Developing new IP is expensive – that’s why every film since 2012 has had a Marvel superhero or a Star War in it. With so much streaming bandwidth, media execs are keen to fill it with new stuff, especially if it has a proven track record. So your podcast idea could be the next thing to hit it big.
Like a lot of Brits, I cut my teeth on panel shows: themed comedy discussions that are cheap and easy to produce and are often crowd-pleasers. Whose Line is it Anyway, which is still happening in the States, began its life on BBC Radio 4, as did The Mighty Boosh, Alan Partridge, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…
Incidentally, I made a panel show, Beware of the Leopard, about that BBC masterpiece that was itself spotlighted by the BBC in 2020 – yes, that's a thing which can work too!
While that’s the closest I’ve come to a TV commission, I can tell you I’ve helped around 1,500 podcasters get their start, and I’ve worked with a TV celeb or two… not counting the time I was on an Ant & Dec quiz show with my dad. (For American readers, there is no direct equivalent of 'Ant & Dec', but when the US last tried to bring one of their formats to TV Neil Patrick Harris was the network's choice).
Cred suitably established, let’s talk telly.
Comedy Bang! Bang!, My Brother, My Brother, and Me, and The Ricky Gervais Show were unscripted series that were later developed into – in CBB’s case – multiyear deals.
If you have a tight format, your show could be next.
Will it air on primetime TV? Probably not. But you probably don’t want to be constrained to a 22-minute format or have to tone down your language.
But what does it take to get picked up? Obviously you need great gear and amazing sound and lighting and…
Nah, not really.
You don’t even need a camera (yet). But don’t tell my editor at DCW I said that or I’ll get in trouble. (Hmmm....) What you need is a great hook – something that elevates an idea from the mundane.
On the face of it, Hot Ones is just another interview show. But by making his guests eat progressively hotter wings, Sean Evans ended up with a show that’s funny one minute, and heart-wrenching the next.
What makes Comedy Bang! Bang! work, even without the big-name guests, is its format. One act with Scott and the guest, another act where an improviser joins as a character, and a third act which often has some sort of game or recurring feature.
That format didn’t exactly carry over to TV, but it – and, granted, Aukerman’s comedy cred – was enough to distinguish it.
Finally, let’s talk about the Slender Man. This was an online image challenge that turned full-on folklore, spawning a video game and a film. Even Twitter accounts have spawned TV shows.
So yes, you need the right gear to produce something you can shop around to execs, and that’s going to keep viewers interested, but you can start building your idea's momentum much sooner.
If you’re recording over the Internet, the Logitech Brio is a good wide-angle webcam. As I mentioned in my last post, you don’t need a fancy-looking mic either (though there is certainly a trend for it). If you don’t want something big and bulky in-shot, the Røde SmartLav+ is a great lapel mic, and you can always plan for portability by checking the guide to the best wireless microphones.
But what you can’t do without if your IP is going to be saleable is a unique premise: a format or structure that takes something we already understand, but adds a new and different twist.
If you’ll permit the parting plug, I like to think my little podcast does just that.
