Now that it broke on the front page of Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter, we can finally tell you that at Joke Productions, Inc. we’ve sold a show to MTV called CAGED.
A Passion Project
While we still can’t go into to many details (we’ll leave that to MTV’s PR gurus) we can repeat what the press has already said. The show is a true documentary series following young cage fighters in small-town Louisiana.
Our “Friday Night Lights”
Joke and myself are huge Friday Night Lights fans. We love that show. Like all great TV, Friday Night Lights focusses on great characters and strong story. Football is the backdrop, and not the focus of each episode.
In the same way, CAGED on MTV is about the small town life and the struggles young adults face, while the cage fighting itself is the (very exciting) backdrop.
Travis and Steve
The show itself was originally pitched to us as a one liner by Travis Bible and Steve Harris in 2009…we even blogged about it here (though we couldn’t say this was the show.)
Those two took our advice, shot some tape, and we all worked together to shape the final pitch presentation.
Now they are Co-Executive Producers on CAGED. Way to go, guys.
(You can learn how to do the same in our epic guide How to Pitch a Reality Show.
Lots More to Come
We’re a ways from air yet (likely 2012) but it’s nice to have another passion project come to life. Like Dying to do Letterman, this is a project we’ve wanted to do for a long time.
In the meantime, don’t miss our June 24th premiere of Commercial Kings on IFC.
UPDATE: Catch Caged Mondays, starting January 9th at 10pm/9 central on MTV. Follow Joke and Biagio’s Caged twitter feed at @JNB_MTV_Caged