How to Pitch a TV Show Like a Pro [Free Pitch Template]

What You Need to Pitch a TV Show Successfully

What you need for a pitch

A question we often hear is: How do you pitch a show to Netflix when you’re just starting? The key is having polished materials and a focused, sellable concept. When you walk into "the room," you'll need a few essential materials. Sure, the idea is burned into your brain, and you know the story up and down — but that's not enough. 

First of all, if you've landed a pitch meeting, your idea needs to be fully developed. The first lesson in how to pitch a TV show is to have a TV show to pitch! If you jumped the gun and need to take a few steps back, don't worry — we've created an entire masterclass on writing and developing a TV show.

Now that you're ready to pitch, let's go over what you'll need. There are three elements that you should have in hand before stepping through the door: a logline, a show bible, and a pilot.

Write a compelling TV show logline

One of the first things people ask is, how do you pitch a TV show idea that stands out? It often starts with a clear, emotional, high-concept logline. The logline is the simplest and most direct sales pitch. It is a one-to-two sentence summary of your entire story. Sound easy, right? But writing loglines is deceptively difficult, so start practicing.

TV Logline Examples:

• Stranger Things — When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his three friends must confront terrifying forces to get him back.

• Ozark — A financial advisor drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a Mexican cartel.

Let's explore loglines a little further with this breakdown.

How to create a show bible

You should also invest some time learning how to create a show bible. The show bible is an opportunity to flesh out your idea and to prove to those executives that you've done your homework. 

Here's a cool show bible example for Montauk, which would eventually become a little show you may have heard of: Stranger Things.

This video explains how show bibles work in greater detail.

Writing a pilot episode that sells

It's one thing to pitch a TV show, it's another thing altogether to write one. Writing a pilot, you've successfully taken this idea and put it into a viable form. The logline and show bible simply suggest an idea — the pilot turns it into a reality.

Read some pilots for The Office, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones to see how those successful shows got started.

These elements qualify as the "content" of your pitch, but now we need to discuss your "presentation" of it. In the next section, we'll provide some tips and strategies for presenting the perfect pitch, including some Q&As with executives and producers who have seen it all.

How to Pitch to a Network or Streaming Service

How to pitch a TV show to a network

The short answer? Come armed. What does that mean? Visuals. Spoken words and words on the page don't have the same kind of impact as images.

Want to know how to pitch a TV show idea well? Bring some strong art with you. Make sure some kind of mood board, or even preliminary storyboards, are part of the development process.

But visual aids aren't enough — you also need to be able to adapt to the countless variables you'll encounter. Here are executives Charlie Ebersol and Susanne Daniels explaining how modifying your pitch works.

There is a ton of content out there, so knowing your audience is very important. When you approach the question of how to pitch a show to Netflix vs. Hulu vs. HBO vs. ABC, keep this in mind.

Here are some executives discussing how they like to be pitched. As you'll see, they each have their ideas on how to pitch a TV show, so just remember there is no single guaranteed method.

If you’re wondering how do you pitch a show to Netflix versus a traditional network, always research the company’s tone, content library, and audience. Spend less time memorizing your lines, and more time doing an 'advanced scout' on who will be at this meeting. Use IMDb! What else has he/she produced? Where else have they worked? What does this company have on its slate?

Tailor your pitch towards the company as best you can. What types of ideas do they seem to like? Can you end with a question they might be able to help answer? You want to tee up a collaboration.

How to Pitch a TV Show in the Room or Over Zoom

How to pitch in a room or virtually

We've covered some broad strokes, some essential tools. With more and more meetings now on Zoom, pitching virtually is its own skill. When preparing your pitch tv series for a virtual pitch meeting, test your tech, prepare a slide deck, and rehearse eye contact with the camera. Virtual TV series pitch meetings require you to stay conversational and agile—don’t just read off a script. Whether you’re sharing a screen or pitching live, keep your energy up and your delivery authentic.

But what about how to handle the room itself? Learning the actual art of the pitch? If you want to know how to pitch a TV show to Netflix, you need to learn how to handle being “in the room.”

If you used your show bible template, you know all the elements of your show already. So, why can't you just send them the show bible? It's about interacting with them as people, getting them excited about the project.

How do we know what it's like to be in the room if we've never been in the room? We can start by getting to know the people you'll be dealing with. This Hollywood Reporter Roundtable brings together some of the top executives in TV and streaming to lay their cards on the table — how they approach their job and some of the challenges that come with it.