Working on 2009!

Ho hum, the year is finally ending!! Thank God! Why? Because, I am super excited about 2009. I had some amazing things happen in 2008, but let's just say I can't wait until January 2009. I finally got to do what I have always wanted to do and that was to take the year and pitch my own ideas. After being in production since 2003, all I really wanted was to use my creative mind to come up with show ideas. This is what I want my career to be. I want to be behind it all, in the mix to some degree but really the one who created the series.

All in all, I gained some of the most valuable experience ever with my pitches and my new and old connections. I got to go out to every major Network Executive with Comedian Christopher Titus and pitch our concept "The Devil's Workshop." I also got to pitch pretty much every development executive in town. My success rate wasn't bad either. I had six concepts and two of the six garnered options. One went all the way to NBC execs and one is still being negotiated for a deal (let's hope they renegotiate a better deal this time around). I was on the cover of Kiplinger's Personal Finance as well as featured in several major articles online and in magazines.

I am gearing up to hit the Hollywood streets again with my next six pitches. Of course Jose Canseco is one of them, Girl Powder, Eli Davidson, and two of my own ideas without a brand. I have a few meetings set up in 2009, including one with Jayson Dinsmore over at NBC. We are also waiting on one production company to decide on optioning a new one that we pitched out in November.

My instinct is that in January things will totally pop. I am looking forward to 2008 coming to a close and 2009 kicking off with a big bang! Thank you to every Network Executive, Development Executive and friends and family and most of all Chris Ryan at Oceanside Entertainment for supporting me in my career to sell a reality series. And while I have not officially sold one yet, I know I will -- I am soooooo close and am confident with the two options I still have out there, its going to happen. It has not been a year yet, but come March it will be...so thank you for the greatest 9 months ever.

Believe in Your Vision

Last night, I was finally finishing up a book I have had on my nightstand since January by Russell Simmons, "Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success."

I got to thinking this morning about how much he stresses in the book to believe in your vision. Never giving up. He gave great examples in one of the chapters about people he knows who never gave up. Kanye West, Puffy, and Michael Jordan are three people he specifically writes about. I bet you didn't know that Michael Jordan was cut from his HS basketball team? He worked hard to get back on the team and in his senior year brought them to state championships. Look at his career span now...

Some of the most successful people started at the bottom of the barrel. But they kept their vision clear and they kept going. They didn't listen to the naysayers. They just didn't give up. If they did hit a wall they found a way to go around it, on top of it, through it...

You can't quit, because when you quit and give up its over. As Russell says in his book, "its your job to make the universe say YES!" Persistence pays and the world rewards people who don't quit. You may think that the seeds that you are planting are going no where, turn that thinking around because those very seeds are going to bring you rewards. Great rewards.

So, thanks Russell for keeping me going, its only a matter of time now with all of the patience I have gained (read my last post) that the universe will reward me and buy one of my shows!