I’m in the very early planning stage for a hypnosis TV pilot.
My big vision is to have hypnosis become mainstream. I have a vision of kids learning hypnosis in school to help them learn much faster; hospital patients use it to heal faster; others use it to change negative habits. As we let go of negative things, our society becomes a happier society.
But how can I help this vision become reality? Harness the power of TV!
My goal is to develop a TV show idea to pitch to the TV networks. In my research, I’ve learned that few pitches result in a pilot episode; and very few pilot episodes lead to a series. So the odds are against me, big time.
But my attitude is this: If I really want to see hypnosis become mainstream, I need to risk rejection. If I don’t take the risk of TV networks laughing at my idea, then my chances of getting the show are zero.
As I said, I’m in the planning stage. One of the big decisions to make is what type of format will it be? Rather than me deciding that all by myself, I’d like feedback from many people.
Here are the format options I see.
1. Scripted program: that means there are actors, a storyline, etc.
2. Talk show/informational show: Oprah and Dr. Oz come to mind.
3. Reality show: Many options here.
The downside to the scripted program is that many scripted programs exaggerate hypnosis or make it seem like magic. I’m not saying this format couldn’t work; it would just need to be truthful. The talk show/informational show format seems, to my untrained eye, to be a simpler format. But is hypnosis too narrow for this format? The reality show has many options, but having seen enough bad reality TV, I’m a bit wary of this format. The upside is that there’s a lot of freedom in this format.
Which format do you prefer? What type of show would you watch? Do you have any advice or useful criticism? If you feel comfortable sharing in the public domain, please post your comments below. If you’d rather share privately, please contact me.
One last thing: I have very few contacts in the entertainment world. I would love to know who you know in that world. Please contact me if you know such people. Thank you!
Hi William,
This is great! I am very excited to learn of your actions towards bringing your Vision to life!
Of the options presented, I’d lean towards a reality show. What I mean by this is, it would be great to see people who are experiencing difficulties in their lives go through the process of changing their behaviors with the help of hypnosis. They might also have challenges through the process, and that would be great to witness as they work through them.
The audience, I feel, would connect with the people at a very deep level, especially because it’s not scripted — it’s real. It might not even be very polished, so long as it’s real.
I can very much see this program being distributed by Oprah, or A&E, or some similar channel.
Please keep us up to date with the progress. I’m am very happy to contribute!
With love,
Mike
What a great idea, William. I happen to think that a reality show has the most potential. This could allow for a different theme for each episode, e.g. the smoking episode, the surgery episode, the fear of flying episode, etc, and each episode could follow two or three people using hypnosis to help them. It could be not only very interesting, but personal and even touching. Best of luck to you.
Yes, great idea!
I rarely watch TV and particularly dislike most reality shows – but a well-developed, educational and authentic one on hypnotherapy sounds perfect. Very engaging to hear personal stories and follow people thru their process and a good way to show many different modalities and techniques as well as all the issues and areas hypnosis can be helpful with.
I think it’s quite challenging to make a scripted program sound real but not boring… Check out ‘In Treatment’ – a TV drama series featuring a psychotherapist and several of his weekly patients as well as his session with his own therapist – this certainly has some drama but I’m not sure if that’s the style you’re looking for.
A talk show would be simpler and could be very informative and educational and would certainly need some real life footage to be engaging and fun to watch.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about your project and ideas. All the best.