Takes One to Know One: Finding An Agent to Represent Your Work in Reality Television… and THEN what?

Greetings, to the blogosphere world-

I’ve been on a somewhat of a five-month hiatus from my program at Full Sail University, and this is my first month back in the saddle again. It feels great to be immersed in learning about the industry once again, and even being able to immediately apply the knowledge. The class that I’m picking up with is Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution. It’s an incredibly practical class offering up invaluable tips and tools in order to get one’s creative worked published or in distribution.

I thought I’d write about some of the things I have been learning in regards to one of my main areas of interest in the industry, which is reality television. One of the first areas we have covered in the class is the topic of agents, and whether or not they are necessary. What I have learned, is in order to get your reality television show pitched, you’ll more than likely need an agent; and in order to get an agent, you’re going to have to prove that you’re experienced and very good at what you do, otherwise an agent won’t give you the time of day. They are only interested in pitching projects to the networks they know will more than likely be a success. So, it sounds to me like it’s almost near impossible to find an agent, which means it might be near impossible to pitch your idea you’ve been dying to share with the world. Incredibly encouraging, huh? ;-)

Well, what if you are indeed one of the lucky that break through and find an agent who is willing to risk their career for a rookie, wet behind the ears, who they see a great deal of promise in? How likely will it be to have your pitch picked up by a network? This week, on Full Sail’s campus, they’ve been hosting a number of industry professional workshops as a part of Hall of Fame week. I sat in on a seminar very creatively titled, “The Reality of Reality Television”, with several seasoned reality professionals including Full Sail 2010 Hall of Famer, Troy Devolld, most well-known for his success with VH1’s number one hit, “Basketball Wives”.

While speaking to the audience, these professionals gave us students some great advice in pursuing our dreams, especially in relation to reality television. One take away I picked up in response to the question I just posed about the likelihood of your pitched being picked up even if you do have a rock solid agent is the importance of having a unique proprietary element, or a unique set of rights you control. An example of this would be pitching a competition reality show centered on a specific well-known host, and having proof that you already have an exclusive contract with that person. Having this sort of proprietary element could make you stand out among the clamoring crowd with the same idea. Be sure that your idea is most likely not new, you’ll just have a key element that gives you clout over the next guy with the identical pitch.

So, with that, my take away from the week is to get out there, network like crazy with people in your field, which could lead to snagging the ever-elusive agent; find your unique proprietary element; be willing to start at the bottom, and you just may find yourself in that boardroom of executives ready to pitch the new best reality series of the season…or at least one step out 472 more, closer. :-)