Punkin Chunkin

[GUARDLING]

I posted this in the "Restructuring" thread, but it applies as much here.

There is salable drama all up and down the placement lineup. Troopers making finals, Glassmen beating Madison, Blue Stars movement up (and down) in the ranks, Music City doubling it's membership in 2 years, as well as the fight for the top-three positons. The actual field product becomes secondary to the drama, the kid's faces and situations, the staff changes, the reincarnations of corps left for dead. It's all salable product to a BOD who's thinking beyond simple placement. That salable product becomes the basis for payment from DCI so, in a correctly run org, all corps get face time, drama time, and placement dollars. Americans love an underdog, and underdogs are in more than just placement. The kid who marches a year with Pio then tries out for PR, only to get busted back to the "minor league" because his Pio spot is now gone. The young rookie star who has the guts to try out for BD his first year, and makes it, only to discover that "growing up" in the big leagues is a bigger bite than he envisioned. The poor, inner-city kid who has great talent, struggles to get noticed, fails over and over, then meets a director in an airport and happens to have his sticks with him. A quick play of "Ditty" on the ticket counter earns him a sponsorship, a chance to succeed, a college scholarship. These are the types of things that sell in reality shows. It's not taking advantage of the kids, it's showcasing their personal stories. Get that story out on the air or on the internet and you'll show kids that they should try; work hard and try. That's the drama.

This is a key component of my disagreement with the G7 concept, where only the top-finishers get financial support. In such a production it's in the best interest of DCI to promote even startups because the drama of the activity is the same (and arguably even more-so) in a struggling/new/re-emerging corps as there is in the top seven finishers.

When you get beyond the on-field product and, instead, focus on the lives of the kids, staff, management, volunteers - heck, even the starry-eyed age out who experiences the trials and tribulations of starting a corps - there's as much to sell in the bottom five as there is in the top five.

if there is much more to sell in the bottom 5 than the top , then why are ticket salesin comparison a fraction. OC or early at a WC show many times you can count the people supporting them.

[Stu]

DCI is the major league of our activity Stu, not of all activities. I think some of you take that phrase a little too seriously

Some take the phrase a little too seriously? Yep, as in: George Hopkins, David Gibbs, Jeff Fiedler, ...

[Michael Boo]

DCI is the major league of our activity Stu, not of all activities. I think some of you take that phrase a little too seriously

[Stu]

DCI is the major league of our activity Stu, not of all activities. I think some of you take that phrase a little too seriously

If you want to use that reasoning, then Punkin Chunkin is actually the Major League of that activity.

[garfield]

if there is much more to sell in the bottom 5 than the top , then why are ticket salesin comparison a fraction. OC or early at a WC show many times you can count the people supporting them.

Check my post. I said "as much" not "much more". In the context of the G7, which I also referenced.

Further, your post reflects the common emphasis on the on-field product as the only thing that's salable in the activity. It's this point with which I disagree.

Did you read my whole post, or just the last line?

Edited November 29, 2011 by garfield

[garfield]

If you want to use that reasoning, then Punkin Chunkin is actually the Major League of that activity.

Yep, and Canon, Discover Card, and Discovery Channel seem to agree.

[GUARDLING]

Check my post. I said "as much" not "much more". In the context of the G7, which I also referenced.

Further, your post reflects the common emphasis on the on-field product as the only thing that's salable in the activity. It's this point with which I disagree.

Did you read my whole post, or just the last line?

read the whole thing. I have seen what the bottom offer and not that I dont support them but in general..in all areas it is different......so tell me how do you feel bottom offer at least equal.

[garfield]

read the whole thing. I have seen what the bottom offer and not that I dont support them but in general..in all areas it is different......so tell me how do you feel bottom offer at least equal.

The stories and drama of the kids trying to make the corps and survive. Do you think the average non-DC viewer can tell the difference in quality of performance between an OC MM and a WC MM?

In fact, the drama of the underdog, the under-privaledged, the rookie is even more compelling than the drama of a 5th year vet again going through tryouts at the same corps.

I don't disagree that some OC performances are a half step (or less) above a winning BOA group but, apparently, even the top-finishers aren't attracting new and larger crowds so the emphasis must be on the wrong thing. Forget the placement and the scores. It doesn't sell.

I contend that the story of the rookie 15 year old is as compelling as the 5th year OC vet making his first try for the big leagues.

[kickhaltsforlife]

There are a ton of opportunities with a reality tv show.

You can follow the rookie memember trying his hardest, but still having a rough time. At the same time follow members in corps pushing trying to make a point, trying to move up a position. While follow a corps admin staff... the logistics and all the #### that goes wrong on the admin side could probably hold interest. Follow someone at the DCI office who runs the shows. What goes into running a show.

The key with a reality show is to highlight individuals. Hell look at Ice Road Truckers or something like that. Is driving a truck on the same highway everyday really that interesting??? No. But when you follow the individual stories of truck drivers and their daily struggles to make it or break it in the business... make the risk really come out.

There are plenty of way to spin drum corps the way it is now to make it interesting as a reality TV show.

The problem is, who is going to fund it. Is there anyone involved in the activity now who could front the money? Do we need to try harder to get people interested in our activity. I think more can be done... but the problem is having the money to do what needs to get done.

[perc2100]

There are a ton of opportunities with a reality tv show.

You can follow the rookie memember trying his hardest, but still having a rough time. At the same time follow members in corps pushing trying to make a point, trying to move up a position. While follow a corps admin staff... the logistics and all the #### that goes wrong on the admin side could probably hold interest. Follow someone at the DCI office who runs the shows. What goes into running a show.

The key with a reality show is to highlight individuals. Hell look at Ice Road Truckers or something like that. Is driving a truck on the same highway everyday really that interesting??? No. But when you follow the individual stories of truck drivers and their daily struggles to make it or break it in the business... make the risk really come out.

There are plenty of way to spin drum corps the way it is now to make it interesting as a reality TV show.

The problem is, who is going to fund it. Is there anyone involved in the activity now who could front the money? Do we need to try harder to get people interested in our activity. I think more can be done... but the problem is having the money to do what needs to get done.

The other problem is who is going to sign-off of letting a network and/or producer have carte blanch on editorial content. I know producers in the television production industry, and they TOTALLY edit a show to make for the most compelling hour/season story line. I've been told that it's not uncommon for producers to have content edited fairly askew in order to make a story line "fit." It's not necessarily dishonest (the guy on 'Survivor' who chews out a girl, makes her try, and purposely embarrasses her actually did all that stuff), but producers might edit the footage to make someone a 'bad guy' or 'clown' or 'slut' in order to fit a archetype (the Survivor producer might disregard all the other footage that showed the 'mean guy' apologize to the girl, admit he lost his temper, and they make up).

I think that factor, as much as anything else, is why it would be difficult to get a reality type TV show on the air. It would either be too boring for the average viewer (all about the competitive & rehearsal aspect) or be too scary for corps administrators (by being honest to show some of the shenanigans and drama inside a DCI season). It would take the kind of relationship that's rare in TV where a producer respects the organization enough to not show anything too damning and the corps admin trusts a producer enough to film/edit anything compelling.

Now, obviously this has worked to an extent with the NFL spring training show on HBO. It's honest (sometimes brutally so), candid, and shows all types of stuff that makes for compelling TV. But at that level we're talking about millionaire pro athletes, and with a DCI reality show we're talking about young adults, and some minors: i.e. the demographic that is most open to instability and embarrassment when put in front of a camera.

IDK; I think it would be interesting but I would be surprised to see a corps administration OK the venture. I'd like to see it, and I'd watch if it was well done, but the network interest + corps approval would be two incredible obstacles that I would be shocked if ever overcome.