The Making of a TV Show
Since the last post, things have been a bit busy at Bintjoe.
For starters, it was established, officially. We are now Bintjoe Media, LLC.
Secondly, we launched our first project: Sports and Such, the TV show.
In May of this year, Kevin Turner and I met with the General Manager of The CW’s Dallas affiliate (CW33) and pitched him the show we created on YouTube a year earlier. He seemed very interested but it wasn’t set in stone until months later. We signed the contract in July and our first episode aired September 18, 2021.
The time between signing the contract and the premiere of our show was a whirlwind. After the excitement of ‘holy sh**, we have a TV show” subsided, it was time to get to work and we had a LOT of it.
Part of our deal with CW required us to bring on advertisers. Neither Kevin or I have experience in selling ad space so it was another new thing we had to deal with. As we approached companies who might be interested in sponsoring us, it occurred to me: ‘how do we get the money from them? Do they just send it to my account?’
Yes. That’s how green I was to the situation.
I called up an old boss and asked for advice and she told me I quickly needed to create a business that these companies can send checks to.
So, no. They couldn’t just Venmo me.
In the midst of finding companies to pay us for ad time, as well as, you know, creating a show, I had to quickly register for an LLC and create a bank account and all that other fun stuff you need to do to start a business.
Shoutout to every accountant and small business owner that I reached out to in panic-mode in those few weeks.
Eventually, we registered Bintjoe Media, LLC, opened its bank account, agreed to terms with ten advertisers, and somehow completed the production of episode one in under two months.
The months that followed were fun, challenging, defeating and rewarding.
From really late nights, juggling our day jobs, broken hard drives and writer’s block, we did it. We completed season one. It wasn't always our best work but anyone who runs or hosts a talk show will tell you that you’d be happy with three out of ten good shows.
I think we hit 30%.
Reginald Adetula and I met as students at UT Arlington. I reached out to him to join our show because I knew he’d be our ace. He brought the cool, smarts, and charm that I knew he would, and then some.
Jesse Kubanet is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. We considered him our “head writer” and KT and I would always get really excited to see what he’d come up with in the ‘Top Stories’ google doc every week. He was a recurring correspondent as well and his bits were often my favorite part of the show.
Steve Shackelford is the guy you want around at all times. He was one of our main joke contributors, hooked us up with our intro song (shoutout to Jordan Wilson who created perfect music) and was overall the person that constantly boosted our spirits.
Sarah Alnesr is a rising star in comedy writing and I look forward to her thanking Sports and Such as her first gig when accepting her many Emmy awards in the future.
Jonathan Dodd was a saving grace behind-the-scenes. Anytime I found myself in a bind, Jonathan was there to bail me out. An incredibly dependable, funny, and huge asset to the team.
Jenean Adi… my right hand woman! The show wouldn’t have happened without her eagerness to help out wherever she could. A true talent.
And finally, the heart of the show, Kevin Turner.
KT and I have been friends for a long time, and based on the conversations we would have about work, comedy, and TV, it is no wonder that we’d eventually create Sports and Such together. A true friend and huge talent. The show would be a PowerPoint presentation at best without him. He has a natural comedic gift, incredible timing, smart as hell with an interesting point-of-view on sports and other things. Above all, he’s a genuinely nice person and he—along with everyone else on the Sports and Such team—were an absolute delight to work with.
As the new year approaches, it’s time to recharge. We don’t yet know if there will be a season two but I will keep you all posted.
I’m excited for what’s to come. Whether that’s a shot at making Sports and Such better, or moving on to another project, there’s a lot of cool stuff planned down the line at Bintjoe Media and I hope you’ll be there for the ride.
For now, I’m going to take a nap.
Best,
Dena