Author Topic: How to pitch a game show (Read 9738 times)

clemon79 · « **Reply #15 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:18:15 PM »

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 08:09 PM\']"French people piss me off." -- Eric Cartman
[/quote]
Damn you for stealing my line.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #16 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:19:37 PM »

[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
[/quote]
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.

tvmitch · « **Reply #17 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:54:42 PM »

[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.

tvwxman · « **Reply #18 on:** February 19, 2006, 06:25:04 AM »

"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.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #19 on:** February 19, 2006, 10:15:59 AM »

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.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #20 on:** February 19, 2006, 02:07:24 PM »

[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 ;-)

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #21 on:** February 19, 2006, 03:02:03 PM »

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...

clemon79 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 19, 2006, 03:33:13 PM »

[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?"

rebelwrest · « **Reply #23 on:** February 19, 2006, 09:34:04 PM »

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?

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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.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #24 on:** February 19, 2006, 10:28:14 PM »

[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.

clemon79 · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2006, 10:29:57 PM »

[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?
[/quote]
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.

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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.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #26 on:** February 19, 2006, 10:37:34 PM »

[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.

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #27 on:** February 20, 2006, 12:23:44 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...

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #28 on:** February 20, 2006, 09:34:29 AM »

[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.

chris319 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 20, 2006, 01:59:31 PM »

Quote

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.