TV Seminar Part Two

The second and last TV pitching seminar I attended was more laid back. There were only about ten people there, unlike the first one which was close to sixty people in attendance. The best part about this seminar was that it was about two hundred yards, or two football fields, away from the Santa Monica beach.

The instructor was also more laid back. His name is Greg Spring and he is an executive producer. Gone was the perfectly pressed shirt and the perfectly unruly hair. This guy had the writer look, if there is still such a look. His seminar was actually more up my alley since it was for reality type TV programs. Although Story of Songs is more a documentary or informational type program, most of the instructions he gave out applied. There was some good stuff I learned, like registering the program in the Writers Guild, which I have done. So if there's anyone out there trying to steal my idea, I can sic my team of lawyers on you. Once I get my team of lawyers together.

The instructor gave us the opportunity to pitch a show during the class. I took advantage of it. Unfortunately, it went horribly wrong. What was on my mind was not what came out of my mouth. The instructor tried to help out but I ignored him. I couldn't think straight. I was tongue tied and stuttered to boot. Which is how I talk in the first place.

Greg was actually more accessible and I did speak to him after the class. I felt good about that and we even emailed one another a few times. He was actually helpful and I would also recommend anyone with a reality type TV program idea they would like to pitch to attend his seminar. The thing that I remember about the class is that the best way to pitch a program is to attach a name to it.

This meant that I had to come up with names for hosts. I figured it would be like 60 minutes and have several hosts and each profiles a song. I came up with a few names. Danny Bonaduce was one of them. He's even said he'll do anything as long as he gets paid. Leeza Gibbons was someone else I thought might be good at it. Ralph Garman from KROQ. The only person I actually did contact was Peter Tilden, a deejay slash talk radio host. I've been a fan of his since he was on KFI AM 640 a while back. I found out a little bit about him, including that he had just been fired from KZLA, a country radio station in LA. So I figured here was my chance. I emailed him and mentioned the fact that he had been fired anyway, so what did he have to lose by hosting Story of Songs. I never heard from him. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned him getting fired. I did compliment him and told him I was a fan and that I wish I played the guitar as good as he does. He plays guitar, not very well though. But he plays much better than I do.

Anyway, it didn't go well with picking hosts for the TV show.
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