First off you understand it is not easy, if it were, everyone flipping burgers would be doing it. The process is somewhat like pitching a script for a movie but different in its own way. It can be done with hardheaded determination.
The first thing you need is an idea. They say everything old is new again, so it better be with your pitch for your show. It can be a western but it has to be a fresh western with a twist. Then you have to think if you want it to be a serial, drama, comedy, reality show, etc.
One you figure out what the show is, who is the audience? Is there a large enough demographic where a network or studio will want to sink money into it? Is your show costly to make? Will it work without ‘A’ list actors? You have to rake your project over the coals because if you get to actually pitch it, you do not want the execs to dress you down because you have not crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I’.
Then the next best thing you can do is find a good agent, and one that will work for you and not just siphon your money away. You can try to send it to networks and such without an agent, so long it is their policy (and not many do). The agent (a good one) will know who the shot callers are and whose hands or face to get your project in front of. Knocking on doors will never work, if they did not ask, they do not want to see it. Even some agents are that way, you might have to contact them with a cover letter and a short pitch of your idea to get them hungry to go pitch it for you; I would say if they are too eager to pitch anything you place before them without giving it a hard stern look, they are not going to do you any service.
There are conventions (most of which were in Vegas that I knew of) where media execs, station reps, people pitching pilots, etc. congregate and meet and greet. If you go to those events, be armed with your pitch, cover letter, a short synopsis, and three full scripts (if they are like movie exec they want to be able to see you can actually write and not be a ”one hitter quitter”). Practice your ”elevator pitch”, where you can bang out 90% or more of your idea in 90 seconds no more than three minutes tops. Even if you were not at the convention but in LA because an agent sent you there, you could be riding an elevator or bump into in the lobby an exec you were not scheduled to meet and they may somehow ask if a conversation ensued. Not that you have the budget, but if you had a pilot shot and in visual form that they can view easily it helps, but like a record demo, it has to be top quality or skip it.
If you do get the pitch, prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. You do not want to be blindsided by a question about location, technical attributes, how the characters fit together and not have an answer, or worse, fumble through your own project as if you do not really know it, equally bad would be if they found glaring errors in it that you should have seen but missed. Hardly anyone will judge you for having notes, at least they will see you came prepared
Be on time, their time is valuable. You don’t know, they might have squeezed 15 minutes between something for you and if you show up 10 minutes late, there is only 5 minutes left and you get no pitch (and might not get another bite at that cherry). DO NOT diss ANYTHING that producer, network, studio has done in the past even if you thought it was one of the dumbest ideas that ever came from them. To do so you are saying your crap smells much sweeter than the stuff they had before and if it isn’t, you will leave with way more stink on you than the stuff someone actually got paid for. It is better the be confident than arrogant. Let them finish, whatever they are telling you, even it if seems they are criticizing your project or have it wrong, cutting in to ”correct them” might get you shown the door with your hat quicker, or not even considered.
Let the project speak for itself, it will live or die by how good it really is. To try to oversell it or yourself is a recipe for disaster. What can be worse than trying to bill something as the next MASH, only to have the person you are in front of you not see it that way, or worse, their peers tell them or agree with them your project is weak. If it is good, tight, fresh, and innovative then it will stand out over the schlock you felt they put out in the past.
Good luck.
My consultant fee is 60% of whatever the network pays you ~~~
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