New Tv Show - Casting

[Vordigern]

I hope I dont get blasted for Blasphemy, but maybe they can expand on the show and include rocks/gems?

BLASPHEMY!!!! jk

[Haddy]

So what's the relationship of this show to this one: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php/topic/30649-new-fossils-for-cash-reality-show/page__st__120

[Auspex]

So what's the relationship of this show to this one: http://www.thefossil...w/page__st__120

None, I'll wager. We probably came to the attention of both parties via Google searches, once the original discussion was underway and out on the web. Mr Jacobs might have found us while looking for casting prospects (he is pretty actively engaged in recruiting, here and elsewhere) coincidental to the posting of the first video.

[ajacobs]

None, I'll wager. We probably came to the attention of both parties via Google searches, once the original discussion was underway and out on the web. Mr Jacobs might have found us while looking for casting prospects (he is pretty actively engaged in recruiting, here and elsewhere) coincidental to the posting of the first video.

You don't have to wager! We're not affiliated with that project. And thanks for saying I'm "pretty actively engaged in recruiting, here and elsewhere." Makes it sound like i'm doing my job well!

[Jurassic Jim]

Wow, truthfully I really hoped this kind of show would not come to fossils but always knew it was a matter of time. If you don't think it has the potential to bring out a lot of new people looking to make a dime. I woud suggest reading articles lately on the increase in gold panning across the country, I have also heard at least anectdotely that storage unit auctions are crazy now, there's scrap metal salvage to the point where construction sites need 24 hour security and homes are robbed of their AC units and copper pipes in the crawlspace when people go on vacation, In my town we recently had a rash of folks breaking into cars for metal in broad daylight at office parks. All some people need is a little education and their off and running. There have been several things over the last 12 months that are rapidly restricting fossil hunting from states passing laws prohibiting fossiling on public land period, to the closing of access of quarries; outside of collectors these things have largely flown under the radar. What the hobby really needs is a lightning rod to really stir the debate (sarcasm). I think it is very clear which direction momentum is right now...and sure good debate could swing the pendulum the other way (who is willing to take those odds?) Anyway a mantra I have been told my entire life is that "you better do anything worth doing now because it will eventually disappear"; that resonates with me everytime I go fossil hunting alone or introduce it to someone else. The counter is thankfully that most fossils have little monetary value to the public, of course these would not be the ones that the show would be after.

Great posts...I have really enjoyed everyone's perspectives on this.

[32fordboy]

To me it's plain and simple. Fossil hunting is an adventure. We start with nothing. We have to comply with laws. We put in dozens of hours (as ameteurs) of research. We write letters, hoping we get one decent landowner who's willing to let us on the land.

All that work and there's no telling what can happen. The only letter I ever wrote to a landowner was forgotten about until, 8 MONTHS later, he called me with good news. Then we had to wait 7 more months for the season to roll around.

Okay, so now we have the landowner's permission. Will we find a doozey? Will we get it out of the ground before the floods come? Can we get it out of the ground without destroying it? What if we find nothing?

It doesn't have to be about money. Fossil hunting, itself, is an adventure of persistence, trial, error, danger, snakes, heat, political obsactles, timing, pure luck, pros and ameteurs coming together and falling apart, and plenty of other things not associated with money. We have the crazies, we have the intellects, we have the famous and not-so famous.

Saving a fossil from natural destruction is the goal. Plain and simple, no matter what side a person is on. Associating it with money is the only part that bothers me. See post #45 to find out why.

On the other side of the coin, this project will go on as planned. No matter what. That's business and I, as a business owner, understand that. At this point, the only option seems to be picking out people we trust to represent us. Maybe I'm wrong. But, like it or not, they will find their crew.

Edited August 9, 2012 by 32fordboy

[Raistlin]

I agree with so many of the posts.

In a way I would love to do something like this because it would allow me to get to places I would not get to otherwise (money, job and all that). Also I admit it would suck being away from my family for a length of time. I mean they drive me crazy and I like my time I do get alone at times but I also like when they join me from time to time. I would take my son more places but a lot of them around here are not friendly for 5 year olds to be and still be productive at all, a few will be better in winter though.

Being away from my family is not something I would really be into. I turned down going to different countries to train on different machines because of my son being so young.

Personalities are easy. It is all about how much fun you have in life. Add to the fun you have in life to the joy in finding a great find and you are a hit for sure. I am not saying be like one of the personalities on reality TV today. They are all fake and scripted idiots. I love the comparison of Steve Irwin though, he was truly awesome.

For me the whole thing has pros and cons. I see things where it could be bad for all of us but I see where it might help to bring interest in some things and get a bit more information out there that will help us. I know people make money off fossils, most of the fossils though are only worth something to the person who found them or maybe those they will pass them down to later in life. I do not think I have any fossils that are of significant value. Sure I have bought a few, only those I could afford so they were not that expensive but they are super cool to me.

I would watch a show and love to see one that puts everything in a good light. I pray this happens with this one. As already said it is going to be pushed and worked on so it does not matter how we feel.

[Jurassic Jim]

Saving a fossil from natural destruction is the goal. Plain and simple, no matter what side a person is on.

AGREE. Now here is a show I would like to watch. Stories of conscientious amateurs (like many people on this site) working with museums and academia. A show that focuses on the aspects of amateur collectors that literally dream of the day of finding something unique that adds to science and is welcomed by the professionals who actively engage in helping the amateur get the find into the spotlight of science. Show the work of discovery, excavation (if required), research, debate, and maybe the expansion of science. I believe this would be full of real drama. I would find this fascinating (but then I hear I am weird that way!) Instead we seem to get a lot of stories of museums/institutions/governments at odds with amateurs and vice versa. In the mean time freeze and thaw, hot sun, wind, flooding, animal herds, etc destroy countless fossils relentlessly. If you watch the shows that air periodically you would think amateurs never contribute anything and that only professionals can find a meaningful fossil. I know there are plenty of good stories out there.

That's enough from me...best to everyone and happy hunting.

[Auspex]

A real ratings sizzler is going to be watched by folks who know little to nothing about fossils, their discovery, and their recovery. Unfortunately, in making the stories profitably marketable, the results are apt to leave these viewers with a highly inaccurate idea of how and why it is done; this is a shame on every level.

[TMNH]

I do not believe a show about fossil collecting is going to drastically increase the number of generic morons running out and trying to dig up bones. It may get a few fools out there, but to the extent most of you all are worrying over, hardly likely. I dont believe someone who would be interested solely for the sake of money is going to look at this show and think "Oh look, I can go out to some hill, dig some and find a fossil I can retire on!" While the general public may not be the most intelligent group of people, I cant beieve that a hgh number of them are THAT stupid. The liberation of fossils requires a lot of hard work and sweat, which will turn off most folks.

Personally I think it would do more good. Bring in more people who are truly interested in the science and hobby.

Unfortunately, I fear you may be wrong about this. On my trip to Mazon Creek in the spring, we ran into a young family in the field. They were very friendly and told us matter-of-factly that the reason that they had come to Mazonia was because they had seen some fossils from it, purchased for a substantial price, on one of the pawn shows on tv. They said that they had no idea that such valuable items were just "lying around" so close to where they lived! It isn't stupidity...it's just that they had no idea what they were getting into. The trouble is, if a show specifically about the money that can be made off of fossils came on tv, I shudder to think of the hoards of such fortune seekers who would swarm any site they can find. Even if they gave up after a while, enough of them could decimate hunting sites.

Like many others have said before, a show that emphasized education, preservation and the simple awe of prehistoric life, not the money, would be great. With the right cast of characters (for example, enthusiastic people like Steve Irwin), I think that a lot of viewers could be drawn in. If this could be done, I would watch the show!

[32fordboy]

Real life example right there. Thanks for that contribution.

[MB]

I cannot add to much to this post because my difficult with the english language, I'm sorry, but as the Comte Henry Russell said: "vulgarise is to do vulgar"

(more or less...)

[Atomic Rat]

Hello all,

I'm the Director of Development of a major non-fiction/documentary television production company. We produce shows for networks such as Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, Travel and Animal Planet among numerous others.

And the name of the 'major non-fiction/documentary television production company' is who?

[jpc]

One aspect that a show like this has potential to do... again if they steer away from the money-is-my-prime-motivator tale is the poplarization of the whole concept of evolution. Anyone out there collecting fossils could easily steer a discussion toward evolution, or simply the concept of deep time and ancient environments. Evolution has been getting short changed lately with all these politicos trying to eliminate it from school rooms... (see Louisiana and TX latey). If a show like this could have someone who would link a fossil to evolution, and thousands of people out there would see evolution just bandied about by a reguklar Joe, and not see it as a debate about evolution, then maybe there is some good to be had.

Just a thought as I suit here at lunch reading what y'all are saying.

[MB]

Jpc, I had not fallen into this, will see what treatment they gives to the subject, interesting.

[Atomic Rat]

It is my nature to be suspicious of people claiming to represent a business for an entertainment industry but the person inquiring about my interest in fossil hunting for such a production does not reveal the name of his/her company--unless I missed it somewhere in this thread, it was not shown on the e-mail I was sent, and the person did not respond to my request for the name of their company they represented. Call me 'paranoid' and 'suspicious' but I am not interested in pursuing communication with such a person. I do not believe in vague descriptions of one's relationship to a production company sent by e-mail that does not carry the name of the company on that e-mail, and secondly, after four pages of posting on this forum, I have yet to read where that name has been posted--I have relatives in the entertainment industry and their e-mails always proudly carry the name of their stage production company, even when posting to forums. Most companies I am familiar with on the web do not use generic e-mail boxes from which to send e-mail, such companies almost always have their own e-mail server with their name and physical address shown in the e-mail. I won't call this an attempt of fraud, but I will say that this person ranks high on my suspicions and his or her motives are too vague are not completely clear.

[Gizmo]

At this point I agree, credentials please.

[AgrilusHunter]

And the name of the 'major non-fiction/documentary television production company' is who?

This was my first thought too Atomic Rat. I would want to know examples of other shows produced by the company before even considering if this is feasible. And I can't imagine asking for someone's contact information (or giving out mine) without credibility being addressed first.

I do think there are models of success for actual science based television out there, the British show Time Team is probably the best. Though that too has gone down hill over the past few years.

Edited September 1, 2012 by AgrilusHunter

[Trevor]

I agree with Atomic Rat.

[lordpiney]

And the name of the 'major non-fiction/documentary television production company' is who?

this is the company that produces the shows...

http://atlasmedia.tv/home/

[32fordboy]

It's a genuine company. I did talk to the company (along with several other members, I'm sure). After finding out the show's plot, I feel it will have a smaller effect on us fossil hunters than we initially thought, but I still strongly disagree with the concept and will have nothing to do with it. It might negatively affect an entriely different group of people.

Nick

[siteseer]

JPC,

I think if it's a Science Channel kind of show, then you would get some discussion of evolution. It could be like the book "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway" with one co-host being a celebrity who has an interest in fossils or science in general and another co-host being a scientist to explain concepts like evolution and deep time. The pair would visit a different site each episode and show what they (or a small group of other collectors) found on a particular day.

The problem TV people might see with talk of evolution is that that it would be an immediate turn-off to some potential repeat viewers though they might see controversy as a good thing - something that might get picked up by newspeople/bloggers and generate some free publicity.

I think each episode could have a guest paleontologist familiar with the site-of-the episode to provide details. Of course, few deposits offer the level of preservation of the Burgess Shale or the richness of Sharktooth Hill but every bed says something about the local area at the time of deposition. The paleontologist could make that interesting tying in to what else was going on in the general region and worldwide. That person would identify the specimens found at that site. In the case of indeterminable pieces, he or she would be able to say why a given specimen is not complete enough to identify. He or she could also film museum segments to show rare specimens that had been found in the same layer before.

However, if each episode is about which "team" finds the highest dollar value in fossils (as in the storage auction shows), it would probably be tough to find a paleontologist willing to participate. That kind of show would be more interested in bad acting/forced confrontations than in education and would probably not last any longer as a series than an education-based program.

Last week, I saw Bill Nye on "Attack of the Show" and he was talking about evolution. "AOTS" is an entertainment/tech show aimed at teenagers/20-year olds so that was a nice surprise.

Jess

One aspect that a show like this has potential to do... again if they steer away from the money-is-my-prime-motivator tale is the poplarization of the whole concept of evolution. Anyone out there collecting fossils could easily steer a discussion toward evolution, or simply the concept of deep time and ancient environments. Evolution has been getting short changed lately with all these backwoods christian politicos trying to eliminate it from school rooms... (see Louisiana and TX latey). If a show like this could have someone who would link a fossil to evolution, and thousands of people out there would see evolution just bandied about by a reguklar Joe, and not see it as a debate about evolution, then maybe there is some good to be had.

[Scylla]

I saw Bill Nye in the news because of his attempt to dissuade parents from teaching their kids creationism instead of evolution. I was heartened to see a defense of Bill Nye basically saying we dont teach that the world is the center of the solar system anymore. Anyway lets not get into crazyland thinking that in this (American) society a few thousand facts will change anyone's opinions since all you need to influence people is a loud voice and confidence that you are right

[ricktune]

OK, I am very new to the site, but I have to spew my thoughts.

Number one, the very first post leaves a "gmail" account to send your info to. I would think if it was a genuine representation of of the company involved, it would be a company account. With that said, it comes across as someone trying to "sell" an idea to a production company, no offense intended, this is how these "reallity" (I don't believe in reallity tv) do it.

Now, as far as TV shows go, if anyone watched shark week this past summer and saw the "sharkzilla" show, I hope everyone noticed the major flaws that were involved in the production. To begin with, the people that "found" the skeletal whale remains were not digging for study, they were digging for profit. This, in my opinion, instantly turned the show into a commercial for their sales. I for one had never heard of them but after the show I googled them and found all of their "for sale" items and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

My next point about the show was that, YES, they found a Meg tooth, but in my opinion it was probably found previous to the show and the "re-found" for production. Yes, she had to pry it from the ground, but she merely had to brush away the matrix from the surface. Next, there was never any mention that the tooth was found next to the whale in question, but they led you to believe that it was from the shark that "bit" the whales head off.

Now they call in an "expert" (a word I don't believe in) in the field of iron working. He is put to the task of building this mega-megalodon. Anybody that knows the workings of the business end of any shark knows that making it work out of steel like it does in real life is impossible, or nearly impossible. After seeing what had been constructed, I stand by those statements. What he actually built was a steel jawed 20 ton press. After which, Hollywood stepped in and started their production run. they had the giant monster bite this and gnaw that, but then they brought in the representation of the whale and guess what? they didn't bite it in half.

What I'm trying to get at in a strange and round about way is, don't buy into the bologna (I would have used a different word but I'm trying to keep the G rating). These guys are out for ratings which turns into money which turns into career climbing. Please don't let these people destroy what you have going here, don't sell your "soul" to these fake people in a fake world that only care about their Beverly Hills bank accounts.

Oh, this is how I explain the word "expert". An "x" represents no, nothing, not at all, and a spurt is a drop of pressurized water, so, an expert is a know nothing drip under pressure. Nobody can know everything there is to know about anything. They can be very studied on the subject and they can write volumes on it and be published, but they cannot know everything. I have met several Ph. D.'s that have admitted they were not experts on the subject of their dissertation but were very knowledgable.

[fossiladdict]

This is the first I have seen and read of this topic...at 7am in the morning I am looking at all of this going whooaaa....

I agree- if you are searching for individuals to be on a show, you identify the production company and usually the name of the show. I agree with so many points that I'm not going to even identify all of them.

Fossiling is a hobby for me- it's one that I enjoy and make no money in doing- I spend money if anything. It's a hobby that I don't want to be DISTURBED, i.e. I don't want hundreds of people showing up in attempts to find that one cool fossil that might be worth a lot of money. It's my quite time from the real world that I'm in 5 days a week. Reality is that a lot of the stuff that I find makes ME happy, but really has no monetary value to it to speak of. Oh sure maybe if you add a lot of it up, it might have some value, but I don't want it thrown out to the public that all fossils are worth money, and quite frankly that's what most reality shows like that are based on...the monetary value of the final product.

I just don't see a reality show on fossils for plain jane fossils...and that it will actually draw a crowd to watch it. The show would have to be finding really fantastic fossils to gain viewers, and then it would impact those of us who enjoy our quite hobby time. There's a difference between a documentary and a reality show, and I just don't see the benefits of a fossiling reality show. But that's just my opinion.

All I can say is that if this ever actually falls through it better be done right and not just show the "few" fossils that are worth money to the public.