Re: broadcasters

**Tom Ogren t*@earthlink.net**

Lon, Jeff,
    I might as well add my own two cents here. I've done more than a dozen
TV gigs the past two years and was paid for none of them. I do it as a way
to get exposure for my books, free PR. The one thing that HGTV shows will
usually do (if you insist) is they'll pay for a nice hotel and your gas
money and meals.
    This is not to say someone couldn't kick off a whole new gardening show
on cable TV, and make some money at it. I expect that is still possible.
    Some of the HGTV shows are always looking for garden writers to be
guests, but they don't pay either, or if they do, I'm unaware of it. I can
always tell when something I did on HGTV is aired or re-run, since I'll get
some e-mails related to it, asking me questions. A piece I did for Smart
Solutions on hybridizing your own roses, must have re-ran this past week,
since I've been getting mail on that this week.
    Actually, I would encourage all garden writers to do some TV, at least
now and then. It is kind of nerve wracking and you're always told to, "Just
be yourself," which is way easier said than done! But it is good experience
and really, we're all smart people here, I think we can chew gum and walk at
the same time....sort of anyhow.
    One thing seems to lead to another with PR. I do gigs for free or very
little money and then from that I get something better. For example, I will
be on CBS News this weekend, because of my most recent book, Safe Sex in the
Garden---not sure if it will be Saturday or Sunday. Looks like I'll be on
ABC News the next weekend also. The CBS thing, we taped for several hours
yesterday and by the time they cut it down, I'll probably be lucky to get
two minutes. But hey, that's TV. Radio, by the way, seems to sell more books
than TV, but TV is good too. If you've never done any, go for it. I think it
is part of the whole wonderful experience of being a writer and trying to
make your mark.
Tom

Thomas Leo Ogren
tloallergyfree@earthlink.net
www.allergyfreegardening.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Ball" <jeffball@starband.net>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum"
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 7:33 PM
Subject: RE: [GWL] broadcasters


> Lon,
> While maybe others have a brighter vision of the television world for
garden
> writers, mine is pretty grim.  Television has become very splintered with
> the dozens of cable companies significantly reducing the audience for the
> four big networks and their affiliates.  Local budgets are incredibly
tight.
> Few local news broadcasts even have camera persons any more; it is all
done
> with robots.  If one is lucky enough to convince a local channel to give
you
> a 3 or 4 minute slot once a week, they are very unlikely to want to pay
for
> it at all.  Even if the slot brings in new advertisers, which it usually
> does, there is little thought about paying talent for a gardening slot.
> Most of the folks I knew in the 90's with tv gigs all lost them when the
> station came to them and said we can't pay you any longer, do you want to
> continue?  Now maybe there is some creative way to get a gig by having the
> advertiser pay you instead of the station.  You would have to be real
> careful giving a balanced story without giving special attention to the
> advertiser, but a sophisticated garden center might understand.  I know of
> few companies except Scotts with a national advertising budget for local
tv.
> And Scotts has their own material to broadcast.  Nancy Szerlag, my
partner,
> had a weekly gig with a local affiliate for about 3 years; 4 minutes a
week;
> they would do two or three segments at a time.  She did all the
production.
> They told her they could no longer pay her, so she stopped doing it.  It's
a
> lot of work to produce a good 4 minute segment.  I figured that for the 4
> minute segments I did on the NBC Today Show for 8 years, I spent almost a
> full day talking to companies for props and writing an outline for the
> show's producer to review.  Then another part of a day is lost in doing
the
> shoot. If you do a weekly gig, that's 5 or 6 days a month you lose for
other
> work.  I was paid well in those days, but today the local affiliate wants
> the same quality for no pay.  I don't know if the Today Show has a
gardening
> slot under contract.  I do know that they get people to come in and do it
> for free.
> On the other hand, if a garden writer wants to develop some communications
> skills in tv and maybe radio, it might be worth it to offer free service
for
> six months to a year and look at it as a training experience; like going
to
> school.  The conundrum of course is after someone gets some tv skills
there
> is little market for them to sell those skills for any reasonable return
on
> investment of time and expertise.
>
> Nancy and I were approached a few weeks ago by a PR firm looking to find
> some talent to use in packaging a proposal to a local affiliate.  It was
> clear to me that the PR person had no clue about the history of gardening
> slots on local television.  She thought that she could just walk in and
show
> she had a good segment and it would be accepted.  Maybe in 1990; but not
> today.  We'll sit back a wait.
> The other hard reality to address is that most writers can't do
television.
> It is a very small percentage of professional writers who can "walk and
> talk" in front of a camera and not look silly.  I started out doing weekly
> segments for our local community channel in our town.  It was a great
> opportunity to get some real valuable experience while I made a fool of
> myself from time to time.  It didn't matter since I was not paid, and only
> five people watched the show; nevertheless, if anyone has aspirations for
> becoming a television talent, they need to get some experience in front of
a
> camera somehow to find out if in fact they might be able to do it.
> Sorry to be so negative.  Hopefully, I am so far out of the picture I
don't
> know about lots of great opportunities out there that other members of
this
> list can offer.
> Later,
> Jeff Ball
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
> [g*@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Lon J.
Rombough
> Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:53 PM
> To: GWL
> Subject: [GWL] broadcasters
>
>
>    Do we have any members who do regular t.v. shows?  That's an area that
> has been discussed very little on the list.  Things like how to write and
> sell scripts.  Where and how to get shows produced, etc.  Something on the
> ins and outs of the process.   At very least, there have to be some good
> stories out there.  As well as some sites, books, etc. that tell how to do
> it.
> -Lon Rombough
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