Sizzle Reel
Editor & Creative Director
I cut development sizzle reels that sell shows. Recent reels helped greenlight series at A&E, Amazon Prime, and more. Standard development reels and AI proof-of-concept packages available.
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Greenlit Projects
Development sizzle for an eight-part docuseries on the rise, fall, and legacy of John Gotti Sr. and the Gambino Family — featuring rare home movies, hundreds of hours of prison and wiretap audio, court documents, and exclusive interviews with John Gotti Jr. and John Gotti III. Announced at A&E's 2026 Upfronts. Showrun by Rory Karpf.
Propagate Content · Lady Moon Entertainment · A&E
Development sizzle that helped greenlight a four-part Prime Video docuseries chronicling the nine-year rise and fall of the American Basketball Association. Executive produced by Dr. J Julius Erving and Common, directed by Kenan Kamwana Holley. Premiered February 12, 2026.
Hidden Pictures · Amazon Prime Video
Official Trailer — Watch on YouTube
Development sizzle reel produced for Universal Entertainment.
Universal Entertainment
Development and pitch reels for a range of studios, networks, and production companies across genres.
Lionsgate · 101 Studios · Religion of Sports · And others
What I Offer
Development Sizzle Reels
Pitch-ready development tapes cut to sell your project to networks, studios, and streaming platforms. Built to communicate tone, stakes, and story in under five minutes.
AI Proof of Concept
Using the newest AI tools to build visual proof-of-concept reels for projects without footage yet. Show a network exactly what your show looks and feels like before a single frame is shot.
Standard Sizzle Reels
Polished reels from existing footage for talent packages, festival submissions, and sponsor decks.
Creative Direction
Not just cutting — shaping the narrative strategy of your pitch from the ground up. What story are you telling? What does the network need to feel? I work at both levels.
Types of Sizzle Reels I Edit
TV Development Tapes
Unscripted and scripted series pitch reels for network, cable, and streaming buyers. Built to sell a show concept before production begins.
Documentary Sizzle Reels
Development reels for feature documentaries and docuseries. True crime, sports documentary, and character-driven formats.
Proof-of-Concept Trailers
Short cinematic trailers that demonstrate a project's visual language and tone — often used to attract talent, financing, or a distribution partner before principal photography.
Investor & Financing Reels
Development presentations targeting private investors, branded entertainment partners, or co-production financing. Focused on commercial clarity and market positioning.
Sports Documentary Sizzles
Pitch reels for sports-driven documentary and unscripted projects. Built on a background cutting sports content for ESPN, NFL Films, UFC, and Amazon Prime.
Network Presentation Tapes
Upfront and presentation-format reels for networks and streaming platforms — including series recaps, brand reels, and development showcases.
Further Reading
How My Edits Help Sell Shows: The Art of the Sizzle Reel
A behind-the-scenes look at how expertly crafted sizzle reels can help sell shows, attract talent, and secure greenlights — and the editorial strategy behind cutting development tapes that get noticed.
The Complete Guide to Sizzle Reels
What a sizzle reel is, how development tapes work, what networks and streamers look for, and how the editing process works from treatment to final delivery.
About
I'm an Emmy-nominated film and television editor who applies narrative film structure to development reels — helping projects get greenlit at networks like A&E, Amazon Prime, and others by making buyers feel the show before it exists. My development work has contributed to greenlights for clients including Universal Entertainment, Propagate Content, Hidden Pictures, Lionsgate, 101 Studios, and Religion of Sports.
My development work spans the full range of formats: traditional pitch tapes and rip-o-matics built from archival and licensed footage, development trailers assembled from original footage and interviews, and next-generation AI proof-of-concept reels that visualize a show before a single frame is shot. Whatever format the project calls for, the job is the same: make the network feel the show.
The Bigger Picture
Sizzle Reels Are a Specialization — Not the Whole Story
While I specialize in the high-stakes pace of development sizzles, my approach is always rooted in my work as a narrative film and documentary editor — ensuring that even a two-minute pitch reel feels like a cohesive cinematic story. A great sizzle isn't a highlight reel. It's a compressed film with a beginning, middle, and end.
That instinct comes directly from editing feature films, docuseries, and episodic television — work where story structure isn't optional. It's the reason my development reels have helped greenlight series at A&E and Amazon Prime rather than simply impressing in a room and disappearing.
Sizzle Reel Strategy
How long should a development sizzle reel be?
Most effective development sizzles run between 90 seconds and four minutes. Network executives and streaming buyers see hundreds of pitch tapes — the goal is to establish tone, stakes, and format within the first 30 seconds, then sustain momentum through to a strong close. Anything over five minutes risks losing the room before the ask.
What's the difference between a sizzle reel, a pitch tape, and a rip-o-matic?
A sizzle reel is the broad term for any short promotional cut used to sell a project. A pitch tape typically includes original footage — interviews, location shots, or early scenes — cut to present the show's world and characters. A rip-o-matic is assembled entirely from existing footage, music, and licensed material to establish the visual language and tone of a project before any original material exists. All three serve the same strategic goal: make the buyer see the show.
What is an AI proof-of-concept reel?
An AI proof-of-concept reel uses current generative AI tools to create original visuals, scenes, or sequences representing a project that hasn't been shot yet. Rather than relying entirely on ripped footage or early production materials, AI-generated imagery can approximate the show's look, tone, and world with a level of visual specificity that traditional rip-o-matics can't achieve. It's a next-generation development tool that gives buyers a clearer picture of the finished show earlier in the process.
Do I need original footage to make a development sizzle reel?
No. Many of the most effective development tapes are cut entirely from archival footage, licensed clips, and music — no original material required. What matters is editorial intelligence: finding the right footage, building the right structure, and making the buyer feel something specific. If you have original footage, even better — but a strong rip-o-matic built with craft will outperform a mediocre tape built on expensive production.
How do you approach a sizzle reel for a project that hasn't been greenlit?
The goal of a pre-production sizzle is to answer one question: what does this show feel like? I work from your treatment, bible, or pitch deck to identify the emotional core and visual language of the project — then build backward from there. The reel needs to give the buyer confidence that you know exactly what show you're making, even before production begins. That's true whether we're cutting a rip-o-matic, a development trailer, or an AI proof-of-concept.
Let's build something
worth greenlighting.
If you have a project in development — a show you believe in that needs the right pitch tape to get in the room — I'd like to hear about it. Tell me the format, the target network or platform, and what assets you have. I'll get back to you within one business day.
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