Alex J Geairns Talks To Sci Fi Pulse About His Proposed
CultTV Unleashed Television Show
Source Sci Fi Pulse
7 November 2002
During my recent short break at the CultTV (Themed Holiday) Festival, I met many people with the same love for classic television as myself and together on the Saturday we were all treated to a taste of CultTV Unleashed, which is a proposed TV show that the CultTV production team under the intrepid leadership of Alex Geairns are hoping to sell to a 'UK TV Network'. Alex was kind enough to answer a few questions about his grand plan for Sci Fi Pulse, the results of which you can read below.
1. What gave you the idea to produce the proposed Cult TV Unleashed programme?
For quite a few years now I had been aware that many people, including those who count themselves as TV fans, are unaware of so much that was happening on broadcast television (and I include satellite and cable within this term). For instance, we had a letter sent to Dirk Benedict, via the Southport Floral Hall where our latest Festival has just been staged, noting that it was "a shame that The A Team is no longer on television". Well, it was on UK Gold tonight, and has been for at least the last year! These people would count themselves as fans of The A Team, and yet aren't aware that it's just a digibox away from them; even worse is the situation if they actually HAVE a digibox and STILL DON'T KNOW they could be watching one of their favourite shows. Admittedly there are many specialist mags available, like SFX, TV Zone, Dreamwatch, Cult Times, etc, but they only have a very small audience in TV terms - even some of the smallest satellite channels will get a bigger audience than the sales of these magazines combined.
So, if the interest is there, and is untapped, then maybe a TV series covering
television that's "Off the beaten track" has a market. Cult TV Unleashed
takes all the elements of our annual Festival, and turns them into a weekly
show that will be the route map, the portal if you like, to the sort of stuff
that isn't getting mentioned in the press. Rule out soap operas, game shows,
reality shows and documentaries, in other words just cater for the offbeat
fictional series, and there's plenty of material not covered elsewhere which
will become the diet of Cult TV Unleashed.
2. Having seen a little of the format myself at your recent Cult TV (Themed Holiday Break) Festival, I noticed shows such as 'Vision On' were covered. How widespread a coverage are you looking to in your Cult TV programme and would you say that it is a widespread misconception by the general public that a Cult Television show is just an SF show?
Cult TV has always been a concept that embaces comedy, action adventure, childrens' series, drama, and animation as well as Science Fiction. Unfortunately, many who use the term like to narrow it down to stuff that features just space suits and ray guns, but then that has its own term anyhow, so why do so? By the way, we don't use the term "Sci-Fi" as most Science Fiction ("SF") authors consider it derogatory. Unfortunately you say "Cult TV" and the first thing most people say is "Star Trek". Whilst Trek is part of the Cult TV domain it is just a small part of the many universes from the past, present and future that we celebrate.
3. As a writer of some note yourself, how do you define a Cult Television show, what is it that you think makes a Cult TV show different from the everyday soaps that have been running long term as part of the British TV Viewers diet for so long now, and how do you plan on defining the words 'Cult TV' in the Unleashed show.
"Cult TV" has been defined so many different ways over the years - there are several definitions already that we offer as suggestions at our website, www.CultTV.org . However, the one I personally favour at the moment is a series that can withstand repeated viewing - you always find something new to consider, an aspect you haven't noticed before, or a dimension that can open up endless extrapolations. Basically, a series that makes you want to do more than just sit and watch it.
4. Have noticed that you have managed to get a few overseas guests in recent years to come over for your Cult TV Festival, can you see there being any interviews or special guests of this nature in your Cult TV Unleashed programme if it gets picked up.
We have always have had overseas guests at Cult TV - right back from when we had Harlan Ellison, Carolyn Seymour, Anneke Wills (then living abroad) and Richard Arnold for our original 1994 event. Cult TV is a truly international phenomenon and, budget notwithstanding, it would be our intention to have guests from both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the camera at Cult TV. It should be noted that we will also delve into Europe for guests, too, such as when we brought Robert Hoffmann (the 1960s Robinson Crusoe) over for our 1998 Festival, and Xenia Seeberg (Lexx) from Germany for our 2000 Festival.
5. It is a very unique idea to have a show that covers such an incredible range of TV shows, do you plan to cover some of the Cult movies in the series should it go ahead, movies by such people as Ed Wood.
Cult TV is already a huge territory, so we'll leave movies to other folk with a better background knowledge. Our experts all specialise in productions made for television, which is why we don't cover Star Wars et al.
6. Should the show not be picked up, do you have a back up plan such as a streaming video presentation for your already existing internet based audiance?
This hinges back to the problem of budgets. If this series was to go ahead, we would need a full-time production team and the associated costs of that. We'd also need to be able to pay for our guests, as unlike the Festival this would have to be a professional concern and we would expect to be paying professional rates rather than just calling in favours and contributions to our chosen charities. The budget for Unleashed is NOT cheap, so we would have to have a regular broadcast TV outlet, though not necessarily terrestrial, to be able to afford to do this.
7. As has been pointed out on a number of occasions, the words Cult have somewhat of a negative conatation to them, i.e., 'religious cult'. So obviously it is going to be an uphill battle, what tactics do you think you will need to employ in order to redefine the word Cult into something more positive with your show.
Having thought this in 1999, when we changed the title of the event to TELLY BREAKAWAY, we have realised that the term CULT TV only has a negative image to those we would never get as an audience anyhow! Changing the title didn't improve attendances for the Festival, so we realised this was not actually a barrier. The term is seldom confused by anyone save for those who actually want to make mischief by suggesting the term is off putting. If anything, it becomes an edgy and dangerous term which actually acts as a magnet to those who would truly appreciate that which makes up the 'Cult TV' canon.
8. What do you think would be the best Channel for the Unleashed show to thrive.
The one that commissions it! The one with the biggest available audience would be my only qualifying statement.
9. Why is it that you think that 'Science Fiction' and 'Cult TV Weekend' attendees are always looked down upon as nerds and geeks, and are you planning to address this issue to the viewing public should 'Cult TV Unleashed' sell to a UK network?
The problem is that explaining what the Festival is about, and indeed the whole concept of Cult TV, is not easy. Lazy news editors send out camera crews with the brief to find the 1% of fans at a convention who are "in costume". That's what is generally shown on the news coverage and therefore gives completely the wrong impression of the composition of the audience for the event. So, in the dock is the media. Also in the dock are the convention organisers who let them do this. If you think that's the way a particular news organisation are going to handle it, refuse them admission. The publicity on the weekend of your event will not actually do you much good anyhow. People will see the stuff on the telly, think they can get into the event for a pittance (if they even become remotely interested), and then you'll end up with no actual gain for your cause in the long-run, as these folk won't pay the on-the-door price. Football fans now actually have a very good press, particularly as regards TV coverage, and it's that "aspirational" aspect of TV fandom which we'll want to encourage. If you watch these shows we celebrate, then you're ahead of the game, not a soap-opera-stuffed battery hen with no mind of your own.
10. Is there anything that you would like to add.
If you think of a TV station that you would love to see Cult TV Unleashed appear on, write to their "Commissioning Editor" (give'em a call before you write to find out his or her name), and tell them they can get in touch with us either by emailing unleashed@CultTV.net or writing to Cult TV at P.O. Box 1701, Peterborough PE7 1ER. Tell them there's no show like this one, and that they should be grabbing it with both hands. Eventually, our work and your work may well one day bring to the airwaves the show we've all been waiting to see.
Alex J Geairns, Creator & Executive Producer, CULT
TV UNLEASHED
In closing why not go to www.culttv.org
and check out some of the guest's that Alex and his team have lined up for
next years event which will be held in Sand Bay. When you look please take
into consideration that more Guest's will be forthcoming and keep checking
back. If you see someone you like why not book your ticket and prepare for
one of the biggest CultTV Partys you will ever likely attend.