Let start at the beginning, our first travel program "The Best of Buenos Aires". How we got started.I think I can say that the travel production of CNI Cinema started in February 2002. Prior to that we were only producing feature films. We prod

Curious Travelers' Trailer for NYC Halloween Pilot

Dec 17th, 2005

Video Link to TrailerFestival Traveler Melody Bates with friend outside Blood Manor in the pilot episode of New York Halloween for the new series "One Hundred Festivals To Go Before You Go"To Find out more about the series and pilot production

Why All Travel Shows Should Shoot in Hi-Definition?

Aug 30th, 2005

In five years digital TV will be the standard worldwide. Already it is the standard in Japan.In the united States the FCC mandate requires all television manufacturers to equip their products, except those smaller than 13 inches, with digital t

Review: Take Five Europe on Discovery Travel Channel Breaks New Ground!

Aug 27th, 2005

Take Five Europe was the first program I believe that was greenlighted by the new General Manager of the Discovery Travel Channel. It is an extremely smart production decision. The series breaks new ground in integrating written and video blog

Casting for the Presenter

Aug 27th, 2005

In travel shows everything depends upon the presenter, in fact presenters can be more important then even the script. If you are fortunate enough to find a really great one, someone that the audience will tune in to wach and travel with time an

Lowell Thomas, The Man Who Invented The Travel Program

Aug 26th, 2005

If we trace the history of the modern travel program the origns go directly to Lowell Thomas, the man who invented the term travelogue. Below is his biography from the wikipedia encyclopedia:He was born in Woodington, Ohio, in Darke County, the

Taking On Interns

Aug 26th, 2005

For the past few months I've been interviewing hundreds of job applicants to work on our travel programs. I've seen people who want to be presenters, operate the camera, direct, take sound, write scripts and project proposals, work in the sale

Acquisition vs. Commission

Aug 25th, 2005

I've often wondered why networks pay so much less for acquisitions than commissions?It would seem that if you produced a program they wanted to buy and it fit into their programming needs they would pay at least as much as if it was a program

Globe Trekker - The Format, Fixed In Time

Aug 25th, 2005

Globe Trekker is one of the best travel program out there.It's the only truly international travel program. It's got some of the best presenters, music and they spend their budget wisely; they haven't yielded to some of the cost cutting measur

Rick Steves' Backdoor to Europe - The Economics of a Travel Series

Aug 25th, 2005

Rick Steves has to hold the record of creating the most economical travel shows. For his thirteen episode half hour series:His crew is a total of three people:- Rick Steves - The presenter- A cameraman - usually a local, so he doesn't have to

MostTraveledMan.com & and where to shoot?

Aug 24th, 2005

There is a site MostTraveledMan.com, of a a dot.com millionaire, who has spent the few years traveling and traveling and traveling. He holds the new world record for visiting 500 countries and territories is 4 years, 3 months, 15 days. He even

The History of Globe Trekker: Mother of all Modern Travel Programs

Aug 23rd, 2005

The History of Globe Trekker/Pilot Guides, according to Curious Travelers (and correct me if I am wrong, some information is insider info, most is second hand and from research)If the grandfather of all travel programs was Lowell Thomas, the h

The New Direction in Travel Programming

Aug 22nd, 2005

There is a new direction in travel programming. You see it on the Discovery Travel Channel and on the Fine Living Network, the two main providers of travel programming in the US. You see it also on the PBS travel programmers, although to a less

How Long Does it Take to Produce a One Hour Travel Program?

Aug 22nd, 2005

People often ask me how long does it take to produce a one hour travel program?I often joke that it takes as long as the size of the budget. The truth is that it usually takes a set amount of time; unless you have several production teams in th

Video on Demand- Travel Programmers have it both ways?

Aug 22nd, 2005

OK. So there are two different audiences for travel programs.One audience, the majority of the viewers, the 25-65 demographic does not travel, but they are intrigued by travel.. For them the more exotic the travel location the more interesting

The Travel TV Programmer's Dilemma

Aug 22nd, 2005

The Discovery Travel Channel has shifted their programming criteria and I'll explain why (or why I think why?).Really it goes to the root of why people watch travel programming and why some travel programs do better in the rating than others.Fi

My Reality Check at the Travel Channel

Aug 22nd, 2005

Looking back at it and knowing what I know now it makes perfect sense why the Travel Channel didn't acquire my first program.Let me digress for a moment. Prior to producing my first television program on spec (ie I spent my own money, something

'The Best of Buenos Aires" - Continued

Aug 22nd, 2005

OK. So the first program 'The Best of Buenos Aires" is finished for acquisition and I send it off to the Travel Channel acquisition department.It usually takes two months for a network such as the Travel Channel to get back to you. When they

How we got started - "The Best of Buenos Aires" - continued

Aug 22nd, 2005

The second type of Travel program that the Travel Channel produces are hosted programs. At the time - back in 2002 when I attended the Real Screen Summit for the first time, the Travel Channel had several of these types of programs, the most w

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