Reports back from America’s largest Reality TV conference
Firstly, you heard it two weeks ago ladies and gents. Never stop filming horizontally. Tiktok is working on making people film horizontal. I saw it in the crystal (media) ball.
More recent updates: Last week, I was in New Orleans for REAL SCREEN, America’s largest reality TV conference .
I was there meeting with agents, buyers and development executives from every major reality production company, about Kold Open’s existing properties and signing them up as new users if they weren’t already on there.
It was a vibe.
I tried a Sazerac, French 75 ; avoided beignets because they looked quite mid and lived inside the Sheraton conference center so that I could get your freaking epic mid form shows seen. I fenagled my way into meeting additional buyers every day by arriving 2 hours early so I could meet more people and at the end of the week the conference organizers knew my name because I was the only person doing this. No shame, no game.
Insights below ~
Info: Getting your mid form show bought by a cable network is a very specific task
Your mid show has to skew old . Cable networks are programming to an older demographic who buy cable because they are familiar with the technology so your IP has to skew older.
Your mid form show has to skew familiar. The behavior of cable users is that they need to be incrementally led into new programming. They are using a cable box because that is what they have always used. They sit down on a TV and press ‘play’ and navigate to different services through the cable portal. They are not adventurous watchers who are used to moving between diverse programming like streaming viewers.
It doesn’t mean that you CAN’T sell it.
It just means you mid form show has to build on existing programming that the cable network already broadcasts and not be too left of field for an A + E or an HGTV. Like what’s similar *but with a twist* (the twist is possibly the most used phrase in development lingo that ever existed).
The cable user is a snail in their movements – keep this in mind as you make your mid form show.
Advice: Have a crazy title for your reality tv show helps it get picked up.
A + E said they’ve picked up shows just because the name is wild. They said a show called ‘Swamp Dicks’ got greenlit because it sounded so crazy.
Reality TV is all about the shock factor and titles are more important than ever to cut through the volume of programming on streaming.
Get weird. Get wild. And if you re-thought your show’s title after reading this. Get on it and email TJ to change it (development@koldopen.com)
Ask: I fixed this Google doc for Cast and Crew resources so you can connect with people in the Kold Open network.
I had the permissions set out as *private*. This is fixed now! Thanks to everyone who emailed me to LMK.
If you want to be connecting with people to make things, add yourself.
Stay cool, stay creative
Georgia Rippin