(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 30 - March 30, 2026)
Okay. So,
I don’t know if network president Kathleen Finch, literally, actually saw
my test reel with her own eyes. I wasn’t there and didn’t speak to her myself. I
only know what was passed onto me in that moment on the green light phone call in November 2013.
Maybe, what really happened was less. It might have only been someone pretty
high up on the ladder. However, at the time, the excited director said the
network’s president really “loved” my test reel, leading to us being
awarded four-episodes, the minimum for something to be a series.
I
explained to the network rep how I’d closed on my next project, settled on my
plans, and had started cleaning the house and garages out.
“Even
demo?” I asked.
“Yes.
Everything. Just hold off.” Then she explained how we’d start rehabbing and
filming in the first full week of the new year.
I needed
to know how much of the renovation her producers would be around for, and she
answered, “The whole thing.”
“How much
money do I need to have ready?” I asked next.
Her answer
took me by surprise. She answered with, “I don’t expect you to pay for
anything,” which sort of meant they’d cover costs for everything, and
that was a hearty overstatement since the house was in our name and I’d be
making each monthly mortgage payments, including homeowner’s insurance. I was
also covering monthly utilities, assuming those throughout.
But in
drilling down, I began to understand what the programming director did mean.
They’d pay my contractors, vendors, and all their necessary production costs,
plus any staging expenses.
Producers
involved, onsite or remote, would expect for me to coordinate with them, being
ready and able to film each phase and all the steps. They needed me to be
available fulltime for the three-month shoot and they didn’t want me working
late into the evenings or weekends without cameras.
This
seemed cumbersome, but I was willing to do it if they were picking up the tab
for the capital improvements.
The
earmarked money for the show would flow through the production company. I was
new to this mix so this initially sat well and made sense to me. The
Minneapolis producers and New York networks knew one another. I would be busy
focusing on the renovation details. Having these others overseeing the budget
sounded reasonable.
Then the
programming director said something like, “Again, congratulations, Trent. This
is a really big deal,” before adding this advice: “Enjoy the ride.”
I was
headed into the unfamiliar frontier of network television, nestled comfortably
in my seat on the faith train. I was beyond the mustard seed verse and
past my steady Eddies in Philippians or Romans. I was cruising into the land of
Ephesians 3:20, the closing benediction from our church: “Now to him who
is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine...”
This is
the verse that greeted me as we ended the call.
I’d taken
my longshot at being a reference, some sort of faraway consultant on the other
end of the phone for TV producers. Then after receiving the Rehab Addict
DVDs, I’d pictured myself as a helpful extra in the background on that show. But
a series with me renovating my own home was immeasurably more for
sure.
(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 32 - Coming Soon)
