what if…

TV show pitch: It’s ‘Pretty Woman’ but with an ASMR streamer in Julia Roberts’ role.

Nick Kononelos
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read

I’d watch that. Maybe.

It would at least get my attention as a concept.

The point is, it’s (maybe?) a catchy one-liner for a TV show pitch that took minutes to create. It follows a simple formula I’ve seen create some interesting pitch ideas quickly. At least ideas that are good starting points. Many people do it.

Here it is: take something (i.e., a movie, book, software, etc.) that works, switch out some components… voila. New idea!

Think of it as “XYZ” where X = the general story or core concept, Y = the setting and Z = the roles or responsibilities.

In our example, Pretty Woman is (X) a rags to riches, fairytale story set in (Y) late 80’s Los Angeles between (Z) a struggling prostitute and a businessman in need of a social companion.

If we switch out Z with a wealthy college student and a struggling-to-find-an-audience streamer and we set Y to 10 years from now, that could be a compelling basis for a story. Where will streaming be in 10 years? What is motivating the streamer to continue? What if the ASMR is critical to the student’s mental health? You have the framework of Pretty Woman but added enough interesting twists to give the idea some oxygen to develop.

Here are some more random ones:

It’s (X) last man standing, (Y) more playfully stylized and with (Z) building mechanics… oh wait, that’s Fortnite.

It’s (X) King Lear, (Y) set in a fictional past but with (Z) dragons and magic… oh wait, that’s Game of Thrones. (Hmmm, I should probably re-read King Lear to make sure that’s accurate… the internet says it is).

It’s (X) public storage, (Y) on your phone but (Z) instead of you dropping off your stuff, someone picks it up and catalogs it for you for later return. Oh… that’s Omni.

It’s (X) Katamari Damacy, (Y) set in a crazy county where (Z) the ball is swapped for a hole in the ground… oh, that’s Donut County!

I’m not knocking those in any way. I love the products and titles mentioned above. Maybe I like them because they are so familiar but have just a slight twist on them.

I doubt they all started thinking of their ideas based on the equivalent of this formula, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the formula for a jumping off point on your next idea. Enjoy!

Nick Kononelos
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