Roads To Success 3

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The Series

Personnel key to the series were scattered across the country; the gentleman who originated the China television idea (he became the executive producer for the project) was located in Iowa, people in charge of placing the series in broadcast systems across China were in Florida, the team responsible for dubbing the shows into Chinese and a handful or other individuals were in locations I can no longer remember.  Scott Hannah and I were located in California.  So, production meetings via telephone conference calls began taking place weekly, every Monday morning.

For the most part everyone on the team was in agreement with what needed to be done, and how it should be done.  The sole disagreement concerned what the focus of each episode should be.  At the time, my way of explaining it was that the executive producer wanted each episode to be an educational video describing how to make widgets.  If the featured entrepreneur owned a window manufacturing company, then my instructions were to write and direct a show that showed the viewer, step-by-step, how to mass-produce windows.

I felt strongly and argued that the step-by-step, how-to concept was going to make for boring television.  My choice was to make each show about the entrepreneurs, the people and their lives.  The businesses, the companies and the success that came with them would serve as backdrops for the story telling.  Scott saw my point and agreed, but we didn’t get our way; at least, not for the first nine or ten shows.

Eventually, the executive producer resigned; I don’t recall ever hearing a specific reason as to why.  The power base shifted with his departure, Scott and I were able to assume more control, and I was able to write and direct the balance of the shows telling the personal stories of the business leaders we featured.  For the record, those first nine or ten shows move remarkably slow; it’s very difficult for me to watch them today.  But slow or not, they did not stop Secrets Of Success from catching on.

As it turned out, the distribution team faced unexpected and difficult challenges in getting the series broadcast on Chinese television.  It did air in China during the first one or two years of production, but only sporadically and never reaching the size of audience that was hoped for.  However, other countries began to discover the series and ask for it on their airways.  Secrets Of Success gradually spread around the world, airing weekly in a growing number of countries.

The program aired only briefly in the United States, broadcast on some obscure cable television station for a single season if I recall correctly.  It was produced for a secular audience; it rarely contained Christian “buzz words” or phrases and it never preached.  But the show still dealt openly with issues of Christian faith, and that certainly made it unpalatable for most American secular television, even cable.  The U.S. may have been uninterested in Secrets Of Success, but requests for the series in other parts of the world continued to increase.  Russia, Romania, South Africa, Latin America and many of the countries of central Europe broadcast the show weekly.  Before production ended on the series Secrets of Success would amass a worldwide audience of over 2 billion.  The weekly audience in India alone varied between 80 and 125 million.

Secrets Of Success featured over thirty-five business leaders in the series.  Among them were Mike and Brian McCoy (co-owners of McCoy’s Building Supply in Texas), Norm Miller (founder and Chairman of Interstate Batteries), John Beckett (Chairman and CEO of R.W. Beckett Corp., manufacturing oil and gas burners for residential and commercial markets), Gene Birdwell (founder and CEO of Birdwell Construction and Remedial Construction Services) and Ed “Skip” Ast (President of Shasta Pools and Spas).

The series profiled successful individuals in the world of sports, as well.  Among them were Penny McCoy, at 16 the youngest person ever named to the U.S. National Ski Team (Penny’s father, Dave McCoy, founded and operated the Mammoth Mountain ski resort), and Catherine “Cat” Reddick, Olympic Gold Medalist in women’s soccer.

These remarkable, successful individuals were all gracious, generous with their time, open and honest in providing the stories of their lives.  As I got to know more and more of them I began to see certain commonalities in the foundation of their lives.  With only one or two exceptions, they had all built their financial success from nothing, or next to nothing.  They all placed a high priority on their families.  They cared sincerely for and valued people, all people.  Finally, they judged their success not on how much they owned or profited, but in how much they were able to give to individuals or charitable organizations in need.  I remember Paul Lindholm, a charming gentleman who owned several banks in Minnesota, beaming proudly as he told me that he had earned $749,000 in personal income the year before but had given away over $800,000.

The people whose stories I am about to relate are my favorites from all the shows we produced.  For whatever reason anecdotes from their lives stood out for me at the time, they stuck with me throughout the years; theirs are the stories I related to friends and family the most often.  I hope you enjoy them.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 2

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China TV

The source of the narratives to follow began for me with a telephone call from a producer named Scott Hannah.  Scott owned a small, “boutique” post-production studio located in the beach town of San Clemente, California.  He had built up a healthy business providing post services for ESPN2.  At that time ESPN2 was the network to watch for action sports and Scott’s studio supplied the edgy, stylish look and pace that complemented the material.  Scott also had strong connections to Campus Crusade for Christ, one of the largest evangelical organizations on the planet.  He had produced a variety of multimedia and short-form video projects for them, many of them incorporating the contemporary style utilized in his sports productions.

By the time he called to discuss a new project for television I had been working with Scott for about a year, mainly writing for a variety of video projects.  We had developed a comfortable, friendly and solid relationship.

As for the new television project, each thirty-minute episode would feature an entrepreneur, the founder of his or her business, providing the viewing audience with a tour of their company.  During the tour they would explain how the company came into being and how their products are manufactured, or services rendered.  Several business people had already committed to do the show.  All were extremely successful in their field and all were completely committed to their Christian faith.  The show was to be produced specifically for broadcast in China.

Why China?  China had been working through a process of moving towards capitalism for many years.  Guided by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the reforms began in the late 1970s with a major effort materializing towards that end in the early 1990s.  Since coming to power, the CCP traditionally maintained an iron grip on business and industry.  To oversimplify it, if you were a citizen of Communist China the government dictated how much education you would receive, where you would receive it, what your career would be and where you would work.  The idea and practice of free enterprise had been extremely limited if not entirely nonexistent.

A high-ranking “volunteer” at Campus Crusade reasoned a television program that encouraged entrepreneurship, promoted industry and literally showed the viewer, step-by-step how to provide a service or manufacture a product, would be welcomed in China.  With each of the business leaders featured in each show being devoted Christians, the project carried the potential of exposing viewers to Christian faith in practical, real life application.

Seeing potential for this creative approach to evangelism presented in a practical, helpful and entertaining package, Campus Crusade green-lighted the project.  The Chinese government approved it as well and issued only one caveat; we could say anything we wanted regarding Christianity as long as we did not attempt to tell the Chinese audience they should or should not do something.  In other words, a business leader could not say, “You should pray for the success of your company,” but it was acceptable for him to say, “I pray regularly for the success of my company.”

As Scott and I worked to develop the series we further determined what would and would not be said in each of the shows.  As the leaders of the creative team we wanted the message of faith to come through loud and clear; that was the main goal, after all.  But it was also vitally important to us that we make that message palatable for everyone; we wanted the series to be viewed by as many people as possible.  We wanted it to stand on its own as good television, as well.  We assembled a small, talented, travel-light production team and prepared to shoot the first show.  We were almost ready to begin.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

Roads To Success 1

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The Best Stories

I believe that the best stories engage us because they have strong, believable, interesting characters.  The best novels, motion pictures, television shows and news stories all involve dimensional, well-developed characters.  True stories especially catch my attention when they are about an exceptional individual.  Real people, often ordinary people doing exceptional things or meeting unusual challenges; those stories make me sit up and pay attention.

In 1999 I had the opportunity to participate in what would become one of the most fulfilling jobs of my career, and through it I met more than my share of remarkable, fascinating people.  Interesting characters, all of them; ordinary in many ways but exceptional in the way they chose to live their lives, the way they still live their lives today.  Each of them had experienced failures, and some had staggered their way through personal tragedies, but ultimately all of them achieved a level of success that most people can only dream about.

The word “success,” especially in the Western world, is generally equated with financial, material success.  Absolutely; these people I refer to are all successful in that way.  But they have something else, as well, something based in faith that ultimately makes them and their stories inspiring.

The vehicle that served as my introduction to these remarkable individuals was an independently produced television series that would eventually be titled Secrets Of Success.  I wrote and directed more than thirty episodes over a period of several years.  For some time I have wanted to document the stories of a few of the most interesting of those people featured in the series.  The time is right, and this blog seems to be a practical venue for what I have in mind.

So, stay tuned, check back often, tell your friends, and most of all, please be patient.  It may take a little time to tell these stories because I want to write them well.  Consider this post the official prologue of what is to come; the next post will provide some necessary background information and then we will get right into the first story.

© 2011 Philip Kassel

You've Got to Start Somewhere

Getting started is almost always the most difficult part of any writing endeavor.  There’s no reason a blog would be an exception to that rule and I really wrestled with starting this one.  But you’ve got to start somewhere so I began surfing the net in search of inspiration.  I found that a good many of the blog articles about how to launch a blog instruct their readers to begin by stating what their blog will be about.

Well, I’ve spent most of my life writing screenplays and books, writing songs and playing music, making films, taking and processing photographs, making television shows and video products, and growing in faith, as well.  So, right now it’s looking like this blog will deal with those, and related topics.

For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed creative things; I’ve enjoyed being creative.  There is an indescribable satisfaction that comes from producing a special or unique photograph, composing a particularly touching song, or writing an engaging story that makes the reader think or entertains them.  It doesn’t matter if I am creating for myself or creating for a client; I still draw great satisfaction from the process and the varying results.  I know that there are plenty of you readers out there that know exactly what I’m referring to.

God willing and the creek don’t rise, this blog will turn out to be a creative thing – a creative thing that looks at creative things.  I hope, too, it can be a source of inspiration and encouragement.  Along those lines I’m developing an idea that I believe will be inspiring as well as entertaining.  I’ll have more about that soon in future posts.

In the meantime, with any material I may post I will strive to live up to Mr. Fitzgerald’s view on the subject and truly “have something to say.”

© 2011 Philip Kassel