How to Pitch an Interview to a TV Show
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Who, what, where, when, why and how?Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
Make a list that covers all the "W" questions about you and your endeavor and keep the answers short. For many ideas, "how" is the most complicated, time-consuming question and you need a clear, well-defined answer prepared. Identify and highlight those aspects that make your story different from others in the same field, whether you're selling a product, soliciting donations for a charity, marketing a new book, trying to start a political party or preparing unusual summer cocktails. - 2
Timing is everything.Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images
Discuss why it's important that viewers know about this topic right now. Don't force a contrived connection, but find a way to tie your story to an upcoming event or a topic of current conversation in the community. Leverage the historical record of your subject to match important dates with relevant topics. - 3). Highlight the visual aspects of your list, taking note of ways to use video, photography, charts, graphs, animations and other creative ways to express your idea visually. Explain as much as you can using visuals instead of speeches.
- 4). Get your feet wet in local TV before you set your sights on a national interview show. When you find a show you want to pitch, watch it all the way through for at least a week (watch weekly shows for at least a month). Become familiar with the personalities and appeal to their tastes in your pitch.
- 5). Say your most important slogans and sales pitches out loud, in conversation, like a normal person. If they don't sound normal, rewrite them until they do. Make it interesting, but don't make it obviously scripted. Optionally, if you have access to a camcorder, use it to evaluate your on-camera speaking and presentation skills. Show it to friends and family and ask for help in polishing your image.
- 6). Start with your most important accomplishment or strongest appeal, tailoring your opening sentence to an understanding of the show itself and how your idea is a natural fit. Your pitch is a marriage between your goals and the goals of the producer of the TV show. Getting the producer's attention with the first sentence is an immediate sign that the audience can be grabbed by the subject you're pitching.
- 7). Organize your concept into three to five separate sections with very short topic headlines, a brief description of the topic, one possible question for the host to ask and a description of one visual that can accompany your answer in each section. The first section is your most important message and the last section should include an appeal to the viewers and concrete steps they can take to put that appeal into action. Close with a short biography of yourself and any partners in your endeavor and add Web links (if possible) to relevant information about your pitch and to any previous on-camera interviews that show you at your best.
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Build your contact list but use it wisely.Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
Call TV stations and cable news channels directly and ask for the contact information for the booking department. Ask for someone who produces the show you're interested in if there isn't a booking department, which is the case with many independent production companies. Once you have someone who knows the show and/or the process on the phone, ask if he is open to unsolicited pitches, get all the contact information you can and be as accommodating as possible. Do not try to do the whole pitch over the phone. - 9
Multiple producers? Try contacting more than one but don't spam the office.Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
Email your pitch and follow up, but not every day. If you haven't heard anything back, send the pitch again the following week, and if you still get nothing back, adopt a schedule of updating the pitch (with new info or snappier writing) and sending it fresh every other week. Eventually, you will either get a call requesting more information or you will be accepted or rejected outright. - 10
Update your pitch with new information every time you send it. Don't take rejection personally, and don't write with a grudge. You may not fit their needs this month, but suddenly be the best fit for a segment next month, or you may receive a call by a different producer after weeks of being ignored -- start small and be flexible.
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