Twitter (5)
Facebook (3)
Share
- Stumble Upon
- Reddit
- Linkedin
- Digg
What is this?
Share
Comments

Producers Pitch Dream Reality Shows

February 4, 2012

Listen to the Story

[2 min 29 sec]

text size A A A

February 4, 2012

Two thousand people who make reality television gathered this week for a convention in Washington, D.C. No appearances from Snooki or Padma, but there were representatives from Celebrity Wife Swap, Deadliest Catch and Rocket City Rednecks. Hundreds of producers vied for the chance to pitch network executives their ideas for new shows.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now if you like reality TV, the place to be this week was here in the nation's capital. Two thousand people who make reality television gathered for a convention in Washington, D.C. No appearances from Snooki or Padma, but there were representatives from "Celebrity Wife Swap," "Deadliest Catch," "Pawn Stars," "Hillbilly Handfishing" and "Rocket City Rednecks."

And also, hundreds of producers vying for the chance to pitch network executives their ideas for new shows. We asked a few of them about the ones they're hoping to make real.

BRAD SLITZ: My name is Brad Slitz. I created MIH Productions. OK. So I've got a couple pitches that I'm doing. One of them is called "My Baby's Better Than Your Baby." So this is an idea essentially taking 15-month-year-olds and throwing them through the Olympics of child development.

NINA BEVERIDGE: My name is Nina Beveridge and I'm an independent producer with Beevision Productions. It struck me that it would be fascinating to have a series about a team of animal rights activists who plan and go in underground to expose and learn about the misdeeds in factory farming and other kinds of corporate practices where animals are being misused.

EVAN MARSHALL: My name is Evan Marshall. I am a producer and director. The quick pitch is: we follow five football players – college football player- from the time their college career ended up until the NFL draft. And it kind of documents what they have to go through to get into the NFL.

TIM BANEY: Well, this is the great television market where a whiff of desperation hangs in the air. I'm Tim Baney. I'm the executive producer for USA of Moving Bits, which is a non-fiction production company.

JAY SOO: And I'm Jay Soo and I'm a director and the CEO of Moving Bits USA.

BANEY: We're actually trying to bring East and West together a little bit by discussing programming about China for Americans to watch.

SOO: And I think the goal is basically to make Americans feel or realize that, you know, they're not that different after all.

BANEY: We're the only people at Real Screen not pitching a show about hillbillies up to their hips in mud. So this is not hillbillies in hell, but it's...

SOO: Chinese hillbillies in hell.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

SOO: Yeah, that's what it is.

MARSHALL: We're waiting for the redneck reality thing to die.

GREENE: Well, there you have it, four of the thousands of plans reality show producers have for your upcoming TV viewing from producers Brad Slitz, Nina Beveridge, Evan Marshall, Tim Baney and Jay Soo. They were at the Real Screen Summit, held this past week in Washington, D.C.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.