only as an academic exercise -- literally, as part of my Program Planning and Programming class at Northwestern. The class had a pitch session with Garry Marshall, for some reason, in attendance. I think we only had 2 or 3 minutes each, so there was no time to actually play the game; all I could do was describe it. I had the scoring in points, and the one suggestion Garry made was to use dollars instead, or maybe it was the other way around. The show was close enough to "The $25,000 Pyramid" that I probably would have been sued by Bob Stewart if it had gone beyond the classroom walls.