History-Making Syndicated TV Special 'David Sheehan's Academy Awards Movie Magic' Breaks New Ground with Studio Ad Buyers: The Following is an Unusual Inside-the-Business-Office and Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Most Successful Syndicated Special in the History of Television
David Sheehan's ACADEMY AWARDS MOVIE MAGIC aired on 259 television stations in 198 markets covering 96.544% of U. S. DMAs during the latter part of February leading up to this past Sunday's Oscar ceremonies.
STUDIO CITY, Calif. (PRWEB) February 28, 2007
This distribution success generated an unusual spot-buy ad sales marketing bonanza for a small Southern California production and syndication company solely owned and operated by the dean of TV entertainment reporters, David Sheehan.
Not only has David Sheehan's ACADEMY AWARDS MOVIE MAGIC set records as the most successful syndicated special in history, the show that is all about this year's Oscar movies is supported by spot-buy advertising primarily bought by three major movie studios: Disney, Warner Bros. and The Weinstein Company.
The Disney brand was represented in the show by :30 spots on new releases "Bridge to Terabithia", "Wild Hogs" and "Meet The Robinsons", with the Disney Buena Vista Home Entertainment brand advertising its new DVD release of "The Prestige".
Warner Bros. bought its :30 in Academy Awards Movie Magic for the new Hugh Grant - Drew Barrymore romantic musical comedy "Music and Lyrics", while the Warner Home Entertainment brand placed its :15 spot for the DVD release of Martin Scorsese's Best Picture and Best Director Oscar winner "The Departed" as a unique "closed captioning brought to you by" sponsor.
Harvey Weinstein's Weinstein Company used Academy Awards Movie Magic to trumpet "Factory Girl", its racy 'R' rated Edie Sedgwick bio-drama starring Sienna Miller, with a :30 running in rotation with a second :30 for the new wide re-release rollout of the other Weinstein bio-drama: the Renee Zellweger starrer "Miss Potter".
The company behind the show, Hollywood Close-Ups, Inc., gave the movie studios special accommodation by putting up a series of three different nationwide satellite feeds during the February 10 thru February 25 Academy Awards Movie Magic broadcast window, so that creative commercial content material could be changed to reflect opening dates.
The :30 for Disney's "Bridge to Terabithia", for example, began with an "Opening February 16" tag and switched for the second show feed to a "Now Playing" tag.
Likewise, Warner Home Entertainment's :15 for "The Departed" DVD release advertised its February 13 HiDef street date in the first satellite transmission and switched to an "Own It Now" tagline for the show's second feed. Meanwhile, Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment :30 for "The Prestige" proclaimed "Own It on DVD and Blu-ray Disc February 20" during the first two feeds of Academy Awards Movie Magic, switching to an "Own It Now" tag for the show's 3rd feed.
The only non-studio spot in Academy Awards Movie Magic is a :30 purchased by the John Paul Mitchell hair care products, promoting a new shampoo with the slogan "only your salon guarantees the real Paul Mitchell."
Academy Awards Movie Magic is one of three syndicated specials produced and distributed by Hollywood Close-Ups every year for the past 12 years. The company's two other shows are Summer Movie Magic, airing every June, and Holiday Movie Magic, airing every December. All three shows provide the same kind of advertiser-friendly procedures, with as many as 5 different satellite feeds during a 3 or 4 week broadcast window.
About Hollywood Close-Ups
Hollywood Close-Ups is the company founded by David Sheehan in 1994 while he was the entertainment reporter on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. Sheehan's opportunity to form his own production company came at the suggestion of NBC Entertainment President Don Ohlmeyer, who immediately asked Sheehan to produce and host two network specials: "Macho Men of the Movies" with Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and "Hollywood's Leading Ladies", with Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sharon Stone, and Barbra Streisand.
Hollywood Close-Ups maintains its corporate headquarters in Studio City, California and its post production facilities in the Hollywood Hills.
About David Sheehan
TV's FIRST ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER MAKES HISTORY AGAIN IN SYNDICATION
In 1970, David Sheehan was the first entertainment reporter and critic on a news broadcast in the history of television. Now, 37 years later, David Sheehan has written, produced and hosted the most successful o-t-o (one time only) syndicated special in the history of television: Academy Awards Movie Magic, airing in 96.544% of the U. S.A., on 259 stations in 198 markets, many during Oscar weekend.
Besides interviewing all the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar nominees, the show also features an exclusive in-depth career profile and candid conversation with Sheehan's longtime pal Clint Eastwood, who is nominated for Best Director and Best Picture for "Letters from Iwo Jima".
David Sheehan is no stranger to TV firsts:
-- In 1972, on KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, Sheehan was also the first commentator to ever critique television on television, drawing "biting the hand" feature articles in both Time and Life magazines.
-- In 1975 he was the first local newsman to ever work for two networks simultaneously: appearing daily on "America Alive" on NBC and "The Big News" on CBS.
-- In 1979 he hosted and produced the first Pay-TV monthly series in history, "Backstage in Hollywood" on HBO.
-- In the early 1980's, Sheehan produced and cameradirected "Pippin", with Bob Fosse directing the choreography, and starring Ben Vereen and Martha Raye. "Pippin" was the first Broadway musical ever captured by cameras during live stage performance in history. "Pippin" still plays today on cable and Pay-TV and the DVD is currently on the "musicals" honor roll at home video stores and websites everywhere.
-- In the 1980's, at NBC, Sheehan was the first local entertainment reporter to host and produce his own series of network specials, under the tutelage of then NBC president Don Ohlmeyer, including "Macho Men of the Movies" (with Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger) and "Hollywood's Leading Ladies" (with Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sharon Stone and Barbra Streisand).
Sheehan worked the 70's and early 80's on KCBS-TV, moved to KNBC-TV from '84 to '94, and finished up his 33 years of daily newscasting back at KCBS-TV from 1994 to 2004.
Since then, he has been hosting three national specials every year: "Summer Movie Magic", "Holiday Movie Magic" and "Academy Awards Movie Magic" (with friend Jack Nicholson recurring), all syndicated by his Hollywood Close-Ups, Inc. production and distribution company headquartered in Studio City, CA.
Sheehan is the father of three children, all doing business in and around the Hollywood area. His son Brian is owner/operator of the Eclectic Wine Bar & Grill, his daughter Shannon is a real estate developer, and his daughter Kelly is a recording studio engineer and producer for pop music stars Kenny "Babyface" Edmunds, Tyrese Gibson and Usher.
Sheehan and his wife, actress Susan Angelo, live vagabond lives, residing primarily in Marina del Rey, California, New York's upper west side, the Indianapolis-Bloomington area of Indiana, and his hometown Columbus, Ohio.
Sheehan's college education includes Ohio State University, The University of Notre Dame, and finally finishing up at UCLA.
After college, Sheehan was a newspaperman with the United Press International syndicate, covering celebrities in politics and winning accolades for his insider reporting on Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" involvement in the 1962 John F. Kennedy presidential campaign.
His magazine writing for Esquire, Playboy, Mademoiselle, and Los Angeles Magazine included rare interviews with "Tropic of Capricorn" author Henry Miller, mental health pioneer Abraham Maslow, Gestalt Therapy founder Fritz Perls, and Zen interpreter Alan Watts. His articles on philosophers Michael and Dennis Murphy gave America its first view of the legendary 'Human Potentiality Movement' at Big Sur's Esalen Institute, which also took readers through an actual psychedelic experience guided by Sheehan's interview subjects Timothy Leary and Richard ("Baba Ram Dass") Alpert.
In the late 1960's, Sheehan was producer, actor and director of L. A.'s Theater Now Troupe, producing the West Coast Premieres of plays by Edward Albee, Norman Mailer and Jules Feiffer. The Sheehan production of Feiffer's "Little Murders" broke box office records in 1969.
Sheehan is also the author of one published novel "Before I Wake", under the nom de plume David Dury. The book's editor was "Tropic of Capricorn" author Henry Miller. Sheehan is currently working on his second book.
Please note:
At its heart, this is the story of one man's (Sheehan's) entrepreneurial triumph, with enormous help from a terrific staff of 8 - known as the heavy-hitting 8-ballers.
For the most part, the 8-ballers work out of Sheehan's Studio City Production/Distribution/AdSales offices. Some of these 8-ballers also often work from their homes in Albuquerque, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Brooklyn, Houston and Santa Monica.
It is the stuff American business is made of --- 37 years of persistence and perseverance, perfecting an approach to entertaining but humanizing thought-provoking communication within the context of entertainment journalism and celebrity roster magazine show production, and then learning how to get that produced product to market.
At its heart:
It's a story of a 35-year media pioneer suddenly hitting it big again.
It's a latter-day Horatio Alger saga.
It's the little engine that could -- and did!
It's history-making!!
It's amazing!!!
AND, it's an inside look at how barter-basis television works (something the media has never explored).
It truly is a story vibrating and reverberating with the wave of the future, the future of syndicated television.
And the timing couldn't be better. We were still solidifying clearances and airdates as late as last week. So the claim could not be made with certainty until just recently that this is indeed 'THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SYNDICATED SPECIAL IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION!'
This puts the icing on the entrepreneurial cake for a banquet of a story that is celebratory and informative, factual and forward-looking, illuminating and inspiring, and true!
I will be happy to provide any other pertinent details you want to flesh out the story.
