Chicago gets its very first seminar on non-fiction and unscripted programming – a.k.a. reality TV — when high-level New York-based cable network consultant Peter Hamilton comes to town Thursday, May 19 to share his invaluable insights.
Hamilton will lead a quartet of local experts as they take producers through the thicket of how to develop the kinds of shows the network buyers are looking for and then how to successfully pitch them to the right person.
The evening event will take place at Fletcher Chicago.
Sharing their experiences as the city’s foremost non-fiction program producers are Towers Productions’ Jonathan Towers, who helped write the book on non-fiction television and put Chicago on the map for it, and Towers’ Mike Schiedeler, VP/development and executive producer.
Hamilton and the Towers executives “will provide insight on what the TV networks are currently looking for and how to pitch them ideas for series,” says executive producer Michelle DeLong of Mimi Productions.
She is co-hosting the Pitch Seminar with EP Tim Horstman of Nexvision. Both are local network veterans.
Hamilton’s lengthy and sterling background for the past 25 years assures attendees a true insider’s take on non-fiction TV programming, which is virtually MIA on the Chicago scene. His stated mission is “to help non-fiction professionals succeed in their ventures.”
A former CBS executive with an MBA from the Wharton School, he heads his own consulting company that works with scores of networks, foundations and governments throughout the world.
Hamilton’s documentarytelevision.com about current deals and trends is read by network executives, producers and industry professionals. He is also an author “and we are so privileged to have him speak to us,” says DeLong.
DeLong met Hamilton last January when she attended the annual Real Screen Summit in Washington, D. C. – an annual three-day event dedicated to television factual programming and content creation.
“When I lamented to Peter that there are so many talented television people who should know about the opportunities in non-fiction TV, he offered to lead a seminar here,” says DeLong.
“Non-fiction TV is a viable business once you get into it and get a series going,” DeLong says. “The amount of money a network will spend for a show varies, of course, but there is money to be made in it, and these shows could mean long-term jobs for our television TV people.”
DeLong is making inroads in the non-fiction field. In the past two years, DeLong’s Mimi Productions has produced 60 episodes so far of “Merge,” a Christian, after school show for teens that airs weekday afternoons on NRB/Direct TV, JCTV/Comcast and KTV/Dish.
The early bird fee for the Pitch Seminar is $95; NATAS and WIFC members pay $80. After May 15 the fee is $115. Included is a full buffet with coffee and soft drinks from 5-6:45 p.m., seminar, 6:45-8:45 and a Mix and Mingle follows until 10 p.m.
Looking ahead, DeLong says she and Horstsman would like to present a Chicago unscripted/non-fiction seminar twice annually, before the big national seminars are held: Real Screen Summit in Washington, D.C. and NAPTE in January and Factual Entertainment in Los Angeles and Silver Docs, presented by Discovery Channel, in Silver Spring, Md. in June.
