Biting ‘Shark Tank’ questions answered
How things work on the durable reality series, celebrating its 10th season
ABC’s “Shark Tank” is celebrating its 10th season with a look back at its “decade of dreams.” After a holiday break, the durable reality series, in which inventors and entrepreneurs pitch products to a panel of investor “sharks,” returns Sunday (9 EST/PST), when a compelling pitch leads shark Daymond John to buy a company outright, for $3 million, in a “Tank” rarity.
We answer your burning questions about what it’s like in the tank:
Question: How often is the show taped?
Answer: Because of the sharks’ busy schedules, an entire season of 22 episodes is produced in a pair of two-week “pods,” each June and September, at Sony’s studios in Culver City, California. The sharks see as many as 10 pitches in each 10-hour taping day, starting at 9 a.m.
Q: How and when does the show find entrepreneurs?
A: Casting runs from January to mid-September. Applications are accepted at abc.com/sharktank; in 12 open casting calls around the country; and through “proactive” casting, when producers visit trade shows or reach out to companies directly and “cherry pick”
entrepreneurs to apply. (Producers will scout the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 11 and plan to hold open auditions in Dallas on Feb. 6, Miami on Feb. 13 and Los Angeles on March 14.) Applicants (who must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents) submit a five-minute video, and after narrowing the field, producers assign two-person teams to vet products they like and conduct more extensive interviews.
Q: What are the chances you’ll get on “Shark Tank”?
A: On average, the show receives 35,000 to 40,000 applicants each season, some of whom are reapplying after earlier rejections. Of those, about 1,000 advance to a second round of vetting. But this season, the show filmed just 158 pitches and will air only 88 of them, four each episode. So even getting into the tank is no guarantee of TV glory.
Q: Does the show script their pitches or provide other help?
A: No, but producers approve entre- preneurs’ two-minute opening pitch. “We make suggestions, because we want it to be entertaining,” says executive producer Clay Newbill. “But these are their companies; they are the boss.” Tables, curtains, basic props and video playback equipment are provided, but otherwise it’s up to them what to bring.
Q: How do sharks prepare for each pitch?
A: They don’t. Going in, they’re told only which other sharks will appear and where they’ll sit. “They know nothing about the companies or the entrepreneurs behind the companies,” Newbill says. “This is by design; it forces sharks to ask questions about the business and the founders behind it, and allows our viewers to learn about it just as the sharks do. It also adds some pressure on the sharks who must decide quickly if this is something that they’re interested in, and they have to jockey for position.”
Q: Do kids get kid-glove treatment from the sharks?
A: Not really. They are welcomed because they “inspire” others with sheer determination, Newbill says. But “we don’t handle them any differently than we do (adult) entrepreneurs.” And families decide among themselves who’s involved in the pitch. Some kids are aided by parents or siblings; others go it alone.
Q: What happens when the cameras go on? What if you mess up?
A: “You walk down that hall, hit your mark, pause for 30 seconds for (an establishing) jib shot, and the stage manager says “Begin!” Newbill says. “If you go out there and forget something, there’s no do-overs. We don’t stop rolling until a few minutes after you’ve exited the set. The only time we’ll stop is if somebody’s mic goes out or a light goes out, but that happens once or twice” each season. Pitches average about 45 minutes each but have ranged from 22 to 100 minutes. Still, they’re edited into a segment roughly 11 minutes long, with repetitive questions or “minutiae” left on the cutting-room floor.
Q: Do the sharks really calculate companies’ valuations off the tops of their heads?
A: Mostly, except for mathphobic Barbara Corcoran. She gets help from Mark Cuban, “who’s basically like a walking calculator,” Newbill says. While cameras are rolling, “he will just figure it out in his head and will lean over while someone else is asking a question on the other side” and explain it to her.
Q: Why do sharks force some entrepreneurs to make snap decisions and not others? And why can only some pairs discuss offers among themselves?
A: It’s up to the shark. Cuban started the countdown with his NBA-style 24- second clock, but Kevin O’Leary frequently badgers entrepreneurs into accepting his offers before competing sharks can be heard. “They may know that other sharks on the panel are going to make an offer, so it’s a way for them to push those people aside,” Newbill says.
Q: Is there a quota for the types of products featured on each episode?
A: Sort of. Apart from occasional themed episodes (one featured pitches only from military veterans), producers seek a mix of tech items, food, services and other products. They also want products at different life-cycle stages, from companies with proven sales to mom-and-pop entrepreneurs who bet everything on their business. Yet sharks often use lack of sales, or unfamiliarity with a product category, to explain why they’re “out.”
Q: Do producers or ABC have a financial incentive to make deals?
A: Only to the extent that deals (or at least offers) make for better television. ABC and producer Sony Pictures Television say they don’t participate in profits from businesses that sharks invest in. But they do pay sharks appearance fees that can help fund the investments.
Q: So what’s the best way to secure a spot on “Shark Tank”?
A: Newbill explains: “If you’ve got a great idea, what we call a ‘wow’ product; you’ve got proof of concept, from sales or something else that (suggests) people are interested; if you’ve got an interesting backstory; if you’ve overcome adversity; and if you have that energy and the charisma and the confidence to stand in front of the sharks on national television with all of America watching and pitch your heart out and fight for that deal, you’ll get on the show.”