Pitch & Sell Your TV Show

Every night I try to watch some of my Christmas DVDs. I love the behind the scenes discs. I wish we had these when I was in film school.

When we were in France for the MIPCOM conference, I picked up a Fantastic 4 comic in French. Besides having amazing art, I noticed two of the lead character names were changed. Reid became Red and Sue (Susan) Storm became Jane Storm. Anyone know why?

I wonder of the French versions of the movies and TV series also use the alternate names. Anyone know?

We just finished shooting the open and the segment intros on our new reality pilot. Now it’s on to an animation proposal.

Here’s the top cable stations by highest average total viewers.

USA 3.278 million average viewers +15%
DISNEY 2.534 +6%
ESPN 2.253 +9%
TNT 2.254 +2%
FOX NEWS 2.210 +7%
TBS 1.838 -7%
NICK AT NIGHT 1.734 +2%
A&E 1.467 +8%
ABC FAMILY 1.353 +4%
FX 1.369 +10%
CARTOON 1.302 -3%
SYFY 1.276 -0%
DISCOVERY 1.253 +4%
HISTORY 1.212 +3%
HGTV 1.202 +9%
LIFETIME 1.185 -20%
FOOD 1.119 +26%
HALLMARK 1.104 -18%
AMC 1.041 -6%
TLC 1.070 +18%
TRUTV 1.090 +0%
SPIKE 1.063 -17%
COMEDY CENTRAL 992 -10%
CNN 908 -30%
MSNBC 817 -12%
MTV 807 -10%
BRAVO 796 +6%
BET 777 +23%
VH1 744 +0%
TVLAND 720 -8%
ESPN2 694 +8%
HBO 693 +41%
E! 592 +7%

Nope.  A Comedy Central spokesperson said ”We have no plans to renew the series at this time.”

His ratings are good, but the costs are high. Keep your fingers crossed that we keep seeing more of Jeff and his dummies (no offense).

Last year Scott Fishman, SpikeTV executive, was speaking at our Hit Makers Summit. He talked about how a show about tailgate parties would make a good show, but no one had cracked how to make it cool. Spike had many ideas pitched to them, but none worked.

I just saw an article about an upcoming tailgating series. It’s not on Spike, but it goes to show how many people can have the same idea, but someone with a special take on a subject can make their version work.

We are working on shot lists for a new reality series concept. We will be shooting some sizzle reel elements tomorrow and the stills for our one-sheets. I love this part.

My latest article just posted on www.AWN.com about Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. I interviewed Premise Entertainment who partnered with Disney on the animation.

http://www.awn.com/articles/mind-your-business-partnering-princess-and-frog/page/2,1

The Hollywood Reporter has a great round table interview with Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”); James Cameron (“Avatar”); Lee Daniels (“Precious”); Peter Jackson (“The Lovely Bones”); Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”); and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”).

While they are talking about film, most of their comments also apply to TV directors. It’s fascinating.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if667a78777fe70e1a69e0fb60337ae26?pn=1

Jeanne and I are celebrating 20 years of an incredible marriage today. Our gift to each other was a week in Paris this past October. What a great place to celebrate love.