Madelyn (00:05)
Hi, welcome to The Unscripted Files. My name is Madelyn Cunningham. I am a development producer in the unscripted industry, bringing you candid conversations with the minds behind your favorite form of entertainment. But today, the mind behind the entertainment is

Madelyn (00:17)
This is our last episode of the season. And coincidentally, it happens to be right when the first show that I sold to series premieres.

Madelyn (00:26)
So I will not be interviewing anyone today. I will be giving you the top five things that I learned in this entire process of developing and selling my first show,

I promise I will not make this a long monologue and I'm not going to make it super self-helpy, but hopefully you can learn something along the way.

Madelyn (00:41)
So let's get into it.

Madelyn (00:47)
the reason that this show, I believe, actually was able to break through, it's so difficult to sell a new series in the market right now. And I think one of the reasons for that is because it came from a personal place. I pitched this show about daughters planning their mom's weddings because I planned my mom's wedding and...

when I to think more about it, it really, there really was so much story there about modern families and blended families and mother daughter relationships. And a story that I wanted to tell about mother daughter relationships that doesn't always get told There is a lot of spotlight on toxic mother daughter relationships and the gypsy Rose Blanchard of it all. And so when I really looked at.

what I was doing, I thought there's got to be more daughters who are planning their mom's weddings. So the lesson here is that you need to find your personal tie to your story.

Madelyn (01:36)
I don't care if you're pitching a product, I don't care if you're pitching a podcast, a show, a series, a medical device. If there can be a personal tie to what you're selling, because make no mistake, I am a salesman, then that's where you're going to unlock passion, and passion is going to always, always win. I get it. Sometimes we take out shows and we sell them and they're dating formats and they have nothing to do with us. Find out how it has something to do with you.

Make part of the beginning of the pitch a personal anecdote people can see how it relates to you and how you're able to bring that personal experience through to the project. this show is extremely personal to me, the experience my mom and I had, I was able to inform.

what we were going to focus on in the show, the beats, and ultimately, what a beautiful process it was. I think there was lot of assumptions this process was full of drama and it was kind of toxic and it was kind of stressful. And I was able to really share that it was actually a beautiful process. And that's only because of my personal experience. So number one thing that I learned, find your personal way in, unlock the passion, make sure you're pitching with passion. It's extremely important.

Madelyn (02:42)
Another huge part of why this project came to life was because I happened to be talking about it in an Uber with a fellow producer, shout out Talia Gray, happened to be in an Uber with me during an industry event when my mom texted me about flowers or something for wedding planning. And I made a joke and said, if you ever want to do a show about daughters planning their mom's weddings, hit me up.

It was kind of a side comment. hadn't really thought about it much. It had been in the back of my mind. But ultimately, a lot of the times in creative industries we're taught to hold things close to the vest, not talk about things. And don't get me wrong, I understand NDAs and embargoes and things like that and idea theft. But

it has only ever helped me when I talked about my projects out loud And inevitably, someone was always able to make a connection and say, ooh, I know someone who's looking for this. I know a production partner who would be good for that. I just talked to this executive who's looking for this. So I understand that we all have trust issues, but I'm telling you, there is a power to talking about your projects out loud.

in the right rooms, right? Like have the discretion, but talk about what you're doing. Talk about what you hope to do. There is not only a power in someone in close proximity being able to help you or assist or support, but there's also a life that is brought to your projects when you say them out loud to the universe. And you can say that it's woo woo or whatever, but there really is power in speaking things out loud. So again, talk about what you're working on. Share it with people.

Don't be so secretive, don't be too cool, don't hold it close to the vest if you don't have to, and speak it out loud, especially in rooms where there are people who want to work with you, want to get involved, and want to connect the dots for you.

Madelyn (04:20)
So because of that one little comment in the back of an Uber, a couple months later when Talia went to go meet with Hallmark because they were launching an unscripted slate, they were looking for weddings. She immediately reached out to me, hey, I know you have this idea. And we started developing it together. Again, never would have happened if I didn't make a comment out loud about a sort of seed of a thought that I have. And I think things like that are really important and especially with people that you trust.

Madelyn (04:45)
The next thing I've learned throughout this process is that you can have a concept, but that's really not enough anymore. You have to actually be generating a conversation. So I could have a concept like, it's daughters planning their adult mom's weddings, but what is the conversation we're actually having? we're talking about a switch up of generational roles. We're talking about how,

We are inviting women, especially with the resurgence of Golden Bachelor, to have a second chance at love. We're having a conversation strong the bond a daughter and not how toxic it is.

And we're also talking about why it's important as a woman over the age of, I don't know, 40, about why it is special for you to celebrate yourself and love and not put yourself in the background and sort of say, I'm getting married, but it's not worth having a celebration over. Right. So like all of these themes were really important to me. And so I made sure that I wasn't just pitching a concept, but I was pitching

what was part of a larger cultural conversation happening at the time.

Madelyn (05:43)
Okay, number four, think we're on right now. so when you're in development like this on really any project, but specifically in entertainment and unscripted television, you're going to have a lot of partners. I ended up partnering with multiple partners. You also have your show runner on. So there's a lot of creative voices in the room. And I think it's really important that you have a vision, but you remain incredibly collaborative.

I think there is a fear with show creators, especially first time show creators, that we're going to like squeeze it to death and choke it you've got to release control. You should have a vision and a point of view, but you should make sure that you are completely willing to collaborate.

You have to ensure that you're working with your production partners. you're satisfying the needs of the buyer and the executives. And then you also, again, have a ton of creative voices in the room with the show runner and all of the other creatives on the show.

So for instance, for me on the show, it was just really important that the ethos of the show remained, right? This is a love story between a mother and a daughter. If that's the story that's being told, I'm going to trust in my creative and collaborative partners completely to tell that story. I didn't have to leave claws in it, right? like use your best discretion, but it's incredibly important in any creative industry, especially when you're emerging, you're going to have to partner. It's part of it and learning how to

Remain strong in your creative convictions and in your vision, but also be collaborative is a balancing act. And I encourage you to go ahead and figure out what that looks like for you.

Madelyn (07:07)
And lastly, I tried to look up the word pass in my email to see how many rejections I've gotten up to this point, but there was literally too many to name. I was screenshotting them all and putting them in a folder at one point because I was really trying to, and here's ding ding ding number five, reframe rejection and get really comfortable with it. There was a lot of times where I was going out with pitches or I was going out with ideas or to a talent, to a partner and

something would hold me back and it was because I was what afraid of an email that said it's a pass. I was afraid of a few words and I just, was inhibiting my creativity and I wasn't taking the risks that I needed to and I wasn't.

giving things the creative attention that they needed because inevitably I was afraid of an oncoming rejection.

So I don't know exactly the number that I've gotten, but it's been a ton. And I started screenshotting them and putting them in a folder. And I look at it often because it was like exposure therapy. The longer I looked at it, the less scary it got. And ultimately I knew that it was a numbers game. One rejection is just closer to a yes at some point. If you're going to be in this industry, in any creative industry where you're actively putting yourself out there and pitching, this is just part of it. So I tried to reframe it. These are my friends.

These are my friends. don't make me feel bad. They make me feel good because they are stepping stones to a yes and to that moment. So reframing rejection and understanding it's just part of the process and trying to control your emotional response to it when I used to get a rejection, it would like honestly put me in a bad mood for like a while. I couldn't really be creative for the next couple of days. It really put me in a funk.

So learning how to literally train myself to respond well to rejection, to see it as a positive has been so major for me.

Madelyn (08:54)
I really could talk forever about what the past few years have been like trying to break into this industry. I mean, it's why I started this podcast, right? I was looking for resources of how I built this for what this industry looks like. I couldn't find one, so I created it. about my first show and the lessons that I've learned, I feel so lucky. And I could talk for a really long time about what it actually takes to get here what that process looks like.

Obviously, if you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask. And thank you so much for listening. Like I said, we are wrapping up the season of the Unscripted Files. We're going to take a little summer break and we will be back at some point this fall with more interviews and insights into the Unscripted industry. don't forget to tune in to Hallmark Plus

for Moms the Bride, which is my new limited series inspired by my real life story. There are six episodes. It has come out for Mother's Day weekend. It's very sweet. It's very heartfelt. So I hope you tune in and thanks so much for listening.

follow us on socials for when you can expect season four of the Unscripted Files. Thanks so much.