cellini's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lurching Toward a TV Show Had another piece run in Slate with the usual big reception. My piece in the WP ran as well. Then last week or so the new issue of Men's J0urnal hit the newsstands and I'm right there on page 36. Go have a look. I'll wait. no, its not online yet. N@tional Ge0graphic TV offered me a show to host. AND I HAD TO TURN IT DOWN. Because they have a production company attached and I already signed with a different production company to develop a show. FUCK. There is still some chance that they could work out a deal that makes everyone happy. However, suddenly D1scovery is back in play. I turned down a deal with them a few years ago because the contract with the production company involved would have required that I sign over the rights to everything in sight for nothing in return. This production company I'm working with now has been very proactive and shit and is actually doing their job. They pitched to Disc0very and the network is now very interested in me, the basic concept, and most importantly they love the title. That title business is fucking key. Because when they use me, the concept of my book, plus the title, it is undeniable that they are adapting my book as a TV show. I happened to have fought to retain all TV rights to my book when negotiating my book deal. What I would most likely get for adaptation rights for this is between 2 and 3 percent of the total budget for the show. I would get a check for that amount for each episode on the first day of filming each episode. Probably about $2k per episode, which isn't a ton of money but will allow me to survive and pay the bills while we are filming. Probably they would have a first order for the first season of between 8 and 10 episodes, or maybe as many as 13. Then I'd get probably another $40-50k for my services as the on-screen talent when the first season has been fully edited. Since the Men's Journal piece ran I've been bombarded with random offers of TV work. The other day I was asked to be on some stupid show hunting bigfoot for a bounty. It would only pay about $3k for a month of work while simultaneously ruining my reputation, so I turned that down. Today another production company wanted to develop and pitch a show around me but I obviously had to turn that down since I already have a production company. What I need are decent-paying one-off appearances on other shows. My contract allows me to keep doing those. After thinking long and hard about it, this really is the job I am best qualified for. You can put me in front of a camera and I do my thing and it is great every time. I remember the first time that this happened. A film student friend of mine was visiting about 10 years ago. We were walking in front of a government building and he had the camera on and asked what they did there, so I started explaining. Later, everyone who saw the tape (including his film class) said 'wow, this guy should have his own show!' I can do the host stuff, and I'm damn good at the action part as well. After all, I am a professional hunter and hunting guide. I am a crack shot with a rifle, a fair tracker, a good cook, butcher, amateur zoologist, etc. Just give me my own fucking show already and its going to be great. The tough part is waiting. No way that we'd be filming any less than 3 months from now. Probably more. I don't know how to support myself until then. On one hand, I feel like this is irresponsible and that I should be out looking for a regular job. On the other hand, I've spent years working toward this and I am So. Fucking. Close. Its not like this is pie-in-the-sky bullshit. This is a very plausible job for me to get. I've written two well-received books, millions of people read my stuff for Sl@te every month, and for fuck's sake I'm in 3 pages of Men's J0urnal this month. I'd like to think I'm not being delusional in trying for a TV show rather than begging for a desk job somewhere. The guiding season this year has been pretty good to me. My first three clients all got their deer. Sort of. One after the other fucked up their shots and I had to clean up after them. The good news is that my marksmanship under stress keeps getting better. On the first one, the deer had been hit and was running up a hill and I had to take a shot off-hand, standing up, on a running deer at about 130 yards with a .308 rifle I built myself. Dropped it instantly. It helped that the deer was running straight away from me and I didn't need to swing to the side onto it. The next two clients were similar, but the shots were closer. In no case did the deer suffer for more than a few seconds, but I definitely earned my fee in each case. The frustrating thing is that I've shot three deer already this season and I have no meat to show for it! The clients all get to take their meat home. At least it is being eaten. My last few clients didn't get deer at all. One of them was way too loud in the ambush. I don't know what went wrong with the other guy. Its a fucking nerve-wracking job that I wish I didn't have to do. I'm just desperate to pay the rent. 9:18 p.m. - 2012-12-06 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||