Punkin Chunkin

[84BDsop]

Has anyone thought that espn was maybe just the wrong company? What about another tv station?

I'd love to see it on one of the 3 majors....but the airtime there would probably be even MORE expensive than ESPN2.

[Michael Boo]

Well, technically, if it's an average, then some will be higher and some will be lower. Or many will be higher and many will be lower.

But I get your point, Mr. Boo.

And Hollywood has yet to make "Halloween. The Story of an Evil, Rampaging, Murdering Drum Major"

Now, if they used a vile, murderous mallet player....

You played mallets?

[Jeff Ream]

I don't think this is the case, Jeff. Watching the chunkers last night there were no sponsorships plastered all over the flinging machines.

Canon and Discover had banners hanging on the fences. Someone convinced them that there was enough ad revenue to sponsor the two-hour show. Can you imagine anyone in the corporate suite falling for that sales pitch? Two hours of watching red necks eat BBQ chicken and tossing punkins for kicks? I don't know how such things are done, but I'd bet you a cheap lunch that the chunkers went to Discovery Channel, and Discovery Channel found the sponsors.

This is what makes it hard to believe that those same execs would turn up their noses at the DC story.

And Discovery channel is advertising that a new series is coming next week - MOONSHINE! The story of the hill people building stills and perfecting their (illegal) art.

I wonder if DCI has even TALKED to these people! Seems they're willing to put anything, ANYTHING, on in prime time. They won't fall for drum corps?

Can't believe it until I see the rejection letter. And even then I'd try A&E.

you don't have to have advertisers plastered on the equipment. I don't see Bud Light on anyones uniforms in the NFL.

face it....admit it...there is a "stigma" about marching bands. Look at the movie Drumline. American Pie 1-however many they have..."band camp" was often a punchline.

you want it out there, you need a reality show producer with a) talent and b) clout to present an idea. If it works, it will grow from there.

I mean who thought a show aabout a Scottish cook going into restaurants and cursing idiots out would draw...let alone spawn no less than 5 shows across two continents...but it worked for Gordon Ramsey. Look at the Idol ripoffs. Wedding dress shows....a family with 19 kids.....The Little Couples.....Polygamists....That's just what I saw quickly browsing the my tv channels guide station.

All reality.

[perc2100]

you don't have to have advertisers plastered on the equipment. I don't see Bud Light on anyones uniforms in the NFL.

face it....admit it...there is a "stigma" about marching bands. Look at the movie Drumline. American Pie 1-however many they have..."band camp" was often a punchline.

you want it out there, you need a reality show producer with a) talent and b) clout to present an idea. If it works, it will grow from there.

I mean who thought a show aabout a Scottish cook going into restaurants and cursing idiots out would draw...let alone spawn no less than 5 shows across two continents...but it worked for Gordon Ramsey. Look at the Idol ripoffs. Wedding dress shows....a family with 19 kids.....The Little Couples.....Polygamists....That's just what I saw quickly browsing the my tv channels guide station.

All reality.

I know a few years back MTV was working on producing a reality show about the ins/outs of HS marching band. A producer contacted my school and offered us a slot a featured program. They wanted to come out to rehearsals, band camp, performances, etc. and film everything we did. We turned them down, as they called us in spring and wanted to shoot all summer: only the percussion section rehearses regularly in the summer so we didn't think we'd be much 'help' for MTV.

Also, and I'm sure this is a bigger issue DCI and its member corps would be concerned with, we would have zero editorial input on how MTV edited the shows and there's no way we were going to risk our program or students looking bad on national TV if MTV (correctly, for their benefit) decided to manipulate footage via editing in order to create compelling/entertaining programming. I don't watch much MTV so I have no idea if this show ever came to fruition. But I don't know any band directors/instructors (probably corps directors/instructors for that matter) that would let a network film everything without having input on how MTV edits/airs the footage. If for no other reason it would potentially be harmful for the students (i.e. minors - and that would be a whole set of problems getting the appropriate legal clearance for all marching bands kids to be broadcast on TV and/or keeping track of which kids are allowed to be on-air while editing) if MTV edited things like most reality TV shows, in a way that creates 'characters,' sometimes inorganically through "trick editing."

As mentioned earlier in this thread, it would take an incredibly ingenious producer to come up with the perfect spin on the activity to make it more palatable to the mainstream. I mean, for the most part filming a drum corps for a summer's season would produce hundreds of hours to monotonous rehearsal & performance footage, hundreds of hours of "goofy" free-time footage that is only usually entertaining for those that lived it, or other compelling footage that would be potentially embarrassing for the organization/members (let's face it: as fun as "rookie talent night" is, it would be extremely embarrassing for those involved if video of that was aired on national TV).

[danielray]

I don't think this is the case, Jeff. Watching the chunkers last night there were no sponsorships plastered all over the flinging machines.

Canon and Discover had banners hanging on the fences. Someone convinced them that there was enough ad revenue to sponsor the two-hour show. Can you imagine anyone in the corporate suite falling for that sales pitch? Two hours of watching red necks eat BBQ chicken and tossing punkins for kicks? I don't know how such things are done, but I'd bet you a cheap lunch that the chunkers went to Discovery Channel, and Discovery Channel found the sponsors.

This is what makes it hard to believe that those same execs would turn up their noses at the DC story.

And Discovery channel is advertising that a new series is coming next week - MOONSHINE! The story of the hill people building stills and perfecting their (illegal) art.

I wonder if DCI has even TALKED to these people! Seems they're willing to put anything, ANYTHING, on in prime time. They won't fall for drum corps?

Can't believe it until I see the rejection letter. And even then I'd try A&E.

The main question here is what's in it for DCI? How does it really further their goals?

DCI would still have to front production costs... but for what?

TV is not where it's at. Online opportunities are much better, can reach a wider audience.

About turning the nose up... drum corps is basically sort of musical ballet on a football field. It doesn't have an appeal much beyond a very narrow audience.

As far as the stories behind drum corps and the potential for reality tv programing... there is very little appeal here. No one wants to watch a group of mostly white, middle-class, suburban kids that are generally well-mannered, confident and in control of their lives... doing the same thing over and over again.... day after day. That is not good tv.

Anyway, the opportunity to reach a wider audience would be for corps to create a new sort of group to sort of bridge the gap between drum corps and the rest of the world. Something sort of like BD Entertainment... but focused on creating specific projects most likely for online consumption. This is what will get more people interested in drum corps, not some program showing the current shows... on some minor cable channel.

[danielray]

I know a few years back MTV was working on producing a reality show about the ins/outs of HS marching band. A producer contacted my school and offered us a slot a featured program. They wanted to come out to rehearsals, band camp, performances, etc. and film everything we did. We turned them down, as they called us in spring and wanted to shoot all summer: only the percussion section rehearses regularly in the summer so we didn't think we'd be much 'help' for MTV.

Also, and I'm sure this is a bigger issue DCI and its member corps would be concerned with, we would have zero editorial input on how MTV edited the shows and there's no way we were going to risk our program or students looking bad on national TV if MTV (correctly, for their benefit) decided to manipulate footage via editing in order to create compelling/entertaining programming. I don't watch much MTV so I have no idea if this show ever came to fruition. But I don't know any band directors/instructors (probably corps directors/instructors for that matter) that would let a network film everything without having input on how MTV edits/airs the footage. If for no other reason it would potentially be harmful for the students (i.e. minors - and that would be a whole set of problems getting the appropriate legal clearance for all marching bands kids to be broadcast on TV and/or keeping track of which kids are allowed to be on-air while editing) if MTV edited things like most reality TV shows, in a way that creates 'characters,' sometimes inorganically through "trick editing."

As mentioned earlier in this thread, it would take an incredibly ingenious producer to come up with the perfect spin on the activity to make it more palatable to the mainstream. I mean, for the most part filming a drum corps for a summer's season would produce hundreds of hours to monotonous rehearsal & performance footage, hundreds of hours of "goofy" free-time footage that is only usually entertaining for those that lived it, or other compelling footage that would be potentially embarrassing for the organization/members (let's face it: as fun as "rookie talent night" is, it would be extremely embarrassing for those involved if video of that was aired on national TV).

MTV is struggling... Big time. They have been shutting down many of their channels around the globe after years of massive expansion. The thing is, kids just don't watch tv anymore.

Also, no amount of exposure is worth giving up control of the message... you have no idea what the result may be and is not worth the risk. Reality is that drum corps is not all that interesting of a story... and to make it an interesting enough story would require distortions that might not be all that positive.

[danielray]

you don't have to have advertisers plastered on the equipment. I don't see Bud Light on anyones uniforms in the NFL.

face it....admit it...there is a "stigma" about marching bands. Look at the movie Drumline. American Pie 1-however many they have..."band camp" was often a punchline.

you want it out there, you need a reality show producer with a) talent and b) clout to present an idea. If it works, it will grow from there.

I mean who thought a show aabout a Scottish cook going into restaurants and cursing idiots out would draw...let alone spawn no less than 5 shows across two continents...but it worked for Gordon Ramsey. Look at the Idol ripoffs. Wedding dress shows....a family with 19 kids.....The Little Couples.....Polygamists....That's just what I saw quickly browsing the my tv channels guide station.

All reality.

There is an opportunity out there for something like a sort of Glee that loosely revolves around kids in a marching band... but hopefully less cheesy and a bit darker.

It could be done right... but it would have to be more character driven, fewer performance segments.... as it would be #### tough to find kids who could act and also fake it well enough as performers.

Again, I see a reality program boring as hell... would need to be something scripted... but there are few people out there that could possibly do something like this... and it is expensive.

[JonW]

Hmmm, don't know if I'd be interested in watching some "reality-based" twisted, behind-the-scenes type show. Reality TV really sucks.

I could be a minority in this - I love the NFL, but can't stand the player interviews, life stories, behind-the-scene dramas of it all - I love the game.

What I can see being done for DCI is: decide that you want a 3-hour block for Thanksgiving night and work your butt off to get it. It doesn't have to be ESPN - try A&E, or Hallmark, Lifetime, OXY, FAM, VH1 or any of the other two dozen channels showing "Everyone Loves Raymond" reruns. Anybody ever even try to talk to Oprah? Hell, she loves hard working kids/young adults. Like another had said, it's a fair bet that it was the channel that found the sponsors, not the Chunkers.

Get your 3-hr block, hire a host to explain some of what is going on, pump the crap out of the competition aspects and air the Finals you've just finished producing. While you're at it, push a "Shop DCI.org" for your stocking stuffers. You've already got the product, get out and sell it. If given the chance, then push all the behind-the-scenes goodies.

People love music and they love competition. Get it out there and prove that it is a whole lot more than your average high school band skipping across a gridiron. Minds of the viewers will never change if drum corps is never seen by the general public. Hell, the crowd at halftime went ape when a drumline came out for Nickleback - and the drummers didn't even do anything!

[danielray]

Hmmm, don't know if I'd be interested in watching some "reality-based" twisted, behind-the-scenes type show. Reality TV really sucks.

I could be a minority in this - I love the NFL, but can't stand the player interviews, life stories, behind-the-scene dramas of it all - I love the game.

What I can see being done for DCI is: decide that you want a 3-hour block for Thanksgiving night and work your butt off to get it. It doesn't have to be ESPN - try A&E, or Hallmark, Lifetime, OXY, FAM, VH1 or any of the other two dozen channels showing "Everyone Loves Raymond" reruns. Anybody ever even try to talk to Oprah? Hell, she loves hard working kids/young adults. Like another had said, it's a fair bet that it was the channel that found the sponsors, not the Chunkers.

Get your 3-hr block, hire a host to explain some of what is going on, pump the crap out of the competition aspects and air the Finals you've just finished producing. While you're at it, push a "Shop DCI.org" for your stocking stuffers. You've already got the product, get out and sell it. If given the chance, then push all the behind-the-scenes goodies.

People love music and they love competition. Get it out there and prove that it is a whole lot more than your average high school band skipping across a gridiron. Minds of the viewers will never change if drum corps is never seen by the general public. Hell, the crowd at halftime went ape when a drumline came out for Nickleback - and the drummers didn't even do anything!

Once again, what's in it for DCI to be on TV? It is a very, very poor medium for DCI in terms of return on investment.

There is no money in it for them to be on TV, only increased expense... to reach pretty much the same audience they already reach (most everyone else would simply change the channel).

[JonW]

I guess I figure if people will watch six hours of some perky puppets looking at silly balloons, an actual musical competition will draw some of them in too.

The problem I see with online promotion is that if you don't know it exists, you won't go looking for it.