When the Book Lives up to its hype

You may remember that a few months ago I wrote about Chad Harbach and his novel, "The Art of Fielding." Harbach worked on the novel for at several years while he was editing the literary magazine N + 1. Harbach wrote and re-wrote the novel until he made the story so compelling that an agent signed him and they sold the rights for $665,000. HBO bought the film rights and plans to make the story an HBO film. I loved the book -- I think it's smart and funny with believable,compelling characters. Harbach, who went to Harvard, also has a great insight into life at an elite college - not to mention a love for baseball. I'm happy to report that at this point everyone in my family has also read and loved it. It's a rare and wonderful thing when a book lives up to its hype, and if you're looking for a good novel with baseball as a key element as baseball season starts, please pick up "The Art of Fielding." There's a great deal all content creators can learn from this book. 1. Keep working and keep improving -- would you work on a piece of material for ten years if you knew you'd make a million dollars when you were done? What if you didn't know for sure? Harbach had a story he wanted to tell and he kept working until it was as good as he could make it. We should make sure all our content is as good as possible. 2. Once it's ready, market your material. Find the people who can help you. That means get an agent, pitch it to a network, rent a theater -- do what you need to do to get noticed. If you have to you can try to self-publish or put a video on Youtube. Get the word out. The audience isn't going to come to your home to read your book, you have to make it available for them. Finally, while you're creating your masterpiece, learn about the business. Harbach knew a lot about the publishing business because he was a magazine editor and made a lot of friends in the business. If you're working on a novel now, take some time to learn which agents and/or publishers might have interest in it. If you have a program idea, don't just figure out which networks would like out, find out who at those networks you should contact. There are plenty of ways to do this and I'll be writing about them in the next few posts. As an author myself, I also want to remind my readers that my book of poetry, "Two Car Garage," is now available on amazon.com, bn.com, on kindle, and directly from the publisher at chbmediaonline.com

Fixing NBC

My first television job was at NBC when it was the number one broadcast network. Thursday was "must-See TV" starting with the Cosby Show and included iconic shows like Seinfeld, ER, Cheers, and Family Ties. That's why, despite NBC's recent struggles it was still a shock to learn that NBC finished fifth in the Feb. 2013 sweeps behind CBS, ABC, FOX, and Univision, the Spanish-language network. It was a shock despite the fact I've blogged about both Univision and Telemundo's rise in the ratings, and my particular fondness for Sabado Gigante, the best variety show on television. How is it possible that NBC could fall so far, especially after a fall season that showed promising ratings increases? The short answer is: people don't want to watch their shows. Two shows performed well last fall: Sunday night football, thanks to the nation's sports fans, and The Voice. Those two series performed so well they masked the weakness of the rest of the schedule, proving once again that television remains a hit-driven business. In February, after the football season and without The Voice, and with a stumbling Today show and Tonight Show (rumors are Jay Leno will leave soon) NBC had difficulty promoting their programs. They just couldn't find an audience. It's possible to fix NBC. Americans still watch a lot of television. The NBC company, as opposed to the NBC broadcast network, has an excellent record of developing scripted programs for networks like USA and SYFY. Here's my four point plan to find the shows to get NBC back on top. 1. Look for what's not on TV. Don't imitate your competition. Find shows about things that aren't on the other broadcast networks. 2. Tap the producers providing hit shows for your cable networks and let them create shows they'd like to watch. 3. Aim for an older demographic -- the country is getting older, yet the tyranny of the 18-49 demographic sweet spot for advertisers keep a growing number of networks chasing a shrinking age group. Older viewers still make appointments to watch television. Find the next "Golden Girls" or "Hot in Cleveland." 4. Have patience. Stick with quality shows until they find an audience. Seinfeld got mediocre ratings at first, and then became an iconic show. Of course, as with all great content, it's not just the ideas, it's the execution of the ideas that brings ultimate success. The most important thing is to keep trying. The Entertainment Business is cyclical; this year's star can easily become next year's has-been. If NBC can execute the plan well, I believe the network can get back to number one.

Searching for Sugar Man and Universal Themes

I wrote about the story of Rodriguez and Searching for Sugar Man last October It's an amazing underdog story. First time film maker Malik Bendjelloul learned about Rodriguez's story and decided to make a documentary even though he never had directed a film before. If this true story was a fiction film, you would say it never could have happened. To recap -- Folk singer Rodriguez recorded two albums in the early 1970s in Detroit. They didn't sell well in the US, and he made his living as a day laborer. Somehow, the albums made it to South Africa, where they connected with the anti-government protest movements. Roridguez's songs became the soundtrack of the South African anti-apartheid movement. He sold thousands of albums, although he didn't know that until fans from South Africa tracked him down. It's an incredible story and it really happened. Any major film company could have produced a documentary about this or bought Rodriguez's story to make a movie -- only they didn't. It took Bendjelloul, a man who was so passionate about the story that he decided to become a documentarian and spend his life savings in order to bring this story to world. His faith and hard work, and that of Rodriguez, was validated by the Academy with the Oscar for best documentary. Their success shows once again the power of story and importance of universal themes. Who among us doesn't think they deserve more appreciation for their work? Don't we all secretly believe that if the world knew about us we would be famous? Bendjelloul recognized the power of Rodriguez's story, and its universal appeal made the film popular and carried the day with the Academy. A great story, even if told badly, will affect more people than a bad story told well. In your work, look for the great stories. Pick ones with Universal themes that people can relate to. Who knows, someday you, too, may have as much impact as Rodriguez, and perhaps even win an Academy Award.