- 7:22 PM, Thursday,
July 18th 2024:
-
- 6 months ago when
my family got walloped by the NFL Media merger
news...
-
-
- ...I had a bit of
whiskey and we had a big family meeting. Everyone was
so disappointed and sad so I grabbed our calendar and
counted out 6 months and schedule another family
meeting for a "Where are we now?" moment. It was part
of my inner "lemonade life" mantra where I almost
sub-consciously just start searching for how to make
this moment a positive.
-
- And again, not
just pick yourself up and keep going (that's a given),
but actually look back on the crisis and be able to
say "If not for that CRASH, I wouldn't have gotten:
THIS." After a week of molasses in my veins I started
pushing. Making calls and hitting up all the contacts
I was going to contact in August, but obviously didn't
once the NFL news broke and that was how I looked
at this: if the NFL thing actually HAD gone
through? After the Super Bowl, the next several months
of my life would've been that footage and shooting
off-season stuff for prep the following season. At no
time would I be pushing any other avenues because
I'd be fine financially and of course my time and
resources would go to the NFL.
-
- Of course now I'm
here and it's a whole lot of maybes. Granted, these
maybes wouldn't exist if not for that Super Bowl
loss... but what exactly exists right now? It's with
that I show the ride TO the meeting today and
then I can talk about the result...
-
-
- I've been wanting
to post a video like this for awhile. While this is
the first time I drove to a meeting with
THIS LITTLE excitement, this sentiment has
been building... well for 6 months. Now understand, my
mood? Never stops me - I just happen to be
sharing what it all actually feels like. I still
respond to every email within minutes/hours,
I still book the SOONEST available next meeting
(my whole family stayed home this summer JUST so that
was possible) and I spend my free time producing and
strategizing almost 24-7. There's not quit
here...
-
- ...but I'm not a
stupid man. And I have enough self-awareness to
understand that there could come a time where
I have to just kind of admit it's not gonna be
this. I did that with Adam & The Egos after the
Comedy Central crash. That was the culmination of ten
years of pushing where I did finally move on.
Thankfully I met Talya and got the greatest 10 year
chapter of my life, but make no mistake I also "Let it
Go" and stopped pushing 4tvs.
-
- And that's kind of
the crux of The Journey: admitting that it isn't
constant positivity and belief. I've always HATED that
about successful people describing their stories.
Constantly believing without self-awareness is how you
end up suicidal. You HAVE to be able to step-back and
reassess with logic. Have to. It's a given you believe
or you wouldn't even be in the game. No one is
doubting my drive or push or belief in the product...
but as these meeting go THIS WELL... and then
never go any further? You do have to accept that it
might not be time. The problem is, when it
IS time? The big players will already be there -
so if I want to cement that spot? I have to be
ready at the beginning. I'm competing with Apple for
fuck's sake. All I have is my will power and drive.
I also have mortgage however and no matter how
efficient I am with the money I have? Oh it's
tight. I mean... it's tight. I need this to
work. All the money is goin' OUT.
However... you ready for this? That was EASILY the
best meeting we've ever had. I don't even remember her
title because her understanding of what to do with
this was so SPECIFIC and CLEAR? My ears almost fell
off. She said point blank: no this will be on our APP
and behind a PAYWALL. We can do this in 3 specific
regions for 3 months and she knew the regions and who
to talk to. She was blown away by how incredible it
looked and FELT. She wants me to show the COO in New
York and admitted that because of other things they're
going through they couldn't roll this out until
November at the earliest... but no matter, this wasn't
one of those situations where we all sit around and
try and talk about what happens next: she knew
immediately. And understand those previous meetings?
We hung out and talked because they were
SO EXCITED about the presentation. That was
always a GOOD thing. But she didn't need to talk. She
got it immediately, knew exactly whot to go to next
and asked me for budgets and breakdowns.
-
- Not fuckin'
around. GETS SHIT DONE. And it reminds me of
what made us so excited at the NFL: everyone wins
here. She wants the credit for making this happen and
is in the position to do so.
That being said... this will take a long time. There
are so many FRONT BURNER issues for Bally
right now (ya know BANKRUPTCY) and it's coming to a
head this month. So I have to be patient. But on
this front? I think we'll at least get a 3 month shot
to produce some incredible content.
-
- And now we
wait.
-
- Adam
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