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How Can I Get My TV Pilot Picked Up?

July 21, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Dear Lopy:

I just made a pilot for a big (OK, big-ish) TV Network, and it was rejected for being different from other TV shows. How can I get it picked up by another network?

Signed,

Hapless in Hollywood

Dear Hapless,

Here’s how to get your rejected pilot picked up by another network, in six easy steps.

1. Make sure that, in the past, you’ve created other well-done and successful television shows, like, for example, Scrubs.

2. Create a pilot that makes fun of the current TV climate, but use your previous trick of centering a show around a realistic (but funny) male friendship. Make them kind of nerdy, so that the most vocal online niche can identify.

3. Make sure that the network that rejected the pilot goes away, or gets squashed into a brand-new network: that way other networks aren’t technically picking up someone else’s rejects. It also helps if that brand new network has a terrible name.

4. Leak it to YouTube. Or don’t leak it to YouTube yourself — plausible deniability is always a good thing — but have a pretty good idea of who did the leaking, nudge nudge wink wink.

5. Act surprised when it’s discovered. Don’t act surprised when people like it, and it becomes a huge online hit.

6. Do it now, while YouTube is still wild and free, and before it gets gobbled up by one of the huge corporate entities that alternately curses and strokes it. After that, it will probably be like MySpace, which peaked out about 1.365 nanoseconds prior to the moment Rupert Murdoch got his grubby hands on it.

If you follow these steps, your pilot will get picked up. After that, it’s up to you to turn it into a successful series. Good luck.

  • NBC revives ‘Watching’

Filed Under: Dear Lopy, Television, YouTube Tagged With: bill-lawrence, NBC, nobodys-watching, scrubs, YouTube

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. david says

    July 26, 2007 at 3:49 pm

    Hi,

    Can you send me your pilot for an internet network use ?
    Best
    David

  2. mean girl says

    September 2, 2007 at 8:13 pm

    I’ve just finished writing my pilot,how do i get a network to look at it.

  3. Roo says

    October 12, 2008 at 8:02 am

    That is NOT how to get your pilot picked up. You suck.

  4. Carolyn says

    November 13, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    We just created a t.v. pilot on home decor that coordinates with an ecommerce website we’re building. Does anybody know the best way to find a list of distributors or agents to contact?

  5. Gman says

    February 24, 2011 at 7:38 pm

    What the fuck? The trick to getting your pilot picked up is to already be the creator of Scrubs? You’re an asshole.

    “I want this pilot picked up. I better make sure I’m already a successful TV producer. Am I? No. Oh well, I give up!”

    You’re an idiot.

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Previously on Medialoper

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