Original film from "Once is Enough" by Miles Smeeton

[dylanwinter]

good plan.... but

I would go one step further. If I could, I'd type up a script synopsis for a full-length documentary and submit it to the BBC for funding. I've seen "Deep Water":

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460766/

And I was surprised by how the darkest elements of the race were so emphasized over the acheievements. The psychological aspects seemed over emphasized, as if the trip was more of a metaphor.

With original footage, and possibly interviews with John Guzzwell and Clio Smeeton, I think a documentary about the Smeetons, Tzu Hang, and a passing review of Trekka adventures would be a better film. It would have plenty of hardship (dealing with the pitch pole and near-death experiences), but the end result would be much more positive about perseverence and resilience, which I don't think is a bad message to make and share right now.

So, how would I go about this? My brother lives in Portland, Oregon and could easily visit Vancouver, and I'll be back there myself in February 2012. I wonder if Dylan Winter has any advice about such a harebrained scheme...

(Paging Mr. Winter, white courtesy telephone please.)

my advice is probably not what you want to hear

I have spoken to several BBC producers on your behalf

had Breakfast with Tarquin from Pathogen TV - goodness that bloke eats an expensive breakfast!

He was very pessimistic about your idea

the BBC is experiencing 20 per cent cuts - and 'deep doccos' are getting hit harder than most other areas.

he mentioned snowballs and hell

his advice was ...make it yourself

buy a camera - a decent HD camera good enough to do interviews is around £500 - a decent microphone - another £100.

any decent desktop computer and an external hard disk can be used to edit material

no need for a back-up hard disk

pay for your own flights - do the interviews - spend hundreds of hours editing it -

buy the archive - there is a price for those four minutes of material starting at £861 fo a five year very limited license

you might be able to buy the footage for non-exclusive world rights for a five years for £5,000

learn how to do the graphics - or pay a professional at £500 a day - ten days work from him at max

you could give it to public TV in the states

put it on youtube attached to a google adsense account that will earn you $ per thousand hits

you might get 50,000 hits - if you are very lucky

earn yourself $50

and you can get loads of people on here to give you their honest opinions of your work

Last night on out local TV there was a cracking little feature about some blokes on one of those pointless cross ocean rows

well shot, underwater camera work of swimming with whales, lots of shots of cracked lips and blistered hands.

Local TV....footage given away

I have tried punting my stuff around the BBC - they look at youtube sailing films - even the high hitters and use that as a measure of popularity


here is the best hitting sailing film I could find on you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDToL593cmU

2 million hits


here is my own youtube classic

big trucks in western canada with 16.8 million hits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDyx0JyHelo

what do you think?

Dylan

PS my time and the cost of breakfast with Tarquin means that we are already around £100 into the budget.... oh pish..... I have just spent three times what it will earn