But for now, I'd like to talk about a couple of people my class got to meet from NHNZ (that is pronounced N-H-N-Zed, for all my American readers). First, on Thursday we got to speak with an Executive Producer named Phil Boag. He is an American who recently joined NHNZ coming from Discovery Times, a digital cable channel co-pro between Discovery Television and The New York Times (The Times is no longer a partner in the channel, but Discovery still runs it under the same name). He is currently working on a series for Animal Planet called 'Up Close & Dangerous.' We saw a couple episodes at a screening on Friday and it was really cool. TiVo it.
He talked about moving to Hollywood and being a PA and doing runs all over LA, which I can relate to, having been an Intern and a PA at a Music Video and TV Commercial production company in LA my senior year of college ('college' in US English = 'Uni', for all my Kiwi readers).
Next, on Monday, we got to talk to Craig Meade who is Head of Development at NHNZ. He is also originally from America as well, but has been in New Zealand for much longer than Phil or myself. It was really great to be able to hear from these two guys. They both had really good insights and advice in the industry, and both were very open with real invitations to take meetings and talk one-on-one. Craig even said to come to him with pitch ideas first, so he can tell us his perspective as someone who gets treatments all the time. At the very least he can tell us how many people have tried to develop that idea before. Having studied Film and Television and having met a fair amount of people in 'The Business' in LA, I can say that is a huge offer and an opportunity which I plan to take advantage of (or is it '...of which I plan to take advantage?')
[note to readers: please let me know if I sound like an ass for trying to come across as being all hollywood. I promise it is not my intent.]
Anyway, both Phil and Craig stressed the importance of the American Marketplace for the productions of their shows. NHNZ does not make content solely for the local market. America is where the money is, and knowing what trends are going on in the industry is important. Being the only American on the course this year, I've gotten some good-natured ribbing, and heard some pot-shots being taken at America. And that's fine, I'm not offended. Almost all complaints people have are about America controlling the market for what is produced, be it TV, Film, or Books. People in the media here feel hampered because of the stipulations of using American English and Imperial Measurements and not being able to make things that they care about if the US audience doesn't. I sympathize with them, not that I can do anything about it.
I am part of the American market. I'm in a key demo. But being on a lonely island in the South Pacific, it's kind of hard to keep track of what's happening in the Industry. And this is what this whole post was supposed to be about. So, I have a few suggestions for people who want to try and follow current trends in entertainment:
- KCRW's The Business - a radio show out of a great public broadcaster in Santa Monica, California. Download the podcast.
- KCRW's Martini Shot - A TV writer's take. Great because it's only about 5 minutes long. Again with the podcasting.
- The Hollywood Reporter - The definitive Trade Magazine. You can read the first paragraph of stories, and some features in whole, for free. (check out Variety too, you can get a 2-week free trial with each email address you have. Get a new Yahoo address every two week and never pay a subscription fee!)
- Desperate Networks - A book chronicling the last 10 or so years in American Network Television. Not really great for producers of nature and wildlife programs, since they are mainly on cable. But it does cover the rise of reality TV, which is, at times, non-fiction. (This book was recommended to me by a former professor and television producer who wrote one of my recommendations for this course. It is good stuff.)
Hopefully I'll be blogging more often in the future, and therefore may be able to keep the posts a little shorter. Thanks for reading it through to the end.
