Apple has opened up casting for its first reality TV show, ‘Planet of the Apps,’ but it doesn’t want actors; only developers need apply.
The show will follow developers as they shop their apps around to Venture Capitalists (VC) for funding, distribute and market those apps and receive “hands-on guidance from some of the most influential experts in the tech community.” It’ll be a high-level look at apps with big aspirations.
It sounds simple enough, but anyone who has shopped an app or service can tell you the opposite is true. Expect the show to focus on the many fences a developer or team has to straddle. Between seeking VC funding, the gritty technology of making apps usable and having input from outside sources, it’ll be an interesting look at how the app sausage is really made.
Apple will begin filming later this year
Apple is accepting applications for the show until August 26, and is asking for video submissions (you’ll be on TV, after all). Submissions should note who you are (or your team is), what you’re working on, how far along in the development process it is and how much cash you need to bring it to market.
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Filming begins later this year in the Los Angeles area, and Apple plans to wrap things up in early 2017. The company also says that if you can’t take time off of work for the show, you shouldn’t apply — so be prepared to live in LA.
Similarly, don’t apply if you don’t have an iOS, tvOS, watchOS or macOS app. Though you don’t need to be part of Apple’s Developer Program, you can’t show up with an Android app.
But if you’re accepted to appear on the show, Planet of the Apps will pay the $99 fee so you can enroll in the program and distribute your app.
If you’d rather not send a video, Planet of the Apps (which may be a joint effort with ProductHunt) is in the process of scheduling events in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and New York. While details on those events are light, it sounds like they’ll be open in-person casting calls.
The language of Apple’s new show is also interesting. It calls it the ‘inaugural season,’ suggesting they’re in this for the long run. So even if you’re not ready to seek VC funding or listen to some blowhard tell you all about yourself, get crackin’ — you may have a shot next year.
No word on if the show will be ‘shot on an iPhone.’
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