Hello everyone!

I hope you’ve had a good week. Between constructing a solid infrastructure, flushing out segments and establishing the tone of this new web series, it’s been a busy week for me.

Be my guest:

One of the production elements we’re developing for our Ask Christopher series is the inclusion of guests from the web itself. I know from this site, snail mail, Twitter, and phone inquiries to our corporate and production offices, that there are many of you who have great products, sites, services, projects ideas and voices. I know for sure that many of you are knowledgeable and can contribute. I also know many of you are out there doing great video clips or filming great content for your own sites. Good lifestyle stuff that many others might not have the opportunity to see, especially in a credible entertainment medium in the lifestyle category. So we’re starting to put an A.P.B. out for those who want to be considered as guest contributors.

The Intent

Our goal, of course is to make this series web-centric in as many ways as we can. To also drive millions of our viewers (from the multi-media platforms we participate in) to the sites we feel offer them more great voices and resources. Sites and voices that complement our educational platforms and also inspire our audience will be welcome.

Can’t fool us pros…

But, just like my TV series, those who wish to be under consideration must go through the same vetting process as guests do on my various television series. It’s to protect the guest and us and assure that where we direct our viewers is a safe, legal and responsible place for them to be.

By the book…

Potential guests will be asked to sign the normal releases and adhere to the standards and practices set down by the FCC and my 15 year old very seasoned Christopher Lowell Productions company.

Submitting forms…

We will be posting the submission pitch sheet forms here shortly. It will tell you how to pitch to us and how to stay focused. It’s these pitch sheets, and only these pitch sheets, that we will soon be reviewing for show consideration.

But, I wanted to give you all an early heads up. Invariably, as soon as the production is listed in the trades, we get an avalanche of submissions, which we go through with the anal-retentiveness of a Federal CPA—LOL!

Once you’re in the running, you will be contacted by one of the producers from my team. Invariably you’ll be asked to tweak here and there so your pitch works with the particular show you’re being considered for. Selections are not based on the size of your company, the number of readers you have or even whether you’ve been professionally paid for your services before. It’s based on compelling thoughtful voices, personalities and content by those with the kind of spirit and points of view that can engage, inspire and motivate others. So no pitch is outside the realm of possibility but no stone will be left unturned from a production side either.

So start thinking now!

Hope you have a great day!

Later,

CL

Hey Everyone!

A Few New CL Products You Should Know About:

My new Office Depot line is about to debut. I’ve done a series of web videos for you which will be posted soon. When they’re up I’ll send you a link both here and on Twitter. Our first collection was one on the most successful ever in mass market and the new line, we hope, will hit the nail on the head for today’s multi-taskers.

Fabrics Ready for Summer… I’ve introduced some great new outdoor fabrics at JoAnn Fabric and Craft stores. All my fabrics (indoor and out) coordinate with each other so you can’t make a mistake. More importantly, now the transition between indoor and out can be visually seamless—which is how it should be.

My current TV series, “Work That Room With Christopher Lowell“,  is now available both on iTunes and on Yahoo TV. So if you wanted to see the programs but couldn’t, you can view it now. Enjoy!

Ask Christopher Polling:

Polls will remain open for your suggestions concerning our new web series and soon you’ll be able to see my advice column here too, by the same name.

New Ask CL Web Series:

It’s interesting to see the comments between three audiences. The first audience dates back to the beginning, “Interior Motives”, series (1998). They have seen many incarnations of our various series’ over the years. The recent audience are those dating back to our fifth series, “It’s Christopher” (filmed in front of a live audience) and the recent show, “Work that Room”.  The newest audiences are comprised of a group who’ve seen web clips of “Work That Room”, bought my books and also communicate with me on Twitter. However, they have never seen any of my full shows! So, it’s quite a broad span of multi-generational opinions across the board. ALL comments have been great and very helpful, so keep ‘em coming both here and on Twitter, which is where many of them are streaming.

To all of you, I feel I need to tell you that I’m not one to move backwards, especially when transitioning from network TV.  The immediacy of the web, my 15 years in TV production and the past five years entrenched in the internet world has taught me much. Sure, there willl be plenty of educational consistency and carry over, but “Ask Christopher”, the web series, will not resemble any of the past TV shows or try in any way to recreate or recapture them. My goal is to deliver a far more transparent, intimate, one-on-one show than ever before, shot in a more documentary style in real rooms that resemble your homes. And I will be reminding myself of that everyday.

We won’t be bringing an entire lighting crew with trucks of equipment to make our room makeovers look like the cover of Met Home—been there, done that and it was very appropriate for TV. But on this new web series we’ll deal with existing real light so that you have an even more realistic expectation for your finished room once complete! We won’t ‘dress’ to camera and we won’t gloss over function to honor form. Maintenance will be a real focus too – it might look grand but some one’s gotta clean it too—usually you!

Instead, projects will be smaller–focusing on your questions and on various aspects of design that are universal tricks of the trade and which everyone can use. I’ll cover quieter, more compelling and thoughtful aspects of creating a home that don’t just look great, but function incredibly well too. These kinds of segments were hard to get on national TV because of the mandates and formula of that medium. But while, say, the correct night stands, for example, are important, it’s also what goes on them and in the drawers that’s critical too. If you have to use the night stands you have, how can you increase the size of the surfaces so you don’t have to get out of bed to get what you need? Many, I have found, do not spend the time to really think out the ‘what,’ ‘where’, ‘how’ and most importantly the WHY of truly pampering home. Well, I have. I’ve learned to live just as well in small spaces as in grand homes. Frankly, I prefer smaller well-appointed and well organized homes, than the mansions with rooms I never used and stuff that looked great but didn’t add to the quality of life.

So I want you to ask the tough questions and together we’ll solve them.

Much more later!

‘Til then, we can do it!

CL

Hi Everybody!

As many of you on Twitter may have noticed, with the current workload for our new web series, my time on social network has had to be scaled back slightly but will still be daily. I’m generally on Twitter in the early morning for an hour or so to get your day started on a positive note and then usually a few hours in the early evening to see how your day went. But have no fear, I’ll always get to any tweets bearing @CLowell and Direct Messages as soon as I can.

The Polls Update

The polls for our new series (below) will be on-going and I still encourage those who want input on the new series to lend your voice. So far most of you have answered yes to many of the poll questions with the exception of three.

“Guests or No Guests”

The first being about guests. I asked if you wanted guests or not on the new series and the camp was split. Some said no guests were necessary and others said they appreciated hearing from other experts, which I deemed credible. Some just said they wanted to see who I hang with…LOL! Please bear in mind many of our guests for this web-based series will be chosen from…well, the web! There are many sites and folks (which can often get lost in cyber space) that I feel will be great contributors to our new series and great on-going resources for you all. If you’d like your site considered for inclusion in our series, let us know here or on Twitter and we’ll be happy to check you out. If there are sites you love and want to bring to our attention, let us know that too. We hope to be your first stop when looking for reliable home improvement sources that are credible and design voices we think you should hear. So send us your links and let the vetting process begin.

Homeowner Storylines or Not..?

The next poll question where there was a split in opinion was whether to feature homeowners heavily in segments or not. A small percentage of you said you liked seeing homeowners that you could identify with, while more of you felt you’d rather have information that was not solving the homeowner’s dilemmas, but rather more universal ideas applicable to all homes that solved your design dilemmas.

Mass to Class…We’re On a Budget Too

At the start, with web budgets being less then a ¼ of a ¼ of TV budgets, we’ll be focusing on the basics of interior design and sources we feel you should take a look at—many from mass-market stores in your own neighborhoods as I take you shopping. My belief, especially today, is that global sourcing now allows for great innovation and solid quality design in all things home, available right at your local chain retailer. But, often without a skillful and experienced designer’s eye, people walk right by great stuff. My job of course is to (where) help you find it, (why) tell you why it’s important and (how) show you what to do with it when you get it home. So at least for the first season, mini-makeovers and solid design techniques will be the focus. It’s back to the new basics, rather than signature full-blown makeovers I’ve showed you in the past. We will, however, in some cases revisit some of those classic makeovers so I can show you the new updates to those older philosophies while letting a whole new generation and audience enjoy them for the first time.

Food or Not…?

Lastly, camps were again split on the idea of food and cooking. Half (mostly Tweeters who love my nightly menus) said please give us the recipes–your dinner tweets are mouthwatering. While others, mostly my ardent interior design fans, said, “No, I’ll watch the Food Network if I want to cook.” Then many said, “I’m more interested in gaining confidence to casually entertain in my home without freaking out.” So, we’ll need you to keep thinking about that issue and start getting a bit more specific. All of you however did say you loved watching me set the home for entertaining and the table as well. Since I coined and did debut the word “tablescape” for the first time in the ’90s series, I get that–LOL.

So let’s keep the conversation going and the dialogue flowing and I’ll keep you updated!

Loads of thanks!

Later,

CL