Curious Travelers Television

There is a new direction in travel programming. You see it on the Discovery Travel Channel and on the Fine Living Network, the two main providers of travel programming in the US. You see it also on the PBS travel programmers, although to a lesser extent.
As I discussed list informational based travel programs are out. Video on Demand will service the real traveler market: the viewers who buy travel guidebooks and actually travel, rather than travel vicariously through travel programs.
The new travel programs are host driven, story based, with memorable characters and a beginning, middle and end. They are about the journey, rather than the destination. Exotic destinations are in, the usual domestic destinations - Vegas, Orlando, etc - are out.
The usual production house who created non hosted list travel programmers following the old tired format will have a hard time competing on this playing field. Some of them will go back to where they started, producing industrials. Others will try their hand at the more difficult job of story telling and truly entertaining an audience. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

OK. So there are two different audiences for travel programs.
One audience, the majority of the viewers, the 25-65 demographic does not travel, but they are intrigued by travel.. For them the more exotic the travel location the more interesting it is too watch. If the host is witty, the writing amusing, that's all that matters. They're armchair travelers, looking for ENTERTAINMENT
The other audience, 22-25 year olds and 65 plus, are planning their trip. For the younger traveler it might mean adventure travel or just the usual European tour. For the older audience who travels in group tours it could be anywhere, as group travel creates a feeling that if anything happens to you someone will be there to help you out. How much will this hotel cost me? What restaurant should I go to? Basically list type shows - The Worlds Best, etc, are what they are looking for. They want a travel program that is more like a guidebook (in fact a video of a travel destination, if done well, is a nice compliment to a guidebook. It's a wonder that more guidebooks companies do not produce their own travel programs) This audience , the kind that actually travels, wants to be entertained but they want and need travel INFORMATION.
ENTER VIDEO ON DEMAND
There is no need for travel networks to solely produce lists shows and alienate the core travel audience, the armchair traveler. These types of programmers can now go up on the server. If you are going to Brazil you don't have to wait a half a year for a program to appear on the Travel Channel, you can just download it and see it at anytime, and if it is downloaded to your computer, you can even see it while you are traveling.
My travel program The Best of Buenos Aries
is selling very well at Totalvid.com and I'm finding that half the viewers are watching it in Buenos Aires. Since it is in English my guess is that tourists are watching it while they are on vacation in Buenos Aires, to check out the various sites before deciding what to see.
List shows are the inventory for Video on Demand. The Travel Channel's programming needs has shifted, to travel entertainment, a subject I will take up in the next post. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

The Discovery Travel Channel has shifted their programming criteria and I'll explain why (or why I think why?).
Really it goes to the root of why people watch travel programming and why some travel programs do better in the rating than others.
First of all, most of the people who watch travel programs don't really travel or don't travel much. They certainly don't go on treks into the Himalayas or visit exotic locations such as New Guinea or even New Zealand. Rather they are armchair travelers.
Consider the statistics:
Only 18 percent of Americans have passports: That means if Americans travel they mostly travel domestically, which is basically travel to Las Vegas, to Disneyland or the National Parks.
The average American only gets two weeks vacation a year: Most prefer to stay at home during those two weeks. Two weeks vacation time is very little by the way compared to the rest of the developed world. By law most European countries require four, even six weeks of vacation.
Travel is an age specific activity:
Most people travel when they are just out of college, age 22-25 and for Americans that means the European tour, staying at Youth Hostels, moving around with European train Passes. There are travel guidebooks such as Let's Go and Lonely Planet (although less so now) totally devoted to that demographic and the excellent travel program Globe Trekker (formerly Lonely Planet) target that market.
The other travel demographic is 65-70, right after retirement and that usually means travel in groups, as there are health issues. This group is catching up on what they missed during their work years, when they had to face the time consuming responsibilities of raising a family. Travel guidebooks such as Fodor's and Frommer's deal with this demographic, as well as Rudy Maxx's Savvy Traveler and Rick Steves' Backdoor to Europe.
In the 25-65 demographics travel usually means going on domestic trips with the kids or, for the younger couples demographic, fun in the sun on a one week cruise or at a all inclusive resort such as Sandals. This demographic by the way is the Discovery Travel Channel demographic, basically people who don't travel but they do take vacations, and advertisers that sell these type of vacations make up a certain percentage of the commercials. The majority of the commercials are non travel products, such as insurance, credit card companies, motion picture, drug companies, package goods, etc.
So this is the central dilemma for programming in the Travel Channel. Most of your audience doesn't really travel and does not care about getting information about travel but a certain percentage does want this information. What do you do? Enter VOD (video on demand), to the rescue, so you can have it both ways, and appeal to the traveler and non-traveler alike. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

Looking back at it and knowing what I know now it makes perfect sense why the Travel Channel didn't acquire my first program.
Let me digress for a moment. Prior to producing my first television program on spec (ie I spent my own money, something that producers shouldn't normally do if they want to stay in business, but what you have to do when breaking into a new field of production) I had produced three feature films.
Producing three feature films is a great resume if you want to produce a fourth feature film but these were fictional dramatic films, made to be shown in movie theaters. As far as the world of cable television goes, and in particular the Discovery Travel Channel, I had no track record, no experience in non-fictional TV production. If Steven Spielberg had come to the Discovery Travel Channel with a pitch maybe he would get some development money to create a pilot but that's Steven Spielberg. Most filmmakers like myself in the feature film business wouldn't get the time of day, and for good reason. Dramatic filmmaking and documentary filmmaking, particularly formats for cable television, are apples and oranges. Making a dramatic films only implies that you can a television program, it's certainly no guarantee and why should a network take a risk? There are plenty of well established companies with track records that s/he can work with.
A filmmaker deciding to move into a new area of production, whether television, commercials, music videos, feature films, industrials is really starting at the bottom. If you are more established, have a track record in a type of production the client will let you enter the development stage, where you pitch an idea with a treatment, timeline, budget and demo and they'll make a decision on whether they want to take the risk of funding a pilot. Sometimes you don't even have to submit a demo if you have a track record with the network.
Since I didn't have any track record in television production I had no alternative but to bite the bullet and make a program as considerably time and expense and slip in as an acquisition and that's what I did. It's not a conservative move but it's your only option. YOU HAVE TO MAKE SOMETHING, hopefully that fits into their programming needs. If you are an outsider, with insider information on their programming need, you must study program schedules and produce something in a format and subject they already broadcast, so that's what I did. I honed in on the Anthology series format.
Unfortunately their programming needs had changed, as I was soon to find out. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

OK. So the first program 'The Best of Buenos Aires" is finished for acquisition and I send it off to the Travel Channel acquisition department.
It usually takes two months for a network such as the Travel Channel to get back to you. When they did the news wasn't what I had wished for or, to be honest, expected. They decided for the moment not to acquire it, although of course they might buy it later; however, based on my submission they must have regarded me as a producer they might want to work with in the future, as they put me on their email list for updated information about their programming needs. The news wasn't all that bad. I had tried to hit a home run but felt I had singled. At least I was in the game.
Of course this was a mostly a disappointment.. I was starting a new business, the fifth new business in my life - all of which have been successful to a greater or less extent. More over I had invested a good deal of money, and more importantly, time in creating a program what I thought was a very well crafted product, something that my intended client the Travel Channel would buy.
Also frankly I surprised that they didn't buy it. It was a definite setback for my ambition to create a travel film company that produced the very best travel programs.
I felt I had given them what I thought was exactly what they wanted. When I edited the film I put one of their "World's Best" programs in the editing timeline, directly above my program. I realized that this type of program followed a strict format, so strict in fact that it could be produced using an an assembly line. With writer/producers altering each narration slightly, the production crew shooting the same list of shots and editors putting it into its final format.
For example most - if not all - of these programs has the following characteristics:
1. A total length of 43-45 minutes. The reminder of the hour is devoted to commercials
2. Four segments of 5-10 minutes, with breaks for commercials.
3. Each segment had two to three "bests" in the countdown format, with a summation of the top five in the middle segment and the top ten in the final segment
3. An introduction of 1.5 minutes.
4. A hook at the end of each segment to get the viewer to return after the commercial and a lead in at the beginning of the next segment.
5. First rate video, sound, graphics and music
6. Approximately three short sound byte interviews
7. A standard unoriginal narration spoken by a first rate voice over artists reading, making it sound better then it was written.
8. The narration was particularly trying to write, as they always describe things in tourist brochure generic terms: every beach is breathtaking, every sunset spectacular, every view beautiful, etc.
And also the same phrases in practically all the "World's Best" programs, as if they took one episode and just used a word replace function to differentiate it from other episodes: For example:
"With so many things to do how do you decide which one the right one"
"We were invited behind the scenes (in the restaurant kitchen, etc)...."
"We studied all the options and have come up with this list of the Ten Best"
Anyway I studied the genre and I had nailed it.
So what had I done wrong? Why weren't they buying? <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

The second type of Travel program that the Travel Channel produces are hosted programs. At the time - back in 2002 when I attended the Real Screen Summit for the first time, the Travel Channel had several of these types of programs, the most well known being "Great Hotels" with Samantha Brown, produced by Pine Ridge Production out of Florida. The general consensusin the industry is that hosted programs get better ratings then non-hosted programs. The host develops a following over time and the audience continually watches the show because of the host. With a host program the destination is not the primary reason for watching the program. A host can visit a boring destination and the audience will still watch the show, because they like watching the host above all. With non hosted travel programs usually the destination is the main reason the viewer stays tuned.
Of course the big IF is that sufficient people most be interested in the host for the program to do well with the ratings. Great hosts are hard to find. Trust me on this, I’ve been casting a hosted travel program for three months now, auditioned hundreds of hosts and it’s not easy to find a really great one.:hence,; a hosted program is more problematic than a list or anthology travel program. Another problem from an economic point of view for the network is that if a host show does find attract an audience they can command a higher salary if the program is renewed. Of course the reality of travel programs is that there aren’t that many broadcast outlets for travel programs, so the added cost to a production is not as great as say the cost of a movie star or cast member on a network television series.
To come back to the topic of this post “How we got started - "The Best of Buenos Aires" I decided to produce an anthology type travel program for acquisition by the Travel Channel and selected the anthology series “Worlds Best” for my first production.
I also researched the various tourist destinations and notices that there was no programs about Buenos Aires. In 2001 Buenos Aires and Argentina was going through political turmoil. The peso was tied to the dollar one-to-one. Consequently Buenos Aires was one of the most expensive cities in the world. Tourists were paying about the same price for a hotel room or dinner in a good restaurant as New York City!
Then the situation changed dramatically. The currency was devalued to three pesos for a dollar and suddenly a world class city such as Buenos Aires cost almost as much for a tourist as cities as some of the most inexpensive cities in the world. For example a steak dinner in a high end restaurant with wine now cost around fifteen dollars when before it cost nearly fifty dollars. The price of a room in a first class hotel was under two hundred dollars. At the same time the Euro appreciated against the dollar by thirty percent. The result was that tourism vastly increased in Buenos Aires. American tourists in particular did the math. They could spend three weeks in Buenos Aires for what it would cost them for a one week stay in say Paris. Armed with this information I flew down to Buenos Aires, hired a local cameraman and sound-man that I contacted on the internet and spent three weeks shooting a Ten Best program anthology program specifically for the Travel Channel.
When I returned to New York I started the editing, which took three weeks. I found a royalty free recording of tango music for the soundtrack. For the voice over narration - a requirement for these type of travel programs - I found a site on the web voice 1-2-3 that was exactly what I wanted. For no cost to the producer using the site he or she can email a one minute sample script of the required voice over and listen online to submissions from voice over artists from literally all over the world. The next step was to contact the individual voice over artists, quote a price, for which they accepted or rejected. I found the quotes for the voice over narration ranged from two hundred dollars to a high of over two thousand dollars, a wide range to say the least.
I decided on a voice over from a fellow in Los Angeles. At a slight risk I sent him a cash advance via paypal. The next day I was on the phone with him and we worked together on the narration. He did a fine job and FTP’d me mp3 files of his recordings for me to lay under the picture.
My first Travel Channel production, produced totally on spec, was completed and submitted in the required VHS format and also a DVD was sent out for acquisition to the Travel Channel.
Now I waited for a reply.
To be continued.... <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

Let start at the beginning, our first travel program "The Best of Buenos Aires". How we got started.
I think I can say that the travel production of CNI Cinema started in February 2002. Prior to that we were only producing feature films. We produced thee of them "The Kirlian Witness", distributed by Paramount Pictures, "Ramona", distributed by Curb Communications and "Best Beverly Hills, distributed by Trident Releasing.
I was attending the excellent Real Screen Conference in Washington, D. C.. At events such as this producers network with television network executives, mainly programmers. One session that is very well attended is called "30 minutes with". It's a great concept. Small groups of cable television producers and wannabe producers get to meet with execs at different networks. At the meetings the executives present their upcoming programing guidelines - What programs they are looking for, what is currently in development, what has already gone to pilot. The sessions cover most the the major cable networks, including Discovery, National Geographic, Bravo, A & E, HBO, Fine Living Network, Outdoor Network.
I attended several sessions. I have a great love for travel, so naturally I attended the Discovery Travel Channel seminar, where a very energetic programmer Doug DePreist, spoke to the producers about what the Travel Channel was were looking for. At that time the Travel Channel hadn't discovered Poker or Las Vegas, and most of the programs were rather typical travel programs referred to as anthologies, such “Worlds Best Such and Such", Secrets of Such and Such" and so forth.
These type of programs are referred to as list or countdown programs, where a destination is selected - a city, a country or region , and the program goes about picking the top ten in the destination. They are basically tourism promotional videos, Relatively cheap and easy programs to produce, the list programs feature a narrator, usually a bland voice over actor, generic typical tourism videos - beautiful beaches, aerial shots of a resort, and edited with interviews with locals involved in the tourism industry and tourists themselves.
The skill set involved are not out reach of the average wedding videographer. Relatively inexpensive to produce they can involve no more than a film crew of two people. The format is such, that they can be edited almost on an assembly line, with individual editors working on different sequences and the main editor arranging them in order and cutting in the lead in to the next sequence that precedes and follows the commercials that generally take up fifteen minutes of an hour of programming.
To be continued <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

For the past few months I've been interviewing hundreds of job applicants to work on our travel programs. I've seen people who want to be presenters, operate the camera, direct, take sound, write scripts and project proposals, work in the sales and marketing, either ona full time or freelance basis.
Also I've been interviewing for interns. Some interns are non film students, people that simply have no skills in filmmaking, have never worked on a film project before. Some are highly motivated to learn but do I have the patience to teach them? Sometimes there are so many skills they need that I might as well do it myself or delegate it with a skilled employee.
The other type of interns are the film students, who work about twenty hours a week for college credit. I've made presentations at all the film schools in the New York area or universities that have film programs - NYU, Columbia, School of Visual Arts, Kathrine GIbbs, Harvard, Yale and Hunter College.
If you look at the resumes of the various candidates you'll find that many of them have interned at MTV, HBO, and several of the other large media companies in New York. Interns are great for these types of companies. They have a large staff in place, are shooting hundreds of hours of videos and for no cost to them they can give them a small assignment like answeirng the phone or digitizing video into the computer and free up their staff for the more skilled work.
In a small production company like CNI Cinema there isn't allot of this unskilled work to do but the work does exist to get locations, contact interview subjects and of course digitize footage.
I think the main problems I have taking on interns is two fold:
1. Most people have never worked on a travel program before or even watched many shows, so you have to start from scatch with them and explain the genre, which is time consuming.
2. Many interns are looking for a paid job. You have to ask yourself if I take them on do I want to work with them
on the long term? If the answer is no, that you only consider them as a cost cutting expense it's better to do the job yourself or give it to one of your more experienced staff. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->

In travel shows everything depends upon the presenter, in fact presenters can be more important then even the script. If you are fortunate enough to find a really great one, someone that the audience will tune in to wach and travel with time and time again, most of your work is done for you.
You would be surprised at how many people think they have what it takes. Globe Trekker reported looked at over three thousand candidates when they started out. Ten years later and they really have only three top notch ones: Ian Wright, Megan McCormick and Justine Shapiro.
The real work is finding them. For the past three months, starting in April 2005, I've been casting for the ideal presenter. This is all I've done, 24/7. Casting if done right is a very labor intensive activity but well worth the effort. Also for a travel show you can't cast through casting agents or even agents, as they really don't have the right candidates. Most of their experience is casting news reporters experienced at reading from a teleprompter. This is not the same skill set as presenting on a travel show.
To find the presenters I've advertised in Backstage numerous times, on Craig's list and on the CNI Cinema site. I've received over five hundred resumes from actors, sketch comedy artists and travel writers, the three groups I draw on to find a presenter. Personally I think sketch comedy artists make the best presenter, since the work requires a good deal of improvisation and witty repartee with interview subjects.
Of the five hundred resumes I received I emailed back and asked each one to send in a five minute demo, something that Globe Trekker does and how they found Ian Wright. For a travel show you really can't judge a candidate solely from a resume and photo and it was out of the question to see all five hundred submissions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ian Wright for example was cast from a demo tape. Read below how he got the job and the description of the tape:
"How did you get the Globe Trekker presenter job?
I was also doing a bit of video, which is a great medium. A friend of mine saw this ad in the newspaper for a presenter:… young, enthusiastic, done a bit of traveling. I hadtravele to Egypt for a couple of months, Nepal and India for seven months, Guyana for three months, hitchhiked though Ireland, and the whole of Europe. I sent a show reel for a laugh, Channel 4 loved it, and I've never looked back since!
What do you think distinguished you from the others wannabes?
You know, in any show reel, the first 10-20 seconds are the most important. You see, they have thousands to look at, and about 90 percent are identical. You've got to start with the biggest punch you can so that people carry on watching!
My showreel was a joke, five minutes long me in Liverpool Street Station (London) and all my bags fall over. I slip along the floor, hit my head on the camera and start the piece to camera: "Here we are in London " Then I was trying to change money on the black market, getting beaten up. There was a sequence when I was on the toilet talking about the rich food and advising visitors to take it easy. Then I was getting arrested, ended up in jail. I sent it for a joke, although part of me was hoping, Then I got the letter back for the interview!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got about one hundred and fifty tapes, some from as far away as California although I stated in my email to the candidates that I was doing the casting in New York City. Most of the tapes were basically boring guidebook type tapes with the prospective presenter walking around a destination and delivering facts, much like a tour guide. Anyone after all can make travel show about facts. Shows such as Rick Steves "Backdoor to Europe" and Rudy Maxx's "Savvy Traveler" are just that, guide tours on video. More interesting are travel shows that have wit, create scenes, situations and feature memorable characters.
A travel show should be more about the experience of traveling rather than just the facts about a destination, like Ian Wrights audition tape in which he changes money on the black market, gets beaten up, etc. In my opinion Ian Wright was born to host a travel program host and his tape was inspired!
I viewed all the tapes and set up half hour appointments with about fifty of the candidates, using an online scheduling program appointment quest. Without this software I would have had to hire a full time secretary to co-ordinate all appiontments and call all the candidates.
Each episode for the travel series requires two presenters . After interviewing the candidates I now have a pool of about twenty strong performers to select for the final cast. I consider them on a level with the top presenters in the current crop of travel programs and feel confident I can produce a first rate series. <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-9800089434016983"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; google_ad_channel =""; //-->