Animal Planet Considers Us for a Show
If you haven’t seen The Secret it is in the E Center and it is responsible for us being right on track with our 2006 Vision of having our own local series and a series on the Animal Planet show.
Locally, our pro bono CPA is on the board of the Community Network Television channels 19 and 22. They are going to train Jamie in video production and then make her an Associate Producer for the station which gives her use of all of their equipment from cameras to editing and then she can air all of her work on their stations. This is all being done for free. AND…
Our pro-bono attorney Russ Alba just got the following email: Subject: Television Series
Dear Mr. Alba, Thanks for your time. To reiterate...what we'd like to propose to Animal Planet (Discovery Communications Inc.) is a "fly on the wall" series with "Big Cat Rescue" as our venue. This would entail some considerable shooting over a period of time, giving the audience (hopefully world-wide) a "through the keyhole" look at the sanctuary, the animals and the people who devote themselves to this truly noble cause. The series would ultimately be personality driven, the drama, melodrama, comedic and triumphant moments being drawn from the staff, the volunteers...and of course, the animals.
While we have proposed the concept to Animal Planet, we have not been specific with venue and style. The final proposal would be based on our having knowledge of what and with whom we're dealing. If this is of interest to you, let's arrange to meet. As I told you, we have a place on Sand Key...and I'm eager to get a bit of Florida summer in my veins. (How's that for madness!!). Looking forward to hearing from you, Best, Ron Lyon
For a bit more about us, I refer you to our web site, www.wizardsofweird.com or check IMDb.com.
Their credits include:
Lyon produced and directed some thirty 90-minute specials for ABC, including “Organized Crime in America”, “Manson”, “Hitler” “In Search of Howard Hughes” and “Assassinations: An American Nightmare” from which came numerous awards.
Included among his many television films are the highly rated “City in Fear”, starring David Jannsen and Mickey Rourke, “Love’s Savage Fury”, starring Jennifer O’Neill, Raymond Burr and Perry King, “Sins of the Father” starring James Coburn as well as director Jan Kadar’s award-winning film, “The Other Side of Hell” which starred Alan Arkin.
As President of Ray Stark’s television company, “Rastar” a division of Columbia Pictures, Lyon acquired the vast collection of Robert Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!” facts and oddities. In 1981 under the banner of Haley/Lyon/Rastar, Lyon created, produced and directed the Ripley’s pilot which spawned the long-running series on ABC starring Jack Palance with Lyon based in Paris as Executive Producer.
Subsequent to “Believe It or Not” Lyon’s special “Exploring Psychic Powers” hosted by Bill Bixby featuring James Randi and Uri Geller was a huge international success. After a stint at both Universal TV and Kings Road (as President, Kings Road Television) he and his partner Jenny Paschall launched the Nickelodeon series “Beyond Belief!!” which appeared in dozens of countries and was later the basis of a best selling book written by Paschall, published by Random House. Jenny Paschall went on to write 3 more “weird” trivia books: Hatches, Matches and Dispatches, Odd Laws and Brain in a Box.
Lyon and Paschall’s Discovery series “Would You Believe It??” began as a one-hour special/pilot which received spectacular ratings on its June ‘95 premiere on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Lyon and Paschall, directed by Lyon, and written by Paschall this intrepid team’s work continued to run on Discovery through 2004. It can be seen in over 60 countries world wide.
Based on the success of “Would You Believe It??”, Lyon and Paschall crafted “Simply Unbelievable” a series which debuted on the Travel Channel in 2001. In addition he and Paschall have created many specials for both Discovery and Travel including “Strangest Remains”, ‘Most Haunted in America” “The Best Places To Find UFOs” and “Most Haunted Journeys.”
Today, Lyon continues to produce and direct for cable and television networks worldwide. Paschall co-produces with Lyon, and writes the shows. She is also a regular feature writer for the English paper, The Express on Sunday, specializing in trivia and ghost articles, and she has a regular food column in a New Jersey newspaper. Showtime’s Ace Award winner Christmas perennial “Daisies in December” is based on a short story by Paschall. Both Lyon and Paschall, as “experts” in the world of the bizarre and the paranormal, lecture throughout the United States as “The Wizards of Weird”. In addition both continue to conduct seminars on producing, directing and writing at both colleges and high schools. http://www.wizardsofweird.com/bios.php
The entire 2006 Vision:
2006: Exotic cats may no longer be sold or traded into canned hunts.
Action: Meet with legislators in our area, specifically Mike Bilirakis and Senator Bob Young (head of the appropriations committee) and gather the support of non animal groups, such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Big Cat Rescue will become better educated about the legislative process and teach classes on ethics and legislation. We will contact HSUS to find out how the best way to do this will be and to see what training they provide. Big Cat Rescue will train members in ways to gather the information needed to end the cruel trade in exotic cats by demonstrating that so small a percentage of the public approves canned hunts or is supported by canned hunts that the legislation really does represent the majority.
The Big Cat Picture will be narrated by a celebrity, widely distributed via sales, public and private showings and the website. We will edit the clips to load faster and play better or switch to streaming media for maximum effect. Big cats will have protection under state laws in all states in that they may not be owned as pets.
Action: Big Cat Rescue will provide better state, county and city level resources to educate and enable our expanded supporter base to create laws that better protect the exotic cats. In part this will be on Big Cat Rescue's own Animal Planet program called Big Cat Rescue which will showcase big cat rescues by accredited sanctuaries. These weekly segments will include discussion of all of the issues that exotic cats face, expose the perpetrators and the effect that each person makes with their choices and will be a means by which to broadly spread the message that no exotic cat should be kept as a pet or in a cage. We will film anything and everything that could make for an interesting 30 minute television documentary. Big Cat Rescue will solicit video from other accredited sanctuaries for use in exposing the big cat issues. We will find someone in the film editing industry to help us turn these segments into something saleable to Animal Planet.
By suggesting permits, permit fees and substantial fines for non compliance we can insure that the laws have the funding needed to make them effective. Once game farms are no longer licensed to keep exotic cats the exotic cat pet owners who circumvent the pet laws by keeping exotic cats under the guise of a game farm will be unable to renew their permits. This decreases the number of buyers for their offspring significantly. The Sanctuary Standards and Exotic Cat Standards will be accepted as the guidelines for exotic animal care and used as a model for the new laws. Big Cat Rescue will introduce a federal bill to prevent the trade in all exotic cats across state lines as pets.
Big Cat Rescue will continue to encourage implementation of the federal bill The Captive Wildlife Safety Act signed Dec. 19, 2003 that makes it illegal to breed, buy, sell or donate a big cat as a pet across state lines. We will continue to research and work on making the breeding, buying and selling of exotic cats at a state level illegal. We will research ways to close the USDA permit loopholes that allow private pet owners to pay $40.00 to call themselves a commercial enterprise in order to circumvent the law.
Animal Planet Considers Us for a Show
If you haven’t seen The Secret it is in the E Center and it is responsible for us being right on track with our 2006 Vision of having our own local series and a series on the Animal Planet show.
Locally, our pro bono CPA is on the board of the Community Network Television channels 19 and 22. They are going to train Jamie in video production and then make her an Associate Producer for the station which gives her use of all of their equipment from cameras to editing and then she can air all of her work on their stations. This is all being done for free. AND…
Our pro-bono attorney Russ Alba just got the following email: Subject: Television Series
Dear Mr. Alba, Thanks for your time. To reiterate...what we'd like to propose to Animal Planet (Discovery Communications Inc.) is a "fly on the wall" series with "Big Cat Rescue" as our venue. This would entail some considerable shooting over a period of time, giving the audience (hopefully world-wide) a "through the keyhole" look at the sanctuary, the animals and the people who devote themselves to this truly noble cause. The series would ultimately be personality driven, the drama, melodrama, comedic and triumphant moments being drawn from the staff, the volunteers...and of course, the animals.
While we have proposed the concept to Animal Planet, we have not been specific with venue and style. The final proposal would be based on our having knowledge of what and with whom we're dealing. If this is of interest to you, let's arrange to meet. As I told you, we have a place on Sand Key...and I'm eager to get a bit of Florida summer in my veins. (How's that for madness!!). Looking forward to hearing from you, Best, Ron Lyon
For a bit more about us, I refer you to our web site, www.wizardsofweird.com or check IMDb.com.
Their credits include:
Lyon produced and directed some thirty 90-minute specials for ABC, including “Organized Crime in America”, “Manson”, “Hitler” “In Search of Howard Hughes” and “Assassinations: An American Nightmare” from which came numerous awards.
Included among his many television films are the highly rated “City in Fear”, starring David Jannsen and Mickey Rourke, “Love’s Savage Fury”, starring Jennifer O’Neill, Raymond Burr and Perry King, “Sins of the Father” starring James Coburn as well as director Jan Kadar’s award-winning film, “The Other Side of Hell” which starred Alan Arkin.
As President of Ray Stark’s television company, “Rastar” a division of Columbia Pictures, Lyon acquired the vast collection of Robert Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!” facts and oddities. In 1981 under the banner of Haley/Lyon/Rastar, Lyon created, produced and directed the Ripley’s pilot which spawned the long-running series on ABC starring Jack Palance with Lyon based in Paris as Executive Producer.
Subsequent to “Believe It or Not” Lyon’s special “Exploring Psychic Powers” hosted by Bill Bixby featuring James Randi and Uri Geller was a huge international success. After a stint at both Universal TV and Kings Road (as President, Kings Road Television) he and his partner Jenny Paschall launched the Nickelodeon series “Beyond Belief!!” which appeared in dozens of countries and was later the basis of a best selling book written by Paschall, published by Random House. Jenny Paschall went on to write 3 more “weird” trivia books: Hatches, Matches and Dispatches, Odd Laws and Brain in a Box.
Lyon and Paschall’s Discovery series “Would You Believe It??” began as a one-hour special/pilot which received spectacular ratings on its June ‘95 premiere on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Lyon and Paschall, directed by Lyon, and written by Paschall this intrepid team’s work continued to run on Discovery through 2004. It can be seen in over 60 countries world wide.
Based on the success of “Would You Believe It??”, Lyon and Paschall crafted “Simply Unbelievable” a series which debuted on the Travel Channel in 2001. In addition he and Paschall have created many specials for both Discovery and Travel including “Strangest Remains”, ‘Most Haunted in America” “The Best Places To Find UFOs” and “Most Haunted Journeys.”
Today, Lyon continues to produce and direct for cable and television networks worldwide. Paschall co-produces with Lyon, and writes the shows. She is also a regular feature writer for the English paper, The Express on Sunday, specializing in trivia and ghost articles, and she has a regular food column in a New Jersey newspaper. Showtime’s Ace Award winner Christmas perennial “Daisies in December” is based on a short story by Paschall. Both Lyon and Paschall, as “experts” in the world of the bizarre and the paranormal, lecture throughout the United States as “The Wizards of Weird”. In addition both continue to conduct seminars on producing, directing and writing at both colleges and high schools. http://www.wizardsofweird.com/bios.php
The entire 2006 Vision:
2006: Exotic cats may no longer be sold or traded into canned hunts.
Action: Meet with legislators in our area, specifically Mike Bilirakis and Senator Bob Young (head of the appropriations committee) and gather the support of non animal groups, such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Big Cat Rescue will become better educated about the legislative process and teach classes on ethics and legislation. We will contact HSUS to find out how the best way to do this will be and to see what training they provide. Big Cat Rescue will train members in ways to gather the information needed to end the cruel trade in exotic cats by demonstrating that so small a percentage of the public approves canned hunts or is supported by canned hunts that the legislation really does represent the majority.
The Big Cat Picture will be narrated by a celebrity, widely distributed via sales, public and private showings and the website. We will edit the clips to load faster and play better or switch to streaming media for maximum effect. Big cats will have protection under state laws in all states in that they may not be owned as pets.
Action: Big Cat Rescue will provide better state, county and city level resources to educate and enable our expanded supporter base to create laws that better protect the exotic cats. In part this will be on Big Cat Rescue's own Animal Planet program called Big Cat Rescue which will showcase big cat rescues by accredited sanctuaries. These weekly segments will include discussion of all of the issues that exotic cats face, expose the perpetrators and the effect that each person makes with their choices and will be a means by which to broadly spread the message that no exotic cat should be kept as a pet or in a cage. We will film anything and everything that could make for an interesting 30 minute television documentary. Big Cat Rescue will solicit video from other accredited sanctuaries for use in exposing the big cat issues. We will find someone in the film editing industry to help us turn these segments into something saleable to Animal Planet.
By suggesting permits, permit fees and substantial fines for non compliance we can insure that the laws have the funding needed to make them effective. Once game farms are no longer licensed to keep exotic cats the exotic cat pet owners who circumvent the pet laws by keeping exotic cats under the guise of a game farm will be unable to renew their permits. This decreases the number of buyers for their offspring significantly. The Sanctuary Standards and Exotic Cat Standards will be accepted as the guidelines for exotic animal care and used as a model for the new laws. Big Cat Rescue will introduce a federal bill to prevent the trade in all exotic cats across state lines as pets.
Big Cat Rescue will continue to encourage implementation of the federal bill The Captive Wildlife Safety Act signed Dec. 19, 2003 that makes it illegal to breed, buy, sell or donate a big cat as a pet across state lines. We will continue to research and work on making the breeding, buying and selling of exotic cats at a state level illegal. We will research ways to close the USDA permit loopholes that allow private pet owners to pay $40.00 to call themselves a commercial enterprise in order to circumvent the law.