Format Lab

How do I develop a TV format?

A practical guide to turning a television idea into a repeatable format: define the promise, build the engine, test the jeopardy and prove the returnability.

A television format is not simply a good idea for a programme. It is a system capable of producing good programmes repeatedly.

That distinction matters. “Celebrities learn to cook” is an idea. A format tells us which celebrities, why they are learning, who teaches them, what happens each week, how success is measured, where the jeopardy comes from and why viewers will return for the next episode.

After four decades of producing and developing television, I start with one question:

What does the audience come to see every time?

If the answer changes from episode to episode, the format probably does not yet have a strong enough centre.

1. Define the promise

Write the programme’s promise in one sentence. Not the theme, the subject or a paragraph of backstory. The promise.

For example: every episode, an ordinary family is given one extraordinary chance to transform a part of its life, but it must make a difficult choice to earn it.

That sentence should tell us who the programme is about, what happens and where the tension lies. It should also be easy enough for somebody else to repeat after hearing it once.

2. Find the format engine

The engine is the repeatable sequence that creates the content. It is the part that keeps generating story without the producers having to reinvent the programme each week.

Ask:

What starts the episode?
What decisions must be made?
What creates escalation?
What can go wrong?
What produces surprise?
What resolves the story?
What resets so the format can run again?

A strong engine creates variation within a recognisable structure. Too much structure and every episode feels identical. Too little and you have a collection of one-off films rather than a format.

3. Build real jeopardy

Jeopardy is not shouting, a ticking clock or dramatic music. It is a meaningful possibility of loss.

What can the contributor lose: money, status, an opportunity, control, pride or the chance to continue? Why does that loss matter to them? Does the audience understand it without a producer explaining it in voice-over?

Never bolt jeopardy on at the end. It must grow naturally from the decisions at the heart of the format.

4. Design for casting

Formats live or die through people. Define what your casting team is looking for in behavioural terms, not demographics alone.

“A man aged 25–40” tells me very little. “A natural risk-taker who believes instinct beats expertise and hates losing in public” gives the format something to work with.

Good casting creates contrast, choices and consequences. It should not require contributors to behave falsely in order to serve the structure.

5. Run the episode on paper

Before spending money, simulate several episodes. Use different contributors and outcomes. Work through the running order minute by minute.

Where does the energy fall? Can a contestant avoid the key decision? What happens if everybody succeeds, everybody fails or the obvious favourite leaves early? If one unusual result breaks the whole show, the format is too fragile.

Do not test only the ideal episode. Test the awkward one.

6. Prove returnability

One excellent episode is not enough. A buyer needs to see a series.

Create at least ten credible episode examples. Then ask whether episode ten feels genuinely different from episode one while still delivering the same promise. Consider whether the casting pool is deep enough and whether the production can sustain the idea at the intended volume and budget.

7. Make production part of development

The best creative solution is useless if it cannot be made safely, legally, repeatedly and affordably.

Test the number of locations, contributor duty of care, edit burden, access, rights, specialist equipment and turnaround. A format that only works with unlimited money is not yet a television format; it is a wish list.

8. Capture the format, but do not bury it

Once the engine works, document it. The treatment sells the vision. The format bible protects the knowledge needed to reproduce it.

But do not mistake documentation for development. Twenty beautifully designed pages cannot repair a weak engine. Get the programme working first. Then explain it clearly.

The real development process is a loop: define, build, simulate, expose the weakness, improve and test again. The aim is not to prove that your first idea was right. The aim is to discover what the programme needs to become.

That is the principle behind my Premortem™ approach: imagine the format has failed, identify the reasons before they become expensive, then redesign the weak points while there is still time.

Think your format works? Let’s try to break it before the commissioner does.