Full Story here:http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/200...0.html?PG=home

Many of us can learn from this guy -

Determination and goal setting.

Here's his blog:

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the story tv-guy!

tvwriterguy,

Thanks for posting this. What a crazy story. I just shared this with my new agents class. The assignment I gave them was to think of 3 unique ways they could promote themselves and present them tomorrow.

The two caveats were:

1. The ideas had to be something we have never talked about in the class before (i.e., cold calling, networking, etc.). No matter how insane, bizarre, unique - 3 ideas.

2. The ideas had to be within their means. For instance, we've never discussed investing $20,000 into an informercial, but since that's WAY beyond their means - not allowed.

If anyone's interested, I'll post what they come up with.

Chris

Chris,
Can any of your agents sing "country music"?

In my business, I found something that worked well for me (years ago). TV Writers are constantly having to write specs. These aren't scripts you write and try to sell, like in copywriting specs. These are scripts that are your calling card. The script that your agent sends out for show runners to read.

The golden rule for a spec is:

--It needs to be a current show with at least a year in the can, and the guarantee of another year ahead.

Anyway, years ago, every writer was passing around specs from the same show. Seinfeld. It was the best show to write, therefore everyone wanted to write it. It got to the point where there was such a glut of Seinfelds out there that I needed to find something different.

My then partner and I came up with a novel idea. We wrote a Dick Van Dyke Show episode. We used all the original characters, as if it was still on the air. But we wrote with a modern voice.

Anyway, long story short we got tons of meetings out of it. We were mentioned at Guild meetings and even on industry radio shows. Producers would call other writers in to the room to say, "These are the guys who wrote the Dick Van Dyke." And they would shake our hands telling us how great it was that we did it.

That script gave me my first 6 figure year writing television.

Then a couple years later, EVERYONE and their mother was writing old scripts with a modern voice. There were I love Lucy's, Mash, The Brady Bunch all over the place. The concept was played out, so I had to come up with what was "next."

I wrote a Columbo, repleat with guest stars, as a half hour sitcom. I used all the famous guest stars throughout the years, but put it in the form of something like a "Friends."

That script got me my second (and last) 6 figure year.

It's been 5 figures since then, but I had my taste. I made my mark (kinda). Someday some kid will come up with the next great way to promote his writing career.

Stephen, are you kidding? I'm in Mississippi.


I think that's awesome. In my introductory post, I told everyone that my day job is in financial services. The agents I train so often get tunnel vision (don't we all!).

That's why I appreciated this outrageous story to show what can happen when you want something bad enough and are willing to step out of the box and actually . . . take a risk (GASP!)

Of course, my fingers are really pointing back at me.

Barter.
It's unreal and so powerful.

Just keep scaling up until you get what you want.
It's great.

Love this story.

Just an update for anyone who has been living under a rock. This guy actually met his goal.

He started with one red paperclip.

He traded it for a pen.

Traded that for a doorknob.

And so on... 11 more times.

He now owns his own 3 bedroom house. All from one red paperclip.

Genius.

The sad part is... it'll never work again.

I'm willing to bet he won't stop at this original goal...

This is an excellent opportunity for a business to get some great publicity by trading his house for something bigger... much bigger!

This may be just the beginning of his quest...

His PRIMOQUEST!