Skepticblog

As I work away on all my various production projects and try to get things settled for a few days away the end of this week, one thing is in the back of my mind… The Amazing Meeting is this week! Hooray!

TAM7 as we affectionately call it is the largest yearly meet-up and conference of skeptics in the world. Brought to us by The James Randi Educational Foundation, and headed up by none other than fellow Skeptologist and SkepticBlog contributor Phil Plait. He’ll be the M.C. at the event which will bring together I’m betting easily over a thousand skeptics from all over the US and the world.

Last year at TAM6, in Las Vegas, I was proud to be able to screen an early cut of The Skeptologists to a good part of the group during on one the lunch breaks. We’ve made a few changes since then and my only regret is that I’m not going to TAM7 with a big announcement that we’ve signed a network deal for the show. We have a great show, and an incredible cast, and the content is terrific. The one critical thing that is missing: A network rep that is willing to stick his neck out on a science based show that is a bit left of center. — So far…

TAM7 will not be without it’s share of announcements and presentations. I know that the Skeptics Guide to the Universe folks will be debuting a project that they are working on and Brian Dunning and I just might be bringing a rough-cut of a little project that we cobbled together last week. In addition we’ll be bringing what we affectionately call our Network Promo” of The Skeptologists which is a 3 minute promo reel that shows the highlights of the show.

Bill Prady, the creator of The Big Bang Theory on CBS is the keynote speaker, and I think that this speaks highly to how the skeptical community has begun to embrace the importance of media and entertainment in getting the message out to a mass audience.

Although I look forward to meeting and talking with as many skeptics and critical thinkers as I can this coming weekend, my main goal is to make as many connections with people that may help us get The Skeptologists on the air as possible. We’ve already got some pretty high-power meetings set-up and I have high hopes for them.

The climate of network TV has changed drastically in the last year and our show, which would have been a slam dunk pitch a year ago, is now a tougher sell in an environment where nets want more conflict, violence and cheap thrills. There are a few notable exceptions to that rule, and we are carefully crafting our approaches to each of them as we work to get a good deal signed. I’m not content to just get any old deal and move forward, there’s a lot of critical pieces that I want in place so that I know this show will be able to be produced with integrity.

We’ve had a long and winding road to where we are now. We haven’t made it to our destination, but we have certainly come a long way. As we all head to the oasis in the desert, I hope that our trip from there will continue forward successfully and with renewed enthusiasm and some great direction.

If you plan on attending, please come introduce yourself! I’d love to meet you!