July 2013 Newsletter

Newsletter 24 – July 2013

Welcome to our special Realscreen West 2013 edition of the newsletter. For the June edition, we shared some highlights from Pitchcon, so for July it’s time to give you a guided tour of what went down at the Summer’s hottest reality show conference. Grab your duck calls and come along.

SPOTLIGHT ON REALSCREEN WEST

He may not be Superman, but to our Realscreen West Hit Maker Tour members, our on-site mentor and Emmy-award-winning producer Doug Stanley (center, if you haven’t figured that out), was just about as super a hero as any one could ask for. He did a heroic job in organizing a premium experience for our clients where they got to practice their pitches to top execs.

Doug secured a private room at a restaurant for a session the night before the conference where our Tour members could rehearse the pitches before THREE INDUSTRY EXECS, including Reno Logan from Paramount, Tony Novia from Ryan Seacrest Productions and producer Gary Goldstein (Pretty Woman). Doug also arranged an extra event the day AFTER the conference where three Tour members got a chance to pitch to execs from the OWN network. Needless to say, they were thrilled.

Here’s Tony Novia (in corner chair) giving some advice and pointers to our Tour members. Ryan Seacrest Productions is an industry unto itself, building an empire of reality shows rivaling Seacrest’s mentor, Dick Clark.

Tony Novia and Gary Goldstein provide feedback at the private event.

Tour member Silke Jones and her partners deliver their pitch. “I walked away from the conference with 44 meeting contacts,” Silke reports.

Tour member Alikona Bradford gets in the act showing off her one-sheet for her series, “Global Dance.” She already has two production companies interested. “We had an incredible group, every one of their projects was fabulous. The ideas were incredible. It was such a wonderful event for us
to be together with such a fabulous group.”

Not to be outdone, Tour member Brodie Wilkinson strikes a secret agent pose with the leggy one-sheet for his series. “I landed about 15 meetings and hit 8 out of the
12 companies I aimed for. The great thing is they are now all long-term contacts that I can approach at any time. I feel like you build good relationships. And the key is to make yourself memorable.”

“Brodie was a great inspiration, I just loved his energy. We would get together at the end of the day and exchange information, like trading cards – who do you have? Who do you have?” – Silke Jones

Or in the hotel bar. And the lounge at Realscreen West (below) was always a beehive of activity and impromptu meetings.

Leonard Carrilo, Vice President of Development of Doug Stanley’s company, Ridgeline Entertainment, was also on hand to hear pitches from our team members. Doug put his own company together after seven seasons working as a director of photography and a producer of Discover Channel’s number one reality series, “Deadliest Catch.”

Monya Claborn practices her pitch at the private pre-event. Monya has already been a success selling her series on a previous Hit Maker Tour. But she has returned for two more conferences seeking to build momentum and expand her markets. “Doug was awesome. I’m waiting to hear back from
one of the production companies that took it to their development people.”

Tour member Miles O’Connor (left in picture) actually brought along the subject of his series, Bob Toski (seated) as part of his pitch.

Here’s Miles displaying the one-sheet he created for his series, “Touch of Toski” at an outdoor cocktail party at Realscreen West.

One of the great outcomes of these Hit Maker Tours is how tightly our Tour Members bond and become friends, supporting each other’s efforts and rooting for each other’s success. Here, Tour members Linda Lonelle and Alikona Bradford display some of that great spirit.

So many of the connections and unexpectantly productive meetings at these conferences happen in the informal settings, such as the outdoor cocktail party at the Miramar in Santa Monica.

Producer Gary Goldstein (seated right) reacts to Linda Lonelle’s pitch at the private event prior to the TV conference.

“It was so inspiring to be in the room with people who have accomplished so much in their careers. I have another meeting scheduled with Reno Logan in L.A. in a week. I also now have two production companies interested in my show. The people I want to have it now have it.”
– Alikona Bradford

“The execs were super gracious and gave great input. And the OWN meeting was great. I’m following up with the OWN exec.”
-Tracy

MARK’S JAUNT TO JAMAICA

We always knew Jamaica had a rockin’ Olympic bobsled team, but who knew they were a hotbed of animation? Turns out they are serious enough to invite Mark, Joan Vogelesang (CEO of Toon Boom), Joel Kuwahara of Bento Box, Marge Dean from Mattel, a producer from The Simpsons, and others to speak and give workshops at an event in the capital called KingstOOn. Wonder how many spliffs it took for them to come up with that moniker?

Here the entire gang is having dinner before the event at a… a what? It’s a stretch to call it a restaurant. More like an outdoor shack that featured some food.

This is more like it! The workshop finally begins and it’s sold out, standing room only. Enthusiasm is high and, if some Rastafarians are present, probably so are some of the students.

Mark, as usual, is more animated than the cartoons he talks about, giving his talk and using toys as part of the demonstration. You can tell by some of the faces they were paying rapt and amused attention.

Okay, it’s Jamaica-mon and we realize “Island Time” is different than real time, but this is ridiculous. More than 15 minutes after Mark’s workshop was supposed to start… no one had even arrived yet. Mark is always “Mr. Punctual,” but he had to chill-ax and become “Mr. Patient,” because it was an hour before everyone showed up.

Halfway through the talk an event assistant girl demurely enters the back of the room with a slip of paper. Mark immediately knows what the note says. He’s heard it before. Right. He was so loud that the class next door was also paying rapt attention. In fact, many of them came up to Mark after the workshop and said they wish they were in his class since theirs was a real snoozer.

Forget it, mon, let’s all head over to that fancy restaurant again to celebrate and have the Master Chef prepare a course meant for kings. Kings and tOOns.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Create a TV Show Networks Want…

… Isn’t that what WE all want?

Creating a TV show networks want means knowing how to tap into your inner storyteller and do what executive producers do.

And when you attend our virtual workshop, you’ll see how you can turn your concept into a TV series that’s professionally-developed, fresh, and fulfills network expectations no matter what type of idea you have.

We’ve been to all the TV conferences and met the execs and we know what types of scripted or reality shows they want and how they want them pitched and presented.

Secure your spot today for our No-Cost 2-Part Virtual Workshop series: “What Networks Want” and we’ll show you how to spin your idea into pure gold.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this virtual workshop…

The Key Element that all scripted and reality programming MUST have. No show will sell without it!
How to make your series grab the attention of network execs!
The “Secret” that makes network execs want to work with you!
What top executive producers do that you may not be doing.
How to make a concept into a real series that can actually be produced. Go from dreaming to doing!

No more wondering what to do next or wasting more time and money. We’ll show you how to create a TV show that will capture a network exec’s attention, and it’s a system that you can use over and over again.

“WHAT NETWORKS WANT”

www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/whatnetworkswant

Join now and attend both webinars – they are completely different!

Your Time is Now…

Join us for this exciting webinar
Mark & Jeanne Simon

P.S. The mystery and confusion about the TV business will end this month. Our No-Cost 2-Part virtual workshop series will make it clear how you can create a show networks want in a systematic way you can duplicate over and over.

Secure your spot here:
www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/whatnetworkswant