How Do You Get on the Discovery Channel? 62
Anonym1ty asks: "My group of Amateur Radio Operators is planning a DX-Pedition in 2005 to an Island in Alaska. We are planning on operating a station for a few days to become the rare ham radio contact from the island. We already have sponsors, but we want to showcase this event and Ham Radio in some way to the public and were hoping to find some way to get PBS, The Discovery Channel or some other network to tag along with us and showcase what Amateur Radio is. In researching how to contact these I find a sea of red tape. The Discovery Channel Networks only take suggestions from scientists or production crews. PBS seems interested but the few stations I have actually received a response from seem to just mention how they have no budget. How do I find a production company and convince them this would be a good idea? It is important to note that we Ham Radio operators cannot make any money on this and any pecuniary gain would go to the production company."
Easy, DIY (Score:5, Insightful)
Just film it yourself. Buy a digital video camera, get lots of footage, and edit a demo tape. If it's really that interesting, National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, or someone might buy it. They would likely reedit your footage with voiceovers, etc., but expecting them to foot the bill of sending a crew, etc. is a longshot.
You mentioned that Discovery is only interested in talking to Producers... there you go. Become a producer.
Re:Easy, DIY (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Easy, DIY (Score:2)
I suggest adding a tan, leggy co-ed to your cast.
Easier still. (Score:2, Insightful)
Put an ad in local art school newspapers and contact them about the opportunity you're offering, and how far you're willing to go. (No money, but free transportation and boarding.) Even your local TV station might help you out possibly by loaning equipment, possibly with interns, or someone else who gets the s
Re:Easy, DIY (Score:2)
And watch out for ghosted signals. This is, after all, the Ham (sandwich) Project.
Re:Easy, DIY (Score:4, Informative)
Just film it yourself. Buy a digital video camera, get lots of footage, and edit a demo tape.
While high quality, easy use, low cost gear has allowed many more people to shoot video (a very good thing) the quality has really sufferred. If you really want to shoot someone for resale then I'd suggest:
Practice with your gear. Shoot, shoot and shoot. Unless you have at least a few hundred hours shooting usable footage your stuff will look like typical amateur crap.
Hang out with other shooters. Talk to them and look at their stuff. There are just some tricks that only experience will teach you.
Watch well shot ENG/EFP video. Check out CBS Sunday Morning. While the quality has dropped over the years it's still one of the best shot weekly news shows. There's a lot of good stuff on PBS but editing can hide a lot of mistakes. ENG work allows you see what can be done when time is everything.
Find an experienced producer you can trust. Interest in radio and the project first, experience second. Only work with those that have actually sold a completed project to a broadcast outlet (if that's your final goal).
Shoot a dry run. Try to locally simulate the trip and head out for a few days. This will help you work out many issues like charging batteries, lighting, what you really need and what you really don't need.
Get a Mac. Hey, I'm writing this from my gentoo box but macs IMO are the way to fly for cheap video production. A bottom of the line eMac works great. iMoive will allow to you to easily put together a demo to be shopped around.
Seek alternative distribution channels. Most likely you're stuff will never see any large scale public broadcast. If you want others to see what you've done then get creative. Think about licensing the project under the GNU FDL and let others move it around. Honestly, your chances of getting this on Discovery of very, very, very slim. Forget PBS, 'cause that will never happen.
Did I forget anything? Yup, about 99% of what it takes to pull this production off.
It's very possible that you might shoot it and take years to getting around to editting so don't try to stay on a strict production schedule. Don't get pushy about getting people to do anything on cue. The goal in this case is to be invisible. Luckly the cost is pretty minimal, maybe under $10k USD for an usable prosumer camera, eMac, batteries, et al.
Should you shoot it? Sure, why not. Will it ever make broadcast? Most likely not but you will learn a lot. A few productions under the belt will make all difference. Do it because you want to tell a story and you want to shoot it. The chances of it making dollar one are extremely slim.
If the goal is to save a few dollars by shooting and editting the project yourself for the main purpose of broadcast resale then you're SOL. You'll end up with something that looks like a local ad insert on some cable channel or "local access". Shoot it because it's a story you really want to tell.
Don't forget the lighting (Score:2)
Re:How do I get on CNN? (Score:2, Funny)
Best way to get on Discovery (Score:2)
How about Discovery Canada? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:How about Discovery Canada? (Score:1)
Fox island is in the South Central region of the state, near Seward. Now if they go during winter it could be close to arctic, but the area in general (ignoring microclimes, etc) will probably range in the 10s most of winter, and if I remember boating out there correctly, 55-70 in the summer.
Not too cold (well, I think so, but then again I'm from the area) and lacking in the proper 'arctic' motif. Too many of those darn spruce trees.
Re:How about Discovery Canada? (Score:1)
you want publicity? You got it... (Score:4, Insightful)
(KB0UQY - got the licence 8 years ago now, and have never so much as touched a radio since...)
Re:you want publicity? You got it... (Score:2)
OT: Mythbusters (Score:2)
My wife and I both like it, and we're such different people that apart from top-shelf comedies, almost nothing else on the air qualifies. I'll watch until it, too, goes downhill.
Re:OT: Mythbusters (Score:2)
They make passing references to it, and pay lip service to it, but they don't *practice* it. (For example, during the goldfish training episode they leave you with the impression that goldfish were trained to swim towards food, rather than the truth which is that they were trained to swim towards orange. A scientific test would have been to replace the orange 'rings' with black, and then wit
Re:OT: Mythbusters (Score:1)
> and pay lip service to it. Usually they try to prove their theory,
> when it fails, or when it works, then they go blow stuff up.
And - your problem IS...?!
For television, particularly the Discovery Channel, they're a step forward.
Re:you want publicity? You got it... (Score:2)
Maybe if this story was posted to 1950s slashdot you'd be reaching more hams...
Re:you want publicity? You got it... (Score:2)
Maybe try NPR too? (Score:4, Interesting)
You can make money on this (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure you can, see Sec. 97.113 (5)(c)
Just make it a long-distance learning "teachable moment".
Re:You can make money on this (Score:1)
In any case, the rules don't say you can't make money from ham radio, tons of people do. What they do say is that you can't transmit communications for hire, including under the direction of an employer, and you can't transmit communications that you make money from.
Since they wouldn't be accepting money for transmitting, I don't think it would be breaking the rules. The rules are mainly intended to prevent commercial use of ham radio, i.e. using it instead
Re:You can make money on this (Score:1)
How would you know? You can't even spell ARCTIC.
Re:You can make money on this (Score:1)
Find a producer (Score:4, Insightful)
Meanwhile, pretend you have a producer and go talk to sponsors. Whose sleeping bags are you using? Whose trucks are you using? There must be some equipment you're using that isn't sponsored -- ask those folks to pay for the video crew. Whose radios are you using? Your own? Great -- find a radio manufacturer and ask them to sponsor the video, leave your radios at home and use theirs. I'd say the radio makers have the most to gain from popularizing ham radio.
Have you talked to the ARRL about this?
Read the credits (Score:2)
Might also help to look into finding corporate/foundation sponsership for the show.
What is the story? (Score:3, Informative)
Set out your goals, getting to the site, setting up, whom do you expect to communicant with. What are the risks? What are the rewards? There needs to be tension. Set your goals high so that there is some risk of failure. If there is no risk there is no story. (I am not talking uncontrolled stupid risks.)
I would watch many "Junk Yard Wars" episodes to look at how they build a narrative around what would be otherwise boring. In some respects you are doing the same thing.
Then do it. Film it. Keep notes, like temperature and wind. Gets lots of comments and background on the people.
Then from all the film and tape build the documentary. You can even build more than one for different audiences. A outdoors story with radio, a radio story in the outdoors, a technical story, and so on. Finally test the documentaries and edit till you get good results.
Consider contacting a local collage to see if they have film or media students that need a subject to cover. The SCA documentaries I have helped with were filmed by students from a collage media program.
Charles Puffer
put together a good crew (Score:3, Interesting)
Heres what i suggest: get some funding together. Get enough to pay airfare and lodging, and pizza for a crew of two. Post an ad on craigslist.org in the Los Angeles area, seeking an editor, sound guy, and DV cinematographer.
How long will you be up there? i imagine a fairly interesting 60-90 minute documentary could be shot in a week, and edited in a couple months. Bring the sound-guy and cinematographer (with their own equipment) along (make sure you ask to see a reel, and at the very least interview the kids over the phone. make sure you like their personalities, as well their work.
Enter the final product in some film festivals (credit yourself as Producer and Director). with any luck, you'll get some screening, and perhaps a straight to dvd deal or some theatrical release.
if you're interested and want to discuss this further, i'd be happy to give you some ideas over email:
taylorfinley@hotmail.com
Re:put together a good crew (Score:3, Informative)
Think tents, some generators, and antennas on at a barren location.
What I WOULD suggest to the parties involved is to look into tieing into some naturalist activities. This way you can have a double edged story AND increase your possible audience at the same time.
There was exac
Re:put together a good crew (Score:2)
What, you're wanting to get it on the FOX network now?
Oh, sorry, I thought you said naturist activities [rr.com]. My bad.
I want to be on TV too... (Score:4, Insightful)
I find it strange that you're blaming the lack of interest on "red tape" and "funding". What you haven't told us is, What's your pitch? Why should anybody spend a lot of time and money to put you on TV? What's visually compelling about your event?
Yeah, there's a lot of boring stuff on TV, and you think your event would be an improvement. But not everybody shares your interests. If you want to be on TV, you have to sell yourself. And do it fast, 'cause there are a million or so people in line behind you.
It would only be of interest... (Score:1)
Find a freelancer! (Score:3, Informative)
So my suggestion is: find a freelancer who's willing and able to do a professional documentary, do it, and THEN hawk it to whomever you please. Depending on how well "sold" your idea is to this potential producer you might have to help finance the work, but it sounds like you believe in your idea; if he or she does, too, perhaps they'd even do it just for a share in the profits.
Good luck!
Talk to the BBC. (Score:2, Insightful)
I work in the Film Biz (Score:4, Informative)
heed the suggestions to either find a Production Company or Make this Yourself under the banner of a Production Company you create just for this.
The Discovery Channel only buys programming. They may enter into an agreement to co-sponsor something with a Production Company that has a track record with them, but you have nothing right now.
One of the best suggestions so far is to do the NPR thing, its really cheap (sound only) and you can possibly use this as leverage to get a Video Production Company onboard to do the filming.
However- the bad thing about being your own Production Company is that you have to find all the funding yourself and if you decide you can just make the Video yourself and you have no experience, you may end up with just an expensive home movie.
Your project will have to fit into a pre-determined format and time frame (under 60 minutes, probably under 30 and in reality, it may just end up being a 5 minute bit as part of a newsmagazine show.....).
I don't have any recommendations for Production Companies to go to though, watch the credits carefully on some shows and look for name of the Production Company who actually produced the piece. You will find the same ones listed again and again.
Re:I work in the Film Biz (Score:1)
Maybe the original submitter should try to reach the discovery online people. See if they will follow you around and document it on their website. They could produce a film of the event afterwards.
Chuck
Start at the Ground and Move Up (Score:3, Interesting)
Before you start trying to get attention from the Discovery channel, why don't you talk to local news stations? Local TV stations in general are pretty good about touching on the subject if nothing else, and will get the message of what you are doing out into the public -- all of this a good thing, considering you'll probably find more hams to participate in this activity.
My suggestions:
Just my suggestion -- Start Small, and Build.
Re:Start at the Ground and Move Up (Score:2)
Contact an independent production company (Score:2)
Of course, there's always the danger of becoming the Monster Garage or Blair Witch Project of Amateur Radio, so be wary about WHO you choose. Since you're not looking to make any money whatsoever, you can be picky about whom you trust to treat
Ah, the failure of television... (Score:1, Flamebait)
Easy, make it more interesting (Score:3, Funny)
or
or
The last could be interesting. Imagine the footage you could get with an unarmed Ham operator teaching a hungry polar bear to key in morse code.
(Sorry ... no offense intended!)
Paying for airtime on PBS (Score:5, Informative)
My uncle and aunt have a film production company that has made several documentaries that have aired on PBS and they tell me that the cost of airtime is a lot more than the cost of producing the movies.
The best way to get something on air on PBS is to find a way to raise money for the production and the air time. Ken Burns's approach to this, from what I hear, is that he's a wizard at getting large corporations to sign on to sponsor the production and air time.
You might go after some RF engineering companies to see if their charitable giving or public relations divisions would be interested in sponsoring a short broadcast documentary.
Re:Paying for airtime on PBS (Score:2)
Re:Paying for airtime on PBS (Score:2)
Re:Paying for airtime on PBS (Score:2)
For something like the question at hand, your suggestion of going through the local public stations instead of the network is excellent.
It's easy... (Score:1)
Bonus points for letting your toddler play with the alligators.
Simple: Ask PBS to ask Discovery for you! (Score:1)
TLC (Score:3, Funny)
(Anyone else remember when their output actually involved "learning?" Must have been sometime back when MTV actually showed "music".)
Redecorate! (Score:1)
Nova (Score:2)
Re:Nova (Score:2)
Make it interesting. (Score:2)
You must ask yourself a few questions about the project. What about your event is going to draw the attention of millions of people? Is it really cool? It might be cold, being in Alaska but, not really "cool". Is it exciting? Is there life threatening danger or deat
film departments (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.wright.edu/academics/theatre/p