Screen Magazine: Vol. 28, Issue 14

Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 28, Issue 14 - Index

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By King B.
Before leaving public access I had the pleasure
of attending one of those “beer model”
competitions at the now infamous E2 nightclub.
There I had a conversation with someone who
told me that he had met a young woman over
at WTTW (Chicago’s largest PBS affiliate) and
that she was responsible for bringing urban TV
shows to the station. He suggested I call her.
Excited about the possibilities, I did call her.
Tracye was the associate producer of a show
called “Artbeat” and she quickly assured me
that she had no power to bring any new shows
to the station.
Despite that, we continued talking. We talked
about almost everything under the sun. Soon
we became friends. I would go to her house to
“kick it” and we had long talks on the phone.
Okay, I know what you are thinking. No, we
never dated; we were just really good friends.
Anyway, one summer evening, almost two
years later when we were at one of her family
functions, Tracye told me that a new executive
vice president had taken over at WTTW and
that they were looking for new and different
programming. My first reaction was, “How
different?”
I said I could work on a new concept and
have a one sheet done in a week. She said
she could set up the meeting. We decided
to meet at the Borders on 95th Street in
Chicago to go over everything and prepare
for the meeting. When time came for
the meeting I was there - she was not.
I was pissed.
Now if I had been like a lot of the egotistical
people in this business, that would have been
the end of it. But I was hungry and I wanted
success more than serving my own pride. So I
called her and gave her an earful. She apologized
and we set up another meeting. This time she
showed up, liked the idea and subsequently set
up the meeting at WTTW.
She took a huge leap of faith by doing that and
I really appreciated it. She stuck her neck out
for me. She was in position. She had a job. She
didn’t have to set up anything for me. If I didn’t
come through, it would have looked really bad
on her part.
But she was the type that liked helping people.
She didn’t just talk about helping people (as
most of the people in the industry in Chicago
do), she actually did it! And soon it would prove
very profitable.
To be continued…
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