TeledyN

Here’s what happened…

Last week, a friend told me about a Craig’s List ad that stated an “unnamed network” was looking for children’s music to use in a “popular television series.” I responded, like hundreds of others, by throwing my hat in the ring with You Tube links to animated versions of my children’s songs with Debbie and Friends. Five days later, I have signed contracts with Fox Television to use two of my animated songs on their hit series “24″ in January!

I know “24″ is probably the last show you’d expect to find Debbie and Friends music. Our songs are written for the preschool set and their families. However, there will be a scene in an episode of “24″ next season with a young child watching TV, and that’s where my children’s music videos will come into play.

Notice the pre-requisites: first is the training and competence to produce a quality work, which probably goes without saying, and then second is the public sharing of that work, freely, openly, and in a collaborative effort with an animator friend, the essence of the One Track Universe her illustrated songs are given out, without restriction or expectation, on YouTube. Oh where is the 'Business Model' in that? and sure enough I will wager the actual return from all that effort was minimal, perhaps some casual feedback.

But the key thing is, Debbie was now primed and ready should the opportunity knock and the serendipitous then did indeed happen, the friend calls up with the tip to Craigslist. And only that. As we learn from The Roots Band blog, network TV is aching under increasing license fee pressures from the 'big' names, so they are actually eager for something new, and cheap, to fill these little incidental spots, walk-ons, embellishments, musical errata. But notice there was no knocking on doors, no lining up for hours for auditions or interviews, no active seeking or even any notion of Debbie casting a net expecting a catch. Sure, there was a hope, but dig, the 'hope' found her, through her network of friends and their networks of feeds, wearing, as McLuhan said it, humanity as a skin, as a sensory network. There's a tickle, there's a relay, there's a response to the itch. We don't scratch just anywhere.

And Debbie is ready to respond instantly, she can respond with skills, and with credibility and credentials of the best kind: actual public instances of her work as close as a mouse-click on her response letter. Done deal, the rest is just details.