"Shark Tank," the show that took venture capital pitches mainstream, returns Friday for its eighth season.
Over the past seven years, the series has not only picked up Emmys for being an entertaining reality show, but has created ubiquitous brands like Scrub Daddy cleaning supplies and Bantam Bagels, which recently made it into Starbucks nationwide.
The show is an entertainment product and a launchpad for hundreds of American startups, requiring a careful combination of high-level production and management.
Through several interviews with the Sharks, we've learned some interesting behind-the-scenes details hidden from viewers. We've collected them below.
A typical pitch lasts about an hour.
A televised segment lasts about 10 minutes, but it uses footage from a pitch that, on average, lasts an hour. In Season 4, Plate Topper founder Michael Tseng was in the Tank for 2 1/2 hours, the longest of any entrepreneur.
Unlike a typical pitch, the investors know nothing about the entrepreneurs or their products before they enter the room. It's a technique that allows viewers to learn about the people and their companies along with the Sharks.
The footage editors take out contains the "unsexy" material, where the Sharks and entrepreneurs get into financial minutiae that the typical viewer would either not understand or care much about.
An entire season is shot in 17 days, split across two marathon sessions.
The production process is efficient and demanding.
The past few seasons have had 29 episodes each, and shooting was split over a week and a half in early summer and another stretch in early fall in a Los Angeles studio. The investors see six to eight pitches per day, and days can last up to 12 hours.
Robert Herjavec said that when he and the Sharks are in their chairs, "We're cold, we're hungry, we're miserable." It's why, he explained, it's necessary that entrepreneurs grab their attention and excite them as quickly as possible.
Shooting is done in three-day spurts, and each day results in different deals.
The marathon shooting sessions work in three-day splits with an off day in between. Each day has a distinct feel for the investors, Herjavec explains in his book "You Don't Have to be a Shark."
On Day 1, the Sharks feel refreshed, and also make a point of playing up their television personas, which can result in an exaggerated positive or negative response to a pitch.
Day 2 is easily the best, Herjavec writes. Everyone has fully committed to the show and is looking to make a great deal that will make them money.
A scene where the investors are fighting with each other? It probably happened on Day 3, when the Sharks are most tired, thinking about getting back to their companies, and are often a bit sick of being on set with each other.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider