So fast forward 6 months or so from my last post, where Ryan Seacrest made what was, in retrospect, the best decision of his career by kicking me to the curb.
The bubble has burst on the dot-com mania. We've been struggling with business directions for the last 6 months or so, but have finally begun to shore up some interesting opportunities.
When we first started brainstorming the company (well before getting any funding), my then-writing/business partner Troy and I had come up with a number of interactive TV series pitches. We'd been polishing one of them - a reality TV series that NOW (2006) I would describe as American Idol meets Blind Date. At that time, though, reality TV wasn't the ubiquitous monster that it is now. Survivor had just rolled onto the scene, and was redefining the way people thought of unscripted TV. American Idol was just something Paula Abdul dreamt of in her wildest fantasies.
We'd actually shot a couple of "mini-pilots" for these series on our own dime. Guerilla filming at various interesting dating-esque locations around town (Tail o' the Pup, Staples Center, Spago, etc) and then pulling it all together into an interactive flash demo, to give some flavor to the concept.
Anyhow... Survivor was doing well enough that Reality TV was definitely interesting to the nets. So... we managed to get several pitch sessions for this series (entitled Datenight USA). Honestly, I can't remember where all we pitched. It was all a blur, its been several years ago, and Troy did 90% of the talking. I was just along because I co-created the show and he couldn't come up with a nice way to tell me to screw off, he'd pitch it alone.
I'm pretty sure we pitched Showtime and E! But the place we pitched that mattered was Pearson Television. They loved the idea and immediately made a deal for it. We nabbed ourselves a CAA agent (not that he sold squat, but someone had to pull the deal together) and secured a relatively decent deal. They optioned it for 2 years, and Troy and I both had terms ensuring we'd theoretically be involved in the production of the show itself, if it made it to air.
We were totally psyched. We went to NATPE and partied with the Pearson elite - including the Baywatch cast and Louie Anderson (host of their juggernaut Family Feud). And Louie Anderson can party. Yessirree, we were going to have the next killer show.
Then, suddenly, Pearson stopped calling. And stopped returning our calls. Our agent at CAA swore everything was on track and ok, so we didn't get too panicky. And then HE stopped returning our calls. Finally, we learned that Pearson had reorganized into Freemantle Media, and the exec that had bought our show had been replaced.
Not good. Even as a neophyte I knew that when heads roll in Hollywood, the projects related to them usually get flushed, too.
The new head of programming finally called, though. We met with him over lunch at the Buffalo Club in Santa Monica. He loved the show, he assured us, and everything was on track. He'd call us in a week or two to start talking pilot.
So we got rolling. We hired a freelance showrunner to help us start pulling together show budgets and schedules for the on-the-road portion of the show that was so crucial to the concept.
A week passed. Then two. No call.
Then three. And four. We called. No reponse.
And so it went for a month or more, before we finally got some behind the scenes intel from a friend of a friend of a cousin or something like that.
Our show had no heat. Freemantle was focused on some talent show type thing hosted by some local-market radio guy. We should resign ourselves to the show being shelved.
And so it passed. The show was never declared dead or anything. Time went by and the option lapsed. We never heard from Freemantle's suit again. At least I got a nice lunch at the Buffalo Club.
And, of course, American Idol, starring local-market-radio-guy Ryan Seacrest, went on to become a monster success. And thus, I was screwed for a second time by American Idol.
By the way... if anyone out there's interested in a bitchin' American Idol meets Blind Date TV pitch, I still have the flash presentation, some one-sheets, and Troy's phone number. Simon Fuller - give me a call, baby!
Charlie
TAGS: American Idol, Paula Abdul, simon fuller, Freemantle, b movie
Monday, February 13, 2006
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