Our recently-formed development team made its first visit to the Realscreen Summit in New Orleans this January.  Led by Development Consultant Melissa Cutlip (a Realscreen veteran), Brenton’s team aimed to soak up as much information possible inside the world of TV development.

The Realscreen Summit is in its 22nd year and brings together approximately 1700 delegates from around the world for four days of networking, pitching, and insight from leading executives in the unscripted and non-fiction television industry.

“As a longtime television producer, I understand what it takes to make a TV show,” says Matt Allegretti, who directs and produces several of Brenton’s automotive TV series in addition to being part of Brenton’s development team.  “But it’s a whole other world to see what it takes to birth a show.”

Allegretti says the conference was an amazing reminder that the shows you can’t live without, and the characters you’ll never forget, all start from a conversation between network executives and development teams.

“Sometimes the pitch starts with just a title or a logline (a brief summary that hooks the reader and describes the central conflict of the story) that gets a network thinking, ‘this could be our next hit’,” says Allegretti.  “But even if a network is excited about a show, it takes an army to go to bat for the idea before it ever turns into something you can watch at home or on your phone.”

With the goal to expand outside of the automotive industry, our development team met with networks including HGTV, Discovery Channel, and A&E, just to name a few.

“My real take away from Realscreen is the relationships,” says Allegretti.  “Everything in this business is done on trust. Can I trust this production company to deliver the show on time? Can I trust them to cast the right talent? Once you have a solid relationship with a network, you’ve won. That’s why I feel like this year’s summit was a win for Brenton Productions, because we made connections with people who can trust us for years to come, to deliver solid and engaging shows for them.”

Keep an eye out for what’s next to come from Brenton Productions. Realscreen 2020 was only the beginning.

Learn more about our Development Team here!