As an outsider, I found the English / French “situation” fascinating! I learned a great deal about it on this journey, and would love to hear your perspective someday.

The Sex Pistols were great! I can’t hear the phrase “God Save the Queen” without thinking of Johnny Rotten – LOL

TV does need some fresh ideas… It also needs some quality content. I haven’t watched the current RV fare, but I’ve heard that the Great American Race isn’t all that … great.

I have a few other ideas with regard to a TV show. I can’t spell it ALL out here, but it would involve us doing what we do now, on steroids, and also with a twist. When we visit communities around the country, we would interact with members of the community, and incorporate them into the show. Each week would play out like a “travel game show” with travel content and a game show twist! There, I’ve gone and said too much already. Revealing the full idea will have to wait for the pitch.

My present plans are to finish editing our summer ’09 travels (three more episodes), then focus on the sample DVDs for programming directors, and finally sketch out some simple but fun video blogs. Maybe this autumn we’ll head to Hollyweird, DVDs in hand, all set to deliver our pitches. Hopefully you will be available.

And then, while still nurturing the Long Long Honeymoon brand, I’ll explore shooting a standalone documentary for fun. I feel ready to tackle a feature length doc.

At some point, we should hook up with MM and do an interview, too…

Had a meeting this morning… with the studio’s… board of directors and program managers… seems they are looking for some new material… why they ask us… is useless… we have our plates full of trying to meet production schedules right now… but, somthing that I have been pondering after seeing your last trailer… came out just as a … well here let me put it to you in story/script form

Picture this… its 10am at the board room where at a long wide table are seated directors and producers chatting.

inter the big cheeze… “Ok settle down we all know you want to get out of here and head for the outback”. Why I called you all in this morning is because the TV industry needs ideas people…..!!! The well is dry and ratings are falling… you all need to come up with some new ideas to help out…

Ahhh…BC stopps and glares down the row of people sitting their… as one of the minions turns to the person on his right and softly says ” Ya they are buned out on reality sport game shows… told you so”…

What was that !!?…. the big cheeze says… Minion ” Oh I just said you need another combo show that the public can vote on.” BC ” another dancing with the stars or idol!!!?? Minion… No I think the public is just about fed up with those kinds of entertainment…. BC “then what?? Minion.” Well the back lot movie makers did well with Ms car… and the like… but BC… why don’t we give it a new twist… LETS TAKE SOME REAL STUDENTS OF VIDEO… NONE OF THIS PROFESSIONAL IN SHEEPS ATTIRE CRAP… SOME REAL FIRST TIME MOVIE MAKERS , CUT ‘EM LOOSE WITH PROFESSIONAL COACHING PRODUCERS LIKE GEORGE… OR STEVE..etc… AND LET THE PUBLIC SEE HOW they do it…AND VOTE ON WHAT IS the BEST…

BC interupts……”.. what another back lot on location sort of thing?” Minion” No more like in a given area they are already working in… Ahhhh …. here I downloaded this last night to read today again…(as minions slide it down the table to BC)…. BC “what is this???” Minion.. well its a list of amature video people who are in the RV’s… its a awards listing.. BC reads the email… and suddenly looks up… Ahhh I see you want to get these people to shoot the best RV stuff on the road weekly they can… and present it as a show… showing the problems, means and way of doing it… and then have the public vote on each segment that the directors are tasked with….ahhh … asking them… hmmmm Interesting concept…Ahhh Yaaa…. not only learning from the masters but in competition of them as well… hmmm…. another 45 min of discussion goes on… with it being contenued to the next meeting…

Damm am I good… as not only did he crack a smile but… kept the down loaded awards listing … and wouldn’t give it back… the bum….

Right time… right place… but, will it sell…. see where it goes from their…

Hey remember these folks rated you AS you were coming up… so as you said.. 5th is not bad… its next year that will count…

We still do have classes at Universal back lot on filmmaking… lots of students too… seems everyone today has a camera now that its cheap video… grin

Yep making dreams on screen is not all fun and games… its bean counters and actors whining… while you try and keep a schedule…

We had a gal on set as a visitor… that was behind the camera… the actor couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.. and it was supposed to be a serious scene… and he just couldn’t concentrate… after 7 or 8 takes… the actress who was opp of him… blew up… and walked off.. we had to excuse her and ask her to leave because just by being their she was disrupting the others… and now you know why most sets are closed….

but, I kinda have other plans for you… grin… so bring your farmer john jeans and your color matching shirts and shoes… indy out back hat… and we will have some fun… as things are a little looser on locations than at the back lot… grin… by the way Kristie is not a jellous woman .. is she… ouch thats going to leave a mark… thinking red skelton… know it all style… (the man reading/not reading the book) directing lucy on how easy it is to properly hook up and pull their new trailer…grin… (bet you have some real life experiances here .. sean…) but, you have to follow the script…(we’ll have it written) or adlib?? (no cuts here) .. and if you do … she can too) and of course… our… Lucy… doesn’t know a thing your talking about…except to impress her in a man’ly superior way…. and she has her own plan… to mess with ya .. and take you down a notch… hmmm… easy huh… why look at that .. even the dog is grinning….

I must admit that the prospect of being an “award winning” blog was initially appealing. Then I started to wonder whether chanting “We’re number FIVE!” was really so attractive…

But hey, I guess it’s better to be recognized than not at all. I will keep the badge online for a while. It’s not exactly an Academy Award, but it’s a start.

With regard to Hollyweird, no worries. I know (or at least I can imagine) how it is on a set, with the red tape regarding visitors.

A few years ago I took a filmmaking class in LA, and we shot on the backlot at Universal. That was great fun! I will see if I can post the short film that I shot on the backlot someday. The only catch is that — in its current form — it uses a James Brown song, so I’ll either need to obtain permission from the record company or change the song.

I don’t know exactly when we’ll be back in Los Angeles, but I am thinking that it will happen sometime this autumn. I will definitely let you know if we book anything!

Where the heck is my cell phone… this isn’t right… me protest… aid get their number I want to talk to ‘em…

Come on folks… Sean needs your vote… feel the love … and hard work he puts into each of his adventures… well ok…. so much for the love part…

RV/Caravan Awards Category

This award goes out to the best RV and Caravan blogs that we could find. These bloggers not only accurately translated their passion to their blogs, but they did so with such style and attention to detail that we felt it was only right for them to be rewarded for their efforts. Their blogs are not only an insight into RVing, but a great source of information both in terms of text and accompanying pictures. The overall style, both visual and written, is taken into account when judging for this award and particular attention is paid to the blogger’s ability to draw the interest and keep the attention of readers.
Award Recipients 2009

* 1st rvnow.rvtravel
* 2nd rvwheellife
* 3rd rvnewsservice
* 4th cagefreefamily
* 5th longlonghoneymoon
* 6th vagabonders-supreme
* 7th .thisendup1
* 8th joyandphil.blogspot
* 9th geeksontour.blogspot
* 10th hereslucy.squarespace

I can’t promass anything but we will see what we can do… I think a couple days on a back lot set might be good… but I have to clear it with the powers to be… as most are closed sets and they don’t like visitors… (0ne cough from a visitor…and the whole scene, costing thousands of dollars in labor, just went out the window… and has to be done again… kinda thing) I would like to get you on a remote location with your trailer etc… where you can talk with the video and sound editors and others too… but, I make no promasses… playing it by ear… we’ll see… what happens.

Ahhh yes varitey… is the spice of life.. and also in videos… to keep ‘em coming back for more.. grin…

Oh and one thing … you know you can use color filters on the camera light too… . but, you look good in blue… light… highlights your…baby blue eyes’….blue (cold… ) or netural (good) color… definately outside at night.. no warm filters…

I still say your hidding speilberg or lucas in the closit or som’thin… cameras do make a difference but, normally its the guy behind it ….

Now don’t go getting all warm and fuzzy feeling.. on me…. so as you have to ge a couple size larger hat… ‘en all… ;) keep experimenting… oh and say Hi to the dudes in the trailer closit… even if only in your dreams… You know if you send him a trailer … and ask his advise…he just might invite you to come visit too.. as he is one of the nicest (normal) producers I know… always interested in upcoming video people… hangs out at USC if not in the studio most of the time… I am told… even if your DVD gets retruned… its worth a try in this industry… they are always looking for newbies. Right now Disney (marimax) is coming on line to get back into the race for the silver screen. (lots of talk about ‘em in the locators… Might want to try them too…;)

Just a word of advise… stay behind the big camera.. once you get in front… life changes…

First of all, thanks for the compliment… I think it’s probably a combination of factors that has stepped up our recent quality a bit. I’m glad that someone out there has noticed.

When we set out on our recent spring journey, I was toying with this idea of shooting and editing a travel documentary in bite-size chunks. I guess this is the first test of that idea. By tackling it in more of a documentary style, it allowed me to aim a little higher from a production standpoint.

I think we will do the next 3 videos in this style. Afterwards, I will work on that sample “Long Long Honeymoon” DVD for the network programming gurus….and we may also revert to shorter, snappier vlogs. Hopefully it will all make for a nice mix of content here on the ol’ website.

I still plan to visit Hollyweird this autumn, so I can sneak on one of your sets and get behind a big boy camera….

If you look back over the past half dozen episodes, we’ve got the bones of a documentary. If we pool together the episodes and add some additional content, we’ll have a cohesive 30 or more minutes. This piece feels kind of like a “bridge” or transition piece to the next. I didn’t really wrap it up at the end….but it will blend into the next segment. Or whatever…

The next two or three episodes will wrap up our recent travels – some cool stuff (Niagara & Airstream factory). Then I will revert into more lighthearted old-fashioned video blogs, like grandma used to make…