Jon Hotchkiss is the host of the new interview series, Pizza With Writers
I just did something stupid. No, I didn't donate my kid's college tuition money to Donald Trump For President. That would be "monumentally stupid."
What I did was start a new TV network. A network with factual entertainment shows that are 100 percent uncensored, 100 percent ad-free and 100 percent independently produced. By me.
Really. And here's the thing: I'm just one guy (6 months from my 50th birthday), with 14 Emmy nominations and a dream to demolish the 75-year tradition of broadcast and cable TV.
OK. I'm exaggerating about destroying the current TV business. But, not by much.
The new network is called Adorable Puppies, Inc. And it's called Adorable Puppies, Inc. because I think of the first three series I'm debuting as the "adorable puppy pictures" that I want to share with the world.
You know how you have a friend on Facebook or Instagram who can't wait to share pictures of their dog wearing a kid's paper party hat? Or looking sheepish while standing over a recently chewed up sofa pillow? Or "hiding" in a grocery bag?
Well, that's me. Only instead of sharing a single photograph, I'm sharing three new TV series: Pizza With Writers, This vs That and Get Sexxx Tonight. And like your friend with the dog in the party hat, I can't wait for you to see them.
But first, we need to back up in time just a bit.
Three years ago, I realized it was possible to deliver TV shows around the world, from my garage. Think about it. For the previous 75 years, the only way to deliver a TV show to a mass audience was to have access to either a satellite or the web of cable Time Warner ran to every house in America.
And since the only ones who had access to the only two delivery systems were the giant media conglomerates, regular people were shut out of delivering TV if they wanted to. However, thanks to the internet, everything has changed. Now, anyone with a camera, a lap-top and access to wi-fi can have their video or movie seen everywhere. And even more places, if the video is of you having sex with a Kardashian.
The second change that allows me (and others) to deliver quality TV shows around the world... is the change in the cost of gear. Professional equipment that used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars -- like cameras -- now cost just thousands of dollars. And editing equipment that wouldn't fit in a U-Haul, has been compressed to run on a MacBook Pro.
The point is: I now personally own all the gear needed to make the kind of factual entertainment shows that I used to make for channels like Discovery, TLC, Science, Playboy TV, GSN and Showtime.
But wait. There's more.
Whatever vision I have for a show, I get to execute. I'm not forced to make some watered down or homogenized version of it -- like I would have had to do when I worked for a broadcaster or cable company.
Plus: I don't have to answer to a board of directors, or shareholders, I don't have to dumb down my shows to placate the anti-intellectual or prudish interests of advertisers, and I don't have to censor my content or language to satisfy antiquated federal regulations -- like those of the FCC -- as the big media companies are required to.
By way of example, on one of the shows, I did an experiment where we simultaneously drove three (3) hybrid vehicles and two (2) vehicles with combustion engines only -- to see which got better gas mileage. When I pitched this segment to the Discovery Channel the year before I decided to make the show myself, the first thing they said was "Oh, we could never do that experiment." And why couldn't they do it? Because they take too much advertising money from Honda and Toyota -- whose hybrid vehicles I was testing.
Not only is the programming on Adorable Puppies, Inc. 100 percent independent and uncensored, it's also commercial free! And our members don't have to pay a premium for that viewing experience, unlike at Netflix and Hulu, which charge a hefty premium to watch shows without commercial interruptions.
Here's another thing I'm able to do at Adorable Puppies, Inc: the TV shows I advertise as being "1 hour" are nearly 60 minutes of content. Did you know that on broadcast and cable TV, a 60 minute show is really only about 43 minutes of content and 17 minutes of commercials?
Not only that, the shows on Adorable Puppies, Inc. are original series that you can't see anywhere else. Unlike the content on Netflix or Hulu, which is mostly re-runs of old movies and TV shows you've already seen or decided you weren't interested in.
And finally -- let me close with the most important message of all... To all of you interested in seeing the quality of entertainment improve. In seeing unique programs targeted to your specific interests. In watching shows that don't talk down to you. In shows that make you think. In seeing a creator fully realize his/her vision minus the meddling of advertisers and corporate interests -- You MUST start supporting and sharing and yes, even paying for some independently created content in order to prove to the rest of the show runners and series creators that they can at least make a living by breaking from the 75 year stranglehold the networks and cable companies have had on entertainment.
You can trust me when I say the following: The people who make your favorite TV shows would do the creating and writing and producing they do for a lot less money in exchange for creative freedom. If they didn't have to constantly drown their puppies -- that's a euphemism. Hollywood is a cruel place, but not THAT cruel. Also, I could be wrong about that. Anyway, if creators didn't have to drown their puppies, take notes, eat shit and make changes ordered by the people with money that undermine a show's narrative arc, it's integrity or unique storytelling, they'd work for a lot less.
But they won't do it for free.
Jon Hotchkiss is the creator of Adorable Puppies, Inc, a new independent TV network featuring the shows Pizza With Writers (which he hosts), This vs That and Get Sexxx Tonight, whose first episodes you can see FREE.