As you know, I explored two things very seriously after Armchair Arcade's inception. Getting either a magazine deal done or a TV/radio deal. I learned a great deal about how both those things work along the way. The magazine thing is pretty obvious why that was a difficult proposition considering the state of the print industry today. The closest we came was with a California publisher, but they wanted us to bring our own sales team to the table at minimum.
As for TV, getting PBS funding is almost impossible these days, though some affiliates still allow a few hours a week for low budget community-provided programming. But if you're looking for some type of income with the latter, it's just not there. The other option is ally yourself with an experienced (and small-time) production company, but typically the best deals are that they'll fund half and you'll fund half, assuming that they're interested in your idea in the first place. So unless you have a spare $10,000 to help fund half of a pilot episode, with little hope of getting that back and no guarantee anyone will even see it, that's not a viable option. Also, as you say, the odds are high that they'll want to move forward with a slicker/younger/hipper host, quite possibly an attractive female.
So what does that leave? To my mind, we finish this darn documentary and make sure it's the best damn film it can possibly be. I think this will be another three months+ of work for us, given the latest setbacks we've had. Once that happens, we (or you) may be able to pitch something to Lux in regards to a regular series of some type, be it on the Web (which is a viable option these days) or something more traditional. Barring that, there will be additional leverage to go elsewhere with ideas, though we'd probably have to form some type of entity (production company) in order to be taken seriously. Sadly, that requires budgets and funding, something we may have if we reinvest any earnings from the documentary. In short, lots of options, but none of it is easy and most of it requires self-funding.
Making money at any of it, even the documentary, is an outside proposition at best. Once we cross the threshold of low risk work (Armchair Arcade, books, the documentary, etc.), the more we become personally in debt, and that's not something that's a path I'm not sure I'm willing to go down without a reasonable chance of return.
With all the above said, we've come a long way, and I don't think there are necessarily any limits as long as we keep on keeping on. It's just a matter of timing and a little bit of luck (both of which applied to us getting the documentary deal).
As you know, I explored two things very seriously after Armchair Arcade's inception. Getting either a magazine deal done or a TV/radio deal. I learned a great deal about how both those things work along the way. The magazine thing is pretty obvious why that was a difficult proposition considering the state of the print industry today. The closest we came was with a California publisher, but they wanted us to bring our own sales team to the table at minimum.
As for TV, getting PBS funding is almost impossible these days, though some affiliates still allow a few hours a week for low budget community-provided programming. But if you're looking for some type of income with the latter, it's just not there. The other option is ally yourself with an experienced (and small-time) production company, but typically the best deals are that they'll fund half and you'll fund half, assuming that they're interested in your idea in the first place. So unless you have a spare $10,000 to help fund half of a pilot episode, with little hope of getting that back and no guarantee anyone will even see it, that's not a viable option. Also, as you say, the odds are high that they'll want to move forward with a slicker/younger/hipper host, quite possibly an attractive female.
So what does that leave? To my mind, we finish this darn documentary and make sure it's the best damn film it can possibly be. I think this will be another three months+ of work for us, given the latest setbacks we've had. Once that happens, we (or you) may be able to pitch something to Lux in regards to a regular series of some type, be it on the Web (which is a viable option these days) or something more traditional. Barring that, there will be additional leverage to go elsewhere with ideas, though we'd probably have to form some type of entity (production company) in order to be taken seriously. Sadly, that requires budgets and funding, something we may have if we reinvest any earnings from the documentary. In short, lots of options, but none of it is easy and most of it requires self-funding.
Making money at any of it, even the documentary, is an outside proposition at best. Once we cross the threshold of low risk work (Armchair Arcade, books, the documentary, etc.), the more we become personally in debt, and that's not something that's a path I'm not sure I'm willing to go down without a reasonable chance of return.
With all the above said, we've come a long way, and I don't think there are necessarily any limits as long as we keep on keeping on. It's just a matter of timing and a little bit of luck (both of which applied to us getting the documentary deal).
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.