The scene opens with attending an educational conference in Florida. While standing in line to grab a drink during a networking event, it occurs to me that someone should produce a television show that does for America’s public schools what Extreme Makeover: Home Edition does for people’s homes.
First, I made a few calls because many ideas cross my mind. I find it useful to run them by friends and family as a sounding board. After some positive feedback, I called my good friend and the only freelance producer I know with the ethics and expertise to help make it happen – Sandy Gordon.
Over the course of 5 years, Sandy and I, with no prior experience writing and pitching shows, managed to
- Start a production company (Treman Falls Productions)
- Pitch to the heads of reality TV for every major network except NBC
- Win second place in a pitching contest at NATPE 2009
- Meet Ed Sanders of EMHE and meet the production company behind the show
- Pitch to numerous cable stations
- Elicit the support of Microsoft / Chicago Cares / The Hands On Network & others
- Gain a lot of interest after pitching at the Great American PitchFest
I have posted some of the materials I designed for the show. The first link will bring up the one sheet for Rally. The second will bring up the one sheet for a shorter, more cable friendly version of the show called Design With Class.
Sandy produced this video prior to the pitch at NATPE 2009.