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  • oxajoxepigo on Big Leap Week

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  • July 2008
  • February 2008
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I know that at Big Leap and Storyville we mostly talk about how to write for TV but we have had some success of getting people on TV. Our very own celebrity client Nicky Hambleton Jones made the big leap from management consultant to stylist to fronting 10 years Younger on Channel 4.

Also our lovely big leaping comedian Jenni Davies has just starred in Dom Joli’s The Complainers on Channel 5.

But getting your first break on TV can be as tricky as writing for TV.

Until now.

Just interviewed Claire Richmond, the founder of www.Findatvexpert.com She’s impressive, passionate and has just created a way for the TV companies to discover us. She has created a website where you can register yourself as TV expert extraordinaire (for a nominal £100 fee).  I met Claire to see if she’s as good as she sounds and she was - she’s already drumming up interest for two of my big leaping clients.

Here’s the interview I did with her last week so you can make up your own mind:
http://www.bigleaplife.com/audios/clairetvexpert.mp3
This is what The Times is saying about her:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article4254893.ece

And she also sent me this. Never mind Jamie Oliver - could you be the next Esther Ranson? Do contact claire if you think this could be you! The BBC are interviewing now.

Claire says: “I’ve been approached by a TV production company who’s looking to cast 5 new faces to become investigative, consumer champions for a new primetime, BBC One show - and I wonder if you could help me spread the word.
Or maybe you have clients who fit the bill!

The show basically centres around a make-believe family of five people - each of whom will have a special talent or relevant real world experience. They’ll be an ensemble cast working together to expose consumer fraud and professional malpractice as well as reporting on soft current affairs stories like negative equity or road congestion.

They will regularly be asked to pose as a real family in their reports, sometimes  filming undercover in an effort to catch ‘the bad guys’ on tape. But they’ll also be working together as themselves as reporters - but reporters who will get to the heart of every story and experience it for themselves. As they’ll be asked to go  ‘undercover’ on some stories, they must be unrecognisable to the general public,
so this is a perfect opportunity to break some new talent.

The production company is looking for people with a great screen presence, who’ll be passionate and concerned about the topics they’ll be covering, but who are crucially entertaining characters who have a sense of humour and mischief. Our cast won’t just cover stories. They’ll live them and make them into great, entertaining television. Just being an ‘expert’ isn’t enough.

They want characters of both sexes who span the generations.

·         They are looking for two adult ‘children’ between the ages of 18 and 27
(ideally male and female), one grandparent (60 and above) and two parents (40 - 50)

·         Each will have credible ‘real world’ experience that they can bring to the show.

·         They must be new faces who won’t be recognised when they film undercover.

Some examples of the types of people they’re looking for:

·         Lawyers, doctors, accountants, bank managers, estate agents
(any professionals with big personalities, sense of social justice and a sense of humour.)

·         Comedians with a social conscience (e.g. a next generation Mark Thomas)

·         Traders (e.g. car salesmen, market traders, the real Arthur Daley)

·         Former military or police, tough but clever too, perhaps with surveillance skills?

·         Journalists - someone with great research skills who can ferret out stories
and information. They may have a high-tech or consumer journalism background

·         Financial experts - a retired city financier, business person or financial advisor.

So if you know any lawyers, personal finance experts, etc - please ask them to register on findaTVexpert.com so I can put them forward!”

So get to it!

Suzy xxx

Ta-da!

To kick off Big Leap Week (25th-29th February, in case you’re wondering) I have a series of interviews – one every day with amazing Big Leaping people.

And I’d like to announce that we have Radio 4’s Book of the Week author Michael Booth who has just written a fantastic new book called Cordon Sacre Bleu – all about his journey to becoming a Cordon Bleu chef all the while living a big leap life in Paris with his young family.

He’s an inspiration, incredibly funny and gives some great advice on how to make the big leap – even if you’re a total pessimist (he’s the biggest pessimist I know!)

I am very excited! I have just been invited to the UK screening of Louise Hay’s new film “You can Heal Your life“.

And I actually get to meet Louise. Louise Hay is really one the fore-runners of the self-help movement. Her book You Can Heal Your Life was first published in 1976 – as a pamphlet called ‘Heal Your Body’. That was the ‘seed’ that grew into her publishing company dedicated to self development which is now worth over $86 million.

What’s refreshing about Louise is at the age of 80 – she certainly walks her talk.

I watched a preview copy on Saturday night and was really moved.

“How do you turn your life around?”, someone asked. “You become what you think about,” she answered. “So start by changing the thought ‘I can’t’ to the thought ‘I can’.”

We should adopt it as our big leap life mantra. I will try and get an interview with Louise and post it here.

People keep asking me – what is a Big Leap Life?

Well, I started my coaching company over 8 years ago now and somehow I seem to attract clients who were brave and fabulous and didn’t want to live the 9 ‘til 5 life any more.

But what did they want? They wanted to create a life that inspired them, a life that is usually quite different from everyone else’s, usually quite creative and interesting – from writing novels with sand between their toes to starting a business based on their personal passion for handbags.

“Could it be done?”, they asked. Let’s try, I said.

And the result was – a Big Leap Life. So I have decided to dedicate this blog to the brave people who live that big leap life.

Maybe we can start our own tribe? A movement? Or maybe just on-line get together of people with similar values who just want to live life full to the brim – and have some fun and not have to conform to how everyone’s done it in the past and to make it up as we go along but with our sights firmly focussed on fulfilment.

Want to join us?