Reality TV for Writers
Models, chefs, washed-up celebrities, survival fanatics, clothing designers, hair stylists, drag queens, singers, dancers, wedding cake makers--they all have reality shows. So why not writers? Writers are getting ripped off two ways. First, it takes fewer on the payroll to create so-called reality shows. Second, we don't have a show of our own to cull the herd and name a 'winner' from a dwindling pool of misfit, amateur, celeb wannabes (which we all are whether we like it or not). Well, now's your chance! Sharpen your keyboard and oil your pencils. Bravo network is looking for a new reality show and it could be yours! The rules:
1. This is prose and it should be written as a story, not a script. (Think Jerry and George go to NBC to pitch their idea--a brilliant sequence of the Seinfeld series where they actually pitch a Seinfeld-esque show to fictional NBC execs--like an Escher painting on video.)
2. Create character(s) to give the pitch and network big-wigs to do the catching or refusing. Make the execs tough, remember they're looking to make a buck and score ratings. Give this story drama, humor, make characters squirm, whatever. Drag me into the room and make me feel it.
3. How will the pitch-session end? Will the show get picked-up by Bravo or burned to a crisp like a wastebasket full of rejection letters?
Some things to ponder about reality show:
Give it a name; who would the judges be; what's the show's format (remember, this has to entertain a lazy TV audience; there should be drama, mishaps, contestant backstabbing, artificially silly deadlines and requirements, those sorts of things); what will the contestants write and how will it be judged; what will they win?
Be creative, think outside of the pencil box.
Minimum of 1,500 words, maximum of 3,500. No poetry, no scripts.
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool which is based on the number of entries. The second and third place winners will each share the remaining prize pool. The prize pool is currently 20.00 member dollars. There are 8 spots still open. If all open spots are used the prize pool will be 60.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Monday, May 18, 2009.
Full Contest Listing
1. This is prose and it should be written as a story, not a script. (Think Jerry and George go to NBC to pitch their idea--a brilliant sequence of the Seinfeld series where they actually pitch a Seinfeld-esque show to fictional NBC execs--like an Escher painting on video.)
2. Create character(s) to give the pitch and network big-wigs to do the catching or refusing. Make the execs tough, remember they're looking to make a buck and score ratings. Give this story drama, humor, make characters squirm, whatever. Drag me into the room and make me feel it.
3. How will the pitch-session end? Will the show get picked-up by Bravo or burned to a crisp like a wastebasket full of rejection letters?
Some things to ponder about reality show:
Give it a name; who would the judges be; what's the show's format (remember, this has to entertain a lazy TV audience; there should be drama, mishaps, contestant backstabbing, artificially silly deadlines and requirements, those sorts of things); what will the contestants write and how will it be judged; what will they win?
Be creative, think outside of the pencil box.
Minimum of 1,500 words, maximum of 3,500. No poetry, no scripts.
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool which is based on the number of entries. The second and third place winners will each share the remaining prize pool. The prize pool is currently 20.00 member dollars. There are 8 spots still open. If all open spots are used the prize pool will be 60.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Monday, May 18, 2009.
