Going for Sold now Two Steps Home
See Jon and Mary transform their backyard in People Magazine, then see them in their new series on HGTV, Two Steps Home, this June!
THREE YEARS - A NOTE
Three years in and the pandemic continues to change our industry…Thank you to everyone for your very hard work in making sure there’s a ‘there’ there when it’s time to really get back at it. I haven’t posted much news in deference to those who are still dealing with covid-19, but I do want to celebrate my third anniversary.
Special thanks to everyone in this list: All3, E!, FOX, Gala Film, HGTV, History Canada, Laurus Productions, Magical Elves, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Magnolia, MTV, NASA, Netflix, Oxygen, Rabbit’s Foot, Reality Matters, RIVR, Sharp Entertainment, Short Street Media, Tell Tale Productions, TLC, Underknown, the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, and WETV.
See you again, very soon.
BIG TIMBER TO PREEM ON HISTORY CANADA OCTOBER 8TH!!
From Corus - Big Timber follows the dangerous work of logger and sawmill owner, Kevin Wenstob, as he and his crew go to extremes to keep the family sawmill, and their way of life, alive. Kevin’s logging a remote timber claim high up the steep, rugged slopes of Klitsa Mountain, deep in the majestic heart of Vancouver Island. It’s home to some of the best wood in the world and Kevin’s making a big bet to get it. His goal is to get 200 truckloads off before winter shuts him down, but the mountain won’t give it up without a fight. With his wife Sarah, his son Erik, and his right-hand man Coleman by his side, Kevin will do whatever it takes to get that big timber!
GOING FOR SOLD TO HULU
Season one of HGTV’s Going for Sold featuring Harper Raine Homes duo, Jon & Mary Tjon-Joe-Pin, will air on Hulu. CONGRATS RAI!
More info here
FOOLS MAGAZINE: AN INTERVIEW WITH CARA CONNORS
Check out this great interview with Cara Connors!
TWO YEARS - A NOTE
With the virus crisis deeply affecting the content industry, Contentum Consulting + Management solemnly marks its second anniversary.
Year two was filled with tremendous growth for the producers, production companies, & talent: Ariel Tweto stars in the IMAX film, Into America’s Wild; Cara Connors’ series, Cara Takes Up Space premiered on OUTTV; Brent Hull helped launch the Build Show Network; and the World Food Championships moved to Dallas – one step closer to truly defining “Food Sport”.
There were premieres of series that were years in the making, from Saloon Media - Falling for a Killer/Amazon; from Red Arrow Industries - Going for Sold/HGTV & The Radkes/USA ; from Essential Media Group - Ghost Loop/TRVL & Mom&Me/Off the Grid, On the Beach/Selling the Big Easy/HGTV. And projects bloomed at A&E, HGTV, History Canada, Ovation, TLC, Netflix, & Science Channel.
Special thank yous to the following companies for collaborating with the Executive Producers, prodcos, & talent this year: 44 Blue, A&E, Amazon, Bodega Pictures, Budweiser, Discovery Studios, E!, Eko, Evolution Film+Tape, FNX Network, FOX Network, Goodbye Pictures, Hashoff, HGTV, History Channel Canada, InventTV, ITV America, Jarrett Creative, Journy Network, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Magical Elves, MGM, Milojo Productions, Morningstar Entertainment, MTV, Muse Entertainment, Netflix, Netflix, Ovation, Oxygen, RIVR Media, Science Channel, Sharp Entertainment, Shed Media, Switchblade Entertainment, Texas Crew Productions, TRVL, USA, Walmart, Wheelhouse, & Woodman Park.
I’m also very happy to announce that I am a Consulting Producer to the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers for 2020.
I hope that by the time the WCSFP annual event in December kicks off, our industry will have recovered from this truly amazing world event.
Melissa
March 18, 2020
CARA TAKES UP SPACE ON OUTTVGO.COM
Cara Connors is smashing the patriarchy by going undercover to investigate the double standards between men and women in this six episode mid-form series, available on OUTTVGO.
See four versions of Cara in episode three - The Pink Tax
TED BUNDY: FALLING FOR A KILLER PREMIERES JANUARY 31, 2020
Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer is set to premiere on Amazon on January 31, 2020. See the trailer here.
Congratulations to everyone at Saloon Media and especially Executive Producer, Trish Wood, on this phenomenal project. Special thanks to Heather Budman and Lindsay Webster in making this happen.
From Realscreen - As previously announced, Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer will chart Bundy’s long-term relationship with former girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall and explore the ways in which the killer’s pathological hatred of women collided with the culture wars and feminist movement of the 1970s.
After nearly four decades of silence, Kendall and her daughter Molly share their experiences through an archive of never-before-seen family photos. The pair are joined by “a chorus of female voices,” including survivors of Bundy’s attacks.
BUILDSHOWNETWORK LAUNCHES WITH BRENT HULL
Master craftsman and historical restoration expert, Brent Hull, joins the launch of the BuildShowNetwork this month with new projects and instructional videos.
Founded by Matt Risinger, the BuildShowNetwork content provides comprehensive and detailed techniques catering to industry professionals seeking knowledge, home owners seeking guidance, and hobbyists & DIY-ers seeking instruction.
CARA CONNORS LAUGH FACTORY SET AVAILABLE ONLINE!
See Cara in action here -
GHOST LOOP SETS PREMIERE ON TRVL
Essential Media’s newest series, GHOST LOOP sets December 27th at 10pm ET for premiere.
From Discovery - When paranormal entities terrorize the living through endless and repetitive supernatural cycles, manifesting again and again in the same location, it is known as a “ghost loop.” Now, a team of highly specialized paranormal experts, who focus on this distinct type of haunting, are stepping in to help both the living and the dead. In Travel Channel’s new eight-episode series, “Ghost Loop,” premiering on Friday, December 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, the team will attempt to break cycles of trapped paranormal activity and restore peace by drawing out each spirit through re-created trigger environments.
In each hour-long episode, the “Ghost Loop” team of experts – paranormal investigator and medium Sean Austin, empath Kris Star, researcher and tech advisor Chris Califf, design specialist Eric Vitale and tech support Matt Lytle – first examine and research their client’s property and history and perform a preliminary paranormal investigation. Taking their facts and findings, they formulate a plan they believe will help stop the haunting. Whether it’s building a 1900s-era train compartment, replicating a tavern from the 1850s, or constructing a 19th century baby’s nursery, the team uses each emotionally charged setting to draw out the entities during intense follow-up investigations. Hoping to engage the spirit, the group aims to release the energy and break the loop once and for all – bringing peace to everyone involved.
ESSENTIAL MEDIA'S SELLING THE BIG EASY PREEMS SATURDAY ON HGTV
NOLA's most hilarious (and talented) realtor is showing you the best real estate in town! Selling the Big Easy premieres August 24, 2019, at 2pm EST
WORLD FOOD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TABLE: NEW ORLEANS SATURDAY CNBC
Ten World Food Champions. Three challenges. One winner. The $100,000 World Food Champion is announced on Saturday, August 24th on CNBC at 11 am CDT.
The two-part documentary special, Final Table: New Orleans, captures the passion and creativity of Food Sport as ten World Food Champions, home cooks and chefs, met in New Orleans earlier this year. Going head-to-head for a $100,000 grand prize, their challenges were: to master Creole-inspired cuisine; to recreate the signature dish of third-generation New Orleans restaurateur, Dickie Brennan; and to impress CEO Rick Blount and Executive Chef Rich Lee of Antoine’s, the oldest family run restaurant in the United States.
“This was a tremendous and challenging Final Table,” commented Mike McCloud, President & CEO of World Food Championships. “Our event produces fantastic champions, but this event put a new spin on it, and our new champion really had to impress the best.”
The World Food Championships 8th Annual Main Event is scheduled for October 16 – 20, 2019 in Dallas.
CONGRATS TO RED ARROW INDUSTRIES - GOING FOR SOLD AIRS AUGUST 1ST!!!
From Discovery - The worst homes in Houston’s best neighborhoods are getting Texas-sized makeovers in the new HGTV series Going for Sold, premiering Thursday, Aug. 1, at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The series stars real estate agent Jon Pierre Tjon-Joe-Pin and his wife Mary, a former flight attendant who left her career to pursue her love of design and start their home renovation business. In each episode, the busy parents of two turn forgotten homes into charming and affordable properties that appeal to young families looking for a high-end look without the hefty price tag.
CARA CONNORS BACK ON E!'S DATING#NOFILTER - AUGUST 6TH!!!
From Bustle - If you're burnt out on dating and in need of some funny, unfiltered commentary about how hard and awkward the whole thing can be, you're in luck. Dating #NoFilter now has a Season 2 premiere date. Bustle can exclusively reveal that the E! show returns August 6th to joke about your single life woes.
If you missed the first season, the show features various comedians as they watch and comment on various singles' blind dates. It's kind of like a snarkier (and less tear-filled) version of the last couple minutes of a Queer Eye episode, when the guys are gathered around the TV watching how things went after they left. They yell at the screen like we would at home, but with more quips.
CONGRATS ON ESSENTIAL MEDIA GROUP’S HAT-TRICK AS WELL!!!
From Deadline - A&E Network and Essential Media Group continue to push the boundaries in the genre of high-stakes stunts on live TV with new series The Impossible Live (working title). A&E has ordered five two-hour episodes of the series, which they describe as the most ambitious live stunt series ever attempted.
A&E and Essential have also been partnering with daredevil Bello Nock on previously announced Volcano Walk Live (wt), a live special showcasing the longest, most complicated and dangerous stunt ever attempted – a world record high-wire walk over an active volcano. The special, which had been in development, has gotten an official green light.
From Corus - Big Timber is greenlit for 8x60 on History Canada. In the forests of Vancouver Island, B.C. a family of loggers have bet it all on a valuable and isolated timber claim. But with treacherous weather and impossible terrain they must build their own roads and craft their own machinery to get this timber out in the best condition possible – and they have a limited amount of time to get it done.
Congrats on Saloon Media's June HAT-TRICK!
From Realscreen - Canadian broadcasting and media company Blue Ant Media has unveiled its upcoming programming slate for 2019/2020 for its T+E, Cottage Life, Smithsonian Channel and Makeful channels.
For T+E, Hotel Paranormal will have its world broadcast premiere in the spring of 2020. The 8 x 60-minute series, produced by Saloon Media and distributed by Blue Ant International, features hotel guests and staff recalling their spooky hotel experiences.
Also produced by Saloon Media, in association with Talos Films, Travel Channel and T+E, The Witches of Salem will host its Canadian broadcast premiere this October. The four-part documentary series draws on historical documents, court records and experts like sociologists, psychologists and cultural historians, to bring the drama and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials to life.
On Cottage Life, Saloon Media’s Canadian version of the BBC Studios’ Life Below Zero will premiere next spring. Life Below Zero: Canada is a 8 x 60-minute series that captures the day-to-day trials of Canadians living in the remote Canadian north.
THE RADKES PREMIERES TONIGHT!
Congratulations to Red Arrow Industries on their new USA network series, The Radkes.
From USA: The Radkes is a six-episode, half-hour unscripted family sitcom that centers around Melissa Radke and her big, loud, Southern family. They live in the small East Texas town where she was born and raised: Lufkin, Texas. This outspoken mom will give you her opinion on almost anything, even if you didn’t ask. She’s funny, charming and the life of every party…especially the ones she wasn’t invited to. Melissa and her husband David love their two children Remi, 12, and Rocco, 9 unapologetically, but when it comes to dealing with middle-school drop-off or teaching her children sex education… Melissa is constantly apologizing! She’s a pretty big personality for such a small town, but ask Melissa why she loves Lufkin and she’s quick to tell you: “Because the barbecue is better and the babysitting is free.”
CONGRATS TO ESSENTIAL MEDIA ON REALSCREEN GLOBAL 100 STATUS
From Realscreen
“It is difficult for me to select in which category they may best fit, because they fit them all,” said one exec in his email to Realscreen, one of many nominating Australian headquartered Essential Media Group to the Global 100. From feature docs, such as their award winning look at musical cult heroes The Go-Betweens (The Go-Betweens: Right Here), to specialist factual (Living Universe, a co-production with Zed; The Pacific: In the Wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill); to returnable series (Body Hack with Todd Sampson for Network Ten, Gourmet Farmer for SBS), Essential has covered a lot of topical territory over the course of its history. And it is also covering a fair amount of geographic territory as well, expanding with offices in the U.S.
The success of the programs also speaks to the quality of the team behind them: The Pacific was the top rated program for History in Australia in 2018 and the second highest rating program in the Foxtel factual tier, while Living Universe, a four-parter about the search for exoplanets, is a top performer for CuriosityStream. Body Hack, meanwhile, has attracted a sizable and passionate audience, and is in production on its third season.
CONTENTUM ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!
Thank you to the CLIENTS (!!) and companies that have made Contentum Consulting & Management a success this past year. In alphabetical order - A&E, All3, Amazon, B17, Brunico, Creature, DCP, Discovery Studios, e!, Eureka, Evolution, FNX, Hashoff, HGTV, IPC, Journy, KSA, Lime Pictures, Lucky8, MacGillivray Freeman Films, Maverick, MGM, Morningstar, Muse Entertainment, New Dominion, Ovation, Sharp, Shed, Studio71, Texas Crew, Thinkfactory, TRVL, USA, WeTV, & Wilshire Studios.