Sell Your Idea to Television

You dream of a career in television. Or you currently work in television and can’t wait to get to the level where you can create and sell your own show. You’re not afraid to work hard, pay your dues, and suffer the required slings and arrows. There are legions of naysayers who will tell you to follow your bliss elsewhere; a successful creative career in television is as likely as winning the lottery. That may be true but we are here to tell you that it can be done. You can have a career in television. You can sell your idea to television.

In "Sell Your Idea To Television", Mark Alton Brown and Dee La Duke share the knowledge they've gained over their distinguished careers writing, producing, and selling to television. Mark Alton Brown and Dee La Duke were writer/producers of the CW’s hit series, "Girlfriends" for over 8 years and 177 episodes. They initially served as executive producers of the show along with "Girlfriends" creator, Mara Brock Akil.

Their produced pilots include NBC’s, "Dangerous Women With Bad Attitudes" and "Gabby". Over their careers they have written a total of 11 pilots for NBC, CBS, UPN, Lifetime, Castle Rock Studios and Nickelodeon. They’ve worked as writer/producers on multiple half-hour series, most notably as supervising producers where they began their careers on the classic hit series, "Designing Women".

They created and were the executive producers of "Reunited", a sit-com starring Julie Hagerty with Castle Rock Studios for UPN.

They recently wrote and produced the web series sensation Jenifer Lewis and Shangela, and currently have two pilots in development, "Balls" and "Sexual Healing".

LaDuke and Brown wrote and produced the cult classic, comic mock-documentary film, "Jackie’s Back" for Lifetime, "Before And After" for USA Network and four original features, "Ventura Blvd.", "The Whole Truth", "Too Hip" and "Lifers". Their features, "Mountainheart" and "Life Of The Party" are currently in pre-production.
They are also the authors of "Writing and Producing Television", and LaDuke authored "Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients", both part of the Gardner’s Guide series of books. They conduct local and international seminars based on the books, most recently in Singapore, Bali and New Orleans. They are on the faculty of the Global Social Change Film Festival and Inner City Filmmakers. They are the recipients of a Shine Award, GLAAD Media Award, and the BET Comedy Award.