Business Week

Business didn’t cover MotorSport Ranch, but they did cover the MotorSport Ranch blog in their Selection of Small Business Blogs back in July. Stephen Baker, began covering technology for BusinessWeek as Paris-based European correspondent 1998. He came to New York in 2002 as acting senior editor for info tech, and is now a senior writer. Here was Stephen’s coverage:

Thanks for all the responses to my call for small business blogs. I went through the comments and put together these links, in no particular order, so it will be easier to check them out. They range from a first-time Hollywood producer to Aldo Coffee in Mt. Lebanon, Pa. (where I used to live, back when BW still had a Pittsburgh bureau). Here’s a small biz site, run, naturally, by a small biz. This 55-person data recovery company bet that a blog with the voice of the CEO would pay dividends. BlogBridge is a three-person company that has an open-source aggregator. A British sheet metal company runs the Tinbasher blog, and a British tailor posts on English Cut. Here’s one for those, as one reader writes, who are drawn to the “gloriously uneuphonious phenomenon of composting toilets.” Hayden Trumpets teaches tooters not only how to hold the horn, but even how to breathe. This consultants’ blog just debuted in June.

One bracingly frank writer has started a blog on specialty insurance–but isn’t convinced yet that it “will have a big impact on marketing.” (We’ll be glad to have an update on that one.) Paul Perdue’s Purdue’s new blog deals with Internet order fulfillment. Marqui, which made a splash earlier this year by paying bloggers, has a communications management blog of its own. Finally, this from a luxury resort business.

There were a couple of comments touting blogs, but without including the urls. I didn’t hunt them down. A couple of the other ulrs didn’t seem to work. Also, I’m having a miserable time getting onto sites from this laptop. I usually go through a post and try the links before posting. But that’s holding me up today. Sorry in advance if any of them are duds. Also, if you click through these blogs and find an approach that seems either really smart or… otherwise, we can discuss. I’m only starting to look at them myself.

Fast Company

Fast Company asked, “Are you really ready for the rise of DIY media?” in their regular ‘blogjam’ article. The author pointed out,

Sometimes, the amateurs even turn pro. Alexander Muse started his own DIY media project — a reality tv show called MotorSport Ranch, which followed a few members of a Texas country club built for car racing enthusiasts. He taught himself how to produce the first high-definition reality show, used LinkedIn to find people to work with and pitch the show to, sold the pilot to INHD and is now negotiating for additional episodes and distribution in Asia. All because the tools are available, knowledge is easily acquired and connections are simpler to come by.

We’ll let others hash out if Web 2.0 is the right term for what is happening on the Web right now. What is already having an impact on the way we do business is the arrival of the remixable Web, with the ‘audience’ now taking an active role with their own DIY media tools. Blogs, sure. But also homebrewed podcasts, shared & tagged photo libraries, and now, today, word of YouTube (flickr for video). With tools like Technorati & del.icio.us, these do-it-yourself media creations find their own audience. And quickly.

What’s your plan for listening in and responding to this multitude of voices

Silence is not a sound strategy. Exhibit A: Dell. When Jeff Jarvis started having trouble with his Dell, he naturally started talking about it on his blog. As the problems dragged on, he amp’d up the volume. Eventually, ‘everyday folks’ (read: not obsessive bloggers) were overheard talking about the Jarvis issue and saying they wouldn’t buy Dell.

That conversation spread and spoiled potential Dell sales. (Spurring a Dell Cluewatch feature as a not-so-nice byproduct. Others continue to pile on — like IT services provider Architel who just blogged the other day that Dell servers aren’t holding up for their clients over the long haul.)

Dell’s online response? We’re still waiting. While Dell sits on the sidelines, the conversation continues on without them.

Exhibit B: Vonage. During a massive outage the other day, they had no quick way to broadcast a response to the online chatter that was developing. They were getting Dell’d.

Exhibit C: Kryptonite.

Enough cautionary tales. How can you use those DIY media tools for good?

• Take an open source approach to your marketing. Alex Wipperfurth (who wrote the book on what he calls Brand Hijacking) would counsel you to ’scrap the focus groups, fire the cool chasers and hire your audience.’
• Give em something to talk about. If information wants to be free, the new tools make it easier than ever to spread your memes. Compare the Netflix amateur presence online with an amateur Blockbuster-focused site. Who has the evangelists working for them?
• Host the party. Cobrandit is a new idea for an agency, inviting everyday consumers to contribute DIY media bits to showcase the real impact brands can have.

Sometimes, the amateurs even turn pro. Alexander Muse started his own DIY media project — a reality tv show called MotorSport Ranch, which followed a few members of a Texas country club built for car racing enthusiasts. He taught himself how to produce the first high-definition reality show, used LinkedIn to find people to work with and pitch the show to, sold the pilot to INHD and is now negotiating for additional episodes and distribution in Asia. All because the tools are available, knowledge is easily acquired and connections are simpler to come by.

The people are ready to post, tag, subscribe. What are you doing?

How to Pitch in 6 Steps

I found this primer on ‘how to pitch’ on the SoYouWanna website and I thought it might be worth reprinting here:

Get an idea or concept:

You go home for a Thanksgiving dinner, and:

• The ladies’ man in apartment 2B keeps showing up.
• Your mother won’t stop hounding you about your table manners.
• The dog eats Aunt Gloria’s famous turkey spread.
• Your cousin keeps hitting on you (ew!).

That’s when you think, “This is ridiculous! It’s like I’m living a bad TV show!” Well, why not turn your life into a TV show? It worked for Truman.

Whether it’s a comedy, a drama, or a rip-off of The Real World, every new television show started as an idea in someone’s head. But to turn that precious gem of an idea into ‘destination viewing,’ you’ll need to sell that idea to someone (or as they say in Hollywood, you have to “pitch” your idea). This is not nearly as easy as it sounds. To successfully pitch a TV show, you have to have a great idea, convince powerful people that it’s good, and get a production company to buy it. It involves a lot of careful research, networking, and ass-kissing. So take a meeting with SoYouWanna.com for the inside scoop.

Write a treatment:

Once you have your idea, it’s time to write a treatment. A treatment is a brief synopsis of your idea and how it is suited to television. It is not a script. We repeat, it is not a script. Again, for those of you who forget things easily, IT IS NOT A SCRIPT. A television treatment is usually about 1-5 pages in length, written in persuasive, snappy language. No lingo about ’smash cuts’ or ‘three frame dissolves’ – you haven’t shot it yet, much less edited it, and if you are not a professional producer, jargon will only embarrass you. Your treatment is what your Development Executive will use as a guide when he/she pitches your idea to his/her bosses. So edit it and rewrite it until it’s perfect.

Wait, wait, what’s a Development Executive? He/she is the person responsible for attracting, reviewing, and rejecting or “growing” (that is, developing) new projects for his/her company. Larger companies may have an entire department handling this task; smaller companies may saddle one beleaguered individual with this mountain of work. Often, there are different people for fiction or non-fiction projects.

Samples for television treatments can be found in books like Writing Treatments that Sell, or on websites like www.donedealpro.com. For further guidance in preparing your ideas for a pitch, you might want to check out courses offered at local colleges, or through associations such as IMAGE in Atlanta, BFVF in Boston, or American Women in Radio and Television nationally.

Once you’ve written your treatment, register it with the Writer’s Guild of America. You do not have to be a member of the union to do it, and it’ll only cost you $20. Registering your idea will prove that you had the idea first if it’s ever questioned, and it’ll protect you from having other people steal it. As an added bonus, the WGA registration number on your cover page is a subtle way to show that you’re a pro who knows how to play the game. Details like that really help.

Meet, greet and network:

Make tons of copies of your treatment, stick it under your arm, and start swimming with the sharks it’s now time to think very seriously about whether you want to align yourself with a known producer who has a track record. We don’t want to discourage you, but it is extremely tough to get a pitch meeting if you are new to the business. If the Development Executive you are trying to contact already has a relationship with a successful producer, your idea will be more likely to be heard if Mr./Ms. “Known Producer” brings it forward. It’s all about who you know (hey, no one said Hollywood is fair).

How do you meet a producer who wants to work with you? You network. That is, you must build a support system of powerful (read: well-connected) people who like your work. This is also called “schmoozing,” and it’s what makes the Hollywood world go ’round. Attending film festivals (yes, even if you’re pitching for television!), industry conferences, classes and entering writer’s contests are time-honored ways to schmooze. So even if you can’t get into NATPE (the annual conference and new programming market for the National Association of Television Program Executives) this year, don’t despair. Enter all the television writing contests that you can. Industry professionals often serve as judges, and you might win a development deal. More likely though, you’ll start a very useful collection of business cards.

If you can afford to make a complete career change, getting an entry-level job or internship with a television production company can help you meet the right people. (Check those industry associations again, or browse the phone book). Exposure to groups like these will help you to connect with like-minded people who might offer some good input. Plus, it’s always nice to have friends.

If you still want to try to pitch your idea yourself, almost all networks and production companies require that you approach them through an agent or an entertainment attorney. TV is all about money, and as such, networks are wary of wasting any time on an unknown, no matter how cute you are. Agents and entertainment attorneys know the inside of the business, and if you hire one, it’s his/her job to help you work the system. A professional’s services can be crucial if you are optioning a title, too.

Research networks and production companies:

Pitching is hard work, and you don’t want to waste your energy talking to a development executive who simply doesn’t produce the kind of show you’re offering. That is, unless you really like to collect rejections, or “passes“, in development lingo. So you gotta do homework.

This homework is fascinating if you love television, ’cause you’re going to be watching television. Lots and lots of it. Why? For these reasons:

• It’ll keep your couch warm.
• This orgy of television viewing will help you see if there’s anything currently on that’s remotely similar to what you’re planning to pitch. (Get it? “remote”?) If there is, consider retooling what you have. It’ll also help you package your show. (e.g., “Six 20-somethings start a bar – it’s Friends meets Cheers.”)
• It’s important for you to get familiar with the style of different networks and production companies. Some networks are family-oriented, while others focus on history (The History Channel), comedy (Comedy Central), or animals (Animal Planet). Some production companies specialize in game shows, dramas, or sitcoms. You want to be sure that you’re approaching the right home for your project.

The growth of cable TV has meant that there are more homes for possible TV shows (HBO, USA, Showtime, A&E, and Lifetime all have original TV series), but most broadcast and cable networks do not accept unsolicited submissions. So unless they asked you first, you must approach them through an agent or attorney.

Some of the many prominent broadcast and cable networks that currently do provide submission agreements for unsolicited treatments are:

Comedy Central Coordinator of Development
Comedy Central
1775 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
212-767-8600Discovery Communications Development Liaison
(for the network, such as The Travel Channel)
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-986-0444

MTV Networks Series Pitch Line
2600 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-752-8000

Another tactic is to try to approach production companies directly. Regularly watch the end credits of programs you like. Notice the name of the executive producer? Write him/her a letter inquiring about procedures for reviewing new projects. Listings of production companies that handle new projects are also in The Hollywood Creative Directory.

Do market research

Be prepared to explain WHO the target audience is for your planned program, and WHY your idea will appeal to them. You can conduct grassroots research without performing a grim statistical analysis. For example, if the heroine of your sit-com idea is a twelve-year-old girl with a wry take on life, ask every pre-teen girl you know what she likes and doesn’t like about the character. Poll a Girl Scout troop. Interview the kids in your sister’s class. Get to know your target audience’s taste. Then in your pitch meeting, you can wow ‘em with something along the lines of “I polled one hundred teenaged girls in my city and they unanimously voiced my character’s point of view.” You are now the voice of a generation.

In doing all of this research, you must always always ALWAYS read the “trades.” These are the well-established industry magazines, such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. They’re full of wacky slang, have regular news about development and production deals in the works, discuss executive “transitions” (who works where this week), and loads of other useful information such as how shows are doing in the ratings. So order a double skinny soy latté and study what’s going on in the biz.

Get additional material:

You have a killer concept and you have a convincing, succinct treatment. Congratulations! You’re almost ready to start knocking on doors. But remember, a good part of your pitch (and it’s the fun part) is all about you. You’re not only selling the project, but you’re selling yourself as well. Whore.

Along with your treatment, you may be asked to provide:

• Budget parameters and information about financiers already on board, if you have them. It’s not absolutely required that you provide funding for your project, but it’s unlikely that a network or production company will foot your bill entirely. If you have a rich benefactor who has promised to pay for the pilot episode, let ‘em know. You’ll get points for initiative, credibility, and understanding the bottom line.
• If you are pitching an idea for a series as opposed to a special, include a brief Episode Breakdown, outlining key dramatic events in each episode or installment.
• A demo tape or a portfolio of current or previous work of yours or any other key individual whom you may have associated with the project. If your cousin is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has agreed to consult about the dietary habits of the extra-terrestrial villains in your program, let ‘em know.

Check your submission agreement or call your contacts again to learn exactly what, if any, supplemental materials are required. Remember that they may not be returned, so keep copies of everything.

Get a pitch meeting:

Here’s where the agent, attorney, or known producer comes in really handy, because development executives take their calls. Tell the person on the phone that you have a treatment that you want to pitch to his/her network or Production Company, and you would like to receive submissions guidelines.

If the company accepts unsolicited material, you will be required to sign a submission agreement before sending anything in. This document, usually thick with legal-ese, asks you to state that you own the idea you’re submitting, and to acknowledge that they may already have a similar idea in development or on the air. This is a lawsuit prevention method on the part of the company reading your treatment. It prevents you from showing up and claiming that you’re owed millions because you believe that it was really your idea to have a hit show about a stand up comic and his three neurotic friends in Manhattan.

Some time after you have signed and returned the submission agreement along with your treatment and any other supporting materials requested, you may get a call from the assistant to the Development or Creative Affairs department requesting a meeting. (How long depends on company policies, individual workloads, and how conscientious the caller is.) In this call, he/she will discuss your project in more depth, probing to determine how closely your idea fits current programming needs. Based on the outcome of that initial conversation, you might be heading out to buy new duds to look spiffy when you ‘take’ your meeting.

Practice pitching to friends. Watch their reactions. Are they interested in your idea? Did you tell the story in a friendly, engaging manner? Do they want to hear more? That’s the idea.

Things to do in the pitch

When the big day comes, relax! Remember why you’re here: to generate interest in the story that moved you to try to create a TV show in the first place. It’s your moment (and we mean moment: it’s very likely that you have been scheduled for meeting that will last all of ten minutes) to convince the producer or executive that he/she (and the viewers) will love it, too.

• Arrive at least 15 minutes early.
• Bring extra copies of your treatment and any other material you have been asked to provide. Your meeting will involve you, a Development or Creative Affairs Executive, an assistant, and maybe a few other people who dropped in to cruise the snack tray.
• You’ll be asked to give a verbal description of your story. Consider this a friendly chat about you and your big idea.
• It’s wise to have two or more pitches ready in the meeting, just in case you’re doing great but the executive already has an idea like yours in the works. In case you missed it, we just said that you must come in with at least two different show ideas in case your first one is a bust.
• Remember that you are SELLING yourself and your idea. Your goal is to hook your ‘audience’-the people listening to your pitch. Be upbeat and positive. Use creative props if you think they’ll help illustrate your story. Consider this an “open mic” performance without the comedy. Don’t read from your treatment, but do distribute copies. Your pitch might start out something like this . . .
  

  “Visualize this. It ’s a dark and stormy night. Our hero, a moody, intelligent teenaged boy, is struggling to get into a second story bedroom window. Is he a burglar? Is he in some kind of trouble? No, he’s a teen superhero and he’s locked out of his house for the third time this week!”

  OK, so that’s kind of lame, but you have to admit that it’s a lot better than, “My show is about a teenager. He’s a superhero, too.” The first speech shows passion.

• Be willing to answer questions readily, and be flexible about suggestions, but don’t lose your train of thought. Believe in yourself and be positive! Your goal is to make the Development Executive your ally, as he/she may want to champion your idea to his/her bosses.

The verdict

Just like in driver’s ed, in the television and film biz, a “green light” means go. (Hey, a bit of jargon never hurts.) If you get a call back sometime after your meeting telling you that your project has been “greenlighted,” then you are officially on the road to seeing your great idea produced as a television show.

If your pitch is rejected, or “passed” on, don’t take it personally. Keep practicing, keep networking, and try to set up a meeting somewhere else. Believe in yourself and your work. And don’t forget to mention us in your Emmy acceptance speech.

Aerial Photography

In the pilot episode of MotorSport Ranch we didn’t have the budget for aerial photography and at the time HD cameras were too heavy to mount to remote controlled helicopters. One of the members of MotorSport Ranch owned a helicopter he chartered for various news organizations and offered to take our camera man up for a few aerial shots of the track and our race. While this was a great opportunity, we hadn’t planned for an aerial shoot and didn’t have the appropriate mounting equipment to fix our camera in the helicopter. We decided to go hand held and as a result very few of the shots were usable. Here are a few pictures:

The guys at VOOM insisted we have aerial shots in the series so we began looking for inexpensive solutions for aerial shots throughout the shooting schedule. It would have been cost prohibative to keep a real helicopter on the set for the entire week so we opted for a remote control option. By the time we began shooting the series, Sony had released a very small 3-chip HD camera that could film in 1080i and were we able to mount it on a remote controlled helicopter. It took two people to control the remote control helicopter; one to fly the helicopter and another to control the camera. It was interesting listening to the two operators bicker. The camera controller watched the footage via a wireless 2.4 ghz feed to his monitor. Here are a few photos of the rig:

Final Cut Pro Editing

The first choice of professional editors worldwide, Final Cut Pro 6 delivers high-performance digital nonlinear editing, native support for virtually any video format, and facility-class extensibility and interoperability. Its workflow extends through the other Final Cut Studio applications and Final Cut Server for even more power. Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, Final Cut Pro gives you more creative options and technical control than ever before.

Broad Format Support

With native support for virtually any format, Final Cut Pro lets you edit everything from uncompressed SD to HDV, DVCPRO HD, and uncompressed HD — as well as Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM HD, AVCHD and AVC-Intra tapeless formats. Or use ProRes 422, a new post-production format from Apple that offers uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. Mix and match a wide range of formats and even frame rates in the open format Timeline. If you edit film, use the redesigned interface in Cinema Tools 4 to work faster than ever, with customizable lists that let you combine timecode and keycode in a single document.

Incredible Real-Time Effects

Final Cut Pro is built for speed. RT Extreme delivers real-time performance for more than 150 filters and effects as well as for multistream video. Dynamic RT adjusts image quality and frame rate on the fly for optimal playback on any system. Use the SmoothCam feature to automatically stabilize shaky shots while preserving standard camera moves. Easily swap out video clips and edit text in motion graphics without leaving Final Cut Pro, using editable Motion 3 master templates.

Comprehensive Editing Tools

A complete set of professional editing and trimming tools lets you work quickly, while a full range of customization options gives you flexibility and control. Use powerful multicamera editing tools to view and cut video from multiple sources in real time. Mix up to 24 channels of audio with the onscreen mixer or use a Mackie Control Protocol device with faders. When you’re finished, output frame-accurate video at stunning quality.

The Hub of Final Cut Studio

Final Cut Pro 6 extends its capabilities through the other applications in Final Cut Studio 2. Send your project to Color for professional color grading, complete with sequence metadata from Final Cut Pro. Use the new Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro to automatically update your audio project to match your video edit after you make changes in Final Cut Pro.

You can also send files round-trip between Motion and Final Cut Pro. When you save a change in Motion, the update appears in Final Cut Pro. Send files to Compressor for batch processing and output to multiple formats, all at pristine quality. Or send your Final Cut Pro project to DVD Studio Pro along with chapter markers from your edit.

In larger workgroups, multiple Final Cut Pro editors can share media using a consolidated storage pool powered by Xsan. For deeper workgroup support, Final Cut Server — with or without Xsan — offers powerful media asset management and workflow automation that is closely integrated with Final Cut Studio.

Open, Extensible Architecture

Open standards such as QuickTime and FxPlug encourage interoperability with a host of third-party tools. Build a custom facilitywide solution around Final Cut Pro using its open, standards-based XML interchange format.

Camera Stability

There are lots of ways to cut costs in television production, but often times they produce unexpected results. In our case we saved considerable costs by renting standard lifts to mount our cameras on. While a standard lift might work in industrial or construction applications, a carpenter doesn’t need flawless stability. The wind kept blowing the lift and making the shots unsteady (a big issue when you are filming in HD). Check out the lifts blowing in the wind:

When you can get the camera on solid ground, with a heavy tripod you get much better results:

Turning your ‘run of the mill’ idea into a ‘high concept’ idea.

Once we had tied up the location and began hearing how great our idea was from every Tom, Dick and Harry in Dallas we began to think that our original concept wasn’t ‘big’ enough. Steve Kaire suggests, “In defining High Concept, we talk about the premise of your story, not what happens in Acts 1, 2 and 3. The premise or logline is the core of High Concept. My comprehensive definition of High Concept is comprised of five requirements, each of which is mandatory. The five requirements are in descending order of importance. Therefore, numbers one and two are the most important as well as the most difficult to attain. But meeting only several of the requirements is not enough. All five requirements have to be met for success in achieving the “slam dunk” project everyone is looking for.” Read more about the five rules here. Of course, we didn’t meet Steve’s five rules and as a result our idea never really made it to ‘high concept’ stage.

Our original idea consisted of six eight-minute segments:

1. What is MotorSport Ranch
2. Driver One Profile (home, office & track)
3. Driver Two Profile (home, office & track)
4. Driver Three Profile (home, office & track)
5. The time trial & reactions
6. The RACE!

The primary story points:

1. What is MotorSport Ranch – History of facility.
2. Who is at the Ranch – why and what do they do there?
3. Who is Jack Farr? Our three drivers?
4. What are the features of the cars?
5. Time trials & race – why three cars? What do we learn?

Cast:

1. Jack Farr – Owner MSR
2. Michael Tari – Hedge Fund Manager
3. Deborah Loth – Dentist/Mother of Three
4. Jon Ward – Software Millionaire

As everyone heaped praise on our silly little idea we began think that our concept had to change if we were going to attract a “real” network to air our show. If we were going to sell our pilot to a “real network” we would need to “up the ante” and improve our intended production values and our overall budget. MotorSport Ranch had to be BIGGER with more people, elimination rounds, lots of sponsorship opportunities and so on. I started calling it “concept creep”. Suddenly our little show began to sound like a “high concept” reality series like Survivor; think, Survivor on a racetrack! So we started to ask, “How much will it cost to produce a network ready pilot in an elimination format?

The answer we came to was $100,000 or more. Of course, our original justification for the pilot did not make sense with the new “reality” that our program was destined for FOX. No network would apply to the series. We really needed a screener or promo reel. After much debate, we decided to shoot the original “small” pilot as downside protection, i.e. we could sell it to an HD network if we were unable to sell the series to a network. We would then take the footage from the shoot and cut a second three to five minute “screener” to use as a sales tool with the networks. Of course, this additional work, plus other changes that we thought were necessary increased our budget to just under $50,000.

Treatment, screener, or pilot? That is the question.

While writing a treatment is a necessary evil, it really isn’t the best way for a first time producer to market their reality series. Robert was friends with Tanya Norman one of the authors of “Pitching Hollywood, How to Sell Your TV and Movie Ideas” and he asked her to meet us at Starbucks to go over our idea. She was fairly convincing in her argument that it would be VERY difficult to sell our show to a network with just a treatment. Tanya was among quite a few people who thought we really had something and she convinced us to think beyond cable and satellite and consider pitching our show to a major network. We had originally planned to shoot a 30 or 60 minute pilot in HD appropriate for cable or satellite, but our estimated $25,000 budget wouldn’t allow for the production quality required by major networks like ABC, NBC or CBS. Tanya suggested we consider cutting a three to five minute screener instead.

The decision came down two options, a short three to five minute screener that would accompany the treatment or a full-scale 30 or 60-minute pilot episode. The advantage of the screener is that it would be cheaper, around $10,000 to produce. The downside is that you can’t air a screener, i.e. it would be worthless if we didn’t sell the program to a major network. The pilot would cost around $25,000 to produce, but we failed to sell the series to a major network we could eventually sell it to a cable or satellite network. If we ended up selling the show to a major network and had a major budget to work with we could either throw away the pilot or sell it internationally. Robert suggested that we could likely sell an hour long pilot for at least $40,000. If we were successful and were able to sell the series Robert estimated that annual revenues could reach $600,000 per year. Ultimately, we decided to product the 60-minute pilot.