[10/22plinker]

How do these husband/wife teams like TNT outdoors get their own shows. I know with any sponsorships u need to get reconized; but hunting isn't exactly a spectator sport so how do they find u

[Loyalist Dave]

The production company is friends with the folks on the shows, and as they aren't "celebrities" or perhaps not even members of the actors' union, they work cheaper than say David Caradine or Kenny Rodgers on one of the History Channel programs. Another scenario is the couple are friends of the ad agency or company sponsoring the shows. A third method is they themselves have enough cash to pay for the production of a pilot, and the cable exec's like it and adopt it, and they stay on as the "talent".

LD

[10/22plinker]

But they would first need several sponsors say Mathews for bows Kimber for firearm hunts like African Safaris maybe mossy oak for camo and the works unless they bought it all themselves which I doubt

[Loyalist Dave]

It depends. Some production companies get the funds to do a show by asking for money up front from manufacturers, with a price for the program voice over saying "..., is brought to you by....", and additional money for showing a product being used on the show.

Some ad agencies contract for a show specifically to place thier client's product, as it is often cheaper to fund the actual program production than it is to buy commercial time. A cable channel is then paid to air the show, and the cable company charges other companies for the commercials.

It only takes about $35,000 to do a single 30-minute pilot (those are Washington DC prices - away from big cities probably it will be cheaper)..., so one could produce a pilot program, sell it to the cable company, and the company then uses the appeal of the show to sell commercial time during the breaks.

The method that I am most familiar with is the production company sells an idea to the cable channel that wants the program..., the cable channel then delivers say $150k for 5-6 episodes, and if the program gets good ratings and the cable company makes money on the ads, the production company may get orders for additional programs. OR...., if the response is ho-hum, the cable company doesn't order any further programs, but already owns the completed shows, hence you see some programs constantly being re-run with no new stuff being made.

LD