Sizzle Reel Secret: How We Sell TV Shows

It is a truism of reality TV. There’s no better way to sell a show than to produce a great pitch video. Most pitch reels are low-budget. But, even if you have no money there’s one thing you can do to make sure your tape stands out. In fact, we used this secret to sell many TV shows, and give you three actual examples. PLUS: a bonus graphic tip you can’t live without! Here it is: our own secret revealed… Sizzle Reel Secret: We Do This On Every Tape We Edit On today’s short and focused podcast, we give you the sizzle reel secret we use on every pitch tape we edit. It’s helped us sell numerous TV shows and pilots. This little nugget is also what made us stand out when we were breaking into the industry. Today we explain how we used this secret to sell three different television shows. You don’t need to be a great editor or a terrific graphic designer. It doesn’t matter if you’ve ever edited a pitch reel. In fact, before we understood this technique was a “secret” we used it to cut our first ever pitch reel. That tape earned us a ton of meetings in Hollywood, and lead to our first producer credit. And it was the first one we ever made…using this sizzle reel secret. And stay tuned to the end — we share a graphic tip ANYONE can use that itself is worth the price of admission! NOW… press that giant red “PLAY” button above and make your next pitch tape shine. Transcript Coming Soon! Helpful and Related Links: Steal this Editing Secret to Edit Film and Video Like a Pro – More advice to help you rock the house, no matter what level your editing skills. Pro Tip: Awesome Beginnings – Yet anoter sizzle reel secret to make your pitch tapes shine. Check out What Goes in a Pitch Tape? Should You Make One? Should you take investment money to make a sizzle reel? Sizzle Reels: Budgets, Investors, and More. Want the “cheat sheet” to pitching shows to us? Pitch Shows to Joke and Biagio. DreamJobbing named Producing Unscripted one of the five podcasts to check out in 2016. Dying to show us your Sizzle Reel? Okay — you listened to today’s podcast, made a great tape, and want to share it with us? Here’s how:

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*Named "New and Noteworthy" across all podcasts, as well as TV & Film, Arts, and Education. Subscribe now. Ready to create, pitch, and sell documentary series, unscripted TV shows or reality series and specials? From creating pitch tapes to meeting with TV networks, developing your ideas to discovering reality TV stars, this podcast features tips on working in unscripted film and television that you won't find anywhere else. Get top-industry secrets and even pitch your shows to Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers and Unscripted Television Producers Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina. Recently, the duo have helped both new and experienced producers bring projects to television on MTV, BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL, INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY, A&E, and CNN/HLN. Your show could be next. Subscribe now. ABOUT JOKE AND BIAGIO: With over a decade of experience in unscripted film and television, this married couple has made TV shows, specials, and pilots for CNN, HLN, A&E, The CW, Biography Channel, NBC, CBS, Discovery, Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, E!, IFC, Logo, Oxygen, Style Network, VH1 and MTV. Their feature length documentary DYING TO DO LETTERMAN played in theaters across America, was invited by the International Documentary Association to qualify for Academy Award® consideration, and named “New and Noteworthy” on iTunes alongside The Dark Knight Rises, Brave, and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Subscribers to this podcast will learn the secrets of the Unscripted TV and Film worlds, and how to apply them toward career success. Subscribe today.