• New newsy news - We are really excited to announce that our series won the Emmy for best special class series.
Anyway, on with the story below . . . .
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We have posted all of the episodes from our series The Relic Hunter with Ian Grant on our Facebook page.
The video below here is a short "sizzle reel" (not my term, just for the record) that was put together on the show. The story of how we got the show is below this video. If the video doesn't appear below, click here
From around February of 2006 to January 2009, I put together a Television series with Travel Channel. It's a long story that shows up in my blog history. The premise for the show is pretty simple so I am just stealing the quote from the show's Facebook page (I get to do that 'cause I wrote it):
"Follow me around the world as I explore remote places and cultures by looking at the unusual things they make and use in everything from daily life to exotic ceremonies and festivals, and the adventures that happen along the way as I try to find these people and places."
So taking a single propeller plane into the rainforest and then traveling by river to visit a remote group of people in the rainforest of Suriname and competing with their champion river boaters using their paddles that are very traditional and specific to them. Taking part in a Voodoo sacrifice in the middle of the jungle in Togo, West Africa and negotiating with the Voodoo priest there for an object of his. Playing violin with Gypsies in a Gypsy village in Istanbul, riding wild horses with the traditional honor guard in the Atlas Mountains, blowgun hunting with a tribe in the Peruvian Amazon. To me, the objects we find in the episodes are a conduit to exploring a people, a culture, a tradition and they are a chance for me to join in with them doing whatever it is they are doing with that object. Its so much more than just trying to find a cool souvenir.
I hasten to add that it is also sooo much more than a show to me. While its not a reality show, it's shot in a pretty live way with a sense of urgency - rather than just visiting a place, or eating something, or jumping off something (and just for the record, I'm a fan of some of those shows). This is my actual job in real life, and has been for a decade now. So what you are seeing me do on television actually has consequences for me and my business. The people I am meeting with, working with, the cultures I am jumping into will hopefully be a part of my business for a long time to come if things go well - it's not just a one time trip for the camera. There are also so many more levels that exist behind the scenes of the episodes than what you will see on the air for 30 minutes, some of which I touch on in my blog entries, other things that just don't make any sense when put to paper. From big topics like cultural sustainability to small topics like getting stuck in 3 feet of duck crap in the middle of the rain forest of India. It's also about showing people how to find something on a trip that has relevance to the people and place they have visited as well as to themselves - rather than just disgorging off the tourist bus or ship in front of the prescribed tourist shop to buy "the thing" you are meant to buy there. It's about the adventure in finding something interesting by getting involved in daily life, ritual life, exploring down that hidden alleyway.
Then add to the mix all of the things that surrounded this over the years - getting the series, designing it, working with the production company, working with Travel Channel, editing it, then waiting for it to air, working on PR for the series, balancing that with a more than full time business, a family and a life - it's all been my life as it has unfolded over the last four years. But that's another long, drawn out - and hopefully publishable for a lot of up front money and movie rights - story.