First off, let me give you a little more detail about the show itself. disctv will be an hour in length each week, with the exception of certain markets which will run a half hour edited version of the show (as is currently the case in Chicago). The season will run 31 weeks from April to November. During each show, we travel to a different PDGA event and provide complete coverage of the Open final nine. Also included will be highlights of the early rounds, interviews with disc golf champions and legends, how to segments, tours of signature holes, shots of the week, feature stories, and anything cool we can think of.

Our first full-blown production week began in the early morning hours of April 4th, when we packed up and headed out of Chicago for Gainesville, Florida. Already we ran into our first snag: half the crew would have to drive, the other half would fly. That would create additional and unforeseen logistical challenges that would have to be overcome to complete the episode.

We had tested a few ideas in our two dry runs, but this would be the first week that product would actually have to be delivered. We all felt the excitement and the pressure, and wondered if we could actually pull it off with such a small crew and small budget.

The Gator Country Classic would be a great place to start. The weather cooperated, TD Shawn Harrigan was awesome, and the competition was close. We filmed, we interviewed, we got the goods and headed back to Chitown on Monday morning to edit everything together and get the show out by our deadline of Wednesday at 5pm.

All told, we had over 10 hours of videotape to boil down into an hour of entertainment. The editing began… and continued… and continued… and continued. We had spent most of the first day digitizing the footage we wanted to work with, and the clock kept ticking. It had now been almost a week since we left for Gainesville, and the lack of sleep was beginning to wear on us all. John and Leo both tend to get a little - no, make that a lot - loopy after too many hours of editing, and both were quick to crack up at what would otherwise be a string of really bad jokes and puns.

As the Wednesday deadline began to loom, it appeared that we wouldn't be able to get finished in time. Too much time had been spent digitizing footage that would never make it into the show. Eventually we missed our last opportunity to ship the show conventionally, but still had the option to go with an outrageously expensive late night courier service as a last resort.

The editing was still in progress when I left the studio on Thursday morning at 1am, heading home to do some laundry and tend to some other responsibilities. After all, we were flying out again on Friday morning (up at 4am to make a 7am flight out of O'Hare).

As it turned out, our first show was indeed delivered late, but lots of critical lessons were learned and, more importantly, the show looks great for the small-time production that it is at the moment.

As I write we're back in the studio, already editing show #2 from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I'll try to tell you more soon, but will provide some photos in the meantime.

Brian

For more information on disctv, go to the full site. You'll find lots of clips, information where to see the show, and lots more.