WHAT'S THE STORY OF YOUR BUSINESS? IS IT A TV SERIES?

One of the strangest by-products of working in television is you often meet non-tv people who still seem mystified by how television is made. Even with a lifetime of watching television and now the relentless “consuming of content” across all devices, most consumers are unaware of how television programmes are actually put together. Non-tv people will often pitch me their “best ideas'' along the lines of this one received through Facebook only a few weeks ago from an old high school acquaintance, who runs a catering company: “hey pal,I have had an idea floating in my head about a script... Think The Menu but scumbag politicians and NRA … and they are all taken out…” This is a film pitch, not tv (there is often confusion between tv and film!). Either way, there is very little detail in that pitch. I told him I’d think about it…! 

Everyone appears to be fascinated by how film and television is created, perhaps even more so now. In 2022, 82% of global internet traffic came from video. This is not just funny cat videos (though that’s probably quite high!). Of course, year on year, more and more people are consuming information from online content, from news to instructional videos - so why does television advertising still command the highest price for advertising despite the fact it reaches far fewer people and perhaps even less targeted consumers? Why does traditional tv still rule? Part of the reason may be television’s ability for storytelling, efficient and emotive and technically proficient. High value stories are not as prolifically discovered on the world wide web unless they are part of corporate streaming platforms from the major studios. The convergence of linear tv and its online counterpart is more or less complete. 

Many smaller businesses, who might have in the past promoted their business through local television, are also looking for less traditional forms of advertising. As always, and especially in a saturated market, everyone is trying to stand out. But the previous 30 second advert model does not seem like the greatest value for money when for the same budget, your business can generate hours of short form content through vlogs. That content will only end up online, and although the analytics are easier to access than through traditional television advertising, is it just the concept of “prestige” keeping businesses in this system?

A 30 second advert is a highly compressed story, so why not engage your tribe - for the same budget - in hours of storytelling across weeks and months at a time?

Naturally, businesses want to match any advertising (stealth or otherwise) to their core brand and those consumers who share the same belief system. If your brand message is buried within a short or long form story series, it is more subversively and subliminally woven in and paired with your target audience. Over time, experts believe, this engagement will result in a greater number of new customers in addition to its core customers. 

The end of 2019 I was introduced by an old friend and script writer in LA, John Sullivan, to a New Jersey real estate investor named Jonathan Steingraber. He is a motivational speaker and runs his own real estate brokerage with his wife, Michelle Pais. Jonathan handled the construction side of the renovations while Michelle dealt with the sale of the property after it was completed. Jonathan was often frustrated by the excessive time it would take to renovate a simple ranch style or 2 story property, which ultimately affected his profit. Of course if he could reduce the renovation period, he would increase the profitability. But how much could this period be reduced to? Jonathan believed 24 hours was possible, should there be enough tradesmen on site at any one time. Jonathan also believed this 24 hour “flip” could make for arresting television. I was brought in to transpose this concept into a filmable script that would result in a compelling property renovation reality series and crucially, a repeatable format. If we could pull it off, and sell the pilot episode to a US broadcaster, it would serve as national exposure for his business in addition to the money he could earn from flipping properties in 24 hours for the series.

A year later after editing two full non-broadcast episodes, approaching countless distributors (most of the offers to buy the format were i.e. “give us everything and you get nothing, are you ok with that?”) a deal was struck with an established production company in L.A. Another year was spent negotiating the contracts and in turn, the production company re-working the format and presentation materials before landing their own deal with the A&E Network. A year later, the first season’s 12 episodes are now currently broadcasting. Even an easy sell idea took three years from script to screen (and legal fees). So, are you still interested in promoting your business through a tv series? If time and development money is not a consideration then that’s perhaps the quickest route to market. But from my experience there is I believe a faster and more affordable turn-around solution. The first question is, what is the story of your business? 

In my next articles I will step you through a brief development period that will I hope help you determine the best approach be it short, medium or long form storytelling. Content creation is effective but story, as they say, is king. 

24 Hour Flip can be seen on A&E’s Home.Made.Nation Channel

https://www.facebook.com/HomeMadeNation/videos/720772939757118

If you would like one-on-one help with your business story, you can reach direct james@stormlight-studio.com