How My Edits Help Sell Shows: The Art of the Sizzle Reel

We just sold a series to a major network with the help of a sizzle I edited. I’m opening up on the process of how I cut these projects and best approaches if you’re tasked to edit one. Or if you need one, hire me!

You’ve probably heard the term “Sizzle” or also referred to as “Tape” or “Reel” in development, but what is it? What is the purpose of them? How do development teams, producers, and directors use them, and how are they cut? Also, how can you cut these to help grow your own career?

Well, I’ve cut my fair share of sizzles on the side to help sell projects. For friends, but also for major production companies, brands, and well-known directors. Many of the sizzles I’ve cut have helped the pitches get series orders, funding or, used to attract Hollywood talent to projects. In many instances, they help the pitch enter teams into a development stage with studios and networks. For those of you wondering, the development stage is where networks will give an additional small budget for teams to further develop the series, sizzle, and/or project. It’s not the same as a green light, but rather an option with a small budget. At the end of this stage, networks have the ability to make a full offer or move on. Below are some BTS timeline looks into a few projects I’ve been a part of.

Within my personal network of producers/directors that use me to cut these sizzles, I’ve become their go-to editor time and time again. Why? I like to think because I’ve cracked the code on how to cut sizzles very well. I believe I have good taste from an editor’s point of view from my years of storytelling on long form projects and in quick turnaround broadcast television. I know what can help make a sizzle stand out both creatively and visually. I also go all out for these projects. They are honestly a ton of fun with zero restrictions. You can use anything at your disposal because this is all internal and not for public consumption. More on that later, but it’s a really freeing and creatively fulfilling process when you don’t have a box to stay in.

A few projects that got A greenliGHt OR HELP using one OF my sizzles (PARTIAL LIST):

So what is a sizzle?

For years sizzles have been shrouded in mystery. They are rarely ever seen. Mostly because many are secretive projects and internal. Most of my larger project sizzles have NDAs. It’s a trailer-like experience, while laying out what a show or film will feel like. A proof of concept. It lays out story, style, tone, characters, sometimes episodes. They vary from company to company. Some can be 8 mins like the one I’m currently working on for A&E, or shorter like another pitch sizzle I did for our scripted feature Grace Point several years back. Check it out here:

I’ve seen a ton of them from various editors. Some good…some…meh. And let me tell you, you do NOT want a meh sizzle when your dream project is on the line. You wouldn’t believe how many cuts have watermarks embedded in nearly every shot. It’s so distracting. That attention to detail could really determine a projects fate.

But that said, I’m always eager to see the not-so-good ones because they really show you where you can elevate your own as well as give you insight of what producers are watching. Sometimes the not-so-good ones have such a great concept/story that they end up helping sell the project anyway. So there isn’t really a science to this process. But what I do know from my own experience is that the good ones really go far.

I try to make my sizzles feel like a cinematic experience whether the story is sellable or not in my opinion. Sometimes the concept is hard to convey in a deck or script. The sizzle can really elevate these types of ideas and potentially land a meeting. From there, who knows what can happen.

One of the most famous sizzles revealed on a large scale is from director Rian Johnson (Looper):

He says on his Vimeo page:

“This is a strange curiosity I thought might be interesting - just after I finished the script for Looper but before we began preproduction I asked Joe to record some voice-over, and with help from my friend Ronen Verbit constructed this "fake trailer" using clips from other movies. This is a fairly common thing to do when you're trying to get a movie off the ground, but it was the first time I tried it. It was meant to show more some of the film's tone, and to show how the odd concept could be presented in a clear and compelling way in the marketing. Zach Johnson did the sketches. Note that we hadn't begun the casting process yet, and the clips were chosen just based on their visuals and not by who is in them.”
— Rian Johnson, director of Looper

Compare that with the original teaser version here once the film was being marketed. So much of it is the same as the original sizzle:

What is the main purpose of a sizzle?

I think you probably made the connection, but plain and simple it’s to sell or greenlight a film, TV show, project, etc. I’ve heard directly from directors and execs on how hard it is to get projects sold without a “tape” or sizzle. You can have the most beautiful pitch deck in the world or the next Interstellar script, but most people aren’t going to read it. This is where the sizzle (tape) comes into play. It’s packaged with the pitch materials and a lot more digestible for executives to watch.

If execs can SEE something tangible to get them excited to open a deck or read a script, then you’re ahead of the curve. You’ve crossed into the next level. All it takes is for one person to say yes from there.

StudioBinder gives a good breakdown of what a sizzle is as well here:

So how do I personally edit a sizzle?

I start with a rough idea, references, and/or some version of an outline from the producers or directors at this stage. Here's my strategy as I assemble Rough Cut 1:

I ask myself: What’s the story and what will make it sell?
Storytelling above all else is key, but so is figuring out what the project has that is different. I key in on what is going to help sell this series/film. Is it:

  • Access?

  • Celebs?

  • Never before seen materials?

  • Characters?

  • Plot twists?

What sells this film is how I filter the story beats within the edit. I usually build to this and really try to drive it home as much as possible throughout the cut. Some version of it is in the open, middle acts, and finale. I even sometimes just throw up title cards that directly say it so it can’t be lost on the viewer.

For Documentaries and Unscripted Projects:

Once I do that, I begin researching and pulling footage:

  • What’s publicly available in archival?

    • YouTube (my main source)

      • I go to news YT pages and search on their individual profiles. I find archive or historical moments they’ve saved and posted for posterity. For a recent sizzle I found tons of stuff from Fox NY and ABC news channels on my topic. This usually only applies to high profile stuff, but you never know what’s out there.

    • Conus (watermarks) Mostly 90’s stuff and local news channels

    • Archive.org

    • Wayback Machine

      • This is a great way to screen capture historical moments from the internet in their retro form even sites no longer available sometimes.

    • Newspapers.com

    • Getty (Watermarks)

    • Getty NBC News Archive (Watermarks)

    • Veritone (Watermarks)

Many video clips will have watermarks, but sometimes you can use this as a way to reverse engineer your searches. So many people post things online without watermarks especially Youtube. Use the watermarked archives to help your youtube searches. Or just use the audio from these with different source videos. For photos with watermarks, there are plenty of tools to help solve that problem out there.

This point in the researching is also where I learn as much as I can as fast as I can. I immerse myself in the concept, plot, characters at this stage even before I drop a clip on the timeline. I’m pulling links like a madman. If there’s a moment in an hour clip, for example, I pull it and note roughly where the moment is. I really don’t dwell for long on clips though. Otherwise, you’ll slow yourself down in a rabbit hole of research. If it’s relevant, pull it and make a note.

PROTIP: If you think you’ve pulled enough archival material to edit with, think again. You haven’t. Triple the amount of sound bytes, footage, audio, images you think you’ll need. Trust me on this one. You can burn through footage insanely fast with these type of quick paced edits. Plus, once you have a cut done and get notes, you’re going to need a ton more footage. Pull EVERYTHING!

For unscripted and scripted sizzles:

Stock footage

I’ll find out-of-context material in stock footage. If it’s old, never-before-seen archival for an unscripted show, I’ll grab some cinematic looking footage to illustrate this. Stock shots of VHS tapes playing, film projectors rolling. This adds to the sales pitch illusion that we’ve already started thinking and shooting material in a cinematic way. Film Supply ($$$$) is another great source for cinematic shots assuming you have an approved budget. But it may just help seal the deal

Film pulls

  • Trailers

  • Scenes

  • Movies

Now hundreds of thousands of movies have been made. A shot you think could elevate a sizzle probably exists. So try to pull that film or trailer and see if a shot can be incorporated. This really applies when cutting a scripted sizzle. You’ll need to find your or the director’s preferred style, tone, look. Use those inspirations to help guide your pulls. If you’re looking for a specific shot or style, check out Shotdeck. It’s a great place for inspiration in an edit, but also a great source for more pitch material.

Various apps can download YouTube videos, rip movies even directly from Blu-rays, etc. I don’t condone or advocate for the copyright infringement of these things, but again this is internal and not being used to redistribute. It’s what Hollywood does to get projects sold. A giant inspo board that moves. There’s no limit to what you can do for these projects.

Specific Tools/Apps:

  • Downie 4 (video ripping) There are many types of these apps out there this is just the one I use.

  • Photoshop Generative Fill (watermark removal for stills)

  • AI:

    • Generative AI images and video options have really opened the doors for pitching. You can dream up your entire project and actually start visualizing it with little cost and time. This is such an amazing resource for scripted projects. Especially those maybe in a sci-fi or similar hard to shoot genre.

Music, Music, Music

Just like in trailers, music is everything. It needs peaks and valleys. This is where a lot of time will be spent. Even building your own rhythmic motifs using booms, hits, clicks, whooshes, and risers. I usually have a cue for the open, Act 1, 2, and a finale cue that builds to a climatic montage. I avoid using one track unless the cut is short. If it’s a longer sizzle, say 8 mins, I may have upwards of 6-8 different music cues. The key here is to drive pace and set tone with the music. Learn trailer editing by watching the best ones. Watch how they build and drop out music to help transitions and emphasize lines. Find the music houses that did them. Then see if they have music that may work in your cut.

Check out Film Editing Pro’s trailer breakdown. It’s a great look at cutting a trailer in general both from a musical side and storytelling angle.

This is important: You can pull anything, but the main thing here is to think as a storyteller. If you use a popular song, well you should listen to the lyrics. Does it convey a message? Can you cut it in a way that pertains to your pitch? Can you ISO the vocals to manipulate it creatively?

You are wearing the hats of many to cut these things, so you have to pull out all the stops especially with music.

Style:

Every great sizzle has a style. I do a ton of docuseries sizzles so finding a way to make them different and engaging is always a priority—but also a challenge too. Producers don’t want to see the same things they already see every single day. They want hooks, styles, new vibes. You may call these gimmicks, but whatever you can do to help sell a project is the focus here. Think about how you can stylize your sizzle edits to make them stand out as much as possible!

A quick example of a style we did for a sports series sizzle called The Progression was to use the Knight Rider theme song as our cold open music. I then used Elevenlabs to create a similar clone of the Knight Rider’s TV Show voice. We then stylized the whole sizzle with 80s VHS and CRT overlays and GFX.

How can editing sizzles help launch your editing career?

Yes, there are agencies and production companies that make a living creating development materials including sizzles. But unless filmmakers are operating with a Hollywood budget, they’re more likely to find great freelance editors to help them. That’s where you come in! Reach out to filmmakers or writers looking to get a project off the floor and offer to help. You can make some money cutting the sizzles, but if you help get a project sold you may end up cutting it. I know some editors that work this into their deal up front.

Nearly every one of the sizzles I’ve edited I’ve been a lead editor on. I’m not batting 1.000, but it’s close. I’m extremely passionate about helping other filmmakers accomplish their dreams. Especially the types of stories that align with those I want to tell. I go out of my way to make sure I do everything possible in the edit room to make their dreams a reality through my sizzle edits. This is a way you can do the same. Hey, you may find yourself cutting a pitch sizzle one day and a major Hollywood seires or film the next. If you have more questions on how I cut these, reach out. Happy cutting!

If you’re in need of a sizzle from an accomplished editor for a pitch, script, or project, use the contact form to get in touch!

Corey Frost