A number of years ago I participated in an open pitch contest called Pitchapalooza for Authentic Entertainment (a production company I worked for on occasion) There were over 40 pitches submitted and after two rounds of presentation my pitch for a show about Echo Park based master guitar craftsman James Trussart was selected as the winner. The prize was a $10,000 investment in a sizzle reel to attempt to sell the show to a network. It was one of the most exiting things that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, as we furiously preparing to begin the first of our 5 day shoot, our main talent decided at the 11th hour (3 weeks before my wedding btw) that he did not want to star in a reality show about his life/business. The whole project pretty much crumbled from there.
I certainly learned a lot from the whole process though, most importantly that the qualities that make someone compelling reality show talent are the same qualities that make them very difficult to make a reality show about. Upon reflection though, I’m still pretty proud of the whole experience.
