Hiring the right crew!

If you are producing a reality series in Los Angeles or Toronto, you won’t have an issue finding a great crew, but if you are working in an atypical television market like Dallas it might be a challenge. Fortunately, Robert knew the crew that worked on another reality series based in Dallas called Cheaters. I didn’t know much about the show, other than they seemed to hold their cameras steady and tended to stay in focus more often than not.

Robert arranged a meeting and we met the crew at Robert’s offices in Deep Ellum. To be frank, I wasn’t impressed with their youth, unprofessional dress or off color remarks. Of course, I have never really talked to a ‘crew’ before so I am not certain what to expect. Robert was running the meeting and decided they were a good fit. He asked them if they would take the job (i.e. production of the pilot episode) and they accepted. I stayed quiet.

Two weeks later Robert called me and suggested that he didn’t think the crew we hired were a good fit for the pilot. I never really got the scoop on what happened, but it didn’t seem to matter so I simply asked what his backup plan was. Robert’s landlord, a television production company called Mad River, was interested in producing the pilot and Robert told me he engaged their services for the pilot. We scheduled a test shoot and to our surprise they backed out of the project, indicating they were not confident that they could produce a reality program (their experience was with commercial work).

I began to ask myself, “is the problem them or is it us?”

We shifted our focus from finding the ‘right’ crew, to finding the right director. After interviewing several local directors with extensive experience directing commercials, I started to get worried again. How were we going to producing a reality pilot in Dallas? It turns out that very few Dallas directors had experience in reality television and the ones who did weren’t available. We could take a risk on a director without experience, but given our budget, timeframe and experience we really needed to find someone who as ‘been there, done that’ on a reality television set.

Robert was working with an agent in Los Angeles who represented a reality television director named Joe Dea. Joe was just finishing a directing engagement with NBC/Bravo for the hit reality series, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Joe is an Emmy-winning director who works primarily in the reality television genre including prime-time network specials for NBC, FOX as well as the TLC his series A Wedding Story. Joe’s reality experience includes:

Knight School with Bobby Knight - ESPN - Director
Disney Lunchtime - Disney Channel - Segment Director
Fool for Love (pilot for Fake-A-Date) - GSN / Montana Prod / Carsey Warner – Pilot Director
Rock & Roll Hotel (pilot) - VH1/Film Garden – Pilot Director
The 5th Wheel - Universal – Field Director
Mostly True Stories - TLC / Burrud Productions – Field Director / Field Producer
Weekend Flash/Man on the Street - Playboy TV – Field Director / Field Producer
Worst Case Scenario - Sony Tri Star / TBS - Field Director
Audio File - Tech TV - Host Wrap Director
Planet TV - Plant Hollywood Ent. - Chuck Cirino Productions – Director
Movies for Guys Who Like Movies - TBS /Norsemen Prod. – Host Wrap Director
Brain Attack (with Stefanie Powers) - A Doctor in Your House.Com - Director
Drive On (pilot) - Warner Bros. - Director
AXN TV - Columbia Tri Star - Studio Host Wrap Director
Extreme World Records - UPN / The Gurin Company - Host Wrap Director
The World’s Funniest Kids - Fox / Brad Lachman Prod. - Field Director
Extreme Weekend - ABC / InterSport - Field Director
Sightings - Fox / Berkley Group - Field Director
Final Vision - NBC / Greystone - Field Director
New Visions of the Future - NBC / Greystone - Field Director
Secrets Revealed - NBC / Dave Bell & Associates - Field Director
Masters of Illusion - NBC / GRB Ent. - Director
Movie Magic - Discovery / GRB - Field Director
World’s Greatest Stunts - Fox / GRB Ent. - Field & Host Wrap Director (4 specials)
MTV Music News - MTV- Field Director / Field Producer
Playboy 360 - Playboy - Field Director
Playboy Behind The Scenes - Playboy - Director / Producer
A Tribute to Ian Fleming - Robert Halmi Jr. / GRB Ent. - Director
Roller Games - Quintex - Field Director

Joe seemed like the real deal and the fact that he was available and interested was even more important. We knew we wanted to hire Joe, but we had two problems: a) he was expensive and b) he lived in LA. Robert negotiated a VERY reasonable fixed price for directing the pilot with an agreement that Joe would get first “dibs” on direction of he series should the program get picked up by a network. Almost 20% of our budget was committed to pay for Joe’s work and his travel expenses.

Of course, we still didn’t have a crew…

Turning your ‘run of the mill’ idea into a ‘high concept’ idea.

Once we had tied up the location and began hearing how great our idea was from every Tom, Dick and Harry in Dallas we began to think that our original concept wasn’t ‘big’ enough. Steve Kaire suggests, “In defining High Concept, we talk about the premise of your story, not what happens in Acts 1, 2 and 3. The premise or logline is the core of High Concept. My comprehensive definition of High Concept is comprised of five requirements, each of which is mandatory. The five requirements are in descending order of importance. Therefore, numbers one and two are the most important as well as the most difficult to attain. But meeting only several of the requirements is not enough. All five requirements have to be met for success in achieving the “slam dunk” project everyone is looking for.” Read more about the five rules here. Of course, we didn’t meet Steve’s five rules and as a result our idea never really made it to ‘high concept’ stage.

Our original idea consisted of six eight-minute segments:

1. What is MotorSport Ranch
2. Driver One Profile (home, office & track)
3. Driver Two Profile (home, office & track)
4. Driver Three Profile (home, office & track)
5. The time trial & reactions
6. The RACE!

The primary story points:

1. What is MotorSport Ranch - History of facility.
2. Who is at the Ranch - why and what do they do there?
3. Who is Jack Farr? Our three drivers?
4. What are the features of the cars?
5. Time trials & race - why three cars? What do we learn?

Cast:

1. Jack Farr - Owner MSR
2. Michael Tari - Hedge Fund Manager
3. Deborah Loth - Dentist/Mother of Three
4. Jon Ward - Software Millionaire

As everyone heaped praise on our silly little idea we began think that our concept had to change if we were going to attract a “real” network to air our show. If we were going to sell our pilot to a “real network” we would need to “up the ante” and improve our intended production values and our overall budget. MotorSport Ranch had to be BIGGER with more people, elimination rounds, lots of sponsorship opportunities and so on. I started calling it “concept creep”. Suddenly our little show began to sound like a “high concept” reality series like Survivor; think, Survivor on a racetrack! So we started to ask, “How much will it cost to produce a network ready pilot in an elimination format?

The answer we came to was $100,000 or more. Of course, our original justification for the pilot did not make sense with the new “reality” that our program was destined for FOX. No network would apply to the series. We really needed a screener or promo reel. After much debate, we decided to shoot the original “small” pilot as downside protection, i.e. we could sell it to an HD network if we were unable to sell the series to a network. We would then take the footage from the shoot and cut a second three to five minute “screener” to use as a sales tool with the networks. Of course, this additional work, plus other changes that we thought were necessary increased our budget to just under $50,000.

Make your idea defensible.

One lesson that I learned very early on was that you need to find something unique about your idea so that you can prevent someone from stealing it. Simply filing you treatment with the WGA isn’t necessarily going to protect you, especially if you don’t have the resources to mount an expensive legal battle. You need something that will force Fox to buy your idea or allow you to produce the show with them. You need a good defense!

If your reality program centers around a celebrity, make sure you ‘lock-up’ the celebrity in the form of a contract (remember to offer your lawyer production credit in exchange for free or discounted legal services). Of course, I hadn’t really thought about how we could defend our idea until I started to get calls from people interested in learning more about our show.

Evidently, as Robert began interviewing potential film crews to join the project word began to spread that we were producing a racing reality series. Dallas is a big city that feels like a small town and like any small town, news travels fast. I knew we were in trouble when a national advertising agency pitched our idea to a major automobile company to see if they would be interested in becoming a sponsor. We hadn’t talked to the advertising agency, nor had we even considered looking for sponsors. I didn’t learn about it until after the automobile company expressed an interest in the idea and the agency called me! They starting asking questions I couldn’t answer and asking for footage that we didn’t have. Then it dawned on us, we hadn’t secured the location.

Anyone could have driven over to MotorSport Ranch, pitched our idea and signed contract locking the location up for THEIR show, effectively locking us out of our own idea. I called Jack Farr, the owner of MotorSport Ranch and scheduled an appointment to get together the next day. Over cheese sticks at Chili’s we struck a deal with Jack and by the end of the week we had a written contract. Basically, Jack agreed to give us exclusive right to film a reality show on his location and in return we agreed to give him a percentage of any merchandise that may ultimately be sold. Of course we didn’t have to offer him anything as the upside a television series about his business might offer would more than offset the hassle we would create.

The moral of the story, when crafting your idea carve out something unique and defensible and lock it/her/him up as soon as possible. If you don’t have anything defensible, keep working on your idea until you find something.

Treatment, screener, or pilot? That is the question.

While writing a treatment is a necessary evil, it really isn’t the best way for a first time producer to market their reality series. Robert was friends with Tanya Norman one of the authors of “Pitching Hollywood, How to Sell Your TV and Movie Ideas” and he asked her to meet us at Starbucks to go over our idea. She was fairly convincing in her argument that it would be VERY difficult to sell our show to a network with just a treatment. Tanya was among quite a few people who thought we really had something and she convinced us to think beyond cable and satellite and consider pitching our show to a major network. We had originally planned to shoot a 30 or 60 minute pilot in HD appropriate for cable or satellite, but our estimated $25,000 budget wouldn’t allow for the production quality required by major networks like ABC, NBC or CBS. Tanya suggested we consider cutting a three to five minute screener instead.

The decision came down two options, a short three to five minute screener that would accompany the treatment or a full-scale 30 or 60-minute pilot episode. The advantage of the screener is that it would be cheaper, around $10,000 to produce. The downside is that you can’t air a screener, i.e. it would be worthless if we didn’t sell the program to a major network. The pilot would cost around $25,000 to produce, but we failed to sell the series to a major network we could eventually sell it to a cable or satellite network. If we ended up selling the show to a major network and had a major budget to work with we could either throw away the pilot or sell it internationally. Robert suggested that we could likely sell an hour long pilot for at least $40,000. If we were successful and were able to sell the series Robert estimated that annual revenues could reach $600,000 per year. Ultimately, we decided to product the 60-minute pilot.

Never swim alone, that goes for reality television production too.

Several weeks had passed since Robert and I first discussed the possibility of producing a reality television show in HD. We had never discussed exactly what we would produce, nor had we discussed what a deal between us might look like. It was time to cut the deal. Robert and I met at Starbucks and hammered out the deal. Robert and I would create a limited partnership that would own the show. Each of us would own 50% of the partnership. I would fund the first $25,000 of production costs (i.e. third party cost without markup) and any production cost over $25,000 would be split equally between each party. The first revenues would go to pay off the first $25,000 plus a 12% return. Second revenues would go to pay 25% profit margin (i.e. on the production costs) to Robert’s company. The final revenues would be split equally. I am not certain this was the best deal I could have negotiated, but it was the easiest deal.

If you accept the fact that the potential upside to producing a television show is fairly limited, but the downside is relatively unlimited, it will immediately make sense to include as many people in your project as possible. My business partner in several other deals is Scott Ryan and I offered to cut him in on the deal offering him 50% if he would cover 50% of the costs. I explained that I might be a bit distracted by the project and that by including him in the upside he the distraction wouldn’t cost him anything on any of our other projects. He jumped on the offer and became my partner in the show as an executive producer.

At this point I was still convinced there was significant money to be made and I wasn’t really interested in cutting anyone else in on the deal. This was a mistake. Ironically, I could have raised the entire amount from friends interested in ‘producing’ a television show. Another thing I learned that you might not realize, production credits cost you nothing, but you can trade them for services or even sell them. For example, offer your lawyer a production credit in exchange for free legal services or at a minimum discounted legal services. My advice? Cut as many other people into your deal as possible. Again, if you are hoping to make money you are sorely deluding yourself. Accept the dilution and get busy making your show a success. Mark Burnett only got paid $455,000 for the first season of Survivor, today he makes $1,000,000 per episode.

So you STILL want to produce your own reality television series?

Most of you will already have an idea for a show, as it makes very little sense to get into television production for the excitement or the money. In my case I didn’t have the slightest idea what sort of program I would produce. Assuming you are like me and don’t have an idea consider this advice: It will be easier if you pick a subject that a) you have some expertise with, b) you care about passionately, c) serves a higher purpose and d) is defensible. Of course, as you will begin to realize, I am much better at giving advice than following advice (mine or anyone else’s).

My own story began in 2005 when a friend made an offhand comment about the cost of producing a television pilot. Each year around eight or ten of my friends get together in Las Vegas for a retreat where we discuss our businesses, our dreams, our families and random topics like politics and craps. On this trip, Robert Bennett and I were sitting at the Hard Rock Hotel pool sipping on gin and tonics discussing a small investment we both had made in a friend’s company. We were lamenting how it was likely a bad investment when Robert suggested that for the same amount he had invested, $25,000, he could have produced a television pilot in high definition. Robert runs a boutique television production company called HD Republic.

During our sun soaked conversation Robert described the state of the HD television market. He described a wide open market, with very little content, thus creating very little reason for anyone to buy television sets. The first HD television sets went on sale in the United States in 1998, but standard definition was the rule until Congress passed legislation that requires almost all U.S. stations to switch to HDTV by February 17th 2009. In 2005 HD content was rare and as a result almost anything filmed in HD could be sold. Robert’s analogy was that the HD market was like MTV in the 80s, if you had a music video you could get it on television. He made a convincing case that if we produced a program in HD, as long as we could keep the camera in focus (not as easy as you might assume) we could find a network that would pay real money to air it.

The wheels began running in my head and by the end of our retreat I had mentally decided to produce a reality television program. I just needed an idea. That evening I saw a news report on illegal street racing and it occurred to me that it might make a perfect concept for a reality series. At first glance it seemed to be the perfect idea: a) having a highly coveted demographic 18-25 year old males, b) universally appealing subject (cars), c) danger (hell, it was illegal), d) it was unique (I hadn’t heard of another reality series focused on the subject) and e) everyone I talked to loved the idea (fyi – your mom is not a great focus group).

Robert stopped by office to go over the idea and after an hour or so of brainstorming it became clear that my idea might not have been as good as I had initially assumed. Of course, as I learned through this process, everyone will have an opinion about your idea. Your job is to figure out who to listen to and who to ignore (you should ignore 90% of all advice). Almost immediately Robert pointed out that illegal street racing was illegal. He had a point. I hadn’t considered the potential liability associated with a reality program about illegal activity and how it might make a trial lawyer’s mouth water. Never one to take no for an answer, I suggested that we might ‘stage’ the illegal street races. I suggested that we could simulate the illegal and street part of the equation by filming on a racetrack. It wouldn’t be illegal and while it wouldn’t be on the street, it would be dark so we could easily make it appear to be a street. I even had the perfect location, a country club called MotorSport Ranch where instead of tennis courts or a golf course they have a race track complete with race track front homes, garages and a clubhouse.

Several days later Robert and I got back together. Robert explained that very few members of our target demographic (18-25 year old males) owned high definition televisions. At the time HDTV owners were males over the age of 35. I also discovered there were about ten other shows about illegal street racing in the works (none of them every aired to my knowledge). My idea seemed less and less appealing. My mom sealed the deal when she told me, in no uncertain terms, I wasn’t allowed to produce a television show about illegal activity (if you are over 25, your mom is almost always one of those 10% I suggest you listen to).

Then it hit me, why don’t we make a reality program about MotorSport Ranch? The idea of illegal street racing was quickly set aside, but form the burning embers a new idea emerged. Ironically, the idea of turning the venue into the show offered us a built in cast of more than 400 members not to mention the staff. It also gave us something that was defensible, the location. The idea was quickly coming together, but I didn’t have a clue how to get started.

You should not consider going into reality television production as a career, ever.

Have you ever rolled out of bed and thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to make a TV show?”  For most of us, even if we had that thought, the realities of our day-to-day lives would overwhelm the idea before lunch. I suspect that this is by design as television production isn’t for the meek and it certainly isn’t for those who aren’t passionate about their ideas.  Of course when I decided to produce a reality television program back in 2005 I had no idea what I was getting into.

Ironically, I decided to make a TV series for all of the wrong reasons.  First, I assumed it would be fun and exciting.  Don’t get me wrong it was exciting, but it certainly seemed a lot more like work than fun.  Second, I quickly learned that is very difficult to break even, much less get rich producing television.  Most professionals in the television business quickly realize that they could likely make more money doing something else, but their passion for television keeps them engaged in the business.  Of course, many producers dream of being the next Burnett, Bunim or Murry.

You might be surprised to learn that Mark Burnett, one of the most successful television producers in history, worked in relative obscurity for almost twenty years before he had critical and financial success.  He began his Hollywood career initially selling t-shirts in Venice Beach and subsequently being a nanny in Beverly Hills.  Mark’s big break was in 2000 when he licensed Survivor to CBS for $455,000 plus a percentage of potential ad revenue.  Today Mark is worth more than $300MM with more than 15 reality television programs under his belt.  Burnett spent eighteen years paying his dues, toiling in the industry before he hit it big.

My point is simply that you should consider television production a hobby and not a career (unless of course you are making it your career and you should stop reading now).  Television production is not an inexpensive hobby, in my case it ultimately cost around $50,000 for the pilot and around $250,000 for the first 13-episode season.  I could have spent less, but just as easily spent a lot more. The good news is that you can likely beg, borrow or steal enough to get started from friends, family and credit cards.  The bad news is that they will want you to pay them back despite the fact that if you are lucky you will breakeven.

Headed to Hollywood…

Bob came over to our offices at the INFOMART to lay out the details for our trip to LA.  Fortunately we were able to plan our trip to visit FOX during YEO University (being held in Santa Monica).  We looked in the hotel hosting the University and we decided that it might be fun to rent a house in Malibu so we start poking around on a weekend rentals website that Bob uses when he vacations.  We found a very cool place in Malibu owned by the creator of what might be called the “first” reality television program: COPS.  We thought that this was a good sign as COPS is a FOX show…

Scott had firmed up our meetings with FOX and Bob agreed to set up a few other meetings with other networks and potential show runners.  I scheduled lunch with Joe (our director) and Paul (his agent).  So we were ready, oh wait - where is that screener?

MotorSport Ranch on FOX?

While Joe Dea was continuing the work on the MotorSport Ranch rough cut we were busy focusing on getting meetings with various networks and potential sponsors.  Our efforts were detailed in My Business Magazine in the May 2005 issue in an article titled A Look Back at how the Internet Has Changed Small Business. 

As I indicated previously, Scott and I own an IT outsourcing business called Architel and we are a member of an organization called EFNT (Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas).  The Director of the organization’s sister is a very senior executive at FOX in the talent department.  Through a referral from our contact at EFNT we were able to schedule a meeting with the Reality TV executives from FOX in LA.  Now the rubber meets the road and we needed our BIG show screener ASAP.  Where was the screener?  

Selling the BIG Show - Here is the treatment…

If you have been following my entries you may remember that we had an issue with our head sizes - i.e. we were getting BIG heads.  Back when my head was getting fairly big we had decided that our simple HD reality show about MotorSport Ranch was not good enough for the networks.  Tayna and Bob had discussed the possibility of an elimination style show and here was the resulting treatment:

Concept:  Luxuriously rustic Texas country club, where eccentric and wealthy members meet, entertain, socialize, and race exotic dream cars and motorcycles. 

Think: Dallas (Miss Ellie & JR) meets The Apprentice meets NASCAR.

Synopsis:  At MotorSport Ranch, our members play neither golf nor tennis.  There is no pool.  We do not host Easter egg hunts.  Just fifteen minutes outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, free from conventional big city confines, this rustic Texas country club boasts a 1.7 mile road course, club house and private garages for members.  Our well-to-do members race supped-up exotic cars, open wheel formula racers and track ready motorcycles.  The Club Pro is a professional formula racer ready take your driving to the next level. 

This is not a Hollywood set!  MotorSport Ranch has been a fully operational country club for racing enthusiasts for the past six years, run by ranch-owner Jack Farr, his trusted ranch-hands and the Club Pro.  Our affluent members are doctors, dentists, lawyer, jewelers, oilmen, and land-barons.  All are serious car racing enthusiasts who periodically escape the real world to compete in their dream cars, which range from Ferraris to Dodge Vipers. 

MotorSport Ranch is the setting for our one-hour, reality show of the same name.  Its well-heeled members are the cast.  As in “The Apprentice” and “The Bachelor,” we begin the season with twenty of our ultra-competitive male and female racecar drivers.  Each have agreed to have their on- and off-track lives filmed in exchange for a chance to win a place on a professional racing team.  Ala “The Apprentice,” our Ranch-owner, his trusted ranch-hands and the Club Pro offer accolades, impart advice and eliminate competitors. 

Each week, we profile MotorSport Ranch competitors and showcase their coveted cars or motorcycles.  Viewers watch members train, socialize, and compete in on- and off-track competitions.  The final segment of the each episode, “The Show Down,” features remaining members in a two-part competition.  Part one is a sponsor-driven event; for example FedEx might provide trucks for each driver to race around the track or Jiffy Lube might provide the drivers with oil changing stations where each driver would have to change their own oil.  Part two is a highly competitive trial of speed.  The winner would receive the penultimate trophy, his moment in the spotlight and a full week of bragging rights.  Most importantly: he, alone, would receive the XM Radio (or other appropriate sponsor) immunity “idol” providing him immunity against the episode’s elimination round. 

On the season finale, one driver will prevail and be awarded The Title, hailed “MotorSport Ranch Champion!” and given a highly coveted spot on a professional racing team.  Tease: He (and perhaps others) will return next season. 

Format:

First Episode (2-hour pilot)—

Introduction to MotorSport Ranch.  Set the scene.  Meet the Ranch-owner, Ranch-hands, the Club Pro, the banker, the investors and the prevailing Title-holder or “top gun.”  Briefly meet each competing member both on- and off-track and behold his (or her) spectacular car or motorcycle.  Initial competition: “Show Down, 1.”  Several drivers are eliminated based on various factors.  Tease season’s future episodes.

Next Episodes—

Set the Scene:  Brief visual review: concept of MotorSport Ranch as a country club.  Re-introduce the Ranch-owner, Ranch-hands and the Club Pro. 

Meet the Members:  Remaining eccentric, affluent members and their dream cars profiled.  Viewers are granted a glimpse into their opulent real worlds.

Practice:  Members prepare for The Show Down.  Viewers are compelled to select and root for their favorites including phone and web voting, SMS, and public events. 

Dinner party:  Members meet and interact in a posh social setting the night before The Show Down.  Dinner party theme and menu will vary.  Alternatively, if Brinker International is interested in a sponsorship we could hold the dinners at the local Chilies right outside of the track. 

The Show Down: The two part, climatic, electrifying weekly race!  Length and style will vary.

Spotlight on the Winner:  Cocktail after-party.  Victor is toasted by members/staff.  The spine-tingling elimination.  Tease next episode.  

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