Our talent is authentic, daring and unique in their pursuits. They’re not looking to be on television but they should be. They are characters WITH character who have a strong point of view. They’ve lived on Earth long enough to know how they want to live their life and this is what they CHOOSE to do. Their world is different from the norm… it’s aspirational and serves as an escape for our audience. Our talent is someone to whom our viewer can relate but who also has something our viewer wants.
They could have the guts to pursues a high stakes, action-packed, engaging job that has big risks and payoffs as in Wicked Tuna. Or maybe they decided to leave the trappings of modern society to live life free and on their own terms with a little wink and a smile as they go about it as in The Legend of Mick Dodge.
Our audience is a 60%/40% male/female split. Is mostly Middle America, Middle Income, Middle Education. Average age is 49. Red states. They work hard all day – typically at a blue collar job – and maybe have 1 hour each night to watch TV and relax. So they don’t want to see someone working hard at a job similar to theirs. They don’t want to see people in urban areas. They don’t want to see people fighting for fabricated drama’s sake. They don’t want to see shows that must be heavily produced to work. They want to be entertained first and maybe pick up some takeaway knowledge that they don’t have to work at to obtain.
Our audience punishes us for being derivative and rewards us for being distinctive and wants elements of the core DNA of the National Geographic brand apparent in each program. Meaning, if you had a line of televisions next to each other… removed the characters… the backdrops would all feel Nat Geo and have some or all of these elements… epic landscapes… nature… exploration… action/adventure… authenticity… inside access.
Here’s a link to an episode of Life Below Zero and some Mick Dodge clips. Our audience has responded favorably to these characters and return week after week to watch them. They’re just the real deal and I need more people like them.
Life Below Zero – Sue Aitkens
The Legend of Mick Dodge – Mick
And here’s a link to a character reel that was a result of reading an article about this guy… hiring a day shooter/producer to ingratiate himself with him and get him on tape.