People on TV

From Community

Contents 1 Objective 2 Tasks 2.1 Conversation 2.2 Individual 3 Project Team 4 Notes

[edit] Objective

To increase the variety of who gets featured on television.

[edit] Tasks

[edit] Conversation

1. Create a daily talk show, called "Conversation"
   1. 30 minutes long, recorded live to tape in a studio setting
   2. Participant chairs are set up in a circle, facing each other.
   3. No host. No script. No narration. No outline.
   4. 9 (nine) Participants
      1. 3 returning guests (they've been on before)
      2. 3 new guests (never been on TV before)
      3. 1 politician/public sector
      4. 1 media person (radio/TV/print)
      5. 1 businessperson/private sector
      6. 1 artist/musician
      7. 1 teacher
      8. 1 student
      9. 2 younger guests
      10. 2 older guests
      11. 2 guests with different culture/ethnical perspective from any of the others
      12. Yes, that's more than 9; mix and match and invent for today's recipe.
   5. The participants begin talking together. The cameras roll for 45 minutes.
   6. The middle 30 minutes is prepared for broadcast -- but NOT edited
      1. Fade up from black. 30 minutes later, fade down to black.
      2. Minimal graphics added (just names of guests with no titles); "Conversation" and the date for the show open; closing credits.
2. Distribute via Public Access/Public Television/Internet

[edit] Individual

1. Create a documentary series, called "Individual"
   1. 30 minutes long, shot on location & edited
   2. Features "regular people" not seen on TV before
   3. One person featured per episode
      1. Perhaps picked by random? Or byproduct of meeting people in the community. Throwing darts at a phonebook does have its appeal.
      2. The idea is that everyone is unique, is special, and has a story.
   4. No set structure for the episodes; just let us have learned about "this individual" using whatever approach you can, so long as you stay true to the subject.
   5. Time-intensive for gathering material and for editing together the story.
2. Distribute via Public Access/Public Television/Internet

[edit] Project Team

Pluckey

[edit] Notes

"Conversation" comes from a show I heard about at a PBS conference back in the early 1990s. I think the Boston PBS station (but not WGBH, the other one?) actually followed this basic concept, and from what I recall of the producer's passion, it was a success in getting more varied faces and voices on the TV screen. Production-wise it was very matter-of-fact, shot daily with 3 or 4 cameras in an unadorned studio, shot in the round and switched live to tape for broadcast later that same day. Fascinating. Pluckey 00:20, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I'm obviously building a block of programming -- I can see airing "Conversation" followed immediately by "Individual", or vice versa, for an hour of community programming. Of course, the "Conversations" are quicker to create than the "Individuals", which is why I'd say have multiple teams in motion: perhaps 2 or 3 groups pumping out "Conversations" and 6-10 groups working on new "Individuals", all concurrently. Haven't you heard me mention how our communities are content-rich? This is mining that content. Pluckey 00:20, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)