You already know what TV promos are.
Promos is the TV industry term for ads, made by a TV channel, that promote the channel’s upcoming programming. This video––hosted by yours truly––sets out to explain exactly what the job involves. That’s right… it’s an actual job that you can learn, and hopefully earn a living from!
Get paid $$$ to watch TV… could there be a better job ad ever?
Hmmmm… sounds too good to be true. Let’s see what the job really is about.
• what is a TV promo? A reintroduction << YOU ARE HERE
• the TV promo production process
• how to make TV promos & movie trailers – part 1 – the paper cut
• how to make TV promos & movie trailers – part 2 – scene selection
• how to make TV promos & movie trailers – part 3 – script writing
• how to make TV promos & movie trailers – part 4 – editing
You might be wondering how to land a job as a TV promo producer. Maybe you’re already working for a channel somewhere and would like to know more about TV promo making. Maybe you’re a trainee in a promo department wondering when you’re actually going to get some kind of training. Perhaps you’re a working promo producer and you simply want to go back to basics. Or maybe you’re a creative director starting out on the process a wholesale departmental demolition.
In any case, there’s something here for you… and there’s absolutely no harm in going right back to the very beginning. If, however, you’d bring on the training straight away, then head on over here.
Notes on the 2019 reissue
This training course was originally produced in 2013 for my (now defunct) promo workshop website. The course is for newbies and is only concerned with making the format of TV promos as they exist today––what I call McPromos––in spite of the fact that I strongly believe that format will have to change.
Which is why I felt compelled to talk about the state of the business. The Network TV industry is still shrinking. Streaming services are producing more original, ad-free programming than ever before. The need for people who can connect viewers to programmes is greater than ever.
Industry leader Netflix currently has these very weird promoish content things in their programme guide. They are simply scenes cut from the show and stuck on some generic music base, which cycles over and over. Considering reports showing that people are spending the best part of 20 minutes a day deciding what to watch, you’d think they’d put in a bit more effort here.
I’m certainly not advocating they start putting in Network style McPromos either… that would be disastrous… I guess it’s just surprising that the marketing departments of the world-leading streaming services have yet to come up with anything more imaginative.
