I have amazing news.

Yesterday, I met with someone about a TV show they are developing, and the quick version is, I am the dude who will be writing it. And probably a lot more.

I can’t exactly say I was hired, because to be honest, right now this project is just me and four energetic young people and a very good idea for a TV show and/or web series. We have a lot of the needed equipment. We have developed the idea behind the projects a fair bit. But for the most part, at this moment in time, it’s just a dream.

But that’s pretty food for someone like me who graduated nine days ago!

And I am perfectly content to be part of something like this. Heck,I am just amazed that I am part of a band of crazy people determined to make good television without having to create and run the project myself.

The project will take up some of my time but not nearly all of it. I will still be looking for freelance work and working on other projects, like Paragon.

But I am so happy to be part of something, and it’s even something where I can use many of my skills that are not writing as well as being the main creative on the whole project.

And it will get me what all people starting out in show biz desperately need : a CREDIT. Having a credit – any credit – to your name makes a huge difference in show biz. It proves that you actually can do a job. and that means you have passed the all-important “shows up, does their job, is not an axe murderer” test.

Not that different from the normal world in that sense. Nobody wants to be the first one to trust someone. That’s the catch-22 that all new workers face.

It’s cruel but unavoidable, I am afraid.

And the fellow who I met with (and had a very fun and productive three hour conversation with) is an amazing fellow. Very energetic and focused, with natural leadership skills and a lot of charisma when he talks.

He will be both the producer of the show and the host, and I think he is an excellent pick for both jobs. I can’t wait to see him really selling the show in meetings. He has an extremely valuable skill – contagious enthusiasm.

Plus, he’s got an amazing CV. I mean, he got his MBA at CAMBRIDGE. The one in England. That’s amazing right off the top. He’s currently a full time Human Resources manager, which show potential investors/funding agencies that he has what it takes to do a project like this.

In fact, he really impresses me as someone who can get things done

And if that’s not enough, two of the other members of our crazy group are, in his words, “highly executable”, which does not mean what it sounds like.

It sounds like it means they are really asking to be executed. Like saying someone is “so very very smackable”. But it actually means that they’re very good at getting things done.

That, to my personal point of view, sounds so amazing that I am afraid to believe it. I could very well be in the position I have always longed for : a place where all I have to do is take care of the stuff I am good at (like writing and administration) and other people take care of the rest of it.

Super impressive : when I mentioned doing a technology test with the equipment the producer has purchased, where we play around with the equipment to familiarize ourselves with it, it turned out that they had already done it.

The next step will be to take the equipment out to try to film the sort of thing we will need for the show. I think we need this expedition because the show will be shot entirely on location and I know enough about the biz to know that shooting on location is way trickier than in-studio work, so we might as well make all our stupid mistakes ASAP and learn to get what we want before we start shooting.

The producer even told me that his executable friends (who were not at the meeting) would do research for me. RESEARCH.

I hate doing research. But I love the results of other people’s research. Consequently, having people do it for me is bliss.

So I have a pretty good feeling about this project. I can’ talk about specifics because (possibly stupidly) I am worried someone will steal the concept. It’s a brilliant take on the foodie travel show, and the best part of it is, this is a massively multicultural city with many ethnic neighborhoods, so we can take people on a food based trip around the world without having to leave the GVRD.

I mean, I know of a place where you can find  Russian, Malaysian, and Afghani restaurants within  blocks of each other.

This is also a position in which I feel needed. The producer told me over and over that he felt very lucky to have found someone like me.

I haven’t heard that much in my life. It’s highly gratifying.

And like I said earlier, I will be doing things beyond simply writing. I will also be giving the project the benefit of my age and wisdom. I get the feeling that a project like this, full of energetic young people, needs an older guy like me to keep them on track and keep an eye on the big picture.

Plus, there’s just the five of us, so we will all end up wearing many hats anyhow. And that is exactly how I like it. I want experience in TV making as a whole, and I have a lot of talents to explore, like leadership and production design. I want to come out of this thing with a well-rounded skill set and the confidence to be able to say “I can do that!” and back it up with experience.

I think that this is the sort of thing we can pull off ourselves, at least to the pilot stage. On the other hand, with our producer’s charisma and the inherent genius of the concept, I don’t think we will have trouble attracting funding, either.

And if we got enough funding, we might be to afford to actually hire ourselves and turn this from a project to a job.

Employment. What a concept.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.