Transylvania Television

Transylvania TV and a cast of ghoulish characters led by Count LeShoc are coming to TVs near Minnesota soon.

One upcoming puppetry project I am really looking forward to is Transylvania TV or “TVTV” from Gordon Smuder (see previous post). TVTV looks great with nice puppets and amazingly detailed props and sets (not surprising since Gordon is a supervisor for MNFX, a miniature FX studio in Minnesota), but what I really like about it is the unusual old school business model that’s being using to produce the show.

Gordon created TVTV as a real, honest-to-goodness, over-the-air local TV show in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. He’s gone out and found a local comic book shop to sponsor airing the pilot (and hopefully a regular series) on late night television. He’s using old fashioned marketing techniques from the early days of television too; after watching the show viewers can join “Count LeShoc’s Midnight Zombie Legion” and receive a package in the mail that includes a certificate, a membership card, TVTV newsletters and, yes, even a secret decoder card.

I think this is a great example of a direct sponsorship business model. Most people don’t realize it, but it’s actually relatively inexpensive to buy late night airtime on local TV stations (the going rate in many North American markets can be as low as $400 to $1000 per half hour). If you can find a sponsor and keep your production costs under control this is a very interesting way to get a puppet TV series on the air.

If you want to check out TVTV for yourself, a sketch from the pilot was posted on YouTube a few months ago and a trailer for the half-hour series (link goes directly to a .mov file) was recently put online. Keep an eye out for more on Transylvania Television soon.