….from pilot to reality…..
In the TV business, one first does a pilot.
If it rates it goes to series.
In March of this year, we ran a pilot of our Travel Channel Academy in partnership with The Travel Channel. 20 prospective “travel journalists” came to the Discovery offices in Miami four a 4-day bootcamp where they learned to shoot, script, edit and upload travel video and stories.
They also had an opportunity to meet with Discovery Channel producers, as well as writers, commissioning editors and executives from the network. Although it looked like a pitch session sometimes, it was really more of an incredibly intenstive skills bootcam.
The pilot was a massive success. And as with most successful pilots, now we’re going to series.
Starting July 19-22nd, and following up the very next week, July 26-29th, we’re going to start rolling out Travel Channel Academy bootcamps on a regular basis.
The two July sessions will be held in Discovery Communications Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. Subsequent bootcamps (probably about two a month) will be held at other locations across the country, and around the world.
For the aspiring television producer, VJ or independent filmmaker, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Same goes for anyone with the notion of appearing on TV or developing a show or series for Discovery or The Travel Channel.
The complete website on the Academy is here.
Be sure to check out Tiffany Burnett’s video of the first pilot session in Miami. It will give you a good idea of how this all works.
