For Brad Freeland · Coastal Cowboys

Great world. Now give it a hero.

Brad, here's what I told you on the call, written down. You've shot real cowboys, a real coast and real treasure. To sell it, the show needs one person we're scared for and one thing standing in the way.

The sentence every show runs on

Hero must do X, or bad thing happens.

A first draft for you: Billy must find the treasure before the State of Texas shuts down the hunt, or the crew walks and Billy goes home with nothing. Swap in whatever is really at stake. If you can't say it in one breath, a network can't buy it.

What you shotThe good news: most of it is here

Already working

A coin in the wet sand. You can't look away from that.
Horses in the surf on the Texas coast. Nobody else has that picture.
"Value: 30 to 350 million." That number stops people.
"Cowboys find washed up drugs." Now it's dangerous.
Women in the cast who aren't decoration. Keep them.

What's missing

One person the feelings hang on. The reel introduces at least eight, all about equal.
A clear enemy, opposition or wild card.
A reason it has to happen now.
A next place to go, so it's a series and not one story.

Who's whoOne hero. Everyone else serves the hero.

A first pass from the reel. You know these people and I don't, so move anyone. The rule doesn't move: one name on top.

The hero · my pick

Billy Meazell III

Looks like someone who'd keep digging in the rain, and already sits in the middle of the frame at the table. If it's someone else, switch it. The test: whose loss would make you feel sick?

The one who knows the waterCapt. Kevin Godsey

Tells the hero what the Gulf can do.

The old handPerry Jones

Has seen every treasure story go bad.

The famous friendCoffey Anderson

Brings a music crowd, and shows up when it counts.

The boss of the roomLinda Freeland

Nobody gets away with anything in that room.

The straight shooterAmanda Slaughter

Asks the question the crew keeps dodging.

The crewDonny Nesloney + Monty Allen

Loyal until the money gets real. Then we find out.

Then pick who's in the way

You only need one to start. All three are sitting right there:

The enemy: a rival crew working the same stretch of coast, racing Billy to it.
The opposition: the State of Texas. After the fight over the 1554 Padre Island wrecks, Texas passed its Antiquities Code. Wrecks from before 1900 are protected, and treasure salvage is banned in state waters. That's a real wall, and it's great television.
The wild card: whoever those washed up drugs belong to. Or one of your own cast, once the money gets real.

The recutSame footage, new reel

You don't need to reshoot it all. Cut a lot of it out, shoot one afternoon of new lines with your hero, and tell it as a hero's journey in under three minutes.

Now · 4:44 · a lot of people, about equal

After · under 3:00 · one story, start to finish

The treasureThe heroThe crewWhat's in the way

The hook. The ship, the storm, the coin in the sand. You have this. Don't touch it.
The hero says it. One person, to camera: what they're after, why it's theirs, what it's already cost them.
The number. Move "30 to 350 million" from the end up into the first minute.
The crew. Ten seconds each, one job each. Keep a few seconds of the party footage, not minutes.
What's in the way. The enemy shows up. The washed up drugs go here, and now the beach isn't safe.
The cliffhanger. The hero is closer, and it's getting worse. End on a question and the name of the next town.

How it growsOld America, one treasure at a time

This is what turns it into a series. Start in Texas with the 1800s. Every stop is a place, a person and a fortune most people have never heard of. You go dig it up and tell the story.

1Padre Island · 1861John Singer, brother of the sewing machine Singer, was forced off the island in the Civil War. The story says Singer buried as much as $80,000 in a dune and never found it again.
2Galveston · 1817 to 1821The pirate Jean Lafitte ran a base here. Stories of the hidden loot run up and down Texas.
3San Saba · 1830sJim Bowie's lost silver mine. Bowie died at the Alamo in 1836, and the legend says the location was lost that day.
4Denton · 1877Sam Bass robbed a Union Pacific train in Nebraska and came home to Texas. The story says the gold is hidden at Cove Hollow.

These are legends, and we tell them that way. Texas first, then the rest of the old West. A buyer will ask three things, so have the answers: where the 30 to 350 million comes from, who gave you permission to dig (get a Texas lawyer on this before anyone picks up a shovel), and whether everyone on camera signed a release.

Every town is a shorts engine

Local legends, museums, bars, rodeos and old-timers all want to be on camera, and their people share it. The Bryan Museum in Galveston even built an exhibit called Coastal Cowboys. Each stop gets you 10 to 15 shorts, and each short sends people back to the episode. The talk under the pier in your second reel is already a series.

Then take it to the networks

Treasure already works on TV. The Curse of Oak Island is on History, an A+E Networks channel, and Expedition Unknown started on Travel Channel. So you walk into A&E or Travel Channel with a sharper reel, episodes and a real audience, not just an idea. Nobody can promise you a network. This is how you give them a reason to say yes.

How it paysYou don't wait on a network to get paid

Appearance fees

The cast at rodeos, boat shows, festivals and grand openings.

Trips

Ride the beach and hunt with the crew. Fans pay to be there.

The store

Hats, shirts, replica coins, treasure maps, hunting kits.

Sponsors

Metal detectors, trucks, boats, boots. We'd go to them once the show has numbers.

What we doThe 90-day season

This is my pitch. We take what you shot, make it marketable, put it everywhere people watch, and build the business under it. Three properties, each with a job.

The show

The recut reel and a pitch you can take to A&E or Travel Channel
Season one: five or more episodes
Shorts every day on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook
Your own TV network site for Coastal Cowboys

The business under it

The store, the trips and appearance booking
One big offer with its pages, checkout and calendar
A produced sales video
The hero's personal site and book, on Amazon in paperback and Kindle

1,000,000views guaranteed

10booked calls guaranteed

Those two guarantees are spelled out in Section 9 of the Terms, and they're the only ones. We don't guarantee a network deal, income or sales. The money lanes above are the plan, not a promise.

Pick your hero. We'll build the rest.

👉 See the 90-day season Text us · (480) 669-1684

Written for Brad Freeland by Cyrus Igono, [email protected]. A RealityShow.com working document. Not for distribution.