Give us an A!!

Shea's been slaving over ringette tryouts. She worked very hard and was one of the top finishers on the A team. We're so excited for her. She has been on the B team for quite a few years. There was big celebration in the Hawkins/Kosokowsky home tonight.

An update

I was out of town this week so I haven't had a chance to update.

Unky Duck brought us a new version of Kenya. It's really coming together. There's still a lot of great stuff to squeeze in. We're also anticipating the video from Eric Wainaina any day. He's been in touch and it's on its way. So exciting! We should have a solid Kenya episode ready for Mipcom.

Today we met with the newest member of the team. Denise is going to start digitizing Hawaii right away. She'll likely take a run at editing some segments as well. Unky Duck is going to concentrate on fine tuning some 3 and 4 minute shorts. Joseph from Sandra Carter is anxious to get his hands on some downloadable material. He says there's a huge market for content and that will be a big part of what he'll be concentrating on at Mipcom.

Will keep adding info here as things happen.

Ratings

10 33
9.9 1
9.5 3
9 11
8.5 2
8 15
7 10
5 2

On the whole I think the most critical thing we heard and it came up only a few times, was that the show was confusing in places. Also that the camera moved quite a bit. The first, I think, is valid and can be corrected with a few script additions at the final stage. The camera work (I believe) was a concern at the super large size that people were watching a show that was never intended to be that large. The larger the screen, the more the jiggly camera approach is emphasized. Most people felt the pacing, energy and style of the show was right on. Positive comments far outweighed any negative - I mention the negative here so my report doesn't appear too one sided.

I'm really, really happy with the reviews. I'd be cautious about going the big screen route again though. All in all a great experience, a learning experience and an awesome trial run for Robin and Shea with a live audience.

Random comments

Random comments:

The whole thing is amazing. It is great to see what is out there for us to experience.

I think the show is really good for kids, plus it is interesting for adults.

Can't wait to see Egypt!

Awesome show. I love it.

Rating: 10 million

Robin is hilarious.

Would love to see the rest of the shows!

I loved hearing all the cool kinds of music and bands.

OMG I love your show.

Shea and Robin are the coolest people ever.

No comments - just air it on tv.

I wanna see the other shows.

Love the theme song.

Love it - very interesting and exciting.

Shea and Robin make the show fun to watch.

Didn't like the Jamaica band's comments about getting girls - portrays a negative stereotype for boys and girls. (editorial comment - there's one in every crowd)

TOK rocks!

Robin is weerd. Shea cool you rock. Show pritty good.

The show is fun, enjoyable and is just awesome.

It's funny to see robin bug Shea.

It was fun and makes anyone who watches want to experience what Shea does.


...well you get the idea

Ahh, the life of a promoter

Well, all in all it worked out to be great. While it was reinforced to us that getting attendance at events is always challenging - those that came out had a great time and responded very positively to the show.

We're compiling the 100 or so feedback sheets. From early review it looks like we had 1 response from someone who didn't think they'd watch the show. Otherwise it was all good.

Will provide more detail here shortly.

A few errors - but not bad

winnipegsun.com has the article. Overall I think the story is well written. Makes the show sound really great. She mixed up Kenya and Brazil and says we went to all of them last March but other than that (and the cutline on the photo) I think it's quite a good story.

Pasta la Vista

We're going to hit PLV out by our place around 6:30 tomorrow. If you're thinking of joining us, let me know.

Here comes the Sun

Apparently the Sun story will be in tomorrow. And Global has committed to covering the Premiere. UD went down and checked out the dvd to ensure it will work at the theatre. Ken's made a smashing backdrop for interviews.....it feels like this thing is going to get the attention we were hoping for. I think it looks good on us. I think Winnipeg was looking for a little excitement.

SRWT Wear

You can click on the images to make them a bit larger. White ones are prizes for Sunday's premiere.

Luck of the Irish

I had a meeting today with the Free Press and it included reps from CityTV including Cam Cowie - General Manager. Luckily our sales rep accosted me immediately and told me how much a fan he was of Shea and of the show. The GM says "What show?" and opens the door to a discussion about it. He starts talking about all the funding the CHUM group has for tv start up and also about how CHUM owns Much Music etc etc. He is heading off to a week of meetings next week with important people, broadcast purchasers, funding peoples etc. We instantly put a full package together for him (DVD, sell sheet, news release etc.) to take to Toronto to advocate on our behalf. Kewl!

First newsy response

Lindsey Ward from The Winnipeg Sun called. The upshot is that there will be a feature article this weekend in the Sun (not sure if Sat or Sun) Lindsey asked me lots of nice questions - viewed the promos - was very excited and went to her editor and received permission to expand the article. Shea was interviewed this afternoon and tomorrow they'll be coming to take a photo of Producer and Star - sorry to hog all the publicity here. Shea did a great job on the interview - I liked how they really concentrated quite a lot on the music. Lindsey seemed quite fascinated by the Zorb again. Premiere should be sold out! Should be really fun.

Special thanks to C for helping with the ticker - that's an insider.

P prepares to take show on the road.....

Phew!!

Ken has had some amazing discussions with Joseph from Sandra Carter Global. He says they've been persuasive that SRWT is going to be a big feature for them this year. I guess that's backed up by the SRWT position on their web page. It's very exciting.

The Premiere is going to be so much fun. We're looking at great giveaways and banners and lots of excitement. One of the local tv stations is looking to give us some coverage - I hope we want it. It's good for St. Vital Centre so I'm happy about that. I drafted up a news release and will send it out tomorrow.

Marnie's done a great job on designing the banners. Shirts tomorrow.

We're hoping to get a little extra help to get Hawaii edited sooner. Will update more on that tomorrow.

GO Milt GO!

Milt has meetings set up with his regular buyers from Norway, Latin America and Finland (Finland is very positive)

We received a response from the first e-mail blast out and now have a meeting with
MTV New Zealand. (I think that's exciting!)

Sounds like the ball is rolling.

MIPCOM.com

The more I look through this site, the more convinced I am that the successful guys spend gazillions of Euros to market their shows. In a perfect world, we'd be sending Ken as one of our reps 'cause he has such a great way of talking the show up to people he doesn't know. While Milt is doing well setting up Aaron to have meetings with his own contacts who have already expressed some interest, I am anxious to make the most of the random traffic that will be there. So it crossed my mind...Philip...don't you deserve a nice trip to Southern France?

I could see you doing an excellent job on the cocktail party circuit. (I'm going to get Ken to make sure that Sandra Carter herself is going to be chatting us up to her contacts - I haven't heard too much about that) I think it would be an amazing experience. If it could be thought of as an amazing life experience, a holiday in the South of France and then as a deductable expense against the show - maybe it would be worth thinking about.... think of the women!!!

quick update

Had a nice lunch with Milt and Aaron. They have been setting up meetings for Mipcom. Latin America looks good as does Norway. They think they have some interest from France. Aaron is going to be giving us regular reports. Will report on meeting schedules etc. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Things are motoring now!

Too bad I have a full time job....

Looks like we may have some participation from HMV and possibly Garage for the Premiere. Waiting to hear back from them. HMV seemed really enthusiastic.

Ken has some costs together for giveaways etc. P has agreed to help Robin get here for the premiere. Do we want to invest any more in prizes - t-shirts $10 each buffs $8?? Ken's also looking at costs for large posters for the hallway and possibly some 11 x 17 giveaway posters.
Shea turns Art Director

Sent elements for the pre-MIPCOM-teasers Milt was talking about. Aaron is looking forward to meeting Shea on Friday.

Carrie has been successful in getting schools excited about attending so I think we'll have a full house.

Marnie will be making up some tickets and the posters as soon as we unchain her from exhaustive Picante projects. (some of which are for St. Vital Centre so we must attend to priorities!! Right, T?)

Mega big thanks go out to Tineke and St. Vital Centre for hosting the event.

September 24th Confirmed for SRWT Premiere

The greatest client in the world.

St. Vital Centre is helping us out with hosting the premiere event on September 24th at their own Silver City. Show will commence at 10 am. We have 400 tickets. Hot 103 will be promoting the event and we'll be contacting local area schools. We're working on some other ideas as well. Will keep you posted as plans unfold. Possibly a late day phone discussion on Tuesday?

Milt is doing better

I spoke with Milt tonight as he sent me an e-mail asking me to call him.

Firstly, he is hoping to be permanently released from rehab in the next week or so. He was extremely appreciated the flowers the SRWT team sent him. They had arrived roughly 10 minutes after he was transferred out of intensive care into a regular room. He said they were sunflowers and they smiled at him each morning. He was really grateful.

re: SRWT - He wants to engage a service that will forward PR messages to the 1300-1500 targetted childrens buyers who will be attending MIPCOM 4 or 5 times prior to the show. This will cost roughly $300us. He says it has been a really winning strategy for him in the past. I agreed that it sounded like a great idea. He is making the arrangements.

He is also sending his son Aaron to MIPCOM to particularly concentrate on SRWT. He has had conversations with a broadcaster in Thailand who has expressed real interest.

I am going to meet Milt and Aaron in Toronto on Friday. We are there to attend a wedding so it seemed like a great chance to get caught up and ensure everyone has what they need prior to the big show. Milt feels really confident about SRWT.

We will keep watching the Sandra Carter website for the SRWT inclusion.

The goods are gone.

Package went off to Sandra Carter Global yesterday. They have new updated sell sheets and photos and promos for their website. Should be able to see changes on the website later today.

Looking at October 1 for the Premiere event now. That will give us a little more time to finish Kenya.

Photo of host looking a little more like a kid and a little less like a movie star.

A bit distracted

Much of the SRWT crew were distracted this weekend by the wedding of some-time line producer Shaun Gray and highly effective time-coder Kaleigh Yanchycki. The wedding was wonderful - many said it was the best ever. The priest kept whacking Shaun in the head with the prayer book - on purpose - and told several jokes and made it the most entertaining service ever. The speeches at the reception were funny and emotional - not a dry eye in the house. A fantastic time was had by all.

Tomorrow it's back to the real world of tv series, foreign purchases and premieres...

(That's the real world?)

Will keep you updated!