> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.formatforward.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # I Have an Idea for a TV Show. How Do I Get It Made? - URL: https://www.formatforward.com/i-have-an-idea-for-a-tv-show-how-do-i-get-it-made/ - Published: 2026-10-13T09:58:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T09:58:05.000Z - Description: The honest answer for formats, reality and game shows, from someone who still hears two or three pitches a week. - Author: Jonathan Glazier - Tags: ToolKit, TV Formats, HOW TO ## The short answer You can't sell an idea. Broadcasters and streamers don't buy ideas from members of the public, they buy shows from production companies they trust to deliver them. So your job is not to get your idea on air. It's to turn it into something a production company wants to take to a buyer. I ran Light Entertainment and International Formats at the BBC, and I still hear two or three pitches a week as a consultant. Most of them are good ideas. Very few of them are formats yet. This piece is about closing that gap. One note before we start. Most advice online about getting a TV show made is written for scripted drama and comedy, where the route is a spec script, an agent and a writers' room. This is about unscripted, formats, reality, quiz and game shows, where the rules are different. ## 1\. An idea is not a format An idea is a premise. "Strangers live in a house and vote each other out" is an idea. A format is the machine that turns that premise into the same show, every week, for years, in any country. A format answers questions an idea doesn't: - **What happens in every episode?** The repeatable structure, rounds, tasks, eliminations. - **What's at stake?** Money, a prize, a relationship, pride. Something viewers can feel. - **Why watch to the end?** The jeopardy and the reveal that hold people through the ad break. - **Why come back next week?** The series arc, who's still in, who's going home. - **Why make a series two?** Can it refresh with new contestants without wearing out? That last one matters more than people think. A big launch that never gets a second series is not a success. Buyers know this, and they read your idea through that lens from the first page. ## 2\. Who actually buys, and who you actually pitch There are two different people here, and most new creators confuse them. - **The buyer** is the commissioner at a broadcaster or streamer. In the UK that's the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and the streamers. They pay for the show. They will almost never take a pitch from someone without a production company behind them. - **The production company** is who you pitch first. They take your idea, develop it, attach talent, and pitch it to the buyer under their name and track record. If it's commissioned, they make it. Commissioners aren't being snobbish. They're signing off budgets that run into the millions, and they need to know someone can actually deliver 10 episodes on time and on budget. Your idea is the start of that conversation, not the whole of it. So the real question isn't "how do I get the BBC to hear my idea?" It's "which production company makes shows like mine, and how do I get them interested?" ## 3\. Getting a production company on board 1. **Make a shortlist.** Watch the credits on shows like yours. Note who made them. Ten companies that genuinely make your kind of show beat a hundred that don't. 2. **Check how they take ideas.** Some have a development inbox, some only work through contacts, some won't look at unsolicited material at all. Respect what they say. 3. **Find a person, not an inbox.** Look for the head of development or a development producer. A short, specific note to a named person gets read. 4. **Lead with the hook, not the backstory.** One line on what the show is, one on why it's right for them. Offer the one-pager, don't attach a 20-page bible. 5. **Expect silence, and keep going.** Development teams are small and stretched. No reply usually means busy, not no. If you have a real edge, use it. Access to a world nobody has filmed, a talent attached, a brand willing to fund it, or a following that proves an audience exists. Those move an idea up the pile faster than polish does. ## 4\. What to put on paper Start with one page. If you can't make it work on one page, more pages won't save it. - **Title and logline.** One sentence that tells me what I'd see on screen. - **The hook.** What's new here? What does this do that the shows already on air don't? - **How an episode works.** The structure, start to finish, in a few short paragraphs. - **The stakes and the jeopardy.** What can be won or lost, and the moment that keeps people watching. - **The series arc.** How it builds across the run and how it ends. - **Who it's for.** The audience and the channel or slot you think it fits. A format bible, a deck or a sizzle tape can come later, usually once a production company is involved and paying for it. Don't spend your savings on a taster tape before anyone has said yes to the page. ## 5\. Red flags, and protecting your idea **Pay-to-pitch.** Be very wary of anyone who charges a fee to "submit" or "present" your idea to broadcasters. Commissioners don't take ideas through these routes. Paying for honest feedback or development help is a different thing, as long as nobody is promising you access to a buyer. **Can someone steal my idea?** In the UK there's no copyright in an idea, only in the way it's expressed. Even a detailed format is hard to protect. Hughie Green lost his claim over the format of Opportunity Knocks in 1989 for exactly this reason. So: - Write it down, in detail, and keep dated copies. - Keep a record of who you sent it to and when. - Expect to be asked to sign a release form before a company reads it. That's normal. - Don't expect a production company to sign your NDA. Most won't, because they're already developing dozens of ideas and similar ones turn up all the time. The honest truth is that two people having the same idea is far more common than theft. Your best protection is being the person who has done the work to make it a format. ## Test it before you pitch it Most formats that fail don't fail in the edit. They fail on the page, in the questions nobody asked before the pitch. What happens in episode five? Why would anyone come back for series two? What does this do that the last three shows like it didn't? If you want to find those weak spots before a commissioner does, that's what the Format Pre-Mortem is for. And if you're ready for the next step, read How to pitch a TV show. ## Common questions **Can I pitch my TV show idea directly to the BBC or ITV?** Not in practice for unscripted. UK broadcasters commission from production companies, so your first pitch should be to an indie that makes shows like yours. **Do I need an agent to sell a reality or game show idea?** No. Agents matter more in scripted. In unscripted, a production company is your route to the buyer. **Can someone steal my TV show idea?** Ideas aren't protected by copyright in the UK, only the way they're written down. Keep dated, detailed records of your format and who you sent it to. **Should I make a sizzle tape before I pitch?** Usually not. Get interest in the one-pager first. A tape is normally made with a production company once they're on board. **How long does it take to get a TV show made?** From first pitch to transmission, often one to three years, and most ideas don't get there. Development is slow and very few ideas are commissioned. --- **Jonathan Glazier** Format creator and executive producer, altmedia TV format consultant and former BBC Head of Light Entertainment and International Formats *I am dyslexic and AI helps me make this readable. The thoughts and opinions are my own. There are no auto-generated articles and I read and research with rigour.*