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Pitching a television concept requires a short sizzle reel, not a pilot

Brent Montgomery · Brent Montgomery – The Disney Flywheel at Wheelhouse (Capital Allocators, EP.265) · Aug 8, 2022 · at 54:28

Wheelhouse CEO Brent Montgomery shares early career mistakes and advice for content creators on pitching new show formats.

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“I spent a full year working on one concept By the time we delivered it, there were two other people making the same show. I found out I didn't need to deliver a fully baked pilot of 30 minutes. We could have done basically a trailer, what we call a sizzle reel, of a few minutes.”

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