NEXT WEEK AT "SHOT"...
Next week in 'Vegas is going to be a busy one for everyone in the firearms industry. In terms of yesterday's post we hope to have a meeting with the head of programming for another network, but nothing is for sure.
While nothing is guaranteed, our proposed show is called "PIG NATION" and the editorial slant is on the new technology (and affiliated firearms) that can be used to address the problem of feral hogs in agriculture.
I have to say that I have spent so much time on this project since the early part of last summer that it has changed many of my perceptions and personal long range plans. What I thought I was going to be doing just one year ago in terms of the farm and writing are now being called seriously into question....IF we can get the show sold, even then if we don't I'm rethinking many things I used to take for granted.
I can honestly say I've put as much energy into developing and 'selling' this product as I have any of the 3 gunbooks I've written. (And you have to know I couldn't sell air to a drowning man! Which I think is one of our main problems. Seriously! My son, on the other hand, could sell ice to an Eskimo. The problem has been getting him in front of the right people. One of our main difficulties is I could never get him in front of the guy at the network that turned us down!)
Much of the research conducted for PIG NATION was taken from source material I have gathered over the years for my next gunbook, which is focusing on semi-auto rifles in a narrow range of calibers. (There's a reason for that and much of it has to do with the trouble I've experienced in the last few years with my retinas.) That I used this research to develop a 13 episode television series came out of discussions with the crew last year at GALLERY OF GUNS television and in separate conversations with my son, who does this stuff for a living.
We have received many compliments on the quality of our 'sizzle reel' (which we filmed in Oklahoma back in August) and its photography. He has shown it to people in Los Angeles who are NOT firearms/hunting friendly in any way and still he received many compliments as to its production values and core theme. My son knows his business as well or better than I know agriculture or firearms and it shows in our 'sizzle reel', but like his father he doesn't want to do something that's just like what everyone else is doing. We are projecting something we feel is 'original' in terms of content, production value and characterizations. Whether it is or not remains to be seen.
We both agree, however our show has to be different and if we ever get to produce it, we are both convinced you will either HATE it or LOVE it. No one will be in a gray area of being somewhat ambivalent when it comes to PIG NATION. IF we get to produce it the way we have proposed it on the concept statement, it will be interesting in terms of its action and adventure. Not because we have some scantily clad babe in the picture, but because I go at 'em and 'close the distance' whenever I can.
I never wanted to do television and always tried to avoid it, but Bob Hunnicutt, my boss at SGN, insisted I do GALLERY OF GUNS television two years ago. From that experience I was asked to do GUN STORIES last year. I'm pushing this concept because my father and I farmed together, side by side, for 29 years and this is a chance (even if for only a brief period) for my son and I to work together on a project we both love almost as much as we love each other.
He thinks it will make GREAT television...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
While nothing is guaranteed, our proposed show is called "PIG NATION" and the editorial slant is on the new technology (and affiliated firearms) that can be used to address the problem of feral hogs in agriculture.
I have to say that I have spent so much time on this project since the early part of last summer that it has changed many of my perceptions and personal long range plans. What I thought I was going to be doing just one year ago in terms of the farm and writing are now being called seriously into question....IF we can get the show sold, even then if we don't I'm rethinking many things I used to take for granted.
I can honestly say I've put as much energy into developing and 'selling' this product as I have any of the 3 gunbooks I've written. (And you have to know I couldn't sell air to a drowning man! Which I think is one of our main problems. Seriously! My son, on the other hand, could sell ice to an Eskimo. The problem has been getting him in front of the right people. One of our main difficulties is I could never get him in front of the guy at the network that turned us down!)
Much of the research conducted for PIG NATION was taken from source material I have gathered over the years for my next gunbook, which is focusing on semi-auto rifles in a narrow range of calibers. (There's a reason for that and much of it has to do with the trouble I've experienced in the last few years with my retinas.) That I used this research to develop a 13 episode television series came out of discussions with the crew last year at GALLERY OF GUNS television and in separate conversations with my son, who does this stuff for a living.
We have received many compliments on the quality of our 'sizzle reel' (which we filmed in Oklahoma back in August) and its photography. He has shown it to people in Los Angeles who are NOT firearms/hunting friendly in any way and still he received many compliments as to its production values and core theme. My son knows his business as well or better than I know agriculture or firearms and it shows in our 'sizzle reel', but like his father he doesn't want to do something that's just like what everyone else is doing. We are projecting something we feel is 'original' in terms of content, production value and characterizations. Whether it is or not remains to be seen.
We both agree, however our show has to be different and if we ever get to produce it, we are both convinced you will either HATE it or LOVE it. No one will be in a gray area of being somewhat ambivalent when it comes to PIG NATION. IF we get to produce it the way we have proposed it on the concept statement, it will be interesting in terms of its action and adventure. Not because we have some scantily clad babe in the picture, but because I go at 'em and 'close the distance' whenever I can.
I never wanted to do television and always tried to avoid it, but Bob Hunnicutt, my boss at SGN, insisted I do GALLERY OF GUNS television two years ago. From that experience I was asked to do GUN STORIES last year. I'm pushing this concept because my father and I farmed together, side by side, for 29 years and this is a chance (even if for only a brief period) for my son and I to work together on a project we both love almost as much as we love each other.
He thinks it will make GREAT television...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Labels: Farming, Gun Writing, Guns, INVASIVE ANIMAL POPULATION CONTROL, SHOT SHOW REPORT, TV and Movies
7 Comments:
Can't wait to see it!
Since I have missed most of the fool gun and all the hog shooting shows, I expect your show will be the only one I watch, because I am looking for a show about shooting hogs, not a show about entertaining me until the commercial break. It is good to work with your son, I wish you both well in this show.
I'd watch this.
Terry
I must echo Earl - "I wish you both well in this show."
Will you include the cost to the consumer of the damage the feral hogs do to standing crops?
I recall in one of your earlier posts that you donated ears of corn to the needy. What happens to the killed hogs? Are they butchered and donated?
Just thinking out loud.
News today is the hogs are tearing up National park Civil War battle fields in Mississippi.
Here in central Cal they tear up crops and irrigation lines.
At 8 to 10 per three times a year they are multipying faster than we can kill them.
Looking forward to it Frank, and the chance to work with your son is WORTH the effort!
Frank,
Have you considered a private channel, an informal syndication channel?
Some use YouTube.com to establish a channel, but there are other venues I have seen mentioned. NakedNews.com and PJTV.com come to mind, for different reasons.
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