The Making of a TV series - Part 1

The first meeting to discuss my new TV show took place today. While I had initial thoughts about what my program would be about, I'm now filled with a slew of new ideas and many more questions. The challenge I'm having is figuring out a way to meld all the ideas I have together in one cohesive fashion. From deciding on a title, and confirming my first guest, to thinking about music, and setting a start date, I left the meeting with anticipation, excitement and a fair amount of anxiety. With little to no TV production experience, would I be capable of pulling this off?  Would I embarrass myself, or worse, would I embarrass my guests? Would I waste everyone's time? These are the thoughts that went through my head as I drove out of the parking lot on my way home.

While there are many unanswered questions, I'm committed to forging ahead. Next step is to secure my first guest and to write an opening that will introduce my show. I'm thinking about whether to use a teleprompter or go it alone. What are the questions I will ask? What is the point I'm trying to get across? What kind of information or inspiration am I trying to impart?

The idea for the show began when I started doing a few guest spots for another local cable station as a dog trainer. I met this woman at a park in Walpole, MA while walking my dog. Kim, host of Pets and Their People, stopped me in the parking lot and asked if I was interested in being filmed with my pet. As someone who enjoys showing off her dog, I couldn't resist putting my pup, Maizie, on camera. After a brief interview with the host, we exchanged cards and I followed up with her to learn more about her program and find out when our interview would air.

Having a dog training and pet care business, I thought there might be additional opportunities to showcase my services, so I offered to work with Kim to do more guest spots on her program. And, that is where it all began.

To date, we've filmed several guest spots for her program outlining dog training tips and offering up information on various pet related topics. It all got me thinking. How else can I use this medium to communicate the offerings and services of my own business to my own local community? From this train of thought, I was prompted to stop into my own local community cable station -- Norfolk Community Television right in downtown Norfolk, MA.

At first, I assumed there might be a similar program already in the works on which I could appear. But after speaking with the producer, I learned it might make more sense for me to come up with my own show and communicate to the world whatever I wanted. The ideas came flooding in. Do I talk about pets? Do I talk about my marketing experience? What about my life coaching skills? How can I combine all these ideas into one cohesive show?

Stay tuned to learn what transpires and find out what my next steps will be....