British Wrestling on TV

[bringbackwrestling]

There is always alot of talk on this forum of British Wrestling returning to TV. As someone who has been involved in the persuit of this goal I thought i would share an extract from my blog.

 

When I started to put the package together for the bringback wrestling proposal it was on the brief of using professional people in all aspects of the business.

 

It was thought that although this will be an expense it will be a necessary evil to endure in order to produce a show of the best quality which could provide a sustainable wrestling industry in this country.

 

I'll admit that so far we've reaped benefits with regards to marketing strategies, business planning and brand development.

 

The downside to this is that you are raising your costs every step of the way. I understand, appreciate and accept this fact but also firmly believe that with regards to TV production, set design and talent you cannot scrimp as it will show in the end product. The result of this is that we have been in discussions with television productions over the last six weeks getting estimates and quotes for the cost of producing and editing our show. Wow honest to God I've been shocked at the valuations given and it scares me.

 

So lets give a brief idea of what we are looking to produce.

 

Having witnessed some other British Wrestling television we decided against the editting of a live event for production and instead are pursing a studio based alternative. The Studio would be booked out for a set amount of time and a complete series of the FEW TV would be shot. This means that in less than a month we would have a complete series 1. Good stuff. (If you want the technical specifics i can break them down for you.)

 

The downside to this is that there would be no paying audience and some post production would be left until just before broadcast.

 

So by the time you take into consideration Set Design and Contrustion, Studio Hire, TV Production Company, Talent and associated costs, Music Licensing, Insurance, Solicitor Fees, Accomodation, Travelling Cost, Work Visas, Scriptwriters, Bookers, Ring Agents and so much more we are left with a cost per episode of between

[CleetusVanDamme]

I'll send you a tenner if you let me book a few of the tapings.

[kamicazze]

ithout an audience it wouldnt appeal to me watching at home, i believe wrestling should be on tv continously so doing like 6 part series isnt really that good. and which talent would you book?

[bringbackwrestling]

ithout an audience it wouldnt appeal to me watching at home, i believe wrestling should be on tv continously so doing like 6 part series isnt really that good. and which talent would you book?

 

Hi,

 

There would be an audience or the tapings to provide atmosphere. As regards the format its the most cost effective and sustainable option. It also gives us a chance to do some different things in terms of story lines and provides some talent protection ie you know that they are there for the full series and not going to get injured, doubled booked, poached or no show..

 

In regards to the actual talent involved, we have people in mind and will approach some talent in due course. We will also be holding a couple of try outs so we get the chance to see everyone thats interested.

[Rabid Womble]

There is always alot of talk on this forum of British Wrestling returning to TV. As someone who has been involved in the persuit of this goal I thought i would share an extract from my blog.

 

When I started to put the package together for the bringback wrestling proposal it was on the brief of using professional people in all aspects of the business.

 

It was thought that although this will be an expense it will be a necessary evil to endure in order to produce a show of the best quality which could provide a sustainable wrestling industry in this country.

 

I'll admit that so far we've reaped benefits with regards to marketing strategies, business planning and brand development.

 

The downside to this is that you are raising your costs every step of the way. I understand, appreciate and accept this fact but also firmly believe that with regards to TV production, set design and talent you cannot scrimp as it will show in the end product. The result of this is that we have been in discussions with television productions over the last six weeks getting estimates and quotes for the cost of producing and editing our show. Wow honest to God I've been shocked at the valuations given and it scares me.

 

So lets give a brief idea of what we are looking to produce.

 

Having witnessed some other British Wrestling television we decided against the editting of a live event for production and instead are pursing a studio based alternative. The Studio would be booked out for a set amount of time and a complete series of the FEW TV would be shot. This means that in less than a month we would have a complete series 1. Good stuff. (If you want the technical specifics i can break them down for you.)

 

The downside to this is that there would be no paying audience and some post production would be left until just before broadcast.

 

So by the time you take into consideration Set Design and Contrustion, Studio Hire, TV Production Company, Talent and associated costs, Music Licensing, Insurance, Solicitor Fees, Accomodation, Travelling Cost, Work Visas, Scriptwriters, Bookers, Ring Agents and so much more we are left with a cost per episode of between

[Big Rob]

I'm pretty sure you can't charge for tickets for shows in a TV studio. Free tickets to anything from X-Factor to Big Brother are given out on a first come-first served basis.

[bringbackwrestling]

To not have a paying audience is more a logistical issue than anything - You can't really ask fans to change clothing between different matches.

 

You can also do more and expect more from extras than the paying public.

[JNLister]

Why would there be no paying audience? When the BBC records shows such as "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" they sell tickets for it. I don't know if there is one rule for radio and another for TV but you definatley do need to buy tickets to some TV shows. If I want to go and watch The National Television Awards at the O2 in January I have to buy a ticket at

[Your Fight Site]

I'm pretty sure you can't charge for tickets for shows in a TV studio. Free tickets to anything from X-Factor to Big Brother are given out on a first come-first served basis.

 

For those interested in attending TV tapings of shows, they're best checking www.sroaudiences.com.

[bringbackwrestling]

Its the end of possibly the most boring week yet for the bringback wrestling team but we've made some all be it minor strides forward.

 

We've been putting together the marketing preposal as we look at making the show an AFP. Essentially nothing but figures, graphs and charts I hate this side of it. Spent days going through BARB charts doing trend anaylsis and demographic breakdowns. Night of Champions got 150,000 views unbelievable. We'll have a redraft on Monday and then hopefully by the end of next week we can give the guide to our agency who will then present it to their book of clients.

 

I'd hoped that we would have launched one of our websites by now but that hasn't happened as we await getting in touch with a wrestling legend to endorse our campaign. To support the campaign I'm hoping to get in touch with other promotions and look at how working together on it can have mutual benefits. I also hope to green light the talent search site soon, just waiting to hear back from the import we want to bring across.

 

On the more exciting note got to interview a former playboy model about an onscreen role.

[Your Fight Site]

What's an AFP for those who don't know?

[bringbackwrestling]

What's an AFP for those who don't know?

 

Sorry, AFP is advertiser funded programming. Sadly its the future of TV. Shows like the book club were fully funded by Specsavers. Its a decent way of producing niche products as its cheaper than an advertsing campaign for the advertiser and targetted to their choose demographic.

 

We've got 5 agencies who are going to look through over 500 clients for funding. Like most things its just going to take a bit of time.

 

As a slight update, initial contact has been made with some talent over coming to the UK to work for us but even this is complicated due to the WWP situation.

[Your Fight Site]

You seem to be making strides. So what does it take to get a polished wrestling show onto TV?

 

There are plenty polished wrestling shows about, but I'm intrigued what's stopping them from making the jump to TV show. Presumably these polished promotions own their equipment so wouldn't need funding in that respect. What are you bringing to the table that other promoters aren't?

[bringbackwrestling]

Thats a good question Khemical and not ones that easy to answer. Well i could just say money but I'll try and be a little bit more helpful.

 

So what does it take to get a polished wrestling show onto TV?

 

Firstly there are a lot of really good promotions in the UK and i think we are quick to forget that in amongst the posting on here. I think we can take guys like Dixon for granted. On the flip side of it is that there are a lot of hobbiest promoters and promotions, some good and some not so good.There is probably only a handful of people for whom promoting is their job.

 

If you were looking for a promotion to seriously persue television if would be from one of these promotions. You are then in a situation where you are looking at a lot of time, energy and money being invested into developing a proposition when you could be out promoting your next show and earning money. Even if someone did this they would struggle to break into the television industry.

 

With regards to the television industry you have to look at them as a closed group becuase there lives are so busy and pressurised they will only talk to people within their group. Therefore if you are looking to bring back wrestling you have to be of the mindset that it wont come from a promoter or promotion but from a independent television producter or a programme controller/commissioning editor. Being heard by the right people and getting your foot in the door is hardest part for any outsider to the television business.

 

Our strategy has always been to attach ourselves to a professional sports production company who already have the ear of the broadcasters we want to talk to. I'm pleased to say that the company we are working with have over 40 years of production experience both studio based and live (two very important factors if we grow the way we intend) and their broadcast clients include the BBC, Channel 4, Five and Sky Sports. These guys are ideally situated and understand our proposed business model and structure. This company has progressed us forward further and quicker than we ever could have imagined.

 

Now i know there will be people reading this who will say that promotion X got a TV deal with digital channel 4000 and they didn't have this much expense or these issues. To be honest its a fair comment despite what I've said you can get a TV deal quite easy if you are not concerned over what channel you want to be on. I'm of the mindset that there is no point being on a channel if it doesn't benefit you. I've talked to people who have this field of dreams attitude to Television 'if its on people will watch'. I disagree with this I think you should go for a channel that will benefit you in the long term and to do that you start at the top and work your way down. We know who we want to be our broadcaster and the benefits it would bring and so we are designing our marketing pitch to suit there needs. I'd like to say as well that these aren't just words we have turned down a television deal already as it wasn't right for business.

 

Our next task to prove the demand for the product. I'd actually hoped we would have had this signed off already but it looks like we are a few days behind.

 

There are plenty polished wrestling shows about, but I'm intrigued what's stopping them from making the jump to TV show. Presumably these polished promotions own their equipment so wouldn't need funding in that respect.

 

If you start by taking into account whats already been posted in this thread I'll then expand on an issue that promotions face and some areas that I dont like. I think we have to establish first of all that running a live TV show every week is outside of our ability and reach at this point. I would hope that I'm not doing a disservice to anyone by saying that this is the case for the entire industry (although arguements could be made regarding All Star). For the sake of this piece though I would like to put weekly live shows to oneside as being inpractical.

 

The alternative upto now has always been to tape a live event that a promoter was putting on. So all the hard work goes into promoting the event and getting a good house. The event is say 2 hours long. What normally occurs is that the show is cut up into various pieces with an interview added and this becomes the TV show. The downside is that for 4 week your venue and audience are the same and the live atmosphere is lost. In the meantime you promote your next show and start again. I suppose that there is nothing wrong with this format other than the fact that I really don't like it.

 

So another option would be to run more regular and tape 2 or 3 shows at once (ala TNA). This is probably the best option at this time for most promotions i would suggest. The only downside being that its a lot of work to try and get an audience in every 3 weeks. Thats more time and money needed on promotion and I would be surprised if there were many that could commit to this kind of schedule and outlay.

 

Linked into this you have to give thoughts to your Roster, do you use imports or all British Talent? If you use imports can you afford to bring them back every 3 or 6 weeks to be in the show?

 

There is an additional concern for these promoters. Most promotions deal with 2 revenue streams ticket sales and DVD sales putting on this kind of show seriously damages your DVD sales as its hard to charge people for whats free on the telly.

 

These were all the options that we looked at before deciding to go for a studio based production. By using a studio we get to shoot potentially 40 shows (8 hours a day by 1 hour show). We also have the added benefits of knowing our talent are there all the time and dont have to deal with double bookings, no shows etc. If there are any imports on the show that for a set price we have them for 5 days and it looks as though they are there all series. So its cost effective (to a point) but serves to have more benefits. If i was running a promotion with an established training school and low overheads its something i would consider.

 

What are you bringing to the table that other promoters aren't?

 

I think our biggest strength is that we are willing to bring outsiders into the business and use their knowledge and expertise rather than trying to do everything ourselves. Other than that I don't think we are bringing anything that the other guys aren't.

 

Hope that helps, sorry i can be a waffler at times.

 

Joe

 

edit:

 

Just been sent a copy of the proposed import(s) for the show and a 20 page contract they each have to sign. Very interesting.

[Your Fight Site]

I think another factor to add to this is, not many UK stars have TV experience. Sure, they can work a live crowd, but they're going to be inexperienced playing to a camera, which is an entirely different ball game. Are there plans in place to combat this if using British talent?