In truth, you throw things onto the wall and see what sticks. Overall, the ratings for SG are up 25% over last year same time period, and we are once again sold out on sponsorships...which is a very good place to be.
I knew from the beginning that we would all have to "find" the right mix, especially with the main "movie." Unfortunately, no battle plan survives first encounter with the enemy...Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said that when he was chief of the German General Staff in the 1850s...it remains one of my fundamental operating dictums. Our budgeting was delayed 60 days, and I had to cancel a number of SG filming sessions. We also weren't sure until the last minute whether we were going to go forward on the 1-hour format. those 2 factor combined meant that I had to fall back more on established competition than I had originally intended. The reason for that is how complicated it is to set up an SG "main movie" from the ground up.It took literally months of negotiation just to to set up the upcoming HOLLYWOOD GUNS show...ditto for ZERO TO HERO...forget THE O.K. CORRAL ep! That was a terrifying nightmare to pull together...I couldn't even keep straight which lies I was telling to whom!
Marshal and I had a long talk about competition this morning...I get a huge amount of requests for "more competition," but I have a gut-level feeling that that demand is coming from a relatively small set of people. Typically, competition shows tend to be popular with people who shoot competition; less so with the much larger audience who doesn't. That's also the case with specifics...the more specific we get — which undeniably appeals to the hardcore audience — the faster we lose the the larger audience. The numbers don't lie. That's why I moved the training segments to the Internet, where they're pulling a lot of traffic.
We're in uncharted territory. No one has tried to do a gun show like this; there are no formulas or, heck, even rules. We roll the dice. Jimmy K, there will be less competition next season because thanks to the success of the show I have a little longer planning horizon. Ultimately, the show becomes more experience-oriented...I'm looking at bring some additional regulars on board, a la TOP GEAR, and one of the main duties of whomever ends up on board will be regular detailed gun stuff. I also have some changes for the live audience segments. Ultimately, I have to build the show for the big audience...every so often my overlords remind me that I'm in television and the reason the ratings for my shows swamp my analogs on other networks is I focus on the bigger picture, so to speak.
Well, maybe...
I told the bosses it would take me 3 seasons to "build out" the new format, and I still think that's pretty much my target. My goal is to more fully integrate the broadcast product with DRTV, so we can deal with the specifics on the Internet...I had no idea such an integration would be so hard to accomplish.
And I will still be doing things that I think are important to the culture, for example, Ruger Rimfire competitions. It's critical for all of us who are competition shooters that the current huge growth in competition shooting continues, and the Ruger matches are now central to that strategy. BTW, we got great response from that show, mostly from pure newbies!
I want you guys to know that DRTV is important to me both as a sounding board and an way of getting the feedback we need to operate. In the world I presently live it, it is far too easy to "breath your own air." It's the nature of the business and the fact that all of us in this business have huge egos (as my Sweetie has reminded me more than once).
Don't worry to much about being "respectful"...you could probably look up the word "as&%ole" in the dictionary and find my picture!
Michael B
MBTV
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