How To Get a Television Show

    People occasionally ask me for advice on how they can get on television, and with that comes curiosity about who I knew to get the cameras to come film me in action. Was it a relative? A family friend? Co-worker from the past? Former school or teammate? Was it an ex-girlfriend? The truth is, I had no previous connections or contacts in the TV industry.    

    The question about getting on television is common, yet I still don't have a super great answer or a recommended path. Oftentimes, I say: "Put yourself out there." The internet has made this easy, with plenty of ways to establish a platform to share your talent, wisdom, and passion. Think about what you're good at, and if it's something you love, then you're off to a good start. Next, pick a way to let others know about you. Writing is a great way to start, even if it's a few words or sentences to accompany a picture. People need to see your happy, smiling face, but elaborating with words will help them get to know you. Plus, writing is an excellent way to find your voice before you press the record button for a podcast or video.

    I started fixing up my first condemned home before house flipping shows were popular. Then people started asking me, "Are you a house flipper?" Many were excited to be meeting a real-life rehabber in person. Sometimes someone would say, "You should be on television." Home rehabbing is a dirty, tiresome process, so it was always nice to have some stranger drop in and say, "You should have your own TV show!"

    Eventually, I just grabbed the yellow pages, called the Home Rehab Dept. at Scripps Networks, told them a little about myself, and they sent out a crew the following week to get started with American Rehab Charleston... just kidding. You have to put yourself out there so the TV folks can find you. Can you go to them? I guess, but I don't know how that approach works. 

    Besides saving these houses that have been called pig's ears, I really enjoy writing. Starting this blog was a way to combine two things I really love. Besides the flipping questions and TV remarks, visitors would also often ask about how I turned my pig's ears into silk purses. "How do you do it?" they'd ask. "How do you save a house that's been condemned?" Blood, Sweat, and Pig's Ears became my way of teaching, sharing what I had learned while encouraging others to take on houses with potential, too good for the landfill. 

    However, I should say a bit more regarding my motivation to 'put myself out there." I've wanted to be an author for a good while. I'm already a writer, but I have a dream of being published. I had hoped that this blog might help me connect with a publisher or literary agent. Instead, it caught the eye of a television producer. So, as they say, while aiming for the stars, I hit the moon. I wanted to be in the bookstore but accidentally ended up on TV. 

    Finally, along with establishing a platform for exposure about you and something that's a major part of your life, make an effort to be positive while you do it. Trust me. This will open things up and allow you to be more productive. I have a tendency toward pessimism myself, so I'm mindful of this pitfall. Hope and optimism will get you where you're trying to go a lot faster than the alternatives.

    Good luck, and don't hesitate to circle back and let me know where to find you online... or on TV!    

Trent Fasnacht

bloodsweatandpigsears@hotmail.com

That's All Folks

Happy New Year, Friends!

I've really appreciated the inquires about upcoming projects on television.  These notes have meant a lot as well as the words of support and enthusiasm for the shows.  

As many of you understand or can imagine, renovating a house that's been condemned is a big challenge and doing this work with a film crew on site makes everything more interesting and exciting.  In many ways, the network's role makes things easier and in others, it makes them trickier.  It's certainly a give and take, but without a doubt the TV involvement in the effort makes the renovation work more expensive.  

Schedule is significant in renovating houses, but with a Pig's Ear or extreme rehab, it's just one factor.  For me, it's never been the top thing.  I know it's really important in home flipping, but that's not what I do and this disconnect in priorities was an obstacle that I didn't anticipate.  My objective is to save the house, make the most of whatever I have to work with, and come away with some profit.  But the producers have different goals.  They have a show to make with an awareness of what viewers will tune in for.  Along with that they're diligently focused on the schedule in a way that takes precedence over everything.  As an example, the producers came to South Carolina to film me four times and we wrapped production as scheduled all four times.  But this adherence to the schedule comes with a cost and our rehabs were extremely costly, especially on Restoring Charleston where we completed both homes in nine weeks as planned.    

I'll always be grateful for the TV experiences I enjoyed and will continue to share my work through this blog as well as my Trentovation page on Facebook.  

Best wishes for 2018 and as always, please feel free to ask any questions or comments below or email them to bloodsweatandpigsears@hotmail.com.

My step-son Covington getting a feel for the
weight of the camera, Summer 2016.

And That's a Wrap!!

This is the amazing production team that I spent my summer with!  They were so great!  They've all been gone a full week now and I'm really missing them.  It was like getting to work with family and close friends everyday for two and half months. 

For clarity, I don't choose the people I'm working with on the TV side.  They're sent to me from all over the country.  They're all strangers at first, not just to me, but in most cases to each other as well.  However, over time and quite quickly we grow together naturally and begin to work efficiently as a team that get's to tell the story of a Pig's Ear getting saved.  We were all just thrown together and we made it work in a special way that probably made it hard for people on the outside looking in to believe that we only all just met in June.     

I love getting to work with a tradesperson who stumbles onto a gnarly, unexpected situation on one of my projects and shrugs as they say, "It's not a big deal.  I'll take care of it."  This was what it was like working with this crew on our two houses being renovated simultaneously this summer.  Maybe there were times when they were anxious or nervous on the inside, but they didn't show it.  They were champs day after day and I am so grateful that I got to spend the long days and intense weeks with them. 

Renovating a house is an adventure.  I sometimes need to remind myself of this to gain some additional inspiration as I grind it out.  Taking on a condemned or abandoned house is even more challenging and dirty and nerve-racking.  However, it's also a lot of fun.  I really love each project.  I enjoy figuring out the unexpected and getting to the end with my sanity and hopefully some profit.

As fun as it is during normal circumstances, it's even more enjoyable with the production crew there with me in the middle of the action.  Everyday, we were there experiencing everything together.  When I'm renovating a house like I usually do, I'm alone much of the time and I frequently  don't get to share the experience with anyone.  If I discover something unique or cool, it's most often when I'm by myself.  To have others there with me is special and getting to have experienced pros right there with cameras while I'm miked up is still mind-blowing for me.

Fun, Fun, Fun!  I'm so thankful I got to do two more houses for television.

I'm not able to thank you all enough!  You're the best!