Soft Pitch Blueprint: Beyond Ideas for Reality TV Pitch Success

Update (September 2026): The former members-only pitch site and login described below have been retired. For current pitch instructions and access status, see How to Pitch Shows to Us.

Announcer: Welcome to Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.

Angry Man: Is this some kind of joke.

Confused Woman: Biagio-WHO???

Biagio: This episode. It’s episode 47 and we’re talking soft pitches. What is a soft pitch and why do most people do it all wrong? When to soft pitch. Who you should and should not. Soft pitch to good and bad versions of soft pitches. And yes, that is our five month old son occasionally cooing in the background. Music. Courtesy Dave Pelman Music Dave Pelman. Hey everybody. She’s joke, he’s Biagio. We’re married. We make unscripted film and television and want to help you do the same.

Joke: Hopefully by teaming up with us.

Biagio: Neilsen you a lot of times we record these, you know, at the office. Sometimes we record them from home. Right. Joke?

Joke: Yes.

Biagio: So you know, today, if you maybe hear a child yelling or a baby crying, you might be able to guess. We’re recording this one. But that said, right now is a really busy time for us. Over at Joke Productions, we’re a casting two series. Stay tuned. And we’re shooting a pilot this month, so that’s exciting. And there’s something else going on, right, honey?

Joke: Yes, we’ve been working on something special for all of you.

Biagio: Something else I’ve dragged my wife into. Thank you for coming along for the ride, honey.

Joke: This is what I do.

Biagio: She does. But listen, I’m going to tease this, okay? You’re going to find out what this is soon. Those of you on the mailing list. Okay, you’re going to get an email between this podcast and the next. And the title is going to be Quick Favor from Joke and Biagio. Now, this might happen sooner rather than later. I’m pretty close. This is something that me and joke have been working on for a couple of weeks. We’re going to get an email. It’s going to say quick favor from Joke and Biagio. Don’t worry, we’re not asking for money. It’s something that’s only going to take you a minute. Basically, the email is going to be about there’s a new resource that we’ve been working really hard on. I think you’re going to love it. I think it’s going to be really helpful. And, you know, we don’t often reach out to you guys for help, but this time we are we’re going to ask you to please tweet it or Facebook it or share it, whatever is easiest for you. And if you happen to be a blogger and you might write a blog post and link to it, you will earn major brownie points. I promise. If you blog about this new resource, I will promote your blog all over all of our social networks. So okay, that’s it for that. Just keep your eyes peeled. Put favor from Joke and Biagio and that should be coming to you relatively soon. Now, now that I’m done pandering to you for social chairs, let’s get to the topic of today’s podcast, The Soft Pitch.

Traveling Salesman: My dad always told me, you can’t sell ice to Eskimos or peanuts to people with peanut allergies. Well.

Joke: So the soft pitch is something that we’ve referenced in numerous previous podcasts, but I feel like we probably haven’t really explained it to you guys.

Biagio: I don’t think we have.

Joke: Because it’s coming in not quite as what we consider a soft pitch. So. So we really wanted to focus a day’s podcast on on what is and isn’t a soft pitch.

Biagio: In other words, we’ve been getting tons of quote unquote soft pitches through the podcast submission portal, none of which are actually soft pitches. They’re just all simple ideas. And that’s not what a soft pitch is. We’re going to get to that more today.

Joke: So what we’re telling you is if you want to soft pitch as an idea before you spend a lot of time and resources into actually developing your pitch, then that’s fine. But just to clarify soft pitches, you should only pitch to people you have an existing relationship with. So it’s very important to know that you don’t soft pitch agents, managers or just anybody. It really is somebody that you are building a relationship with that is either a buyer or a seller.

Biagio: A production company or a network executive. Right?

Joke: Yeah, exactly. So, so someone you have that relationship with now, it’s also very important to know that the soft pitch is not just an idea.

Biagio: No.

Joke: So for us the soft pitch is it’s a conversation. It’s before you fully develop your pitch, meaning all your pitch materials, your write ups, your, you know, your sizzle reel if you have it. But it’s definitely after you’ve thought and spent a little more time on an idea.

Biagio: Yeah. Now let me just reiterate that, okay, a soft pitch works best after you’ve discovered a great person, place or thing business, book, podcast, whatever. Something you think would make for a great TV show. But before you actually film anything.

Joke: So right now the soft pitches we’re getting are just really loose, loose ideas. And we’re looking for stuff that is, you know, after you’ve kind of found the person or the place or the thing or the business or the book or the podcast, whatever, to build your show around. But before you spend a lot of time and energy filming stuff.

Biagio: Now we’re going to get to some specifics of good and bad soft pitches. But joke first, why would someone want to give a soft pitch? Like why even bother with the soft pitch at all?

Joke: So the reason that soft pitches can be very useful is you’re developing in a bubble, right? So you don’t necessarily have contact with the networks every day. And so you don’t know what they’re looking for. While it’s very important to look on what’s on television right now, and a lot of times that tells you what networks are currently programing, you know, you have to understand that networks program a year down the line, right? Because usually it takes six months or a year for a show to actually be made and make it on air. So what’s currently on air might not be, you know, what they’re looking for in a year, a year from now. So a lot of times, you know, we get soft pitches that are kind of most often pitched. We call them mops that just come around over and over. Everyone has the same idea. Everyone pitches the same thing. And so before you spend a lot of time and energy developing it, we can tell you, you know, that’s not worth it. If you pitch an idea that has currently bombed on television, or we know the networks aren’t that excited about that space anymore, you know, we can kind of let you know. So before you spend a ton of time and energy into a world, you know, we can tell you that. Or if you have, you know, 3 or 4 projects that you’re thinking about investing time and energy into it, but you don’t know which one would be the best, then we can help you with just some feedback of saying like, hey, this might this might have more buyers or this this feels fresher and newer. So therefore that would be the one for you to invest your time and energy into.

Biagio: Okay. So you soft pitch to see if the real person placer thing you’ve already discovered is worth putting more time into. Now I just want to go off. On a quick side note for a second. If you’re just starting out and you found some great characters you love and you want a career in reality TV.

Joke: Meaning you want to actually work produce like hands on, either shoot, edit, you know, actually produce in reality television. Not like I just wanted to sell a few ideas and, you know, get a small check from those ideas, but actually work on a show.

Biagio: Yeah, like a lot of, I assume a lot of people listening to this podcast, some they would like to be where we are. We’ve got an on production company, we sell shows, we’ve got big agents, it’s fun, blah, blah, blah. If that’s where you’re headed in life, if that’s what you want to do, you might as well go ahead and make a tape, okay. It’ll be great practice, and there’s nothing better for you or your career and just going out and making stuff. You know, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on it. I mean, listen, second, the day me and joke were broke and eating ramen noodles four times a day, you know, we always limited ourselves to no more than $500 out of pocket on a pitch tape. And a lot of the tapes we did were made for less than 50 bucks. So, look, if you’ve never made anything, you might as well just go shoot the tape as homework. But if you’re an experienced producer and you already know how to make beautiful tapes, you know the soft pitch can be a great tool to stop you from making any big mistakes. As far as allocating a ton of time and resources to a show that’s never going to sell.

Joke: So that was a side note. So now back to what is an idea versus a soft pitch. Okay, I think we all know what a fully fleshed out pitch is. But a lot of you are confusing just having an idea with a soft pitch. Okay. So so let us give you some examples of of a bad soft pitch and a good soft pitch.

Biagio: Yeah a little little soft pitch clinic here okay. So so here’s, here’s a bad soft pitch. We’re going to travel the country and find vampires. We’re not just looking into spookiest corners but everyday places. Two we’re going to see that vampires are normal people just like me and you. What do you think is that? How’s that sound? Good show. Can we sell that? Let me give you a good example of that same idea. Soft pitched. I discovered these young women who claim they are real vampires. They actually drink blood. They say electronic equipment always breaks down when they’re around it. And they’re up for doing a show. Here are some photos that pulled off Facebook. Would you like to see some tape? Now notice how that bad version was just an idea. Whereas the good version has real people in mind. There’s photos of these people. They’re really just saying, look, like I’m thinking about going out and shooting some tape on these great real people, I found. Is it worth doing that? That is an example of a great soft pitch joke. Why don’t you. Why don’t you think one up?

Joke: So. Hey, guys, how about a survival show starring people who insist on living like cavemen?

Biagio: Cavemen?

Joke: What do you think? Versus I met this insane survival dude who insists on living buck naked and eating only what he gathers and kills. But he lives in the middle of New York City. Here’s some YouTube video of a new story they did. Should I put together some more tape? Again, this is a real person with a real place in mind, and if you find that guy, please do let us know.

Biagio: Yeah, give us a call if you find him.

Joke: But the idea being here that, you know, it’s more than just, hey, would this be a world for me to go find somebody? It’s like, you know, listen, go see if there’s even somebody to find in that world before you come back and pitch it. Here’s another idea.

Biagio: Yeah. Here’s this, this is this is a really good example. Okay. So we get a lot of one liners like this. What about a show that follows a district attorney prosecuting drug dealers. Yeah sure. That would be a that’d be a great show right. It’s almost impossible if you don’t already have those people on board. So usually those soft pitches just go right in the garbage. But if that same soft pitch, if it was for something you really had access to, and that same soft pitch went something like this. My sister in law is a district attorney working a lot of drug cases. Here’s a letter from her saying we have permission to film with her and her department, and a list of cases she’s working on. Here’s a news clip of her talking about a recent court case. They one what do you think? I mean, look how useful that long line becomes. The key.

Joke: Here is, is that you shown us access, right by saying like, you know, you the district attorney is your sister in law, and you have the letter to prove it, that we have the access. Then you bring value to something you’ve now not just given us like some kind of big idea, but an actual soft pitch that now we can tell you. Yes. Spend some more time developing it or, you know, put some more tape together. And I also I think the last two were better examples for me because it had some tape with it. You know, the first one was just here, here’s some pictures we pulled off of Facebook, which you know is a good start. But any kind of like, even if it’s just like, you know, here’s 30s of iPhone footage that I taped, you know, or or again, like, here’s a YouTube link to a new story or, or anything like that, even just little bits and pieces before you go and, you know, spend time shooting a whole pitch tape that that can get the conversation started. And, and with any character, you know, seeing some tape is extremely, extremely helpful. But the fact is that most of the soft pitches that we’re getting sent our way, or just ideas and a lot of you are just throwing out a bunch of kind of reality ideas to seeing what sticks. But that’s not soft pitching. Maybe we just haven’t been very clear about it. Now, after this podcast, it’ll be done.

Biagio: It will become very annoying because then it’s clear.

Joke: You haven’t listened. But so. So yeah, you have to understand that soft pitching, you still have to do more than just kind of wake up and be like, oh, well.

Unidentified Voice: That’s a good idea. I think also I’ll submit that.

Joke: You know, you have to you have to wake up, have that idea and then go online, do some research, make some connections, find some links, and then send it our way.

Biagio: Or think about someone or something you’ve already met or already discovered and soft pitch them. A lot of times I think that is the faster way is like looking around your world and being like, who do I already know? What have I already discovered? What? What am I seeing in my hometown here? That could be a reality show, you know? So that’s another way to approach it. That’s sometimes faster. Either way, you have to have a real person, place or thing in mind when you soft pitch a show.

Joke: I would really just caution you to not soft pitch to anybody unless you have a relationship with that. Let’s say very clearly know that you might be soft pitching them, because if you go to like the real screens of the world and sit down with network executives and soft pitch them, that’s not a good first impression, you know. So so it really should be with someone that’s open to hearing soft pitches or that you that you are building a relationship with. So so keep that in mind. But again, it’s about having an idea and then doing just a little more research on it, finding a place, getting some access and putting that together, running that by us. And we can tell you whether we think it’s worth spending tons of resources on it, etc..

Biagio: Yeah, you’ve probably spent hours listening to our voices on this podcast, so I would count that as building a relationship with us. And you know, you know how to pitch for us through our members only portal so you can soft pitch us there. Now, of course, we’re going to be more impressed if you deliver a beautiful piece of tape, but we’re not going to hold it against you if you soft pitch us, and it’s a legitimate soft pitch, we’re like, hey, I’ve discovered this thing. Do you think I should go film it? Actually.

Joke: I prefer that. Then you’re putting together a beautiful, amazing piece of tape, and it’s on a show that you know is a mop or is already on television. You don’t mind you. I do have one other little thing to say, which is we went through a ton of pitches with Coralie the other day, and there were a good handful that were actually already on television.

Biagio: Yeah. That’s unfortunate.

Joke: So. So I would ask that, you know, when you, when you come up with an idea, you know, just do a quick little Google search, see, see if it already shows up.

Biagio: Yeah. And I mean listen. The other thing is like especially if it’s a soft pitch, but I mean like that’s not to say that more than one show can exist in an area. I mean, if you find the next Anthony Bourdain, it’s not that you can’t bitch that, but.

Joke: That’s the key, right? You have to have found another person. You can’t just pitch an idea or a format for a show that already exists. Yeah. I mean, I think someone literally pitched us worst Cooks in America, and that shows already on television.

Biagio: Yeah, yeah, it was a pretty much an exact almost beat by beat. Well.

Joke: Too close.

Biagio: It was too close to consider it.

Joke: Right. And that show probably you know, how many how many places can you sell that to.

Biagio: So not too many. So just to wrap up, if you’re going to soft pitch, make sure you base your soft pitch on a real person, place, or thing you’ve already connected with. You’ll instantly make yourself valuable. Because I mean, you’ve already discovered something that might actually turn into a show, which is way better than a simple idea. Plus, it allows us or other pros that you’re pitching to. Do you have a relationship with to give you better advice on how to proceed? You know, look, no matter how great your find is and what a great discovery you make, there’s no sense spending tons of resources packaging it up. If there’s no network, who wants it? All right, so that’s up 47 in the can. As always, if you want to pitch to us, sign up for our newsletter at Producing Unscripted. Com and follow the directions. Check out our first eight episodes with a clickable table of contents at youtube.com. Biagio. And you know you can find us everywhere as Joakim Biagio. Twitter. Facebook.com. Joakim Biagio, joke Biagio. I mean, look, we’re the only joking Biagio out there, so you can pretty much just Google us. You’re gonna find us somewhere.

Unidentified Voice: Google me baby.

Biagio: Google me baby.

Joke: And how cliche. How do she.

Unidentified Voice: I did that sound douchey.

Biagio: Really?

Joke: I hope not.

Biagio: Okay, well, I always said Google me because if you Google joke and Biagio, we are easy to find. It’s because we’re like this great pillar of success and more because there’s not that many joking. Biagio.

Joke: Do they know how to spell your name?

Biagio: I have no idea. They know how to spell your name.

Joke: Listen, if you don’t know how to write joke. I think you’re taught that in second grade, aren’t you?

Biagio: Okay, so it’s joke. What? Yes. And my name is Biagio. Biagio. And speaking of those two names, stay tuned for that email. Quick favor from Joke and Biagio, and you’re going to earn some major brownie points with us. If you do share what’s in that email. And by the way, what’s in that email is going to be really helpful to you too. All right.

Joke: That’s it. 47.

Unidentified Voice: Out, 47 out.

Joke: By.

Announcer: Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.