tv show business plan

How to Start a Reality Show Business

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Media Industry » TV Station & TV Shows

Do you want to start a reality show from scratch? If YES, here is a complete guide to starting a reality show business with NO money and no experience .

In the past few decades, reality shows were thought to be just a trend in the entertainment and TV industry. But the advent of technology and our way of life as humans have changed that idea, because reality shows are now the current staple on television; they have become the standard and everyone is jumping on board to get their concept televised to ready viewers.

Indeed starting this business may not be easy, but it is not out of reach of anyone who wants to stage one. It all boils down to developing your concept, going through the production process, and then airing your show. The keyword here is uniqueness.

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If you are looking to start a reality show, then you have to read on to understand the various points and stages you need to get accustomed to.

It is very important to note that TV programs are for the most part unique stories, stunts, or social experiments reflecting our world. Now, with the Internet connecting producers to the rest of the world, Reality Television has become the most viable genre for new writers, creators and everyday people with great ideas to break into the Industry.

We believe that producers in this look for interesting subjects, people, professions, and original formats to purchase and produce as new shows. You have got to read on to get more comprehensive information on how to start a reality show effectively.

Steps to Starting a Reality Show Business

1. understand the industry.

First and foremost, reality shows or reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations, and often features an otherwise unknown cast of individuals who are typically not professional actors.

Have it in mind that this show differs from documentary television in that the focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers.

Note that in this business, the genre has various standard tropes, including “confessionals” (also called talking heads or interview segments) used by cast members to express their thoughts, which often doubles as the shows’ narration. In a competition-based reality show, there are other common elements which may include one participant being eliminated per episode, a panel of judges, and the concept of “immunity from elimination.”

According to facts and history, the 1991 Dutch series Nummer 28, indeed was the first show to bring together strangers and record their interactions. With time and rapid attention, it then boomed into a phenomenon in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global success of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother.

We believe that then all these shows and a number of others (usually also competition-based) became global franchises, hitting out local versions in dozens of countries. In this current age, reality shows as a whole have become a fixture of television programming.

Just in the united states, a lot of channels have retooled themselves to focus on reality programs, most famously MTV which began in 1981 as a music video pioneer, before switching to a nearly all-reality format in the early 2000s.

A lot of experts have argued about what to call a reality show and the necessary incentives to ground it. Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, and traditional game shows are not classified as reality shows, although they are made up of elements of the genre, such as unscripted situations and sometimes unknown participants.

While other genres that predate the reality show boom have sometimes been retroactively grouped into reality TV, including hidden camera shows such as Candid Camera (1948), talent-search shows such as:

The Original Amateur Hour (1948), documentary series about ordinary people such as the Up Series (1964), high-concept game shows such as The Dating Game (1965), home improvement shows such as This Old House (1979), and court shows featuring real-life cases such as The People’s Court in 1981.

The reality show industry has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. A lot of the criticisms centred on the use of the word “reality”, as such shows attempt to present themselves as a straightforward recounting of events that have occurred.

A lot of industry critics have argued that reality television shows do not accurately reflect reality, in ways both implicit (participants being placed in artificial situations), and deceptive or even fraudulent, such as misleading editing, participants being coached in what to say or how to behave, storylines generated ahead of time, and scenes being staged or re-staged for the cameras.

We also noted that other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are made to humiliate or exploit participants (particularly on competition shows); that they make stars out of either untalented people unworthy of fame, infamous personalities, or both; and that they kick start vulgarity, materialism and deception.

2. Conduct Market Research and Feasibility Studies

• Demographics and Psychographics

It is very important to state that this business is not just about the segment of the population you plan to target but the focus and agenda of your reality show.

When planning this business, you need to research this industry critically. Note that your first step towards starting a successful reality show is to brainstorm for ideas for your show and picking the best. You need to decide what your series will be all about.

Indeed it may be similar to other formats, but you must have elements and methods that are clearly original so that the content created is something unique and exciting to watch.

We have noted that a lot of producers do create original concepts with their development team, but most often than not, producers scout aggressively for new concepts and reality show ideas from writers and concept creators. This is the reason why you don’t need to be afraid to work on several show concepts at once. Things to think about when choosing your show focus may include;

• First think of what makes your idea unique
• Decide on what will get your audience excited
• Know which sub-genre of reality programming your show idea falls into
• Would it be a competition and elimination series, or a relationship series, or a lifestyle series, or something else?
• What do you want to achieve with the show?
• For how long will the show run?

3. Decide Which Niche to Concentrate On

When planning to start a reality show, we believe that you already have chosen the sub-genre you wish to pitch. But first you are going to propose either a formatted concept, or a documentary style concept.

Have it in mind that a format has a specific structure that takes place in each episode and provokes dramatic or compelling competition, typically resulting in one person winning. “Survivor”, “Top Chef”, “Wipe Out”, and “The Bachelor” are all competition formats, each with a different structure and premise.

We believe that one is about survival, another is about cooking, another is about stunts, and the other is about romance and relationships.

“Survivor” pitched all contestants against each other, with one person voted off each week by the group as a whole. While “The Bachelor” has contestants competing for a relationship with one or more voted off each week by the star of the show.

All these things and many more are what draw viewers close to a show. You need to choose what will attract people and make them stay. Niches to choose from may include;

• Documentary style
• Soap opera style
• Subcultures
• Professional activities
• Structured reality
• Special living environment
• Court shows
• Investments
• Outdoor survival
• Self-improvement and makeover
• Social experiment
• Hidden cameras
• Supernatural and paranormal
• Reality competition and game shows
• Dating based competition

The Level of Competition in the Industry

The level of competition in this industry cannot be overemphasised. Just in the year 2010, The Tester became the first reality television show aired over a video game console. But two years later – 2012, a lot of the long-running reality television show franchises in the United States such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor, had begun to see declining ratings.

But we believe that reality television as a whole remained durable in the U.S., with hundreds of shows across many channels.

While researching this industry for the sake of this article, we discovered that in 2012, the New York Magazine’s Vulture blog published a humorous Venn diagram buttressing popular themes across American reality shows then running, including shows set in the U.S. states of Alaska, Louisiana and Texas, shows about cakes, weddings and pawnbrokers, and shows, usually competition-based, whose title includes the word “Wars”.

Also we were able to note that The Voice, a singing competition franchise created by John de Mol that started in 2010, is the newest highly successful reality television franchise, with almost 50 international adaptations even in Africa.

Also Duck Dynasty, a hunting-themed reality series featuring the Robertson family that founded Duck Commander in 2013 became the most popular reality series in U.S. cable television history. Reports have it that its fourth-season premiere was viewed by nearly 12 million people in the United States, most of which work in rural markets.

Then in the year 2014, the entertainment weekly and Variety again noted stagnation in reality television programs’ ratings in the U.S., which they attributed to “The diminishing returns of cable TV’s sea of reality sameness”.

They even went further to explain that a number of networks that featured reality programming, including Bravo and E!, were launching their first scripted shows, and others, including AMC, were abandoning plans to launch further reality programs; though they clarified that the genre as a whole “isn’t going anywhere”.

All these may seem as a playground to you, but do not be deceived as new reality shows are kicking up every day around the globe.

4. Know Your Major Competitors in the Industry

Just like other businesses that have gone ahead of others and are thriving well, the reality show business isn’t an exception. There are shows that have surpassed challenges and have become a household name. Here is a list;

• Keeping Up With the Kardashians
• The Apprentice
• An American Family
• The Real World
• Sylvania Waters
• The Living Soap
• The Band-Josie 7
• Making the Band
• Project Greenlight
• Scariest Places On Earth
• U8TV: The Lofters
• Making the Band 2
• Sorority Life
• American Chopper
• Fraternity Life
• Jamie’s Kitchen
• The Restaurant
• Starting Over
• American Casino
• American Hot Rod
• Amish in the City
• Bands Reunited
• College Hill
• Dog Whisperer
• Family Plots

Economic Analysis

Let us start by stating that the Voice and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars both drew over 11 million viewers on the first night of the new season, far more than most of the heavily hyped, scripted newcomers bowing this week. Cable networks, meanwhile, remain far more reliant on reality than scripted fare, hosting literally hundreds of series that fill thousands of hours of airtime. But look a little deeper and there are signs of trouble.

The television last great reality hit, A&E’s Duck Dynasty, premiered more than three years ago. A slew of recent big bets to shake up the genre — such as Fox’s Utopia, CBS’s The Briefcase, and ABC’s The Quest — went nowhere. We believe that with networks increasingly taking a long-tail approach to their business, prioritizing scripted series that have a (profitable) digital afterlife on streaming services, reality shows are taking a great hit.

Experts believe that even though modern reality TV is barely a teenager, and far younger than programming staples such as comedy and drama, the sheer tonnage of unscripted content produced in the past decade and half has left the people who make it — and, arguably, those who watch it — struggling to recapture the excitement of a once-vibrant genre.

The industry seems to be running out of ideas, and if you have plans to take over the industry with something unique, the best time is now.

5. Decide Whether to Buy a Franchise or Start from Scratch

In case you don’t know, franchises are a booming business; which is why they are attractive to entrepreneurs who want to operate a storefront without investing too much in the traditional costs of starting a business. We believe that these traditional costs may include research, development and advertising, just to name a few.

But even with saving on traditional costs, buying into reality show franchise is still a big investment and far better than starting from the scratch due to brand awareness and cooperate identity. But before investing in a franchise of your own, carefully consider the pros and cons of franchise ownership.

Proven model

One of the biggest draws to opening a franchise is that you already know you will be working with a proven business plan. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Standard operating procedures

With an established business plan also comes procedures that have fared well at other locations. Additionally, employee training systems are typically already in place.

Assistance is part of the package

By participating in a franchise, you can share the challenges with others and get assistance on everything from real estate and operations to sales and marketing.

Be part of a brand

Many franchises are easily identifiable to consumers. So, while you will still need to partake in some advertising to let consumers know about your new location, chances are that consumers already know you by name. That is an enormous benefit that start-ups don’t have.

Price breaks

By its very nature, a single franchise location is part of a larger organization. As such, inventory costs can be lower due to bulk buying power.

6. Know the Possible Threats and Challenges You Will Face

Indeed pitching a tent in the reality show industry is notoriously difficult, but the advent of cheap technology and internet distribution has made it easier than ever to get views. Almost anyone can get noticed, but it takes a lot of commitment and hard work. Possible challenges you will face when starting your own reality show business may include;

• Coming up with a compelling niche
• Choosing the genre and format of your show
• Developing your characters
• Writing up a treatment for your show
• Building some content around your ideas
• Understand basic screenwriting formatting, conventions and the need for a good plot
• Getting the show on air

7. Choose the Most Suitable Legal Entity (LLC, C Corp, S Corp)

We all know that LLCs are one of the most popular legal entities because they are relatively easy to set up and can offer favourable tax advantages. First and foremost, Setting up an LLC gives a business owner limited liability in protecting his or her personal assets.

This simply means should anything go wrong with the business and should a legal issue arise, your personal assets will be protected; as long as you haven’t made any personal guarantees to the business. You can select whether you want to set up your LLC as a sole proprietor or as a partnership with more than one member.

Also, one of the most important features of an LLC is that income is not taxed at the corporate level, but rather it is passed directly to the individual members who own a percentage stake in the company. (The form used to send individual members’ their profit and loss allocation percentages is the K1 form.) This tax feature can be favourable because it avoids double taxation (corporate and personal income tax) and can keep more profits in the company for further growth.

Have it in mind that an LLC needs to have at least a standard operating agreement, which lays out the rules for how the managing member will conduct the affairs of the business. A lot of business attorneys have experience in drafting operating agreements, which dictate terms such as allocation of profit and loss, and stipulate the duties and limitation of liability of members and managers.

Note that the operating agreement is also an important document because most financial institutions will require a copy when you open a business bank account, and certainly if you take on outside investors. Some operating agreements are very simple for companies that have few members. Other agreements can be quite exhaustive depending on the terms of the deal and the nature of the investors.

8. Choose a Catchy Business Name

If you are looking to adopt a name for your reality show, it becomes really needful that you go for the very best. Here is some inspiration;

• Frey Theatre
• Vision Vault
• Distress Village
• Life Vigour
• Family time

9. Discuss with an Agent to Know the Best Insurance Policies for You

Just like we must have noted, the reality show business is the fastest growing genre of television production. This category of television production has vastly expanded to encompass many types of programming including game shows, variety shows, webisodes, mobisodes, documentary-style filming to series and pilots. Also with the rapid growth of “reality programming”, it is crucial to have a broker who understands the process and risks related to reality filming.

No production can ever come from movie and television studios without an insurance policy. It is for this reason that when filming regular television shows, an all-risk TV show insurance policy would suffice. But filming episodes of a reality TV show does invite much more risk than the shows that are shot in the studio.

There was a lot of doubt if the reality TV genre would last. The math is simple: a broken limb or a bruised ego could result in claims that would hurt the profits of insurance providers, which could result in insurers shying away from reality TV show insurance altogether. But in all, you need to consult a broker well experienced in this field to help you out.

10. Protect your Intellectual Property With Trademark, Copyrights, Patents

Indeed while the rights in a book or piece of music can be easily identified and protected, a reality show format is less tangible. Most features of the shows include universal appeal, manipulated emotions, big prizes, intensity, slick presentation, and the “attainability” of winning.

We believe that legal protection lies not in one simple piece of legislation but in a range of intellectual property rights. If a format is taken up by an overseas TV network without permission, it may be difficult for the company that developed the original show to achieve redress though the courts.

Reality show theme tunes, jingles, scripts and storyboards may be protected by copyright, while catchphrases and slogans may be protected by trademark registration or by an action for passing off. Most experts will argue that there is copyright in the questions used in a game show, and in the technology that allows lights, questions and screens to work in sync.

There might be copyright in certain parts of the scripted lines of the host, and in set design plans. Confidential information about the manner in which the show fits together may be policed by a series of contractual undertakings between the contestants, hosts and the TV companies.

11. Get the Necessary Professional Certification

It is very important to state that professional certification is a process by which a person develops the knowledge, experience, and skills to perform a specific job. Immediately the individual completes a course of study, he or she receives a certificate earned by passing an exam that is accredited by an organization or association that monitors and upholds prescribed standards for the particular industry involved. Professional certification in this industry may include;

• ASIS certification
• ATD Certification
• MCP certification
• Certified Professional in Learning & Performance (CPLP)

12. Get the Necessary Legal Documents You Need to Operate

While it is tempting to dig into the vision of your business and start making your idea a reality, it is important that you pause and cover all the necessary legal bases. Below, we have outlined the core legal documents that you will need when starting your business;

• Intellectual property protection agreement
• Article of Incorporation
• Operating Agreement
• Shooting permit
• Non-closure agreement
• Employee contracts and offer letters

13. Raise the Needed Startup Capital

Note that starting a reality TV show needs pre-production with all hiring crew, obtaining shooting permits, and many other things that will gulp a lot of money. If you cannot pool together all the required funds from your own end, then you will have to seek financing from third parties such as investors. If your idea or concept is really interesting and unique, you should be able to find interested investors without much stress. Possible ways to get funding may include;

• Personal savings
• angel investors
• Partnership
• Venture Capital
• Loans and grants
• Alternative funding source like Crowdfunding

14. Choose a Suitable Location for your Business

Having a good location can be vital for any business, but choosing the right one can be something of a balancing act. Ideally, the location should be convenient for your employees – without being too expensive. You should also consider;

• the level of passing trade
• the number of competitors
• transport links and parking
• planning restrictions
• local council charges and business rates for services such as waste collection
• local amenities

Despite the option you go for, there are likely to be advantages and disadvantages to the business location. An office in a rural setting might be relaxing, but could be awkward for staff or suppliers making deliveries. Being right in the middle of the city could be very convenient, but might also be expensive. Location has a major impact on cost. If you need premises in a prime location the extra costs may be justified.

15. Hire Employees for your Technical and Manpower Needs

Note that a typical reality show field crew would be made up of a camera person (handheld), a sound person carrying a boom mic, and a producer taking notes for story and interviews. Also, the on-camera “talent” would be mic’ed with lavalieres.

But it all depends on how much action there is to cover, at least two crews are ideal, to have cross angles on say, a conversation between two people. And, as always, get lots of b-roll! When it comes to the post and broadcast, a laptop, NLE editing software, and the internet are all you need.

It is very crucial that you understand the importance of a reality camera person that knows how to capture good image and sound. A steady camera, handles (let camera roll long before and long after the action), well-composed shot, good lighting, and knowledge of coverage (various size angles: close up, medium, wide.

Face shots of people speaking, hand shots of action, inserts of topics spoken about, b-roll (lots!), and room tone.) so note that good sound is probably more important than a good image. Indeed your viewers will forgive a bad image if they can clearly hear what is going on but not the other way around. Even if you have a beautiful image of two people speaking, it will not do if you can’t hear them. And don’t forget the room tone.

The Service Delivery Process of the Business

After you must have chosen your business location and are ready to start your show, your next step is to write a full synopsis, future episode guide and plot guide script for the pilot episode script for the host or voice-overs. You need to make sure to break down your script and decide how to go about the filming process.

You also need to protect your idea by registering with the appropriate agency for copyright protection in your state or country. Have it in mind when writing your synopsis that the key is efficiency in describing the elements and action involved, and also creating enough detail to be original.

Then following a shooting schedule you would have created earlier, shoot your reality TV show as planned. Always ensure to employ a professional editor to go through the footage and edit it into a compelling and interesting piece of entertainment. We advise that if you want everything to be done in line with your preferences, sit with the editor as he reviews and edits the footage of the show.

After you are done with the shooting and editing, the next thing is to promote. You can start by shopping it around to networks and production companies, and sending them tapes of the show when requested. It is also important to state that your major targets are leading production companies that are always scouting for new interesting projects to invest in.

Immediately you are able to get a deal with one of such companies, then your work stops right at that point because the company will be responsible for delivering the show to the network for airing, and you will be remunerated handsomely depending on the agreement you reach with the company.

However, have it in mind that a lot of networks and production companies will not accept your pitch for review if it doesn’t come through an agent. This is why if you are going through the traditional route of broadcasting your show on TV, you should consider pitching an agent with connections to TV production companies or TV networks around your location.

One more thing also important to note is that you can post your video online using sites like YouTube, and then promote the show to gather a huge following of loyal fans. We believe this is a cheaper and less strenuous option to adopt if you want to forget the traditional way of getting your show on TV.

Immediately you have struck a good deal with a TC network or production company, or you have successfully gathered a large audience online with your first episode, you need to go back to shooting additional episodes and promoting the show until your audience grows well enough to be noticed by large networks, advertisers, and studios.

16. Write a Marketing Plan Packed with ideas & Strategies

Most entrepreneurs will think that marketing is irrelevant for a reality show. If you really believe it, then you are sure deceiving yourself. The reality show business needs marketing as well as any other business known to man. Marketing this business might be expensive, but that doesn’t mean that you should give up. Have it in mind that nothing good comes easy. Ways to market your reality show includes;

Traditional advertising

Print, TV, outdoor media, etc.

Online adverting

Allows a more demographically targeted campaign with measurable interaction.

Social media

(Remember social media is about people not advertising) building engagement with information, trivia and even having characters (not the actors but the illusion of the characters) from the show interact via social media. This makes the show a multimedia experience and adds depth to the show.

Cross promotion with other shows or products

Sometimes selling a product endorsed or branded with the show or characters builds identity and engagement.

17. Develop Iron-clad Competitive Strategies to Help You Win

In this industry, one of the best ways to shine in the spotlight is to bring something new to the table. It is advised that you check out what your competitors are doing, and then look for something else. Try to search for something that may have the potential to sell but is yet to be filmed. The world is always looking for something new, the next best thing that can add even more to the uniqueness of the industry. Some ways to win your competitors in this business may include;

• Do something unique – publicity stunt
• Be smart with press junkets
• Pre-Roll Video Advertising
• Let your viewers enjoy the story
• IMDB Listings & Advertising
• Involve your audience in the making of the film
• Make your social media pages interactive
• Auction props used in the show

18. Brainstorm Possible Ways to Retain Clients & Customers

Note that this stage is a stage every business wants to attain. Having customers who stick to your show and preach how good your shows are can go a long way to help your business get to the top. So to retain your customers in your show, you need to;

• Make them part of the show
• Take your advertisement to the people
• Keep them interested
• Give them clear pictures and sound
• Don’t be boring

19. Develop Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness and Create a Corporate Identity

There are a few things unique about marketing reality shows. Timing is incredibly important – you must build up as much hype in the short space of time leading up to and around the launch as possible. Ways to boost your show brand awareness may include;

• Start with reputation
• Use your personality
• Tailor the message
• Take questions
• Be concrete
• End with a memory cue

Don't bother with copy and paste.

Get this complete sample business plan as a free text document.

Video Television Production Business Plan

Start your own video television production business plan

Evergreen TV Productions

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

EvergreenTV Productions, Inc. is a multi-faceted company, with the potential to branch into new venues as the company grows. There are currently three phases to development, beginning with our home division. By developing this division to include three stores in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, we can generate enough revenue to assist in the growth of two other divisions; tour and travel, and the business to business division. However, we will need additional funding to accomplish this plan.

The Home Division produces digital video scrapbooks by digitizing customers’ photos, setting them to music, and using selected digital effects to create the video memory. Our operations manual is a business system designed to produce the maximum number of videos per week while maintaining a rigid standard for quality. Using this system, and following this video production business plan, we will generate the revenue needed to allow us flexibility in accepting other projects more commonly associated with a production company, leading into the next division.

The Tour and Travel Division provides specialized production on a wide range of hand-picked projects, depending upon the client’s needs. This division creates videos of local interest for play in doctors offices’ waiting rooms, videos to promote area businesses, and tour/travel videos for tour companies. We will develop this division into a self-sufficient branch within the first year.

The Business to Business (B2B) Division markets the news stories of college and university communications students, and provides a resume posting service for said students. Those stories are sold to small market tv stations nationwide. This division is the heart of EvergreenTV Productions, and the reason for incorporation. After seven months of development, our website is complete. We are ready to revolutionize television news programming. Selecting only the best, we gather an impressive selection of “timeless” news stories produced by college and university students. Market research shows that nearly every day, small market tv stations need “filler” news, either local, regional or national, to complete their newscasts. Many subscribe to costly services, with little choice for story selection. EvergreenTV Productions will provide them with quality news stories, “filler news” which these stations can use for any time, any day, any cast. This division of EvergreenTV Productions is meeting two needs. First, those of students anxious to get professional experience and an introduction into the tv news industry. By promoting their news stories and publishing their resumes on our website, we’re helping them get that first foot in the door. Secondly, the needs of small market tv stations which cannot afford to budget tens of thousands of dollars for news programming.

Short Term:

• Open two stores in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area by the beginning of year two. Each store will follow a business system designed to operate at maximum efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of quality, as per a franchise.
• Produce an hour-long video of points of interest with the Tampa/St. Petersburg area to sell to doctor’s offices in the area by the end of month six. Revenue generated by tape sales will be used to support travel and expenses to meet goal three.
• Generate an inventory of 15 stories for the business to business division by the end of month six, and 50 stories by the end of month nine.
• Obtain 30 sales to small market tv stations by the end of year one.
• B2B Division sales increasing to XX by the third year.
• Build B2B news stories inventory to a minimum of 300 stories by the third year.
• Open two home division stores per year in various markets throughout state. i.e., Naples, Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Pensacola. Each store following our business system to maintain consistency and product control.
• Maintain a profit, to reinvest into business and further expansion.

Keys to Success

Home Division:

• Product quality. Begins with a complete customer’s understanding of the process. Customers should be comfortable turning over their treasured photos for production, and should be completely satisfied with the end product.
• Implementation of business system. Every employee should be fully trained and able to assist other employees in the goals and objectives as defined within the business system. This ensures that the first key to success is achieved.
• Marketing. Initial market saturation within key customer demographics is essential, followed by an extensive referral program, as outlined in the business system guidelines. Presentations to select demographics, such as retirement villas and professional photographers is vital. Building alliances and co-promotions programs with like businesses (such as wedding photographers, disc jockeys, travel agencies and photo processing centers) is key to further growth.

Tour and Travel Division:

• Product quality/customer satisfaction. All productions must meet the complete satisfaction of the client, regardless of genre. Employees must be trained to anticipate client’s needs and company’s ability to meet these needs. No project is too small to ignore the importance of quality and customer satisfaction.
• Development of referral program. This division will not actively seek projects, but will respond to the needs of referral clients. A well-defined web of referrals will contribute to the consistency of client’s expectations and this division’s output.

Business to Business Division:

• Product quality. Extensive review of each story submitted. Guidelines sent to communications professors to encourage the development of these stories.
• Marketing. Consistent, repetitious and personal contacting of colleges, universities, technical schools, as well as tv stations in the bottom 115 Nielsen markets. Fresh news releases notifying students and stations of upcoming stories. Faxes, newsletter mail-ins, and a constantly updated website promoting the students and product.
• Management. On-time product delivery. Budgets under control. Legal and accounting advice concerning new development or budgeting, such as QuickBooks instruction and copyright/trademark requirements.

“In the factory Revlon manufactures cosmetics, but in the store Revlon sells hope.” Charles Revson, founder of Revlon.

While EvergreenTV Productions, Inc. operates as a production company, it sells personal memories, opportunities and trust.

The home division creates video scrapbooks set to music, but sells memories and quality service. Customers must trust that we cherish their photos and will produce every video as if for our own families. Our employees must feel equal to the standards expected of them, and feel free to contribute new ideas to improve upon our business model. Employees are also our internal customers, and should be treated with the same respect given to customers who walk through the door.

The tour and travel division maintains an open mind to new video projects, so the client understands that his goal is our objective. While we will suggest alternatives and bring our experience to the table, we hold the client’s goal as the primary target. If we cannot achieve our client’s goal, we will present that information in our initial encounter and suggest other possible production means, rather than altering the project to our comfort level.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

EvergreenTV Productions is a multi-faceted production company operating on three basic levels.

The Home Division of EvergreenTV Productions is centered around one product. Using the most advanced, all-digital editing equipment, our company turns standard photos into video “scrapbooks” of various length and style, all set to selected music backgrounds. Customers are given a free consultation to review the process, help in selecting needed music, and given an explanation of each of the four packages of videos from which they may choose. Each package is a detailed rate plan, with varying costs. By using this free consultation, customers are assured a unique and personalized video.

The Tour and Travel Division handles various projects which may present themselves to our production company. This division is not primarily a revenue generator, but is vital to the growth of the company. Projects will be hand picked based upon a referral system. By minimizing the number of projects, we control quality and reputation as a production company which specializes, rather than an all-encompassing production facility which forsakes quality for quantity of projects. This division is responsible every quarter for producing a new hour long video of areas of interest around Tampa Bay.

The Business to Business Division (B2B) is the heart and soul of EvergreenTV Productions, the center of the vision for which the company began. It is a marketing service for college and university students of broadcasting, and a news programming service for small market tv stations. News directors are encouraged to contact the students for job openings, and students are given an account history of which stations purchased their story. These stories are marketed to the bottom 115 (Nielsen market) tv stations nationwide.

EvergreenTV Productions, Inc. started in Tampa, Florida in October 2000. It is a privately owned, Florida corporation, Subchapter S.

Company Ownership

EvergreenTV Productions is a privately-held Subchapter S corporation owned in majority by its founder and president, Louanne Walters. There is one other director, Bobby G. Walters, Louanne’s father, who is also vice-president. Louanne owns 70%, with Bobby owning 30%. Shares are available for additional ownership.

Company Locations and Facilities

All equipment and office management space is held within one room, approximately 10×10 feet at Louanne Walters’ home.

We are currently looking for an initial storefront, and have priced several in the North Tampa and Carrollwood areas. Needed space is 500-750 sq. ft. In these areas, price per square foot runs $1-$1.50, or approximately $500-$1,125 per month for rent. Many of these locations include utilities.

Start-up Summary

Expenses and funding for the business start-up are shown below.

Products and Services

As stated in the Company Summary section, Evergreen TV Productions is a company of three divisions, selling both products and services according to each division.

Product and Service Description

Services include:

• Marketing college and university students’ news stories to small market tv stations nationwide.
• Posting students’ resumes for a certain period (three months) on its website.
• Assigning each student an account from which he/she can contact stations which purchased his/her tape for potential job opportunities.
• Assigning each station an account from which the news director may contact students as potential future reporters.

Products include:

• Video scrapbooks, produced from photos digitized and set to music.
• Tour and travel videos of local, business or other interest for use in area businesses, as advertising of area businesses, or to promote tour agencies.
• All types of “evergreen” or “timeless” news stories, such as Health, Travel, Business, Leisure, Sports, Politics, Feature Personalities, etc., which may be of interest to stations and their viewers.

Competitive Comparison

We stand apart from our competition in price and value.

Home Division: Currently, production companies are hesitant to offer video scrapbooks due to the amount of work necessary for a minimal return on revenue. They would much rather produce corporate productions with a high fee. Locally, a few companies will produce these scrapbooks, but they charge enormous fees. The reason for this is that they do not have a business system in place to allow them to produce these scrapbooks on a timely schedule with minimal cost. From an informal phone survey we gathered rates for a 10 minute video from $500 to $2,000. Additionally, this phone survey showed no true committment to the production elements of music and digital effects. Again, this is due to having no business system in place to provide these essential elements. It can be compared to a hamburger stand trying to become McDonald’s with no actual system in place to keep quality consistent.

Tour and Travel Division: We offer high value and quality to our customers, and treat every project as if it were the only project. Production companies in general have a reputation for sloppy and careless producing, for overbooking projects, and for inconsistent and exorbitant charges. Our referral acceptance program ensure we will not overbook, we will have a higher degree of responsibility with each customer who is referred, and we cannot charge one customer amount X, and another customer amount Y, as they will probably know each other. The referral program sets us apart, and reassures otherwise wary customers.

B2B Division: CONUS sells yearly subscriptions of regional news to tv stations nationwide for $20,000/year. Dr. Dean Edell sells yearly subscriptions of health news only, for nearly $30,000/year. MedStar sells yearly subscriptions of health news only, for $24,000/year. Mr. Food, Mrs. Fixit, TravelNet and many others all rank in the $20,000 and above category, and all offer only one topic, either health, food, travel, or how-to’s, but not something from each.

At our online website, EvergreenTV Productions offers a variety of topics to chose from, and stations can pick their own five stories each week to match their news or specific story trends, at a lower cost. They can customize their filler news, instead of throwing in whatever is available, making their newscasts flow smoothly, and eventually helping them generate viewers and thus sales, and all at a much more affordable cost.

Sales Literature

EvergreenTV Productions will rely heavily on presentations to retirement villas, business clubs, and other social outlets for advertising the Home Division. The B2B Division will rely upon one on one sales calls to colleges/universities and tv stations, and upon the Internet for e-mails, faxes and advertising of products and services.

Fulfillment

All end product supplies can be purchased locally from Office Depot, Sam’s Club, or Staples, or from a production company on the Internet at minimal cost. End product supplies include tape labels, and VHS/Beta/DVC video tape.

For the B2B Division, we do not buy our stories, but trade our marketing and resume services to students for their stories. A legally drawn-up contract is held between EvergreenTV Productions and each student, once his/her story is accepted. By agreeing, the student gives us the story for any commercial use, and he/she agrees to use that story only in job-searching. We then sell the story for profit and expenses (such as video tapes for dubbing purposes).

We also own over $12,000 worth of video and editing equipment, and can do our own stories, at no further cost to the company.

We use both Windows and Macintosh technology in our company. Windows and Office products are used mainly for all databases, word processing, and accounting needs. Macintosh products are used primarily for video editing, and loading video onto our website. We also have all the necessary components for a digital video production center, including cameras, mini-disc recorders, microphones, and lights. All other items can be rented per project at a low cost. Eventually, we would like to include DVD-R drives on our computers, to allow us to copy to DVD, rather than simply VHS tape (Home Division).

In addition to standard computers, scanner-copier-printer centers, we also use electronic faxing via the Internet, cell phone, DSL Internet subscriber line and several video tape recorders of various formats, including Beta SP, SVHS, DVC, and 3/4″. We are currently in communication with a media streaming Internet company regarding posting these news stories on the Internet to be downloaded directly to the tv stations who purchase the stories. This would eliminate the need for hard tape, and would give the stations instant access to stories they could download to their specific tape format.

Future Products and Services

Within the next five years, we will add storefronts statewide, all following consistent guidelines in our business system.

We would like to franchise this store nationwide.

Within the next three to five years, we will add production of our own brand of travel news to our product line.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

Home Division: There are no production companies in the area which currently focus on video scrapbooks. Several smaller companies “can” and “will” produce this for a high cost to the customer. With the advertising by both Apple and Sony focused on home digital video production, the awareness of this type of production is growing within the community, but as yet, no company has stepped up to the plate to offer this product. Consumers are becoming more educated about what can be done, but they do not know how to do it themselves.

For several months, EvergreenTV Productions has promoted this concept via word of mouth to small businesses, consumers on the street, and educated professionals. All show a keen interest in buying the product.

Tour and Travel Division : Many production facilities exist in the Tampa Bay Area; and all are capable of producing professional projects. As this is a referral division only, we do not plan to compete regularly for business. Instead, we will build a web of quality prospects by maintaining high productions standards, and accepting only those clients who come highly recommended. This is not our main focus, but is a tool to generate business and reputation.

B2B Division: EvergreenTV Productions focuses on the bottom 115 (Nielsen) tv markets. These are the markets whose station budgets don’t easily allow an expense of $20,000+ per year for programming services. We will offer the affordable alternative.

EvergreenTV Productions conducted a mail-in survey of 113 stations in the bottom 65 markets. The majority of these do subscribe to CONUS, Dr. Dean Edell, MedStar, or Medical Breakthrough. Of the 10 responses received, four stations did not subscribe to any news provider, but did indicate an interest in “filler news” at a reasonable cost. The conclusion is that many stations need stories, but cannot stretch their budgets to accommodate the high cost of programming. At this time, no service exists like EvergreenTV Productions programming alternative. Numbers for projected growth are not possible without history.

Market Segmentation

Three loosely defined market segments are identified. The “Home Division” category  is by far the largest potential segment and represents the consumer most likely to be our client. 

Target Market Segment Strategy

Home Division: Strategy for the home division is two-fold. First, we must find the appropriate means to communicate our product to potential customers. Because nearly everyone today has the ability to take photos and has a wide selection of photos at home, we must first narrow down our customer base by appealing to the emotions people attach to their photos. Older persons with larger families are more inclined to want to share their family histories. Newlyweds want their family and friends to share in their newfound happiness. By emphasizing these traits (nostalgia and euphoria) we can begin to gain a following for our product. Second, we must find a suitable location for our storefront, which enables us to find customers who share these traits. Malls and movie theaters appeal to “togetherness,” shopping together for gifts, weekend outings, brunch/lunch/dinner dates. The right location will give us access to our primary customers, those who will help us launch the product in the area by word of mouth.

Tour and Travel Division: This division’s strategy relies entirely on our referral program. Doctors’ offices and travel agencies give us a wider demographic schematic, as patients and families of patients are confined to a waiting room during a visit. Instead of watching afternoon televised programming, doctors will be able to provide their clients with informative, educational and entertaining programming as compared to many daytime talk shows.

B2B Division: Because EvergreenTV Productions utilizes the stories of university students, it is important to recognize the average age of a station’s reporters. A previous survey conducted by our company did confirm our experience, in that most small market tv stations hire only young “cub” reporters, as experienced reporters tend to move onward to larger markets and bigger stations. The quality of our product will match the quality of the station’s news. Therefore it is essential to target the bottom markets. This is also important to recognize from the service end of our business, as news directors will be interested in hiring reporters from our pool of news stories.

Market Growth

Home Division: We will be better able to track market growth in this division following the first two quarters of sales. At this time, with no active competition, we expect our growth rate to double and triple weekly. As Tampa Bay is a large retirement community, these numbers could be increasing for several quarters. We then expect to see a slight down curve as the product finds its niche within the community, with a more consistent level of sales.

Market Needs

Home Division: With the advent of digital editing capabilities on home computer systems, more consumers are aware of the potential of creating video scrapbooks, but most are not familiar enough with the technology to accomplish a simple video. Apple and Sony are selling large numbers of these computers despite a recent turndown in the computer industry. Digital still cameras are a must have, with consumers expanding their vocabularies to include “Memory Stick,” “Pixels,” and “Jpegs.” Yet, in the Tampa Bay area, no production companies are actively marketing video scrapbooks. We can use the above product interest, and the continued success of photo processing centers, to create a gauge for interest in this product. However, as with any relatively new product, we will not know the market’s true needs until several quarters of sales.

B2B Division: A void currently exists in the area of news programming. Larger stations are able to budget tens of thousands of dollars per year to support their needs. Smaller stations often rely on extending the weather and sports segments, or sitting on credits at the end of cast to “eat up extra time.” This reduces the newscasts’ value, and thus reduces the price of selling advertising as commercials, which is where tv stations make money.

Other small markets may subscribe to one or two programming services, at the expense of hiring quality personnel. These services limit the news directors and producers, because they have to run whatever story comes down on the satellite link that day. It may have nothing to do with other stories in a cast, or interest to the local viewing audience.

EvergreenTV Productions allows the stations to pick their own stories and run them when needed. In addition, by ordering weekly, they can choose from a constantly upgraded catalogue and pick stories which relate to news they are already running or have run recently. In other words, on a slow news day, CONUS may offer a story from a station in another state about a family lawsuit which has no relevance to that station’s viewers. EvergreenTV Productions, however, may offer a story about “Buying a puppy for your five year old.” It is timeless, and applies to a greater percentage of the viewing audience than the distant family’s lawsuit.

Within the service branch of this division, there is a greater range of competition, but few meet student’s needs. Many news talent agencies and resume services exist. However, none of them offer posting of resumes, marketing of resume tapes, and especially an opportunity to earn professional experience while the student is still in college, at no cost to the student. By positioning themselves with EvergreenTV Productions, students can hone in on various stations who have purchased their stories. They can link directly to those stations for future jobs, rather than send out a multitude of resume tapes in a shotgun style to get a foot in the door. And, they will not have to pay our company 10% of their first salary!

Market Trends

Home Division: The advent of home computers capable of digital editing can certainly be considered a market trend, and one that is highly influential to our home division. As more consumers know of the technology, more interest is created in our product. While large corporations spend millions in advertising to promote these computers, we can take advantage of this advertising second-hand. The interest is created by the large corporations, and we use like advertising and terminology to increase interest in our particular product. A second major trend is with photo processing centers, such as those at Walgreens, offering pictures on CD-ROMS. These centers are already taking pictures to the next level, with the purpose of sharing these memories with family and friends. The logical next step is to put these pictures together in a creative and professional video scrapbook, then copy them to VHS tape or DVD.

B2B Division: One major trend in the television news industry is staffing cut-backs. Newsrooms are using fewer reporters and photographers and replacing them with bought programming. Instead of paying $18,000/year for a reporter and $16,000/year for a photographer, smaller markets are buying news programming services at $20,000/year and saving on salary and health care expenses, while increasing the number of stories running per day. On average, a reporter will turn out one or two stories per day, while CONUS offers the ability to run two or three stories per day.

Another trend focuses on freelancing opportunities for reporters. Many are now working on their own, producing stories bought by several different companies. As tv begins to reflect the magazine industry in freelancing opportunities, more and more reporters will make a living working for themselves. In a long-term analysis, EvergreenTV Productions will be able to utilize these freelancers to do specific stories which fit the mission of our company.

A third trend is greater reliance on the Internet for programming. With the advent of TIVO, viewers can choose what they want to watch when they want to watch it. An even further long-term analysis could lend EvergreenTV Productions the opportunity to provide news that viewers can access specifically without going through their local tv stations. In the short term, local news stations may soon be able to download news stories directly to their control centers, without needing a tape for playback. By initially locating on the Internet, EvergreenTV Productions is putting itself in the position to take advantage of the increasing opportunities of Internet business, while at the present time offering easy access to a catalog of stories for order.

Service Business Analysis

Home Division: We are primarily a production company within the retail industry. Some industries are similar, but as this is new technology, it is a unique industry. At the current time, we know of only a few other production companies which consistently turn out video scrapbooks. The photography industry is similar in creating still pictures for retail.

• Production companies: Most are individually owned and rarely produce small projects such as video scrapbooks. We do not know of any production companies designed solely for this type of product, but do know of several small corporations who have similar guidelines. The downside to these companies is that they are limited in timely production ability. They cannot accept 10 orders for video scrapbooks simultaneously, as they are set up to produce one scrapbook every two to three days, rather than two to three hours.
• Photography companies: Like-minded companies which produce wedding, family, vacation, etc., still photos for families to treasure. They do not produce video scrapbooks from these photos.

Tour and Travel Division: We are limiting our production output in this division to a referral basis only. In general, the production company industry is very large, with companies specializing in corporate training videos, tour videos, advertising, etc. They rarely limit their productions to referral only, which means most often they will specialize in one area. To the customer, this means outsourcing to several production companies to meet his needs. A corporate president may have to hire two production companies to produce a training video and a travel video.

B2B Division: We are both a marketing service and news provider. Therefore, half of our business deals within the marketing industry, promoting students, while the other half deals within the news industry, selling news programming to news stations.

• Industry magazines: For a nominal fee, students seeking employment can post a want ad, specifying the type of job they are looking for. These magazines have good responses from tv stations advertising jobs, but have a lower success rate for students seeking jobs.
• Internet websites: For a nominal fee, students may post their resume and information on an industry targeted website such as www.tvjobs.com. Thousands of students and currently employed reporters compete for the same positions, again with lower success rates.
• Network-based programming: Affiliates belong to network news services which provide daily programming on hourly feeds. These stories are limited in region and topic, extremely time-sensitive, and restricted to the affiliation only. NBC affiliates belong to NBC Newschannel. ABC affiliates belong to NewsOne, etc.
• Subscription programming: For an annual rate, any affiliate may subscribe to these programming services. Their downside is in limiting the stories they offer to one specific topic such as healthcare, travel, or politics, rather than offering a wide variety of topics from which to choose. In addition, stations do not have a choice in which stories to run each day. Either stations can take one story daily from a satellite feed, or stations are sent a week of stories on tape.

Business Participants

Home Division: Most production companies have a full plate with a wide assortment of projects. They are benefiting from the growing need for corporate advertising/projects, and prices on production equipment are continuing to fall.

B2B Division:

Student Services:

• There are hundreds of national talent agents within the tv industry. A select few work with esteemed firms and take on only proven, exceptional talent. Hundreds of others are available to college students for a fee of 10-13% of their salaries. This is where agents make money, searching for a job for the students, gaining an interview, then reaping the rewards. Fewer reporters are looking for agents due to the fee and the increasing abilities of the Internet. Like travel agents, talent agents are finding their once lucrative positions threatened by the Internet.
• There are dozens of job search services available, more in the past few years due to the insurgence of the Internet. Most require an upfront fee of $10-15 per month for resume posting service, and the privilege of searching for jobs on their website from those stations which have subscribed to them. They will continue to do well as long as reporters are seeking positions.

Station Services:

• While there are many production companies, few offer news to tv stations. Most programming services are based in larger markets where their product has taken hold. They offer topic specific news for tv stations nationally, at a high cost. Most generate stories by one well-known personality and offer only one story possibility per day. They make the majority of their revenue from mid-to-large markets. They have a strong position in the industry, and because they are topic specific, do not threaten each other. Internet news on demand, where viewers can watch their favorite station from their home computers, is the biggest threat.
• Freelance reporters infrequently sell their stories to stations.

Distributing a Service

Home Division: Customers are accustomed to going into retail locations to make purchases or place orders. Having a storefront will provide them with this opportunity. Initially, we will host presentations to explain the product at various outlets such as retirement villas and apartment clubhouses.

B2B Division: TV Stations buy directly from the programming source. A sales representative may call or visit a station for a programming product, or the station may purchase directly via the Internet.

Initially, it will be vital for us to visit one-on-one with small market stations to obtain a base clientele. Those stations across the country will be targeted via telephone and direct mailing promotional kits. Those stations which responded to our initial marketing survey are prime first clients–those who have already defined their needs according to our questionnaire.

Competition and Buying Patterns

Home Division: As with any retail line, customers feel more comfortable and believe they are truly getting their money’s worth when they are given one-on-one attention. It is this attention we will give them in our 30-minute free consultations. Our customers will be more inclined to refer our business and product to friends and family if they believe we do not see them as simply a sale, but as people with needs being met. At the same time, it is essential we see the photos the customer is bringing in, and have the customer present to ask questions and verify the photo placement within the video. This initial attention to detail will also provide our customers with the knowledge that we will produce exactly the video they have in mind.

B2B Division: TV stations are prone to purchase news stories based on the bottom line. If one programming service becomes too expensive, the station will spin off to another programming service for a few thousand dollars less. Small market tv stations do not have this option, as most services are too expensive for their budgets.

EvergreenTV Productions will offer quality news stories at a very competitive price–in fact, half the cost of most other programming services–to gain access to those smaller markets. In addition, having a variety of news topics makes us a hot choice. Stations do not have to spend thousands for only one brand of news, i.e., health stories. They can choose from a wide variety, health, politics, financial, innovative, unusual, personalities, etc.

Main Competitors

Home Division (Video Scrapbook Production Companies):

Family Tree Videos: Strengths: A franchise production company geared toward genealogy, but includes producing video scrapbooks. Good-looking productions revolving around family interviews, documentation, and photos. Weaknesses: The formula is too complex to generate quality products in quantity. Many smaller production companies learn this method first, then give up due to lost time and not enough revenue. Independent Companies: Strengths: Nationwide, dozens of independently owned production companies produce video scrapbooks. Most are your neighbors, businesses you want to trust. Weaknesses: Quality is inconsistent and depends entirely upon the owner’s ability. If you’re not a close friend or family member, you may not get the product you really want or thought you ordered. Due to time constraints and the need for revenue, many of these smaller companies will put video scrapbooks on the back burner for bigger projects, such as weddings.

B2B Division (Programming Services):

Dr. Dean Edell: Strengths: Well known after years of radio and tv broadcasting. Big service, using satellite feeds to get stories to stations. National image, high volume. Weaknesses: Very expensive. At the top of the scale at $24,000+ per year. Limited to one topic, health news. MedStar: Strengths: Competitive pricing, less expensive than Dr. Dean. Utilizes chain of universities for national syndication. Weaknesses: Still too high a cost for smaller markets. Limited to one topic, health news. TravelNet: Strengths: National syndication, high volume. Has satellite feeds to stations. Weaknesses: Generic writing for travel pieces. Limited to one topic, travel news. Too high a cost for smaller markets. Mrs. Fix It: Strengths: Appealing change of gender, national image, excellent writing and presentation. Weaknesses: Too high a cost for smaller markets, limited to one topic, do-it-yourself home/yard/car improvements.

Many other services fall within this category, too many to mention. Some are purely regional and do not appeal nationally. Most are of high cost to small market stations. None that we’ve found offers a variety of news topics.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

• Create a “gotta have it” campaign. Our marketing efforts need to focus on a) introducing our specific brand of video scrapbooks and b) telling our customers why they and their friends all need one.
• Emphasize service and quality. Especially as this is a fairly new product to be launched into the market, customers need to know that we will cherish their memories and create a quality video.
• Emphasize variety and cost savings. We must differentiate ourselves from the large programming services by detailing the variety of news stories and affordable pricing.
• Build a relationship with schools and stations. Build long-term relationships with professors, deans and news directors to continue service and sales annually.
• Focus on key schools and markets. We need to focus on building a client base of schools who know and believe in our student oriented objectives, and who will help promote those objectives yearly. We also need to build loyalty and consistent quality with target small market tv stations/news directors.

Competitive Edge

Home Division: Our competitive edge in producing video scrapbooks is in our business system, which allows us a) to produce large numbers of videos while retaining quality, thus giving more customers a grade A product with a short turn-around time, b) to maintain consistency at every location, so customers can be assured they will get the same quality at one store that their friends/family received at another, and c) to train all employees using consistent customer service guidelines from initial consultation through any complaints/issues.

B2B Division: For TV stations, our competitive edge is having a variety of news topics to offer, and at a much more affordable cost to small market tv stations than larger programming services can offer.

For students, our competitive edge is offering a FREE resume service, FREE marketing service for that first job out of school, and a DIRECT connection to news directors in markets known to hire graduating broadcasting students.

Sales Strategy

• We need to sell the memories and emotions of these videos, not the product. While we produce videos, we create and tap into a lifetime of emotions cherished by our customers. Our advertising and marketing need to reflect this concept.
• We need to understand exactly what our service is, so our customers will also understand. Our customers must feel confident that we value their memories and emotions as much as our own, and will treasure them individually. An order for a video is not a product order, but a piece of family gold we are holding in safekeeping.
• We need to sell both the company and the product. As this is a new venture into an antiquated system, generating sales will require an enthusiastic approach in order to renovate the tv news programming concept. In-person sales are essential in the primary stages of generating sales. A reputation for service excellence, news variety and affordable pricing will continue the momentum of sales in the future.
• We have to sell our service and support to schools nationwide. Gaining the support of deans and professors is a vital element to generating inventory on a yearly basis. By developing a loyal clientele of professors, we ensure continued inventory growth annually.

Sales Forecast

Yearly sales forecasts are shown below and the initial year’s monthly forecast is shown in the appendix.

Strategic Alliances

Home Division: Strategic alliances with photographers, photo processing centers and travel agents will be key to generating sales in the first few quarters. We plan to initiate a co-marketing campaign, by possibly adding on 30-second commercials at the end of each video, promoting a photographer or travel agency. These will be tasteful and placed at the end of the tape, but will also co-promote a like business. In the future, we could sell these spots to like businesses to generate revenue.

Additionally, our alliances with retirement villas will be instrumental from start-up. While these will not involve co-promotions, it will be necessary to build a strong relationship so the villa officials welcome us to their facilities.

B2B Division: We heavily depend upon building a strong alliance with schools to create a substantial inventory to generate sales. The greater the size of inventory, the greater the variety we have to offer stations. We need to concentrate on making as many contacts with schools as possible. If we cannot offer students a marketing position, i.e., a substantial time frame in which we market their stories and post their resumes, we will not have their interest and it would follow, their stories to add to our inventory.

After the first year, the inventory will grow at a consistent rate. However, the first year’s inventory size could well determine our company’s sales success.

Marketing Strategy

Home/Travel Divisions:

• Build relationships with primary target customers (Market Segmentation section) and like businesses, such as photography shops, photography processing centers, and travel agencies.
• Emphasize service and quality while building a referral basis.
• Emphasize variety and affordability.
• Emphasize service while building relationships.
• Focus on schools with tv stations and broadcast communications programs.
• Focus on small market tv stations, bottom 115 Nielsen markets.

Positioning Statement

Home Division: Initially, for people celebrating an event or recognizing a lifetime of memories who would like to share photos of those memories in a video scrapbook with friends and family, our videos provide a special and unique gift opportunity. Unlike standard production companies which produce video scrapbooks in a random and time-consuming fashion, our videos meet consistently professional standards in quality in a timely manner. (See Competitive Comparison section.)

B2B Division: For students about to graduate and seek their first job within the tv news industry, EvergreenTV Productions offers an incredible marketing and resume posting service. Unlike www.tvjobs.com and others, it offers these services for free, and for a longer period of time (i.e., three months as opposed to one month).

For small market tv stations which need news stories daily to fill their newscasts, EvergreenTV Productions offers an affordable programming service. Unlike larger programming services such as Dr. Dean Edell and TravelNet, it offers a variety of programming at half the cost.

Pricing Strategy

Home Division: Our business system has helped define our pricing strategy. If our video scrapbooks are too time-consuming, the customer will be charged an exorbitant amount. If our video scrapbooks are even middle to low quality, we cannot charge the customer low enough. By making the productions both time-efficient and consistent in high quality, we can maximize our pricing to acceptable market levels. Our strategy is also based upon the fact that we are introducing video scrapbooks on a large scale into the market, with no previous history for this product. As our video style becomes more popular, we will be able to adjust the pricing accordingly. We are offering four package styles from which our customers may choose. By charting the most popular package, we will better determine the right price for our product.

B2B Division: Our pricing strategy is key to our offering. If we charge too much, or even 3/4 the price of larger programming services, we are undercutting our potential orders. The market of small market stations cannot bear the higher prices offered by larger programming services.

Likewise, by offering a free resume and marketing service to students, we are ensuring continued interest in our service in exchange for news stories. We need to be positioned to offer payment for these stories a few years down the road. As the popularity of EvergreenTV Productions grows, so will the number of programming services offering similar services.

Promotion Strategy

Home Division: Initially, we will depend upon presentations and business relationships to reach new customers.

• Retirement villas “social nights:” We have been invited to attend certain nights set aside at retirement villas for residents and family members in which we will present Photo Memories thru discussion and a brief video presentation.
• Photographers, photo processing centers, and travel agencies: We will form business referral relationships with like businesses to promote the product.

B2B Division: We depend on direct contact with communications deans and professors as our main way to reach students. That contact will be made to specific schools.

• Promotional Kits. We are sending colleges, universities and technical schools with tv stations on campus promotional kits which will include our objectives and student guidelines for various topics.
• Campus Visits and Phone Calls. We are contacting the professors and deans directly, either through campus visits or phone calls, to gain the support needed from deans and professors, who in turn are encouraging their students to submit news stories to us.

Distribution Strategy

Home Division: Our primary distribution will be through our storefront, which will also be the order center, consultation location, and production office. To make it easier for our customers at retirement villas, we offer to accept orders at and deliver to these locations.

B2B Division: Our distribution will focus mainly around our website, taking orders and processing them through direct mailings. In the initial period, we will be distributing tapes during person-to-person presentations.

We are prepared to mail on order, via the USPS. Stations may order for regular three-day delivery, up to overnight shipments, depending upon their needs.

Part of the business’s success will be based on planned tasks and timely completion of those steps. The table below lists steps, timeline and estimated budgets.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

EvergreenTV Productions is owned and operated by its founders, Louanne Walters and Bobby Gene Walters. It is a small company with immediate plans for hiring one or two employees per store. Each employee’s responsibilities will be outlined in our business system “Operations Manual.”

As we grow into the Tour and Travel and B2B Divisions, we will evaluate which positions need to be filled first. Long term growth includes plans for an Operations Manager, who will report to the President and handle all accounting and marketing responsibilities. Three managers will answer to the Ops Mgr, one per division. Each manager will be primarily responsible for accounting and marketing within his/her division, and will handle all hiring/training needs.

We currently receive a great deal of advice from outside sources, such as our accountant and attorney; however, we follow the advice which meets our goals and needs.

Organizational Structure

As a start-up, our divisions and departments are inter-related and handled for the most part by Louanne Walters. With time and revenue, we will expand to accommodate several departments: sales & marketing, service and administration, product development, and finance. Each division manager will fill these departments according to specific needs and the company’s business system operations manual.

The following chart outlines the anticipated organizational set-up for the first three to five years of EvergreenTV Productions, Inc.

Management Team

Louanne Walters, president: 33 years old, extensive experience in the radio and tv news industries. Formerly a tv news producer, reporter and anchor. Degree in broadcast communications, seven years with three NBC affiliates (KPOM, Ft. Smith, Arkansas – KRIS, Corpus Christ, Texas – KWQC, Davenport, Iowa) and one year as video programmer with Royal Caribbean International. Extensive public relations background as anchor and cruise director with Royal Caribbean International. Strong writing skills, strong story development and news sense. Attending courses at Small Business Development Center USF. Louanne also has strong sales skills, and is formerly a Toyota new car product specialist, and Voice Stream territory representative.

Bobby G. Walters, vice-president: 61 years old, extensive management background during 33 years with USAF. Degree in business and management. Twelve years as manager with local Wal-Mart stores.

Management Team Gaps

We believe we have strong leadership for developing the concept behind EvergreenTV Productions. At present, our weakest area is in accounting. We are currently taking an accounting course produced by “Great Courses on Tape,” focusing on finance and accounting. Additionally, we have hired Jim Wessman, CPA to advise and aid us in the development of EvergreenTV Productions. Jim is a qualified management counselor, and QuickBooks advisor.

We also need to hire division managers with a well-rounded management background, including human resources, accounting, benchmarking and goal-setting abilities.

Following the opening of stores for the Home Division, we will need to hire an operations manager, with an MBA and at least five years experience with a start-up organization.

Personnel Plan

Details of store staffing is presented in the Personnel Table, below and in the appendix.

We assume hiring employees on hourly pay the first year, and adding a few salaried management positions with benefits the second year. Our management salaries (marketing manager, president, operations manager) as shown below include taxable benefits. Payroll taxes for all employees are shown in the Profit and Loss.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The most important element in the financial plan is the critical need for additional capital to assist in business operations through the remaining start-up process, and to maintain a positive cash balance for the first fiscal quarters. We do not anticipate any changes to our financial plan through accounts receivables or inventory, as our company operates upon the “payment upon receipt” principal for all goods, and our inventory cycle does not meet the standard criteria.

Moving from a home office to a storefront with employees, introduces greater liabilities. During the past seven month start-up process, we have largely committed to EvergreenTV Productions through personal savings, cashed stocks, personal credit lines and personal long-term loan options.

Important Assumptions

The financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table. The key underlying assumptions are:

We assume access to equity capital and financing sufficient to follow and maintain our financial plan as shown in the tables. We anticipate our financing to hold higher long-term interest than our current loan against stock. We assume that as our company grows, we will be able to utilize a larger credit line, decreasing our expenses in cash. Likewise, our short-term credit line will be available with a lower short-term interest rate, making more cash available.

We assume opening and promoting three stores within the Tampa Bay area before reaching saturation. Likewise, we assume relatively quick initial growth within the Home Division, following our plan of two stores open within the first year, and 10 stores statewide within five years.

We assume many tv markets are, or will become, Internet proficient. We assume most colleges and universities are, or will become, Internet proficient. We assume slow initial growth within the B2B Division. However, the majority of our long-term payments are for one time, or long-term purchases which will not need to be replaced in the first five years.

Key Financial Indicators

The benchmark chart shows the nature of our company. We estimate consistent turns on inventory, as our inventory is available for resale on a constant basis. In our Home Division, we do not keep inventory, but customers bring their photos to us. In our B2B Division, our inventory consists of news stories we will keep on hand for multiple sales. Several stations may purchase the same story, we simply make a copy of that story. Our blank tape inventory will be replenished monthly to avoid keeping a large inventory of tapes.

Our Gross Margin increases with increased sales, but as we have a very low direct cost of sales, this number will only increase fractionally compared to sales.

Sales and Operating Expenses are our closest measurements in this forecast. While sales increase dramatically, operating expenses increase with new stores, additional employees and taxes. However, by maximizing the number of employees within each store, we are also maximizing our location and limiting further expenses that additional storefronts would incur. We are also able to save drastically on advertising expenses, which would naturally increase with each new location.

Break-even Analysis

We assume running costs which include rent, utilities, office expenses, and an average of travel, advertising and miscellaneous costs. Miscellaneous costs are equal to quarterly costs such as business cards, brochures, bulk tape supplies and occasional equipment rental. Payroll increases every other month as we add new employees.

Projected Profit and Loss

Profit and Loss projects look very good, with the usual start-up loss limited to the first two months. The monthly projections for the first year are included in the appendix.

Projected Cash Flow

Cash flow projections are good, as shown in the annual table below, and the monthly table in the appendix. There are only two months of negative cash flow the foreseen the first year, and the all important cash balance shows steady increases.

Projected Balance Sheet

The balance sheet below and in the appendix show steady increase in net worth over the life of the plan.

Business Ratios

Business ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 7812, Motion Picture and Video Production, are shown for comparison.

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Business plans, which have a traditional structure, can be modified to ensure a clear presentation of your business idea. In television, radio and now in online and mobile broadcast, many of those who will be reading it won't be familiar with the industry. Don't let structure get in the way of explaining your business idea fully and simply so everyone who reads it can understand what's at stake.

Business Model

Start the section on your business model with a page or two explaining the key niches of the broadcast industry your business idea will serve. Potential investors may not fully understand how broadcasting works, particularly if you're proposal deals with an alternative media like mobile or Internet radio. Don't leave any room for uncertainty. Explain why your channel is necessary and show how its intended audience compares to other outlets. Discuss your vision and mission and explain how you will create content, attract employees and build your schedule around it.

Target Audience

Define your target audience in detail and provide examples of how your channel will provide something they can't get elsewhere. Next, explain how you plan to market your channel to them so they're compelled to give it a try. Describe how you plan to keep your audience coming back and how you will build your channel into their lifestyles. Provide examples of how, why and when your audience will be tuning in and how frequently. Include an explanation of how you will attract sponsors and advertising.

Revenue Model

On-air and Internet advertising, subscriptions and sponsorship are among the revenue paths you might use to make money with your channel. However, the size of your audience must be verified by tracking services or a list of subscribers to justify your ad rates. Discuss how much you intend to charge for subscriptions and advertising during your development phase. Unless your content is unique and vital, you might have to offer the service for free until your channel becomes popular enough to attract advertising dollars. Other sources of revenue include special real-world events, charging guests for promotional appearances and running donation drives.

Financial Projections

Focus your financial section on defining what it will cost to build your broadcast channel, including equipment, professional services and operational and marketing activities. Next, estimate how much money you can reasonably expect to earn from your revenue streams. Investor decisions will probably be based on the value of your programming and the likelihood of attracting a substantial audience, so show how you will spend any investment funds and how those expenditures will create audience numbers that result in a steady stream of revenue.

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Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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