An Idea is Only as Good as its Execution

Everyone has ideas. Most everyone watches television -- the average American watches over Four Hours of Television Per Day, according to the Nielsen company. That's more than half of most people's total leisure time in a typical day.

Many people who spend a lot of time watching television think they can also create shows. Haven't you ever said, after seeing a bad TV show, "I could do better than that!" But no one sets out to make a bad show (even though most television shows fail to find an audience.) Why does it happen?

It happens because an idea is only as good as its execution. It's not enough to think of a good program idea in a simple one or two sentence pitch. The devil is in the details. For example, if your idea is to create a situation comedy about an alien living in the suburbs, do you want to make "Third Rock from the Sun," "Mork and Mindy," or "My Favorite Martian?" They have the same basic premise, but each show handled it differently. This story about two sitcoms from the 1980s illustrates the point.

NBC broke through as the #1 network in the 80s after putting the Cosby Show on Thursday nights. It was a massive hit, and of course the other networks tried to copy it. CBS rushed a sitcom into production starring Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. Flip Wilson was arguably a bigger television star than Bill Cosby. While Cosby's first sitcom after I Spy had only modest success, Flip Wilson's variety show was one of the top shows on television during its run. Yet, while I'm sure you've heard of the Cosby show, most of you probably don't know about Flip Wilson's show. That's because it was off television after a few episodes. Why?

Poor execution of the concept. The writing just wasn't funny -- the characters didn't work. And although Flip was a big success hosting a variety show, he wasn't as interesting playing a working class father.

So the lesson to be learned from this is flesh out your idea. Once you figure out your one or two sentence concept, take time to flesh it out. Think about the characters. Write out some scenarios. After all, if you're not willing to spend time developing your idea, why should the audience want to spend time watching it?

What's the first thing you should do with a new idea?

Write it Down!

The first thing you should do with any idea is write it down. Immediately. Keep a notebook handy if you have to, but get it on paper as soon as possible.

There are several reasons for this:

1. Your first impulse will almost always be your best impulse. Write down the idea exactly as you envisioned it. Be as detailed and specific as possible. If you don't write it down, it's likely that your second or third version will lack the excitement and passion of your first inspiration.

2. You may forget it. Lots of things happen during a typical day that can drive good program ideas out of your head. If you don't write it down immediately, you will find yourself spending lots of time over the next few days trying to recreate the circumstances that led up to your inspiration.

3. Once you write it down, you have some legal protection under current intellectual property law.

Keep your idea to one page -- if you have to go a couple of lines on to page two, that's OK, but in general, one page is better. There will be time later to flesh out the details. It's crucial to preserve the creative impulse, vision and image that excited you in the first place. For example:

Say you had the idea for a show about a varied group of castaways marooned on an island. It could be "Lost," or it could be "Gilligan's Island." Either way, keep it to one page. In the first paragraph, write the basic premise. In the second paragraph, flesh out the characters. In the third and fourth paragraph, explain why people would want to watch this show. Then put it aside for a couple of days. Look at it again. If you still think it's a viable idea, then it's time to go the next step, which will be in further posts.

How Can I Get My Idea on TV?

That was the question I heard more than any other in my twenty-five plus years in television programming. I have a great idea for TV -- how can I get it on. Of course these days, it's not just TV -- ideas can be books, movies, internet programs, You Tube videos, mobile phone applications, or some combination of all of the above.

I will dedicate this blog to helping you answer those questions, guide you through your own use of media in the digital world, and generally help you develop those great ideas into actual programs. I plan to post regularly, so keep coming back.