TV researcher has contacted me

[W.olly]

A few on here have seen my thread on my boat refurb which is also on another DIY boaters website.

Now a bit of a shock really as this happend a few days ago, the owner of the webiste got in touch with me asking if it is ok for him to give my email address to a TV researcher regarding them doing a bit on TV about me and my cruiser project.

I checked the company out and they are legit, as always i am wary of con going on all over the place.

We exchanged emails over the last day or so and they will be calling me in the next day or so for a chat about more details.

Now nothing has been confirmed yet as if they want me but they have seen all my blog on the build and are impressed with it and looking forward to discussing more about it.


Now what the hell should i expect as this is way over my had. I am not the most intellectual person and not to bright at these things.

Just need to know what i should be asking first off, but for the fee i dont come cheap lol

 

[rtbcomp]

I'd try to get a repeat-fee deal too.

 

[roofman]

Dont price yourself out the market...theres plenty of garden boat projects up and down the land

 

[addjunkie]

You want a right to view and request change before its aired.

 

[chevy2]

Sorry if this puts you off but i'm a bit of a sceptic of most TV people due to past experience in car related stuff,
Examples;
Tv am wanted me to drive a car 50 miles across London for a film shoot due for the next mornings show,
I asked for expenses as a minimum as i'd need to take a day out of work and fuel for a 10mpg car,
Their answer was "you get your car on telly"
Refused that one,
Monster garage, a bunch of did screen tests as a team for a film shoot, accepted by them, location given, we even booked a week out of work with their chosen date,
Couple of days before filming we call and they say "sorry we've chosen to cancel you, tossers,
Even only a couple of years ago i had dealings with Fifth gear,
Loads of calls and emails etc, fed them loads of info they didn't have,
They even filmed a section with me chatting with Johnny Smith the presenter at the event,
And what appeared? About 2 seconds of one of my cars in a background shot!

The bottom line... they need you, call the shots as they think everyone will jump through hoops for them for the "chance" of getting on TV.

 

[brightspark]

Sorry if this puts you off but i'm a bit of a sceptic of most TV people due to past experience in car related stuff,
Examples;
Tv am wanted me to drive a car 50 miles across London for a film shoot due for the next mornings show,
I asked for expenses as a minimum as i'd need to take a day out of work and fuel for a 10mpg car,
Their answer was "you get your car on telly"
Refused that one,
Monster garage, a bunch of did screen tests as a team for a film shoot, accepted by them, location given, we even booked a week out of work with their chosen date,
Couple of days before filming we call and they say "sorry we've chosen to cancel you, tossers,
Even only a couple of years ago i had dealings with Fifth gear,
Loads of calls and emails etc, fed them loads of info they didn't have,
They even filmed a section with me chatting with Johnny Smith the presenter at the event,
And what appeared? About 2 seconds of one of my cars in a background shot!

The bottom line... they need you, call the shots as they think everyone will jump through hoops for them for the "chance" of getting on TV.

only way il get on tv is crime watch

 

[W.olly]

I'd try to get a repeat-fee deal too.

Ah so every time they show it i get a chq

Dont price yourself out the market...theres plenty of garden boat projects up and down the land

What price though ?

You want a right to view and request change before its aired.

Good point and i will note that

Sorry if this puts you off but i'm a bit of a sceptic of most TV people due to past experience in car related stuff,
Examples;
Tv am wanted me to drive a car 50 miles across London for a film shoot due for the next mornings show,
I asked for expenses as a minimum as i'd need to take a day out of work and fuel for a 10mpg car,
Their answer was "you get your car on telly"
Refused that one,
Monster garage, a bunch of did screen tests as a team for a film shoot, accepted by them, location given, we even booked a week out of work with their chosen date,
Couple of days before filming we call and they say "sorry we've chosen to cancel you, tossers,
Even only a couple of years ago i had dealings with Fifth gear,
Loads of calls and emails etc, fed them loads of info they didn't have,
They even filmed a section with me chatting with Johnny Smith the presenter at the event,
And what appeared? About 2 seconds of one of my cars in a background shot!

The bottom line... they need you, call the shots as they think everyone will jump through hoops for them for the "chance" of getting on TV.

If i dont get on TV i am not bothered ( more for the money as i need it lol ) aslong as i dont loose out, nowt to loose going for it though as i am not in the situation got in.

Need to get the nerve to do it yet aswell lol.

 

[Wightsparks]

I doubt very much they will be paying anything. Lucky if you get expenses.
For a 10 min segment expect 6-8 hours of filming, then if there is a studio based part you will get asked to go in for that too. I was on one of the celebrity chef cooking episodes for the BBC with my speciality products. OK for the publicity and some sales but at 2 days out of my time it's not something I'd jump at to do again.

 

[pedrobedro]

Sorry if this puts you off but i'm a bit of a sceptic of most TV people due to past experience in car related stuff,
Examples;
Tv am wanted me to drive a car 50 miles across London for a film shoot due for the next mornings show,
I asked for expenses as a minimum as i'd need to take a day out of work and fuel for a 10mpg car,
Their answer was "you get your car on telly"
Refused that one,

A friend of mine was contacted by a film company, he had an aubergine mk1 3.0 Capri and they wanted to hire it for a sequence. They wanted to put some different wheels on it to maintain continuity with some film they had already shot in Australia. His car was valued at about £18,000 and he said he would sell it to them and they could do what they wanted with it. They declined.

 

[armalites]

Sadly there seems to be a lot of negative feedback for anything TV related.

As long as you go in with your eyes open...
Be aware they will make you sign something that says you can't see any of it until it airs, some friends of ours are going on Grand Designs and had to sign an agreement, they also had to guarantee 16 days filming and the only benefit to them is the possibilty of companies giving them a discount.

The biggest issue there is they can edit anything however they see and even make you look a bit of tool.

I know a guy who deals in Reliant Robins,BBC Top Gear turned up and bought 2 artic loads and paid proper money up front. He's had some requests from ITV,Channel 5 and they want to pay pennies. He even had one of the major computer game authors come to him and want to pay nothing for him supplying some vehicles because that's what Ferrari/Porsche etc do.

Make sure there are no clauses that say things like if we don't use it you don't get paid.

I wonder if they will do things like
"Hopefully there is no water getting in the hull" then there will be a GoPro getting submersed by a rising water line

 

[chevy2]

A friend of mine was contacted by a film company, he had an aubergine mk1 3.0 Capri and they wanted to hire it for a sequence. They wanted to put some different wheels on it to maintain continuity with some film they had already shot in Australia. His car was valued at about £18,000 and he said he would sell it to them and they could do what they wanted with it. They declined.

Fifth gear wanted Jonny Smith to drive My '66 Chevy Nova (valued at 32k for the record) not only on public roads but also in another country/Sweden,
AND, wanted to do that without any kind of insurance cover unless i provided it at my expense, WTF!

 

[dobbslc]

Don't get too excited about this, the tv / media lot are a bunch of tosser chancers, I had a card stuck under the windscreen wiper of my Alfa Romeo at a car show once wanting to put it a magazine so I thought that's good. So I took a day off work with no pay, drove the car 100 miles to a test track did loads of photos and interviews etc had a blast round the track which was all good fun but they didn't even cough up for a fry up in the on site cafe!
They do seem to expect you to jump through hoops for little actual gain other than your 15 minutes of fame.

 

[Gritineye]

I would steer well clear of any media related activity after my experiences with them. Imagine years of repeats on Men and Motors of yourself looking a plank after they edited in stuff you said after being told the cameras had stopped rolling. The 'cut away shot' is very convenient for that, very sneaky trick.

There have been other regretable instances in magazines and papers, but that was the most embarrasing, I don't trust a thing they say or do, they don't live in the real world.

You might get your project on tele but it might be no money, no kudos, just cringing.

 

[W.olly]

Well then, doesnt sound a good thing overall. These lot sound like how news paper journalists are. I got offered a section in a magazine not long back and then they just decided not to contact me about it after i wrote a load or articles for them. That peed me of a bit.

I will see what he has to say and i will put my question to him.I am 100% not doing it for nothing when i have spent all the time and hard work doing it for there gain. I am not going to gain anything form it by being on TV, unless i get paid.

I dont/want exactly have a need for fame like some of these clowns on TV like Big Brother and the likes. Its the only sado programme i can think of as i dont even watch TV lol.

Maybe i have a gut feeling as i am not excited over it , more nervous as i am a shy type, quite and all.

Thanks guys for the input, i will let you know what happens

 

[thinfourth]

Don't bother

You will get no cash

They will then edit it to make you look like a complete ****


No one ever watches telly to see decent normal folk

 

[KemppiFrog]

Wolly, this question turned up the other web site that you are posting your rebuild on. Not a single positive comment was added, but loads of 'don't touch it' ones. Basicly, their agenda is to make TV programs. This requently results in the owner/DIYer looking a prat, or worse.

 

[rtbcomp]

... His car was valued at about £18,000 and he said he would sell it to them and they could do what they wanted with it. They declined.

I've just read a book by James May where he says they wanted to use his car in a shoot. Because of insurance implications the programme makers bought his car and sold it back to him after the shoot.

 

[Barlidge]

I work in the industry, we supply temporary IT and support to on site productions including BB. Budgets are tight demands are high and the wants/demands of the average bloke brought in off the street will not factor highly in their list of priorities.

 

[Coo]

I'll fire in with....If you want your boat to be on telly, then go for it!
Look at how many people you'll inspire, and as long as you are not too inconvenienced, then go for it!

 

[Lufbramatt]

Have had some dealings with TV production stuff through work (Plum Pictures who made James May's Toy Stories) and the comments above are spot on. They want everything done yesterday at no financial cost to themselves. They have no concept of reality and expect everyone else to put themselves out "because TV".