Author Topic: How to pitch a game show (Read 12675 times)

rebelwrest · « **on:** February 17, 2006, 03:40:23 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.

clemon79 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2006, 04:05:14 PM »

[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.

rebelwrest · « **Reply #2 on:** February 17, 2006, 04:43:46 PM »

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.

mmb5 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:34:35 PM »

[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

clemon79 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2006, 05:58:34 PM »

[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.
[/quote]
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.

Quote

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.

chris319 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2006, 11:26:22 PM »

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?

Steve McClellan · « **Reply #6 on:** February 18, 2006, 12:09:17 AM »

[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.

clemon79 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 18, 2006, 06:30:07 AM »

[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.

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #8 on:** February 18, 2006, 07:03:15 AM »

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.

tvmitch · « **Reply #9 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:25:16 AM »

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 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 (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.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** February 18, 2006, 07:14:05 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.

chris319 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 18, 2006, 08:31:12 PM »

[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.

Brig Bother · « **Reply #12 on:** February 18, 2006, 08:47:46 PM »

Besides, the format is "Des Chiffres et des Lettres" it's the French you need to be worried about.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #13 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:08:15 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?

dzinkin · « **Reply #14 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:09:18 PM »

[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

Author Topic: How to pitch a game show (Read 12675 times)

dzinkin